An Indie Musician's Guide to World Domination

One of the strengths of digital media is the inherent flexibility of the content. The advent of comment-driven, user-ranked media websites like Digg and Slashdot illustrate a growing trend away from static, print-style “article” news and towards a more interactive and dynamic medium.

One great (and free) tool I’ve had a chance to play with that really illustrates the difference is

By Demand Media

Demand Media‘s new “live blogging” platform CoverItLive. I discovered CoverItLive through, of all things, the official website of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mike Ulmer, a frequent blogger and contributor for the Leafs, uses CoverItLive to host live “blogs” during certain games, and after participating in a couple of these events I decided to roll up my sleeves and get under the hood.

In essence, CoverItLive is a unique combination of blog, chatroom and live text interview. The interface looks like a classic chatroom, with a twist: users submit their comments or questions, and the administrator receives the posts in a list, after which it’s up to them to publish whichever comments they choose and to respond as they see fit.

Insert interactive polls on the fly

The strength of this system is that it incorporates the advantages and interactivity of a live chatroom with the comment moderation and control of a blog. Admins can use as much or as little of their readers’ input as they desire, and they also have the option of “promoting” any reader to an unmoderated status. Admins can privately message any contributor; they can put certain posts onto a special “hold” list; they can even ban users if the need arises. They can also create “producers”, either by promoting live readers or by invitation in advance. Producers have all the powers of an administrator, and having a couple of producers on hand can be very handy during busy events when the questions and comments are flying.

There are a variety of additional tools available to administrators. For example, you can upload media (photos, videos or music), write blocks of text, or create polls for your users which you can access from a sidebar while your event is live. You can edit or delete posts on the fly, or you can re-visit an event after the fact to edit or fine-tune it.  You can even insert a live video streaming window (through a streaming service like Ustream.tv), although in my limited testing this function seemed a little buggy. Still, CoverItLive is officially in beta, so a few glitches can be forgiven considering how much of their system works flawlessly. I’m sure many companies would be charging handsomely for such a service in its current state, especially since there’s no catch: no ads, no commitments, and no hassle.

On the audience side, things are equally slick. Users can log in through their Facebook, MySpace or Twitter profiles, or not at all (if they can stand being stamped with the dreaded “Guest” label). Demand Media was nice enough to include an API as well, so webmasters  can choose to have their contributors log in with their own custom credentials.

Sharing your event is relatively easy. Just paste the provided code to embed the event window anywhere you like – with certain limitations. CoverItLive is embedded in an iFrame, which makes it hard to integrate into MySpace or Facebook pages, and even sticking the window into my WordPress blog took some messing around. The advantage of an iFrame (if you can get it to work) is that it is rendered the same way on any device – so my CoverItLive event looks just as good on my iPhone as it does on my desktop PC. Still, most people will be hoping to embed their events in all their usual online haunts; iFrames make this a little less convenient. Demand Media’s workaround is to offer standard HTML code, enabling users to view your event in a popup window – not ideal, but definitely better than nothing.

Another great feature of the CoverItLive system is Enterprise Groups. By creating a group and adding events to it, you create a mini and consistent blog window, complete with a list of upcoming and completed events and the ability to “replay” any event you may have missed.

Embed your Enterprise Group window.

The nice thing about Enterprise Groups is that you have the option of leaving certain events live indefinitely. You can invite producers or “panelists” to individual events, so that writers can check in whenever they feel the urge and have full moderation powers – but only for the events you specify. Live events are highlighted in the sidebar, and users can switch between events on the fly as they please. Best of all, when nothing is live, users can enter their email address to be reminded about upcoming events at a preset time (and yes, you can export those email addresses).

Of course, from inside CoverItLive’s administration system, you can view detailed metrics for your events: number of live viewers, number of comments submitted and published, number of replays watched for a given event and more. If that’s not enough for you, just about EVERYTHING is customizable. Turn off reader submissions. Choose to enable or disable reader avatars. Even specify Twitter search terms, and watch as relevant Tweets are posted to your event in real time!

In the dozen or so events I’ve hosted, I’ve had nothing but positive feedback from my audience, and the few bugs I’ve found are quite minor and easily forgiven considering the overall quality of the package. And at “free”, the price couldn’t be more right. Fans love the feeling of watching a blog or interview happen before their eyes, especially when their own questions get answered – and unlike a chat (which can be hard to moderate live) YOU dictate all the live content. No overly chatty or aggressive user can take over the conversation, and you don’t get stuck answering the same questions over and over.

For the blogger looking for an interactive twist or any writer or artist looking to connect more directly with their fans while still maintaining control over their finished product, give CoverItLive a shot! There are a lot of reasons to love this program, and I look forward to discovering the rest of them. Here’s the link once again:

http://www.coveritlive.com