The Filters are human wire services. They collect traditional media stories, bloggers' rants and raves, podcasts, or fan creations about a specific company or brand and then package this information into a daily or near-daily stream of links, story summaries, and observations.
Most Filters maintain a steady objectivity like traditional news wire services, but some Filters cross over into analysis. For the most part, Filters are not prone to fits of pique or confrontation, and they occasionally produce their own journalistic work.
Like the HackingNetflix blog, for example.
Mike Kaltschnee has been writing HackingNetflix since November 2004. Each day, he composes three to five posts that could be considered plot points on the company's DVD-by-mail subscription business. Some 7,000 readers follow along daily. He and a slew of collaborative readers (he estimates about half of his news items are submitted by readers) highlight the company's marketing tactics, such as "Netflix sponsors Google Videos" and "Netflix monster house banners." He often describes challenges to Netflix's business model: "Blockbuster $2.99 store rentals" and "TiVo testing movie downloads." He posts stories about the company's challenges to delivering consistent customer service: "Netflix rental history controversy" and "Netflix customer support on throttling." Finally, he highlights a lot of new movies available on DVD through Netflix.
In the world of investment banking, well-paid analysts undertake somewhat similar work, trying to connect the dots of a business on behalf of investors who hold millions of shares. Why would someone do the same thing for free?
Kaltschnee, who works for a stock-photo agency during the day, describes his motivation for launching the site: "An experiment in company and community relations. I'm a fan of Netflix and wanted to learn more about the company, sharing what I found," he notes. "It may have started as a fan site, but I've tried to make it more professional and even -- shudder -- 'fair and balanced.'"
His work is not unlike an analyst teaching himself and others the business he monitors. That's the basis of the hacking metaphor: it borrows a computer programmer's term to take something apart in order to understand how it works, not how to infiltrate and exploit. (The exploiters are usually called "crackers" or "black hats." On every HackingNetflix page, a disclaimer says the site "will not teach you how to lie, cheat or steal from Netflix.")
In that sense, HackingNetflix is like an independent news operation whose nightly top story is how Netflix is doing. He and other Filters adamantly stay on topic (HackingNetflix does occasionally cover news about Blockbuster Online), and they reflect a journalist's focus on timeliness and speed. Kaltschnee writes short posts with the objective air of a professional journalist. While he has conducted interviews with Netflix employees, including CEO and founder Reed Hastings, and often posts items about company job openings, Kaltschnee's singular focus has heightened his authority as a Netflix monitor. Traditional media journalists often quote him to provide contextual understanding when writing about the company or the industry.
Search for Netflix on Google and HackingNetflix is the usually the third result. Kaltschnee's role of blogger-as-publisher is similar to what traditional newspapers do: he does not own stock in Netflix or Blockbuster and pays "full retail price for my subscriptions." As a publisher, he also earns income from ads on the blog and revenue from the affiliate program Netflix (and Blockbuster) pays to those who create links on their own sites that lead to Netflix memberships.
As a category, the Filters present an interesting future; their work could be called amateur brand journalism.