Where do we go from here?

“Where do we go from here?  The battle’s done, And we kinda won.  So we sound our victory cheer.  Where do we go from here?”
From Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Musical

A couple weeks ago we had a huge Content Summit at Gannett.  We have been planning it for months and now it is over, but I realize the work is just beginning…

Gannett is a media company and over the past two weeks, our stock has been rising, which is kinda nice.  There are a few reasons for this, but I joke that the street got wind of our new content strategy and it is showing its confidence in our plan.

My current job focuses on social media, but I have always been passionate about improving and reinforcing any company I have worked for.  I step outside of the box sometimes, and sometimes I even step too far, but I want my company to succeed.  It isn’t really about me, right?  It’s about trying to recognize ways to move Gannett into the future successfully.  This may be via innovation, may be via audience participation, may be via technological changes… never ignoring the basis of what we do best- journalism.

So today I am livestreaming sessions from Izeafest and from the Online News Association conference.  And in a couple weeks I will be attending the 2009 Blogworld and New Media Expo (very excited- if you will be there, let me know).  But my point is I am always trying to learn.  I always seek out the words of the influencers and ‘rockstars’ in the space I occupy or hope to occupy.

I don’t know what the future holds for Gannett, but I am confident we will be able to bring it through the current wave of ‘newspapers are dying’ and get to the next place where people understand and appreciate the importance of quality investigative journalism.  I want to see Gannett be known for being an innovative media company.  I will help get it there.