Seven questions for tonight

1. Who is our target audience? (hint: Don't try to be all things to all people)
2. What is the competitive landscape? (hint: Sites that do it well)
3. How do we differentiate ourselves? (hint: Secret sauce)
4. How do we create our site? (hint: Staff and schedule)
5. How do we get our content? (hint: Pre-built, manual, automatic, updated)
6. How do we market our site? (hint: Spread the word)
7. How do we sustain the site? (hint: Show me the $$$)

Big ideas can start small

Sometimes a very simple concept -- in this case, massive photographs -- can really catch on. 

Boston.com's award-winning blog, The Big Picture, highlights photojournalism by elevating it above all else. The image is not a secondary element in a storytelling package. Instead, it captures our attention (as well as our screen real estate). It also encourages us to scroll down the page and consume more. 

The photographs come from wire services, as well as the public domain and individual photographers. The site's FAQ does a nice job of explaining its sources and methodology.

Remember that excellent ideas in digital journalism don't always need to be complex.

Update, 2:02 p.m.: I also like this sentiment of openness from the site's developer, Alan Taylor.

What about copycats/I saw another site that stole your idea?

If they are doing a good job, then that's excellent, we can always use more quality photojournalism on the web. If not, then that just make this site look that much better :) - I'm not too worried about others emulating the style of the blog, as long as they don't use my name, or my exact images, more power to them.