This document outlines two business models for a company called Citizenside that aims to involve users more directly in journalism. The first model positions Citizenside as a press agency where users take photos/videos, Citizenside verifies and distributes the content and shares revenue with the users. The second positions Citizenside as a technology provider that enables users to directly submit content to their favorite news brands, who then publish and license the content, with a revenue share. Both aim to make journalism more interactive and motivate user participation by appealing to their sense of identity, feedback and trust in news brands.

1. HOW TO PLAY
NICE WITH YOUR
USERS*
* and make money doing it

2. The global news community.

3. JOURNALISM IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT
THEY KNOW MORE THAN WE DO

4. THEY CREATE MORE MEDIA THAN WE DO

5. THEY DOCUMENT
THEIR OWN STORIES

6. THEY DOCUMENT
THEIR OWN STORIES BEFORE WE DO

7. WE SHOULDN’T JUST BE
SPECTATORS

8. WE WORK
FOR THEM

9. WE WORK
WITH THEM

10. CITIZENSIDE HAS
TWO BUSINESS
MODELS

11. BUSINESS
MODEL
1

12. WE ARE A
PRESS
AGENCY

13. OUR USERS TAKE PICTURES, SHOOT VIDEO

14. WE VERIFY, CURATE
WE DISTRIBUTE
WE SHARE REVENUE

15. USER SENDS
WE COLLATE,
PHOTO/VIDEO
VERIFY, PUBLISH
TO CITIZENSIDE
REVENUE IS
SHARED WE LICENSE
BETWEEN US CONTENT
AND THE USER

16. WE CREATE
INTRINSICALLY
REWARDING
EXPERIENCES

17. GAME OR DIE

18. JOURNALISM IS INTERACTIVE NOW

19. THE BEST LESSONS FOR INTERACTION
DESIGN COME FROM GAME DESIGN

20. SO HERE ARE FOUR REASONS
GAME DESIGN IS INDISPENSABLE
TO JOURNALISM

21. MOTIVATION

22. FEEDBACK

23. TRUST

24. LOYALTY

25. And with all that, our users
send us pictures like this:

35. BUSINESS
MODEL
2

36. WE ARE A
TECHNOLOGY
PROVIDER

37. WE ENABLE YOUR USERS TO TAKE
PICTURES AND SHOOT VIDEO
FOR YOU

38. USER SENDS
NEWS BRAND
PHOTO/VIDEO
PUBLISHES
TO FAVOURITE
IMAGES
NEWS BRAND
*
REVENUE
WE LICENSE
SHARE: USER,
CONTENT
BRAND,
FURTHER
CITIZENSIDE

39. LOYALTY
News is about branding.
Information is a commodity.
People will interact with your news brand
because of identity; yours and theirs.

40. They want to say “I’m an Economist reader.” “I’m a
Guardian reader.” “I read WIRED.”
Citizenside tech lets them participate in your brand.
They want to, because it means something for
them. It’s a part of their identity.
With our technology, your users can help you make
your brand stronger.

41. Journalism is about digging for
things worth talking about.

42. YOU DON’T NEED A GIANT MACHINE

43. YOU DON’T NEED A GIANT MACHINE

44. DO IT RIGHT AND YOU CAN MOTIVATE
1,000,000 PEOPLE
WITH SHOVELS

45. Philip Trippenbach
Editor-in-Chief
trippenbach@citizenside.com
@trippenbach