VIDEO. TEXT. Last update March 2023.

CBuzz Media has created a new media model that empowers grassroot social media producers to eradicate misinformation, disinformation and fake news. This better informs, engages and connects communities.

CBuzz Media needs to go national. The goal is to give citizens a trusted space to be able to Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote and become civically accountable in their locality.

The CBuzz website model creates a breadth and depth of local, original source content that reaches 16k Coastside citizens every month; approximately 200k page views per year in a community of 24,000.   Multiply 200k by 20,000 small towns to create 4 billion page views per year. That is a lot of original source content to dilute misinformation.

 

Watch the 9-Minute Pitch

 

CBuzz Media Pitch Links on Coastside Buzz

Links mentioned in the video are referenced here:

• Press release/articles/photo-essays like the SFPUC mountain views post.
• Podcasts like Bedtime Stories, plus interviews, like Candidate interviews.
• Public agency videos like the 4.5 hour MSWD rate increase meeting with 50 Zooming.
• Weekly Buzz Mail.

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Table of Contents for this Presentation

• Text from the 9-Minute Pitch-Deck Video.
• CBuzz Media: Going National with Venture Capital.
• The 4-year Push to the 2024 Election.
• CBuzz Media ~ Best Partnerships.
• CBuzz Media Tactical Roll-out.
• How, and in What Order, Will Money Be Spent to Create CBuzz Media.
• How Might the Stanford/CBuzz Media Partnership Work?

 

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Text for the 9-Min. Pitch-Deck Video

I have developed a new media model that will eradicate, misinformation, disinformation and fake news. And I’m using social media to do it.

I want to partner with venture capital and Stanford to go national. The goal is to give people a trusted space to be able to Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote and become civically accountable in their locality.

I will talk concept, money, partnership and exit.

Concept.

This new media model uses original source information as its content. It is a power hidden in plain sight. Original source information includes public agency videos, agendas, press releases, etc.

In 1977, the FCC mandated that the brand new cable companies provide a public access channel for every US jurisdiction. Today, every jurisdiction and every public agency records their meetings; Public agencies such as the City council, sewer and water authorities, harbor and school districts, for example.

 

 

This goldmine of free content allows people to “watch” the meetings from the comfort of their armchair, or while they are gardening, and when it is convenient. They can respond to staff or council by email, remotely.

Coastside Buzz (CBuzz) was started 5 years ago and now with Covid, public agency Zoom remote attendance has gone up 10,000% on the Coastside, and growing. 

 

 

Local public agencies are already paying for the videos to be recorded and posted on YouTube, but without SEO and social media, they just sit there, unwatched. The City was paying $118/per view; not many views. Recently, 50 people showed up, live, to a water rate increase meeting and many more watched and shared the post of the recorded video, all remotely.

Using original source information as content creates an environment of trust. Public agency videos do not lie. Public agency work product does not lie. First person candidate podcasts do not lie.

 

 

A website post would include the video of the meeting cued to a topic on the agenda (rather than sifting through hours of video to find it). It would also include the agenda, graphics, links, snappy titling with a Social Media friendly thumbnail photo/graphic. This is then shared and boosted. Public agencies pay CBuzz for the distribution and promotion.

 

 

The CBuzz Media model has not pissed anyone off in more than 5 years, in a small town, no less.

CBuzz “Gives everyone a voice, in their own words”. No bias, no editor, no media mogul.

The goal is to give citizens a tool that they can trust so that they can Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote and become civically accountable in their town.

 

Do you know who to contact when your favorite hike and bike mountain top is closed?

Do you know why water and sewer rates are skyrocketing in your town?

Would full-chain cannabis be a good thing where you live?

Imagine a CBuzz in every U.S. town where you can Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote, based on information you can trust to be reliable.

 

Money. 

Deputy Buzz Officer Income. There are 20,000 towns in the US; 16,000 with populations under 10,000 citizens. Imagine a Deputy Buzz Officer (DBO) in each of those towns watching all of the public agency meetings and sharing that information?

The CBuzz Media Model has an estimated full revenue buildout for DBOs of $150,000/year which includes income from public agencies, sponsorships, and the business directory. That is 3 times what small town newspaper journalists get paid.

The CBuzz Franchise. DBO franchise fees of $50,000 with an ROI in one year. $50k times 20,000 DBOs … equals a 1 billion dollar capitalization, and that is just for small towns. For larger cities the franchise fee would be more. And then there is international franchise income.

Each franchisee would become a Deputy Buzz Officer (DBO). They would get a turnkey website environment for content, a free self-submit calendar and a business directory. They would have 24/7/365 access to The CBuzz Hive that will include:

1. Aggregating nationwide content and advertising feeds
2. A Technical Support Center
3. And the Center of CBuzz Philosophy, to manage bias.

Deputy Buzz Officers will, in turn, buy social media ads to boost their content. Take Facebook as an example. Starting with a conservative $200/month budget for 20,000 DBO’s results in Facebook income of $48 million per year, in the U.S., alone. Social media will want to partner with CBuzz Media. Facebook Security is interested in what CBuzz Media can do for harm reduction. And this media model can help with the FCC 230 open internet question.

As DBOs build content, they also build metrics and income and, so, they will spend more on ads to build more metrics creating a circular economic system between CBuzz Media and social media companies.

And DBOs can aggregate local content, nationally, as is relevant.

Local and national advertising can also be shared through the CBuzz Media national aggregating feed. Note: Buzz Feed made $50 million in 2018 with advertising.

As DBO’s share content, social media will get tons of unfiltered, original source content posts nationwide.

That is the antidote to misinformation, disinformation and fake news.

Content is the oxygen of the internet. Truth content doesn’t currently exist. Valuation: priceless.

 

Social Media Partnerships.

CBuzz Media has already benefited from its partnerships with social media like Facebook and Instagram for the last 3 years. I screenshot metrics of each post/boost when invoicing the public agencies and sponsors. For many unfamiliar with social media it is an eye-opener. Metrics define valuation for public agencies and advertising.

As the newspaper, radio and cable TV generation passes on, the internet will be The place for information.

 

Mechanics to Build The CBuzz Media Hive. 

• Build a master CBuzz website template for each DBO to fill in. The template will include:

○ Content space for public agency videos, history lectures, outdoor photo-essays, Bedtime Stories, podcasts and videos.

○ Calendar: Hyper-local community events, all the live music, public agency meetings, art, history, local fun, free and self-submit.

○ Business Directory: Local businesses get internet presence for a one time $250 fee. Builds content, SEO, audience and good will.

• Build a training portal to assist DBOs technically and philosophically.
• Build a Content and Advertising aggregator
• Build App
• DBO Training
• Develop CBuzz Media Development and Support Teams

Partnering with Stanford and social media brands will fast-track what took CBuzz 5 years to do, into 1-2 years.

 

Exit.

The CBuzz Media Model gets us into the ballpark of personal accountability for local civics. The application of this idea, in the first two years, will be critical. CBuzz Media must create a culture which is rabid for raw, original source information, aiming for zero bias.

I was once asked how to vote in a Sheriff election; the title of the post was:

“Does It Matter to You In a Seemingly Well Run County that Sheriff B. was in a Sex Raid, in Las Vegas, in 2007?”

I replied, “Watch the video in order to Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote.”

You can do that when you have a trusted information source. And it did matter; Sheriff M. got 40% of the vote.

Within 2 years the CBuzz Media Model can lock down the technology and philosophy and, then, it will be up to the next generation to fan the flames of truth, snuffing out fake news one DBO at a time.

 

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CBuzz Media: Going National With Venture Capital and BuzzFeed News

 

The What.  A New Media Model; Not News.

• Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote, Repeat.
• Eradicate misinformation, disinformation and fake news, reducing real world harm.
• Re-engage, invigorate and restore personal civic accountability.
• Disruption by promoting original source content.
• Solution to FCC Section 230, maintaining reduced media liability, free speech and more individual responsibility and accountability before sharing.

 

The How.

• Aggregate original source content from 20,000 nationwide media outlets, in small towns, each lead by a Deputy Buzz Officer (DBO).
• DBOs post only locally verified information, thereby “hyper-informing” the community and minimizing the truth gap.
• This original source video content has been mandated by the FCC, and free to the public, since 1977.
• DBOs contract with public agencies to distribute this free, original source video content and staff work product.
• DBOs create local harm reduction, which aggregates to national harm reduction (eg masks).
• Each CBuzz Media outlet is a franchise valued at $50k (base) with a capitalization of $1 billion nationwide.
• DBO franchisees pay for social media ads to boost their metrics.

 

First Mover Advantage.

In 6 years, and plenty of MBFM (My Big Fat Mouth), no one has rallied to any competition. I believe the product is so good, so pure, such an intellectual and emotional relief that people simply enjoy the idea and the information. There are a few local trolls, and even they leave me alone.

Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote is the dream of the American way and has been lost due to global media. The grassroots will take back fact from fiction.

Giving everyone a voice, in their own words, allows for citizen reporting and free content (must be fact checked and moderated). It also brings the community together. (see The Gutenberg Moment)

 

Monetization.

There are 20,000 towns in the US.  Imagine a Deputy Buzz Officer (DBO) in each of those towns watching all of the public agency meetings and sharing that information?

The CBuzz Media Model has an estimated full buildout revenue for DBOs of $150,000/year which includes income from public agencies, sponsorships, and the business directory. That is 3 times what small town newspaper journalists get paid.

The CBuzz Franchise Capitalization.  $50k times 20,000 DBOs … That is a 1 billion dollar national capitalization, and that is just for small towns. For larger cities the franchise fee would be more. And then there is international franchise income.

 

$5 Million for 5 Tasks.

1. Build master website template with aggregator.
2. Build a technical/training portal.
3. Build App.
4. Train DBOs.
5. Develop Support teams.

 

Exit.

$100 million on a billion dollar capitalization.

 

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The 4-year Push to 2024 Election

 

Year One ~2021: “The Starting Gun”

• $1-3 million dollar investment.
• Build Master website (content, calendar and business directory).
• Build aggregating technology for content and advertising.
• Build Technology and Philosophy Support Portals.
• Build App.
• Develop Deputy Buzz Officer Training and franchise packages (base package, and value add-on packages such as Live Music Calendar, Bedtime Stories podcast, Create Citizen and Candidate Engagement and Policy White Papers for the use by every jurisdiction, etc…).
• Train 12 DBO’s. 6 West coast, 2 East coast, 2 Midwest, 2 South.
• DBO’s paid $50 to 100k (depending of geography) for first year. These first DBOs will have to produce the content and review the website and portal experience for full launch in the second year. They get to keep their website, unless they re-franchise (sell/or pass on) in order to help at the national management expansion level.

 

Year Two ~ 2022: “Nov. 2022 Mid-term Elections”

• Expand to 2,500 outlets.
• Create National Public Agency Education Team.
• Create National Aggregating Ad Team (vs Google AdSense).
• Emphasize local election seasons (ramp up civic education).

 

Year Three ~ 2023: “The Race”

• Expand nationally to small towns with 20,000 population.
• Gear up for the national election in year four.

 

Year Four ~ 2024: “The Presidential Election”

• Consolidate small town outlets’ content and ad aggregation.
• Expand to cities.
• Look to international.

 

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CBuzz Media ~ Best Partnerships

• Facebook and Instagram: streamline disclaimer process. DBOs pay for ads.
• Google and YouTube have AdSense, CPC (cost per click), algorithm technologies and a CEO who wants to solve information problems. All public agency video content on Coastside Buzz, is linked to YouTube.  (Susan Wojcicki; Hey, Let’s Go Buy YouTube!).
• BuzzFeed has no hyper-local feed. There is an opportunity for vertical integration. The DBO Hive will act as a new United Press International (UPI) and Associated Press  (AP) by collecting and distributing local content that can be shared nationally.
• Local Government.
• Twitter.
• NextDoor.
• Universities like Stanford and MIT Media Lab.

 

Trusted Information Partners

Wikipedia, Snopes, Facebook, Twitter, NextDoor, other social media platforms, local radio (KHMB), local newspapers, CalMatters, universities.

 

Local to National Clubs/Organizations

Chambers, BNI, Rotary, Lions, Odd Fellows, Future Farmers, Makers, HAM radio, local schools, churches, sports, history associations, Village of the Coastside, CERT (Community Emergency Response Team-FEMA), etc…

 

FREE Content

FREE Content also includes press releases, local events, businesses, live music, art, history, clubs, recreation, non-profits, disaster prep, podcasts, videos, photo-essays, citizen reporters and more.

 

 

 

 

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CBuzz Media Tactical Roll-out

 

 

PHASE #1:   Development Goals for CBuzz Media Master Website Template

 

Content and Home Page Design:  See Coastside Buzz

• Articles, photo-essays, links, podcasts, video, citizen reporters.
• No text interruptions with blinky video ads.
• Only static link ads embedded near top and at bottom, so text is not broken up.
• No banner ad on home page; content is king, let it sing without distractions.
• Graphic for top header banner gets changed out using local artists and photographers. Free art for promotion and exposure. Builds local audience.
• Create “Follow us!” tool.
• Create “Subscribe to email” button.
• Create side bar ad placements.
• Add social media share links.
• Include local weather camera links.

 

Calendar Design

• Not an aggregating calendar like City Spark, yet.
• Currently, public agency meetings events must be loaded and managed manually by the DBO and guest contributors. I have been speaking with Stanford Data Science Journalism Professor, Cheryl Phillips, who has created a crawler to collect public agency agendas, automatically.
• Free and self-submit events build content, audience, participation and good will.
• Self-submit events will be approved, manually, by the DBO within 24-hours. 
• Create a pdf space at the top of the calendar page for the CBuzz Music and Events Calendar pdf : “All the music and events in your location with one click”. This could also be inserted on the banner itself so it permeates the website. The entertainment pdf is one of the website’s biggest draws.

 

Directory Design

• Placement on a CBuzz Media Business Directory will have better SEO and reach a broader audience than someone’s small business website.
• Allows multimedia video, photos, podcasts and text to tell the full story of the business in one easy scroll. 
• Allows easy shares to social media and to the CBuzz aggregating feed.

 

Weekly Buzz Mail Design 

• Currently on Mail Chimp; move to a more streamlined and customize Weekly Buzz Mail.

 

Internet Best Practices 

• Mobile friendly
• ADA Compliant

PHASE #2: Training for 20k Deputy Buzz Officers (DBOs)  

Starting Out

DBOs are true believers. The CBuzz Media philosophy drives the DBO mission per the Gutenberg Moment  “Giving Everyone a Voice, In Their Own Words”; no ego, no edit, no bias. DBOs battle misinformation, disinformation and fake news, on the local level.

DBOs will be given access to a brand new website.  Their website will be empty of all content. They will need to fill it up!

DBOs will also be given access to a portal.  The portal will be divided into two parts.

• This first part is for 24/7/365 Technical Hive Support by chat, call or screen share. 
• The second part is the The Center of CBuzz Media Philosophy and the “21 Buzzmandments”, delivered by video, podcast, chat, call or shared screen.

 

How to Manage Multi-media Content on Multiple Platforms

5 Platforms.

Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Weekly Buzz Mail, MBFG (My Big Fat Mouth ;-).

 

Website Structure ~ Content vs Promotion.

Content is our gold. It should not be trashed by unnecessary eye-grabbing ads. Consider that the age range for Coastside Buzz is currently reaching an audience from 18-70. However, promotions are also information, and worthy of some attention and management.

 

Promotion: Internet and Gorilla Marketing.

• Internet.   Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, Twitter,  Nextdoor, etc.
• Weekly Buzz Mail.
• Local Gorilla marketing via transport and entertainment.  bike, hike, walk, bus eat out and listen to live music.
• Analog.  stickers! buttons, cards, flyers and apparel.
• QR code.  reduce printing and urge green; code leads to dense, contextual info.
• In Person education.  seniors, clubs and social groups for gentle internet education.
• Other Media. AOL Patch, paper, every agency email and LOCAL social media influencers.
• Shares. AOL Patch, SMCo Journal, SF Chronical, SJ Mercury, NY Time, NPR, Washington Post, WSJ, 
• “Bonding” by participating with public agencies, local clubs and organizations.
• Implement Citizen to Candidate year round coaching program

 

The Mechanics on How to Create and Manage Buzz

• • Post and share.
  • Multimedia: articles, photos, graphics, podcasts, videos, animations, surveys..
  • Multi-platform: Website/Google, Facebook, Instagram, Weekly Buzz Mail.
  • Spreadsheets or project management tools to track content, ads.

How-To Training Titles:  

• Philosophy ~ Starting with the first 12 DBOs, the culture of truth over ego must be embedded ~ The 21 (or so) “Buzzmandments”
  • The Gutenberg Moment.
  • “Own Voice, Own Words” ~ Giving everyone a voice in their own words.
  • Bottom up content aggregation, NOT top down; avoids national hijack.
  • Never argue.
  • Ask questions.
  • Listen.
  • Walk away nicely.
  • Fact checking.
  • Peer review.
  • Hard work and hustle.
  • Consistency.
  • Discipline.
  • Write it down / capture / schedule.
  • Network: Belong to every club and organization.
  • It is your business $$.
  • Ads versus promotion.

PHASE # 3:  CBuzz Media Development and Support Teams

• Public Agency Staff and Board Outreach and Education
• DBO Franchise Package, Contract and Sales
• Additional Franchise Package Products
• Content Sharing Partnerships Team
• Trusted Information Partners.
• Local to National CLUBS/Organizations.
• Develop Equipment and Promotional Partnerships

 

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How, and in What Order, Will Money Be Spent to Create CBuzz Media

Note: “Team” may refer to a single person. One person may also do more than one thing. Teams will be built out over time.

 

• $ Hire Coders.

  • Create CBuzz Code Team to Build Content Spaces master template. 
  • Use Coastside Buzz as the prototype for the master template.

• • Develop 1. content pages 2. calendar 3. business directory.
  • Everything to the highest ADA compliance standards.
  • Everything to be multilingual.
  • Build social media share tool for content, calendar and business directory.
  • Build ad and content aggregators.
  • Build “Weekly Buzz Mail” template to allow webpage posts to be easily shared to the Buzz Mail environment.
  • Build CBuzz Media App.

 

• $ Hire Franchise First Round Deputy Buzz Officers (DBOs).

  • Use Coastside Buzz as a prototype to “sell” 6-12 people on becoming Deputy Buzz Officers (DBOs). They would get paid $50k-$100k (depending on the market) for the first year, and get a “free” website template ($50k value). In return, they will provide feedback as we build out all of the tools, before we sign more DBOs.
    • DBOs beta test website template and tools.
    • DBOs develop content.
    • DBOs sign income contracts with public agencies and advertisers.

• • First Franchise Locations.
    • Coastside Buzz (Stephanie Myhre).
    • Pacifica Buzz (Carol Camacho and Chris Hunter).
    • Santa Cruz Buzz (via Santa Cruz Waves).
    • San Carlos Buzz (know mayor).
    • Monterey Buzz.
    • Marin Buzz (broken down into smaller towns).
    • Pescadero Buzz (pivot for KPDO) much less than $50k as population is much smaller (643 in 2010) and their reach and audience is less, and therefore value is less. But CBuzz needs to reach these communities that  are less advantaged economically (farm workers). This may reflect the philanthropic arm of CBuzz Media democratizing the internet.
    • Upstate New York (old publisher of HMB Review, Barb Anderson).

 

• $ Hire Tech Support.

  • Develop Tech Support Team and 24/7/365 portal (which hopefully will not need too much staff, if we get the design of the master template and tools right!).

 

• $ Hire Content Developer.

  • Develop the Center of CBuzz Philosophy. Using the “The Buzzmandments”, DBOs will be trained to minimize misinformation, disinformation and fake news by being aware of and managing their biases and egos.

• • • $ Start and develop “The Daily Hive” remote meetings. Multi-media training presentations for DBOs. All archived.
      • The Gutenberg Moment.
      • “Own Voice, Own Words” ~ Giving everyone a voice in their own words.
      • Bottom up content aggregation, NOT top down; avoids national hijack.
      • Never argue.
      • Ask questions.
      • Listen.
      • Walk away nicely.
      • Fact checking.
      • Peer review.
      • Hard work and hustle.
      • Consistency.
      • Discipline.
      • Write it down / capture / schedule.
      • Network: Belong to every club and organization.
      • It is your business $$.
      • Ads versus promotion.

 

• $ Hire Legal.

  • Develop Franchise Team
    • Design franchise contract for 20,000+ DBOs, and get feedback.

 

• Hire an Ex-City Manager and City Communications Expert.

  • Develop a Public Agency Staff and Board Outreach Team for education, marketing and contract development, in order to facilitate quick ROI for DBOs. 

 

• $ Hire Silicon Valley Insider.

  • Develop Outreach to Best Partners Team. Woo social media and content partners to develop synergistic relationships for CBuzz Media. 
    • In particular, Facebook’s disclaimer process needs to be quicker and easier. YouTube needs better captioning for ADA. Does Buzz Feed want a vertical relationship with CBuzz, since they don’t have hyper local? Stanford or MIT as content creators.

 

• $ Hire Products Partnerships Consultant.

  • Develop Equipment and Promotional Partnerships for DBO.

    • Apple Equipment partnership for Mac Pro 27” and latest iPhone.
    • Promotional Materials like stickers, banners, yard signs, etc.
    • Apparel that’s Organic, local, green, etc.
    • Media Production (national): Animation, Graphics, Video, Photography.

 

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The Spend

 

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How Might the Stanford/CBuzz Media Content Collaboration Work?

CBuzz Media has created a new media model that empowers grass root social media producers to eradicate misinformation, disinformation and fake news. This greatly enables better informed, engaged and connected communities.

CBuzz Media needs to go national as soon as possible to battle misinformation and disinformation using original source content in the 2022-2024 elections. The goal is to give citizens a trusted space to be able to Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote and become civically accountable in their locality.

How Can Stanford Help to Solve the Media Problem?

By collaborating with CBuzz Media’s distribution, Stanford can make a positive imprint on America’s 20,000 small towns.  Collaborating with CBuzz Media will allow Stanford to promote its brand and have greater access to recruiting in small, lower economic and diverse communities. The current challenges with misinformation and large tech social media policies, creates a challenge for our national discourse. The Stanford/CBuzz content collaboration will create an opportunity for Stanford to assist the national discourse by getting people to Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote, encouraging civic responsibility and accountability for every citizen.

The reduction of misinformation and disinformation is the number one goal for CBuzz Media. CBuzz Media is a new media model because it shares content from the bottom up. Current media models share information from the top down. Local elections will educate citizens from the bottom up. Good communication habits will trickle up with citizens expecting the same accountability at the State and National levels of politics. 

For Stanford, this is an opportunity to bring equity to the world of media; to do nothing less than to make the world more equitable. 

 

Why Should Stanford Collaborate with CBuzz Media for the Solution?

Coastside Buzz is the model on which CBuzz Media is based. It was designed to reach Coastside citizens (Pacifica to Half Moon Bay) using the internet.

The CBuzz website model creates a breadth and depth of local, original source content that reaches 16k Coastside citizens every month; approximately 200k page views per year in a community of 24,000.   Multiply 200k by 20,000 small town Deputy Buzz Officers (DBOs) to create 4 billion page views per year. That is a lot of original source content to dilute misinformation.

The local paper reaches 2,300 with one paper a week and half the content. CBuzz Media’s overhead is a fraction of the newspaper’s, needing only a phone and a computer. It is important to note that we compliment each other, rather than compete.

The City of Half Moon Bay has narrow content and half the posts per week compared to Coastside Buzz, and 1/6th of the followers on social media. In fact, they pay Coastside Buzz to increase their distribution, as do the local water and sewer authorities.

This is why CBuzz Media can help public agencies, and citizens themselves, to get their message out, and across, by creating better distribution and access to original source content.

The FCC 230 rule is a good one as it rests the responsibility on the citizen to find good sources of information. This is the next big fight that our young republic faces.

By creating and branding the CBuzz Media network as a reliable source of content, people will have an on-ramp to Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote with true meaning.

 

Stanford and CBuzz Media Content Collaboration Tactical Snapshot

Stanford would work as a loose hub, where different schools and departments can interface and coordinate with the main mission of enhancing the content for 20,000 DBOs nationwide.

The Stanford/CBuzz brand can start when kids are learning to read with the Bedtime Stories podcast. Teachers, nationwide, would also have a free Stanford-developed tool with which to teach civic involvement, at every grade level. As young people “graduate” into the world they will better understand how things work locally, and globally. Also, 20,000 small city agencies will have Stanford tools to educate their adult populations on how to become civically involved. Locally, every board member and staff person appreciates what Coastside Buzz does to stamp out misinformation, reducing the staff time spent on misinformation. 

 

Stanford as Content Creator and Educator

The CBuzz Media model will expand Stanford’s brand as an elite university to an “EveryBody’s University”.  

All Stanford departments are original source content creators. Click, Learn, Think, Act, Votes starts with trusted content.

Examples of how shared Stanford original source information can be distributed to 20,000 small towns:

Stanford Medicine Presents The Science of Herd Immunity

 

Stanford Medicine OCE COVID-19 Community Town Hall ~ Mental Well-Being of Adolescents

 

The Stanford brand will create an egalitarian path, for a massive segment of our population, to have access to reliable knowledge.

 

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Dear Jonah Peretti, CBuzz Media Wants to Get 🎵Vertical, Vertical🎵 with BuzzFeed News!

AUGUST 26, 2022

OUTREACH. Hey Buzzers! Can you help me get to Jonah Peretti?

He grew up in Oakland and went to the University of Santa Cruz.

Someone here on the Half Moon Bay, Coastside must know him.

Or, you may know someone who knows someone, who knows him?

I just want 30 minutes with Jonah, by Zoom, to see if CBuzz Media, based on the Coastside Buzz model, will help BuzzFeed News capture hyper-local news in order to tell national stories.

 

Dear Jonah,

CBuzz Media wants to go vertical with BuzzFeed News and be funded by Andreessen/Horowitz, who has also funded BuzzFeed News.

 

I have created a new grassroots media model (based on CoastsideBuzz.com), called CBuzz Media, that evolves the AP/UPI news gathering model. The content is free (public agency meeting videos, staff reports, press releases).  The CBuzz Media model empowers grassroot social media producers to eradicate misinformation, disinformation and fake news. This better informs, engages and connects communities.

CBuzz Media’s mission is to give “Everyone a Voice in their Own Words” and our call to action is “Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote … Run for Office” so citizens can become civically accountable in their locality.

 

CBuzz Media Wants to Go Vertical with BuzzFeed News. 

Please watch this video pitch (9 min.). 

 

Then, I will give you three narratives that illustrate how having an army of 20,000 Deputy Buzz Officers (DBOs), in small towns, magnifying local issues, will provide BuzzFeed News journalists original source content that they can pick up, add investigative value, take it vertically up the BuzzFeed News media chain, and then redistributed back to the people.

 

Three Story examples to Go Vertical with BuzzFeed News

1. Posted 5/2022

U.S. Water and Sewer Systems are Old and Need Permanent Federal Funding to Bring Clean Water to Every American.

“Your Local Sewer: An Iceberg Beneath Your Feet”

 

Massive federal funding is necessary, now, if Americans want Clean Water in the future.

The Federal government funded Water/Sewer infrastructure in the 1970’s (Water Pollution Act and Clean Water Act). After that initial investment, they bailed on any nationwide commitment to Clean Water leaving local jurisdictions with socially unfair and varied business models. Property tax and bond or assessment funding, an inefficient grant hunting business model and under capitalization of utilities leave every American who drinks water in peril.

Build Back Better would have been much easier to pass if every Congressperson and Senator understood the need as a fact.

 

 

2. Posted 4/2022

We Need to Pay Public Agency Councilmembers, Directors, Commissioners and Committees so Everyone Can Afford to Run and Serve

“HMB City Councilmember Joaquin Jimenez Asks if Redistricting Committee Can Get Stipend When Consultant was Paid $45k for the 8 Month Process”

 

In small towns, councils do not get paid much; some have small stipends. Committees and commissions are not paid.  Many people can’t afford child care so they can’t campaign and go to the meetings (or Zoom without helping with homework at the same time). So what about childcare, travel, computer and internet stipends and salaries that would help minimum wage workers serve?

CBuzz Media can help teach the nation civic responsibility and the procedures and mechanisms to run for office; every American should have a clear path to run and serve in office. It is not there now.

BuzzFeed News is reaching the next generations. What will it take to get them to run?

 

 

3. Posted 4/2021 

Stanford University Medical Says There will Be No Herd Immunity

 

5/2021 from NPR adds context to the confusion.

It’s Time For America’s Fixation On Herd Immunity To End, Scientists Say

 

9/2021 from John Hopkins, 5 months later.

Rethinking Herd Immunity and the Covid-19 Response End Game

How would this statistically undeniable Stanford presentation, with 700 participants,  have helped the country understand, more clearly, and earlier, that Covid is endemic?

 

 

All three narratives have national resonance, born from hyper local sources. “Click, Learn, Think, Act, Vote … Run for Office” with no partisanship. Coastside Buzz has been doing it for 8 years.

 

Jonah, I hope we can Zoom. I have a more detailed pitch that I’d like to go over with you. In 30 minutes you will know whether CBuzz Media is a fit for BuzzFeed News.

 

I really appreciate your time.

 

P.S. I loved your “How I Built This” podcast with Guy Roz. It gave me great inspiration. Plus, you are very funny and charming.

 

Enthusiastically and Optimistically,

Michelle Dragony

Chief Buzz Officer (CBO) of Coastside Buzz

 

 

In 2001, when most of us had no idea what it meant to “go viral,” Jonah Peretti shared an email prank among his friends — and saw it spread to millions. That began his fascination with how information spreads, and set him on the path to launch two of the most powerful media organizations of the Internet age: The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed. Recorded live in New York City.

 

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CBuzz Partnership with Stanford and the The Knight Foundation

Cheryl Phillips, of Stanford’s Big Local (Founder, Big Local News at Stanford Journalism & Faculty Director, Stanford Computational Policy Lab), was sailing at the Half Moon Bay Yacht Club with a CBuzz Media advisor, and heard about Coastside Buzz as new media model.

Cheryl saw potential and referred me to Brant Houston, who is the Knight Chair Professor in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting (Journalism), Director of Graduate Studies, Journalism for Urbana Illinois.

CBuzz Media’s, Michelle Dragony, was invited to the inaugural, 2023, “Story Discovery at Scale” conference hosted by Stanford and sponsored by the Knight Foundation.

 

 

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Contact: Michelle Dragony at mdragony@coastsidebuzz.com.

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