People who've been trained as journalist see their function as informing and assisting people, but maybe you should seriously consider "entertain and connect" as a mission.
WSJ.com - Questions for … Geraldine Laybourne, 2006-May-31, by Suzanne Vranica
WSJ: Obviously your company has done tons of research on the likes and dislikes of women. What was the most surprising thing you learned from the research about women?
Ms. Laybourne: The most surprising thing I found about women is I assumed our first job with Oxygen was how we can help our audience. They are so overburdened, they have so many jobs and they have so much to do -- how can we help? And what I got back from the research was even though women were juggling a bunch of things, they felt good about themselves and they like who they were. And they didn't want some brand coming in and helping them. They didn't really welcome help. So our job, especially online, is how we can make their relationship to other platforms more emotional and more fun. That is our real goal. What is exciting to me about the second version of the Web is it is all about the architecture of participation. How do we connect people with each other? We are taking this participation aspect seriously with all our shows. ... With 'Mo'Nique's Plus Size Beauty Pageant' we are allowing people to upload their videos this year.
