Out With A Bang

I’m not one for drum rolls; nor after the summer and autumn that we’ve had, am I much in the mood for popping champagne corks everywhere. A quiet pint in the White Horse in Chedgrave will have to suffice.

But, there we go… a 4iP-funded project out of the door and sat there on www.myfootballwriter.com/norwichcity

It’s the one that says ‘Powered by backchat’; the rolling conversation feed with pictures of our punters; and, me, no more than the badged-up steward in the crowd; with my MFW logo pinned to my jacket; keeping the conversation queue moving along…

We are, Jamie tells me, the first 4iP project to ‘hit the streets’ this winter; or at least one that’s gone through the formal submission process on www.4iP.org.uk and so it would be remiss at this stage not to do a couple of swift thanks before diving into what on earth it is we’re talking about.

Usual suspects; Neil, Kev, Ian, Karl and all at ETT (Norwich), Pete, Tom and, of course, the Mrs. And Annette. Natch. Plus our Shanes and Pauls – of Telegraph and BCU fame respectively who have been on hand with their words of advice and encouragement.

OK, welcome to ‘backchat’.

In short, it is Emily Bell’s thoughts on journalism as a conversation; of this being the ‘Age Of Participation’ made web flesh… http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=164

It is also this idea of media being these ‘camp-fire communities’; places of warmth and welcome; and decent chatter… with the journalist merely there to throw more logs onto the fire; to pass round the mulled wine and the mince pies as the conversation ebbs and flows around him or her. All very D Cushman… http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=119

But, equally, it’s all very Stephen Fry – http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=181 – given that all we’re doing is employing both the same kind of technological tool kit and the same kind of ’shepherd with his flock’ thinking that underpins Stephen’s ever-growing Twitter empire.

There is, of course, the odd tweak. We use #ncfc on Twitter as opposed to #oscarwildeday to ‘channel’ the conversation through ‘backchat’; and we also use www.jaiku.com – going forward we suspect that there might be all manner of Google app goodies that we can apply to other passionate niche communities in need of a voice…

What ‘backchat’, therefore, allows for is ‘platform agnostic conversations’ – a term that, let it be recorded now, was first coined by our 4iP/Channel Four ‘handler’ Jamie Arnold.

Where this is all takes us going forward will be fascinating; it is very much a pilot project out of just one, passionate niche community; and given that this weekend is derby weekend in Norfolk and Ipswich are due in town this Sunday, said community is likely to be more passionate than normal over the next 48-72 hours.

Which will, potentially, lead us into moderation issues; can the measured, semi-detached voice of the journalist prove to be a calming influence? A voice of gentle reason? Will a passionate niche community listen? Who knows…

Bottom line? I firmly believe that journalism cannot afford – in any sense of the term – to live in its ivory tower any longer; our futures lie in the heart of our audiences; in the midst of their conversations.

We have to get down and dirty; we have to be seen to join them… to not be handing out tablets of stone at 7am every morning. Or 5pm every evening when the paper boys deigns to show.

Or, indeed, in TV terms at 6.30pm when the local TV news show is scheduled to be screened.

Media is this 24/7, moveable feast and having dined out for the last 300 years on feeding our punters little more than scraps off our table, we now need to join them at their table; be part of their conversation; be seen to listen; be seen to be willing to be part of a two-way process.

If we don’t – and if we’re not – they’ll move on. Leave us behind; talking to no-one, in particular.

And that’s ‘backchat’ – it’s an empowerment tool, just as www.addiply.com is.

We’re empowering what was once our audience to chat back. And all I’ve got to do now is to learn how to listen.