The value of linking out revisited
Yes, I know: to most of you the power of linking out is self-evident. However, in my worklife I'm constantly reminded that linking out - e.g. to add transparency and additional value - is a foreign idea in too many quarters.
Linking out is part and parcel of what makes you, as a blogger, journalist, editor, part of a wider, distributed, conversation, as I've touched upon before. Still, this recent conversation reminded me of how widespread MSM fear of linking out still is - a fact that made me take extra note of these words from Jeff Jarvis on the value of the link:
It is the key architectural element supporting a new structure of media, the steel beam that enables journalism to build past prior physical limitations, to grow taller, wider, and stronger than before. Just recently, I have heard confusion from working journalists about the role of the link. They still think it is an endorsement rather than an extension or an FYI. They don’t always understand how links power the algorithms that organize knowledge today, and how links are the basis of media distribution from now on.
