BigShinyThing

One of the main findings is that, like everything else in internet-enabled nations, news is now social. Pew’s research found that Americans are increasingly active participants in online news creation and dissemination, as well as keen consumers of mobile news content. For example:

• 37% of internet users have contributed to the creation of news, commented about it, or disseminated it via postings on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
• more than 8 in 10 online news consumers get or share links in emails.
• a third of cellphone users access news on their phones.

Pew’s analysis of this situation is that:

People’s experience of news, especially on the internet, is becoming a shared social experience as people swap links in emails, post news stories on their social networking site feeds, highlight news stories in their Tweets, and haggle over the meaning of events in discussion threads.

Locked down, pay-walled content is more or less shut out of this conversation — after all, how many ‘subscription required’ links have you forwarded to your mates or colleagues lately or posted to Facebook? Worse still, the research further reveals that only 17% of Americans read news in a national newspaper on a typical day. So, as physical newspaper reading wanes, many newspaper companies are actively shutting themselves out of the online ecosystem by pursuing a pay-per-view or subscription model. Smart.

A couple of years ago, we pointed out that newspaper covermounts were shaping up as a huge threat to the music (and video) industry hegemonies (our word of the week, kiddies). Look and learn, children: today we read that Prince has done a deal to give away his new album with a future issue of the Mail on Sunday.

Coming as this does the same week that beleaguered retailer HMV announced a 73 percent drop in profits, the industry has responded in the only way it knows how, when faced with a challenge from the ‘talent’: with kicking, biting and scratching. The chairman of the Entertainment Retailers Association, Paul Quirk, is quoted in The Guardian:

It would be an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career [...] It would be yet another example of the damaging covermount culture which is destroying any perception of value around recorded music.

[...] The Artist Formerly Known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores. And I say that to all the other artists who may be tempted to dally with the Mail on Sunday.

Ooo, get her. Like, after his long fight with the labels, here at the start of the 21st century, the Purple God really cares whether his music is on shelves, as long as his fans can buy it (and of course turn up to his gigs at The O2 later this year).

A few weeks ago we remarked on the similarities between The Guardian’s style page and New York magazine’s Look Book page. Now, compare and um don’t contrast The Guardian’s Saturday edition ‘News Matrix’ and New York magazine’s longstanding ‘Approval Matrix’.

Once you get past the zillion pages of ads, it’s rather beautiful … see the FT site for details. Get it while it’s non subscription…

Stateside, the right wing news site Happy News will only report on the postitive side of everything. The Happy News credo runs:

“Real News, Compelling Stories, Always Positive” is what you’ll find on HappyNews.com. We believe virtue, goodwill and heroism are hot news. That’s why we bring you up-to-the-minute news, geared to lift spirits and inspire lives. Add in a diverse team of Citizen Journalists reporting positive stories from around the world, and you’ve got one happy place for news.

Some typical headlines read, “The good news about Katrina”, “Brother gets crocodile to release girl”. It will be interesting to see how they cover the “inevitable” Bird Flu pandemic.

In the UK, The Independent ran an unusually upbeat front cover this week: “Multicultural Britain – an unlikely success story.” And weather reports have apparently been ordered to look on the bright side – literally. The Daily Telegraph reports that the Meteorological Office has issued guidelines in an attempt to make the weather more relevant and uplifting. The move could mean that forecasts will predict a “mainly dry” day instead of “patchy rain” or report that it will be “warm for most of the day” instead of “chilly in isolated, coastal areas”. Viewers can also look forward to “a generally clear” outlook instead of “occasional showers” and “isolated storms”.

BigShinyThing of course knows that the British weather sucks and that humanity is doomed. Soon doom-mongers will be able to get a daily fix at our sister site, BigScaryThing. Watch this space.

Isabella Blow features in today’s new look Guardian newspaper talking about her style (pictured). In New York Magazine this week, accessories designer Kirsten Yadouga features in the much-maligned ‘Look Book’ section talking about hers.

Also pictured – last week’s Look Book entry.