Add This to Your New-Media Lexicon

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Those folks who watch your news are viewers. 

Those who check out the station Websites are users. 

We got that. 

Now, when we’re talking about both communities, we’re talking about "viewsers." 

I just heard this from Jim Toellner at WGRZ Buffalo. Mind you, Toellner’s not taking credit for coining the term, but says it gets heavy use (viewse?) at the station. I Googled "viewsers" and 1,920 links came up, which tells me the term is still new, though one link from our blogorific buds over at Lost Remote states that they made it up seven years ago, when emails were still bundled into burlap sacks, slung across horses’ backs, and slowly made their way to the receiver. 

Viewsers. Somewhere, Rich Hall, father of the modern Sniglet, is smiling.

Michael Malone
Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.