Web-first and user-first strategies find success. And inspiration here from many sources: a major collaboration, thoughts on thriving in news, and a conversation on journalism and democracy.

<a href="http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/best-social-media-metrics-conversation-amplification-applause-economic-value/">Best Social Media Metrics: Conversation, Amplification, Applause, Economic Value</a>
Surfacing meaningful metrics to show impact, social media measurement requires a different lens. “Did you grab attention? Did you deliver delight?”

<a href="http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/2012-04-17/why-the-future-of-business-media-is-not-in-print">Why the future of business media is not in print, it’s in being user-first</a>
An approach to financial sustainability putting users front and center. Author Neil Thackray sums it up: An approach that “creates deep engagement across platforms is always monetisable.”

<a href="http://flowingdata.com/2012/04/27/data-and-visualization-blogs-worth-following/">Data and visualization blogs worth following</a>
Interested in how people are using data to understand ourselves better? Stay current and fuel your work with this collection of inspiring blogs covering data visualization.

<a href="http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/business-news/the-biz-blog/171833/christian-science-monitor-sees-traffic-revenues-rising-after-3-years-of-web-first-strategy/">Christian Science Monitor sees traffic, revenue rising after 3 years of Web-first strategy</a>
Digital first case study: Christian Science Monitor ups views, uniques, ad revenue and content sales after “wrenching” change adapting “serious...journalism to the Web’s possibilities.”

<a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/lewisdvorkin/2012/03/27/inside-forbes-the-9-key-steps-weve-taken-to-disrupt-the-traditional-news-business/">Inside Forbes: The 9 Key Steps We’ve Taken to Disrupt the Traditional News Business</a>
Nine practices a “95-year-old startup” cultivates to reinvent itself. Forbes writer Lewis DVorkin writes “we’re striving to create a news experience that is not just social, but connected.”

<a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/05/a-lesson-in-collaboration-how-15-news-orgs-worked-together-to-tell-a-single-education-story/">A lesson in collaboration: How 15 news orgs worked together to tell a single education story</a>
A collaboration case study: Fifteen reporters and more than a dozen news organizations together “track the local use of $3 billion in federal School Improvement Grant stimulus money.”

<a href="http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/career-development/170328/5-ways-young-journalists-can-stay-motivated-thrive-in-the-newsroom/">5 ways young journalists can stay motivated, thrive in the newsroom</a>
Via Poynter, Tom Huang’s perspective on thriving in journalism. A response to Malcolm Gladwell’s suggestion young people avoid print newsrooms and “go the penniless web route for practice.”

<a href="http://billmoyers.com/segment/marty-kaplan-on-big-moneys-effect-on-big-media/">Marty Kaplan on Big Money’s Effect on Big Media</a>
Head of USC’s Norman Lear Center Marty Kaplan talks with Bill Moyers, noting “Education and journalism were supposed to, according to our founders, inform our public and make democracy work.”