The Manchester Evening News has combined its web traffic and print circulation figures.
The MEN took a bit of a hammering in the latest ABC statistics for their year-on-year sales, but I expect their free paper policy had a lot to do with this.
However, it appears they’ve understood that people are still interested in their product it’s just that their methods of ‘using’ it are different.
Instead of buying a paper on their way home and sitting down to read it from cover-to-cover, people are logging on to the MEN website at lunch time in the office, or clicking on their RSS feed throughout the day.
But they are still readers.
If more newspapers combined the number of their print readers with those visiting the website they’d probably find out that for the first time in years they actually have a growing readership.
Proving yet again that it's not all doom and gloom for the regional press.
Journalism.co.uk :: MEN becomes first UK regional paper to report joint web traffic and print circulation
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Virtual courtroom proves popular
A ‘virtual courtroom’ initiative my website has been working on is proving very popular.
We’ve teamed up with the area’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to produce videos of a mock trial.
The viewer watches a series of them as if they were the magistrate in a domestic violence case and then gets to choose the sentence for the ‘criminal’.
Have a go yourself -
http://www.eveningleader.co.uk/CustomPages/CustomPage.aspx?PageID=71753
I found I was more lenient that I thought I would be, even when I was sat watching the videos with the CPS lawyer - when I told him my decision he instantly went into prosecution mode firing questions at me to such a degree I was nearly ready to send the poor convicted chap to the gallows.
It was a real pleasure though working with the CPS, they were tremendously professional and showed terrific lateral thinking coming to us with the idea.
They wanted the publicity and web traffic our website could provide and we were looking for interesting content to add value to our site.
Links:
http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/news/080221judge.shtml
http://www.newspapersoc.org.uk/Default.aspx?page=3216
http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2008/02/21/evening-leader-launches-online-courtroom-project/
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Google phone heralds scramble for mobile web - Times Online
Google phone heralds scramble for mobile web - Times Online
Interesting article from the Times about the web on mobile phones.
Interesting article from the Times about the web on mobile phones.
Thursday, 14 February 2008
Is geotagging the future?
I was asked to write a report on Geotagging.
The more I looked into it the more I began to see the potential in getagging content and stories, especially for increasing a newspaper website’s ability to get ‘hyperlocal’.
I’ve copied a bit of the report below.
Geotagging
What is geotagging?
Geotagging refers to the process of adding specific data to web content which allows it to be identified in terms of its geographical location.
How this is then presented to an online reader can differ.
It could simply be used in delivering relevant information to someone when they search for a specific area, either on a specific website or a search engine such as Google.
Or the reader could set up an email alert for stories from the area they interested in and then an alert is delivered directly to them – a more refined version of Google News Alerts.
However, the presentation method that many users and providers are getting excited about involve automatically plotting the stories on digital maps.
Who are geotagging?
Many news organisations are now looking at geotagging all of their content.
The main method for this seems to involve reporters keying in the postcodes associated to their stories.
Then a piece of software strips this information out and automatically plots the news story on a digital map, sends out an email alert, allows a more relevant search etc.
Just about every major news provider is now investigating geotagging and it is expected to be at the heart of the BBC’s new local website plan.
Google News service is also experimenting with a new feature on its news aggregation service, which allows users to see stories for a given geographical location.
Currently you specify keywords, such as Chester, but this is not necessarily restricted to news stories solely from Chester, UK.
A proportion of our visits come through Google News so if we can target this better it will be to our advantage.
What is the point in geotagging?
It is thought by geotagging stories, traffic to newspaper websites will increase greatly as users will prefer the more relevant and tailor-made service on offer.
Advertising can also be targeted to people interested in very specific areas – increasing their value.
Perhaps the most important aspect of Geotagging is that it can allow newspaper websites to get ‘hyperlocal’.
Sites like http://www.everyblock.com/ merge all kinds of information such as news, public information, blogs, business directories, etc onto a digital map which users can zoom in on, right down to their own street.
If we get geotagging right we can potentially beat any attempts by the BBC to muscle into our region.
Plus we can start our own, or join forces with all the local community websites that are beginning to spring up - which could all potentially take away advertising revenue.
Many experts predict that becoming hyperlocal is the only way forward for newspaper websites.
One cheerful soul even predicts that: “If you don’t have an aggressive hyperlocal strategy, you’re not going to be around in five years.”
References
Geotagging
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotagging
http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/01/15/guest-post-archants-web-editor-on-geotagging
http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/fleetstreet/2007/05/10/archant-plotting-maps-for-regional-news-localisation
Google News
http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/all-news-is-local.html
Hyperlocal
http://www.everyblock.com
http://recoveringjournalist.typepad.com/recovering_journalist/2008/02/living-la-vida.html
Technology
http://www.metacarta.com/
The more I looked into it the more I began to see the potential in getagging content and stories, especially for increasing a newspaper website’s ability to get ‘hyperlocal’.
I’ve copied a bit of the report below.
Geotagging
What is geotagging?
Geotagging refers to the process of adding specific data to web content which allows it to be identified in terms of its geographical location.
How this is then presented to an online reader can differ.
It could simply be used in delivering relevant information to someone when they search for a specific area, either on a specific website or a search engine such as Google.
Or the reader could set up an email alert for stories from the area they interested in and then an alert is delivered directly to them – a more refined version of Google News Alerts.
However, the presentation method that many users and providers are getting excited about involve automatically plotting the stories on digital maps.
Who are geotagging?
Many news organisations are now looking at geotagging all of their content.
The main method for this seems to involve reporters keying in the postcodes associated to their stories.
Then a piece of software strips this information out and automatically plots the news story on a digital map, sends out an email alert, allows a more relevant search etc.
Just about every major news provider is now investigating geotagging and it is expected to be at the heart of the BBC’s new local website plan.
Google News service is also experimenting with a new feature on its news aggregation service, which allows users to see stories for a given geographical location.
Currently you specify keywords, such as Chester, but this is not necessarily restricted to news stories solely from Chester, UK.
A proportion of our visits come through Google News so if we can target this better it will be to our advantage.
What is the point in geotagging?
It is thought by geotagging stories, traffic to newspaper websites will increase greatly as users will prefer the more relevant and tailor-made service on offer.
Advertising can also be targeted to people interested in very specific areas – increasing their value.
Perhaps the most important aspect of Geotagging is that it can allow newspaper websites to get ‘hyperlocal’.
Sites like http://www.everyblock.com/ merge all kinds of information such as news, public information, blogs, business directories, etc onto a digital map which users can zoom in on, right down to their own street.
If we get geotagging right we can potentially beat any attempts by the BBC to muscle into our region.
Plus we can start our own, or join forces with all the local community websites that are beginning to spring up - which could all potentially take away advertising revenue.
Many experts predict that becoming hyperlocal is the only way forward for newspaper websites.
One cheerful soul even predicts that: “If you don’t have an aggressive hyperlocal strategy, you’re not going to be around in five years.”
References
Geotagging
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotagging
http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/01/15/guest-post-archants-web-editor-on-geotagging
http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/fleetstreet/2007/05/10/archant-plotting-maps-for-regional-news-localisation
Google News
http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/all-news-is-local.html
Hyperlocal
http://www.everyblock.com
http://recoveringjournalist.typepad.com/recovering_journalist/2008/02/living-la-vida.html
Technology
http://www.metacarta.com/
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
American journalists fear for their jobs
With unprecedented job cuts in the American news industry a worrying report shows widespread concern for the future of journalism in the USA.
Job losses, falling ad revenues, tumbling share prices and a constantly depleting readership or audience – things aren’t looking good for the traditional news providers across the Atlantic.
This article for the Press Gazette reports that 43 percent of the 1,000 or so professional journalists interviewed say they have little confidence they will be working for a newspaper in five years. 30 percent said they were not sure.
Perhaps the most worrying line in the article is this one:
“More than half reported their readership or audience has shrunk more than 60 per cent over the past five years . Asked if they thought the trend might change and perhaps stabilize, about three-quarters replied pessimistically: 'It's hard to say it ever will.' ”
This is not a rant about how newpspapers are going down and everybody should get onboard to the ‘digital revelotion’ because first of all I like newspapers and don’t want to see any go under.
But secondly, and most importantly; at the present time most online newspapers and newspaper websites rely heavily on the readership of their print product – both for driving web traffic and revenue.
In the UK we are not at the stage yet when a newspaper group can survive solely on their online advertising revenues – far from it.
Also if readers are turned off from traditional newspapers written by professional journalists, why would they go to the same product but online?
However, we are not America and it is not set in stone that we are going to follow them down the road to such a, potentially, newspaperless future.
So what’s the solution?
Well, there certainly isn’t any simple solution, but looking at our industry wide slump in readership it’s pretty obvious we’ve got a lot of work to do.
Read the original article here:
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=40220&c=1
Job losses, falling ad revenues, tumbling share prices and a constantly depleting readership or audience – things aren’t looking good for the traditional news providers across the Atlantic.
This article for the Press Gazette reports that 43 percent of the 1,000 or so professional journalists interviewed say they have little confidence they will be working for a newspaper in five years. 30 percent said they were not sure.
Perhaps the most worrying line in the article is this one:
“More than half reported their readership or audience has shrunk more than 60 per cent over the past five years . Asked if they thought the trend might change and perhaps stabilize, about three-quarters replied pessimistically: 'It's hard to say it ever will.' ”
This is not a rant about how newpspapers are going down and everybody should get onboard to the ‘digital revelotion’ because first of all I like newspapers and don’t want to see any go under.
But secondly, and most importantly; at the present time most online newspapers and newspaper websites rely heavily on the readership of their print product – both for driving web traffic and revenue.
In the UK we are not at the stage yet when a newspaper group can survive solely on their online advertising revenues – far from it.
Also if readers are turned off from traditional newspapers written by professional journalists, why would they go to the same product but online?
However, we are not America and it is not set in stone that we are going to follow them down the road to such a, potentially, newspaperless future.
So what’s the solution?
Well, there certainly isn’t any simple solution, but looking at our industry wide slump in readership it’s pretty obvious we’ve got a lot of work to do.
Read the original article here:
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=40220&c=1
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