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Leslie Walker, Internet columnist for The Washington Post, has long been in the business of providing information to the tech-savvy with her Thursday ".com" column. But with
her new "Web Watch" column, she's breaking away from her usual Internet business model fare to offer "the average Sunday reader" mainstream news. "Often the two columns will write
about the same site or the same subject, but one comes at it from the consumer's point of view, and the other comes at it from the point of view of how do you make money?" Walker
says.
Walker's new Sunday column has the potential to reach more than 1 million "average Sunday readers" in the Washington metro area.
Content/Contacts
Walker will focus primarily on large, popular sites, "places online where large numbers of people are doing interesting things," she says. She's looking for information that
has a news peg, whether it's the launch of the site, as in the case of her recent report on William Shatner's new Web site, or a new price point for a subscription.
"This is not for tech-savvy people; we'll look at a lot of the portals, at eBay, at the Top 20 Web sites," Walker reports. Finance, entertainment and travel sites will be three
core areas of interest for the column.
Contact Walker at one of her two email addresses: [email protected] or [email protected]. A hint: She tends to check the Yahoo address more often.
Pitch Tips
"Emails are always more valuable than phone calls. They're digital and I can search them and go back to them," Walker says. Her ideal pitch: one with an obvious news peg about
a popular Web site that appeals to a wide variety of people. Tell her immediately - preferably in the subject line, but at least in the first sentence of your message - what the
news is.
"Secondly, I always like it when PR pros put it in context: If they're pitching me a new policy, explain the old policy and tell me how it departs from it. Tell me why
something is valuable, how it will save a consumer time or money or allow the consumer to do something online they've never been able to do before."
Comments
Avoid voicemails when contacting Walker: "I'm the kind of person who doesn't listen to the rest of the voicemail if the beginning doesn't intrigue me," she says. She also
tosses most of her snail mail, though she is looking for technology experts who have read or written good books that she can review in her column or feature in the ".com"
column.
News for "Web Watch" should be on her radar screen early in the week. The column closes on Thursday afternoons, so getting anything but breaking news on Yahoo!, MSN, eBay or
AOL is next to impossible after Wednesday. If you want a detailed piece or a featured interview with an executive, pitch her a week or two in advance.
In The Pipeline
Walker and The Post are still defining the mission and content of the brand new column. Since it currently has a news edge, there isn't much of an editorial calendar to speak
of. Walker will continue watching her areas of interest (finance, entertainment and travel) as well as most-used tools on the Web (i.e. Instant Messaging and email services),
looking for items of interest for the average consumer. Walker recently took a look at online gambling sites after the news that an online ad blitz has pushed e-gambling through
the roof.
Most importantly, remember the consumer: Even for her b2b-focused ".com" column, "ultimately, it has to have a consumer angle. What's ultimately interesting to me is how the
business model affects consumers."