reader engagement - 10,000 Words

Facebook’s Best Practices for Journos: Optimize Graph Tags, and Your Editorial Staff

Karen Fratti — Thu, 09 May 2013 11:30:14 +0000

When Facebook released their Best Practices guide for media last week, I admit I thought it was cute. In my world, I consider Facebook sort of my ‘private life,’ a space I reserve to share thoughts and internet things with people I actually know, whereas I consider Twitter my more public persona, where I follow strangers’ opinions. Facebook’s advice seemed like they were pointing out the obvious (‘have your content creators use the ‘Follow’ button’) in a last ditch attempt to make the social network as relevant as Twitter, especially in the wake of the all the ‘social media as wire service’ talk since the Boston marathon bombings and manhunt.

But that’s sort of a fallacy. In fact, one billion people still use Facebook, all the time. When I’m honest with myself, my newsfeed is just as full of wedding photos and lunch break musings from my real-life acquaintances as it is new posts and headlines from my favorite media outlets, just like Twitter. And Facebook is starting to get savvy about helping those publishers garner traffic and reader engagement. It’s not a bad product.

Slate is the best example of a using Facebook to successfully engage their readers; it’s even the case study in the handbook. They’ve doubled their Facebook referrals between the second quarter of 2012 and the first of 2013. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

5 Stats to Note From Poynter’s iPad Eye-Tracking Study

Ryan Lytle — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 08:00:41 +0000

Last week, Poynter shared findings from its recent eye-tracking study. Using “eyetracking gear, observation and exit interviews,” Poynter tracked 36 people as they engaged with news stories on an iPad, an article for the study noted.

In order to make sure differences between study participants were apparent, Poynter brought in candidates from two separate age groups: 18-28-year-olds and 45-55-year-olds.

According to Poynter, iPad users in the study fell into one of two categories when they were interacting with a news story:

“People were either intimately involved with the iPad screen while reading during our recent eyetracking study — keeping nearly constant contact while touching, tapping, pinching and swiping to adjust their view — or they carefully arranged a full screen of text before physically detaching as they sat back to read.”

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Newspaper Prom Dresses (As Awesome As They Sound)

Meranda Watling — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:21:14 +0000

This newspaper dress contest was too fun not to pass on.

When I was in high school (which wasn’t that long ago, eh hem, a decade), I remember some kids entering a contest for designing and wearing duct tape prom attire. This takes it to a whole other, way more awesome level.

The Detroit Free Press encouraged local students to design prom dresses made from newspapers for the chance to win $500. And what the local girls came up with is nothing short of awesome.

Users can select their favorite dress and rank them to help determine the $500 winner.

The Freep says it received more than 20 entries. You can check out the photo gallery of the top eight newspaper dressmaker finalists here. And you can vote on your favorite until midnight Thursday.

This is a great example of a way for a newspaper to engage its readership — especially its young readers — and promote the print product in a creative way. They tie it together nicely with the smooth voting/ranking mechanism and online contest. Innovative and fun for participants and other readers.

Thanks to Poynter for pointing this contest out. They also have some fun links to other newspaper fashions, including this gallery of newspaper dresses.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Digital Natives, though Disengaged, not as Digital as We Think

Mona Zhang — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:00:44 +0000

Research intern Kate Pape at NPR dug into some data from GfK MRI and was surprised to find that newspaper readership amongst young people is higher than expected—more than half of adults aged 18-24 read a newspaper (in paper form) one to 14 times a month. She wrote, “Millennials keep pace with total US adults until it comes to comparing the number of heavy readers,” which is when adults outpace millennials by almost a half. However, young people have always read the newspaper less, even before people carried the Internet around in their pockets. As Christopher Sopher shows in his report on young people and the news, older Americans’ news readership declined by 29 percent since 1972, while that of young people declined by 16 percent. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

10 Ways The New York Times Tells Stories Through Reader Content

Lauren Rabaino — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:52:55 +0000

When looking for inspiration for your own reader-submissions projects, The New York Times’ collection of storytelling tools is a good place to start because they do it so well. The following examples are ways that The Times have creatively gathered and displayed information submitted by people on the Internet to tell a story. The common thread amongst all of the examples below are that they limit readers to a very specific and thought-provoking theme. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

4 Ways Newspapers Can Better Use Facebook To Engage Readers

Ben LaMothe — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:47:40 +0000

Over at iMedia Connection, Daniel Flamberg wrote an interesting post called 5 Steps Toward Better Facebook Fan Engagement. For brands, this is a great guide to get started on the right path to better engagement with fans. But his tips are also useful for newspapers and new organizations, so I’ve decided to remix it a bit.

Here are four ways newspapers and news organizations can better use Facebook to engage readers:

Be human. Often news organizations use their Facebook page as a platform for pushing stories. Little attempt is made at engaging readers, driving people to the page, or creating a reason for people to want to stick around. Within the organization, assign someone as the “face” of the news organization on Facebook. Readers will feel more comfortable engaging and sharing if they feel like they’re talking to a person, not a nameless brand. For an example, look at Face of Fox 30 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Relax. Ultimately the news organization is the “voice” of the readers and the community it covers. Be conscious of that in the updating of the Fan Page. Avoid being rigid and mechanical. Instead be as conversational as possible. Read what you’re planning to write. Does it sound like it was auto-posted? If so, re-write it.

Hold the sales pitch. If the primary function of your newspaper’s Fan Page is to increase print subs, shut it down. Delete the page and re-invest that time into your other advertising efforts. Notice I’m not saying don’t ever sell. There’s a time and a place for it on you Fan Page. Include a post once or twice a week about it, but don’t do more than that. Your fan page is about engagement, conversation, and sharing news and information. Increasing your print subs comes a distant fourth or fifth on the priority list.

Be helpful. Online people will write complaints and vent about a company or a service, and assume that no-one is listening. Venting into the ether makes them feel better. Try not to let that happen on your Facebook page. If someone posts a comment complaining about an aspect of the newspaper, respond to it and try to fix the issue. You should also be actively encouraging you readers to “Like” the paper on Facebook. Tell them that editors actively monitor the page and will respond to queries quickly.

However none of these tips will do a thing to help if you aren’t actively involved in the community that you’re building on Facebook. A recent post by Amy Taylor at the Brains on Fire blog summed that up nicely:

You can manage a city from behind a desk, but if you want to understand community, you have to become a part of it. You have to get in it. You can’t just listen for the heartbeat, you have to be a part of the heartbeat.

I can’t promise that these four principles will grow your Fan Page by hundreds every day. But they will help to ensure that the people who decide to “Like” your newspaper on Facebook are remaining engaged and interested in what the newspaper has to say and share.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.