解读网络世界的“家乡报纸”

    本周，The Daily Dot官网正式上线。这是一份网络出版物，它计划像一份“家乡报纸”一样报道互联网的相关资讯。也就是说，它只关注报道互联网世界的人物的一言一行，尤其是社交媒体网站上的人物。

    该网站编辑欧文•托马斯是科技博客VentureBeat和八卦博客Gawker的前任编辑。他接受《广告周刊》杂志（Adweek）采访时说：“如果我们能为网络赋予人性，到时候我们就比其他人有优势了。因为他们要么把网络要么看成是一桩生意，要么是一套技术，要么只是一套应用程序集合。”

    这个做法有新意，但有点冒险。风险在于，它会变得矫揉造作，让人难受。【数年前，我工作过的一家科技新闻网站刊发过《戴安娜王妃之死网上掀波澜》（Internet Reacts to Death of Princess Di）这类报道。】这个网站也有一些这类内容，但总体上，那些纯粹的无稽之谈似乎不见踪影。比如，有篇报道是关于一段疯狂传播的YouTube视频的。这段视频拍摄了一个小姑娘捧着一只死松鼠进行爱抚。报道深入分析了人们为何会发布这类内容？它们为什么会受到追捧？

    托马斯有个观点是正确的，就是我们太多人都只把互联网看成是数不尽的商机，或是一个技术竞技场，而且我们很多人都倾向于粉饰网上日复一日正在上演的形形色色的活动，无视它们的商业意味。

    这并不意味着商人无法从The Daily Dot中获利。这个网站能展示了人们使用媒体的方式，以及他们的期望所在。人们对骨肉艺术（meat art，用动物的肉类制作各种艺术品的一种新兴艺术形式——译注）和糖果横截面照片的热衷也许并不是显而易见的财源，但它们确实能让我们深入了解人们的网络行为，以及他们对网络内容的反应模式。

    尽管网站编辑托马斯对网络商业性有不同看法，但并不妨碍这家网站报道商业动态。周二商业版块的主打文章就是有关星巴克公司（Starbucks）运用Facebook推广新饮料的做法。其他版块也会涉足商业，并且报道手法更为活泼有趣。比如，有关Twitter垃圾邮件（Twitter spam）就有数篇上乘报道。对Twitter公司，用户和其他将社交网络用作推广工具的公司来说，垃圾邮件都是个很现实的问题。另外有一篇数字艺术剽窃的报道则以独特的方式表明，在线媒体给人们的版权观念带来的改变。当然，网站上大量报道都是关于Facebook公司，新闻网站Reddit和其他社交媒体网站的。

    据《广告周刊》杂志透露，The Daily Dot没有外部融资，起步资金仅为60万美元。尽管网站上线准备工作历时数月，但除了一套独特的夸耀在本站做广告如何有利的自家广告外，网站还没能拉到广告。

    网站的联合创始人兼首席执行官尼古拉斯•怀特称，这验证了创办一家靠广告支撑的网站的“22条军规”（意为左右为难的困境——译注）。他说：“当你没有受众时，很难卖得出广告，”而没有广告资金流入，又很难获得受众。他还说，正式上线前，网站“绝对是”努力争取过一些广告主，但当前的环境对在初创网络公司的广告业务十分不利。

    据怀特表示，网站计划努力争取一些已证明对网络广告投放驾轻就熟的大品牌。他甚至明确提到了其中一些公司，如通用电气公司（GE），喜力啤酒公司（Heineken）和百事可乐公司（Pepsi）等，虽然目前尚无迹象表明其中任何一家愿意买账。他说：“这样的品牌是不会满足于只拥有一个Facebook页面的。”

    译者：清远

    This week saw the official launch of The Daily Dot, a Web publication that intends to cover the Internet like a "hometown newspaper." That is, it's all about the people on the Web, particularly on social media sites, and what they're doing and saying.

    Editor Owen Thomas, formerly of VentureBeat and Gawker, told Adweek: "To the extent that we can humanize the Web, that gives us an advantage over people who look at the Web as a business, as a set of technologies, or as a set of APIs."

    A refreshing approach, if somewhat perilous. It runs the risk of coming off as painfully contrived. (Years ago, I worked for a tech news site that would publish stories like "Internet Reacts to Death of Princess Di.") And there is some of that, but overall, it seems to steer clear of outright fluff. For example, a story about a viral YouTube video that depicts a little girl hugging and petting a dead squirrel offers fairly deep insight into how such things come to be posted, and how they manage to become popular.

    Thomas is right that too many of us see the Internet as merely a vast array of investment opportunities, or as a technological playground, and too many of us tend to gloss over the very human activity that takes place online every day without regard to the business implications.

    That doesn't mean businesspeople can't derive some value from The Daily Dot. The site shows how people are using the medium and what their expectations are. People's obsessions with meat art and cross-section photos of candy bars might not be an obvious source of profit, but they do offer insights into what people do online and how they react to what they see.

    Despite what Thomas says, the site does cover business. On Tuesday, the main story in the business section was about Starbucks (SBUX) using Facebook to promote a new drink. Other sections touch on business as well, and in more interesting ways. For example, there are a couple of good stories about Twitter spam, which is a real problem for Twitter, for users and for companies that use the social network as a promotional vehicle. A story about theft of digital art highlights in a unique way how online media changes our conceptions of copyright. Of course, there is plenty of coverage of Facebook, Reddit and other social media sites.

    According to Adweek, The Daily Dot has no outside financing, and has started with just $600,000. Despite having spent months preparing for launch, there are no ads yet, save for a set of unique house ads extolling the benefits of advertising on the site.

    This represents the "Catch 22" of starting an ad-supported Web site, says Nicholas White, The Daily Dot's co-founder and CEO. "It's hard to sell ads when you don't have an audience," he said, and it's hard to build an audience without ad money flowing in. The site "absolutely" tried to drum up some advertisers before launch, he said, but the current atmosphere isn't conducive to taking a chance on Web startups.

    The plan, according to White, is to go for big brands that have proven themselves Web-savvy. He even mentioned a few – GE, Heineken, Pepsi – though there's no indication that any of them are ready to write checks. "These are the kinds of brands that are going beyond just having a Facebook page," he said.