SPOT.US
Community-funded reporting Plus: H&M Home Collection
Harnessing the power of the people, new online experiment Spot.Us hopes to change the face of journalism by putting a new spin on community-sourced content. During a time when many a reader has become wary of traditional news media outlets for delivering sensationalized, biased, or elitist content, Spot.Us offers San Francisco-area community members citizen journalism-style opportunities in which anyone can submit an idea for an investigative story and/or donate money to story ideas or "pitches" that they want to see covered. Those pitches which reach their funding goals (to cover the reporting costs) are then written by freelance journalists and published on the Spot.Us site. Traditional media outlets have the opportunity to gain exclusive publishing rights, but must pay for this opportunity.
Crowdfunded ventures such as this offer individuals a sense of control and empowerment, and combined with the citizen journalism angle, score even more points by allowing interested parties to donate money towards stories they feel passionate about exposing in their communities. And during a time when traditional media is struggling, a community focused formula for reporting should score points among those disengaged from mainstream news sources.
And by the way: Fans of H&M will soon be able to stock more than just their closets with style. This February, H&M will launch its first Home Collection of textiles and home accessories. Available exclusively online and through mail order catalogs, lucky residents in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Austria and The Netherlands will have access to the goods. While there's no news of it yet, we hope it will hit the US soon after!
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* trendcentral articles are designed to be trend reports, not endorsements * The Intelligence Group is a trend-forecasting and marketing Consultancy focused on Gen X, Gen Y and Tweens. For more information on our services, or to subscribe to our syndicated studies, The Cassandra Report, Tween Intelligence, Latino Intelligence, and Mom Intelligence, contact Alina Goncalves at 212-277-5299 or via email at agoncalves@intelg.com.
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