Consumer Advisory Board, or, the New Version of an Ombudsman
We’re seeking a group of 25 to become our consumer advisory board. A group of people who believe there’s a future for news organizations, and want to assist in building a new one for the Internet age. People who will represent the voice of the future news consumer.
If you’d like to join: email us at cab@ofrecord.com.
Who We’re Looking For
- You’re a consumer. That is, you consider yourself someone who would actually pay money to a news organization for a product of value. Perhaps you’re not spending money on news now, because you don’t feel that there’s any news organization that’s deserving. Or you don’t spend money on news for other reasons. But you would. You believe, philosophically, that capitalist news institutions are important. Or, maybe you do spend money on news now, but aren’t entirely happy with the experience. (Like me. I subscribe to the Economist: it piles up on my kitchen table, unread, while I read inferior online news and re-buy the Economist issues I already own when at the airport since I only read magazines on planes. I buy Vogue for the ads, and suffer through dimwitted articles wishing I was reading the Economist.)
- You’re reality-based. You’re self-conscious enough to know your real motivations and desires. You understand we’re a small start-up and that we need to build things people will pay for.
What it Involves
No more than once a month, we’ll send you an email asking you a few questions.
What You’ll Get in Return
We would ply you with gifts and rewards, but that would hopelessly bias you and render your opinion useless. But we will offer you two things:
- You’ll always have a direct line to the CEO. Sure, that doesn’t seem like much now. But in ten years when we’re a giant media company (or when we’re acquired by Rupert Murdoch) this could turn out to be extremely useful. If we all do our jobs, then it will be akin to being able to email Steve Jobs and say, “Steve, this iPhone is great and all, but let me tell you about all the features it should have.”
- We’ll publish any articles you write for this blog. That is, any relevant articles: not articles about how much you love your dog, but articles that are about our company and ombudsmanesque, we will publish here. Sure, that doesn’t seem like much now. But in the future, when we’re a powerful media company and you want to lash out at our coverage of an issue or write a tome against our newly-launched Suggested Journalists Twitter list, you might find it very useful.
If you’d like to join: email us at cab@ofrecord.com.
Let us know who you are, what your current news consumption habits are, and one thing that a news company could do that would actually incline you to give them money.
And thank you in advance.
