Mathew's comments - Latest Comments in Can a newspaper be a social network?

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Loconut - Perth News — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 02:08:51 -0000

I think the social interaction on news sites is still almost entirely amongst readers - I can think of very few examples here in Australia (except for the odd Fairfax blog) whereby journalists actively participate in the discussions.

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Rob Hyndman — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 18:48:14 -0000

Well, maybe some columnists. :)

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Mathew — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 20:00:01 -0000

Thanks, Rohan -- I guess you and Rob disagree on that point :-)

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Rohan Jayasekera — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 16:53:00 -0000

Mathew, you asked "But do readers want to socialize with their newspaper, or with the journalists who work there?"

I think many readers have no particular interest in socializing with their newspaper, nor its other readers - but would like to socialize with the journalists who work there. My subscription to the Globe continues thanks largely to its columnists.

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Mathew — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 11:12:49 -0000

Gzino, you are right -- features don't create communities.

And Karl, I think you are also right and that good local newspapers are already at the hub of a social network or community.

As for the question about whether engagement and traffic can boost advertising levels enough to make up for losses on the paper side, I think that is the billion-dollar question everyone would like an answer to :-)

Thanks to all for their comments.

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Karl — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 10:54:08 -0000

Great question.

I think good local newspapers already act as social networks for their communities. It's just taken them far too long to realize how to translate that to the web.

I wonder if the traffic and engagement increases will be enough to attract advertising that offsets loses incurred in the papers.

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Sameer — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 01:44:46 -0000

I think the comments feature will definitely help drive traffic here given the demographic.

Say there’s a modest adoption of comments, you have to consider the significant multiple of repeat and new visitors that don't comment but come back to read comments. I reckon that the ratio of 'comentors' to those on the sidelines just reading is at least 1:50 at the minimum.

Not sure if a social network is a practical goal for a newspaper such as USAT but if you evaluate social features on a piecemeal basis, some are total winners for this demographic. Comments being most lucrative.

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

gzino — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 00:52:34 -0000

Very difficult for paper to become social network. Especially USA TODAY. Their content is anti-community: wide breadth, shallow depth. Communities focus around narrow breadth, deep depth. Glad they added the features, but features don't create communities.

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Ryan — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 23:09:42 -0000

Revenue? Bottom-line?

Uh, no, taking a newspaper.com social is about building a brand, joining the 21st Century, and taking your mouth away from the megaphone.

USA Today isn't exactly the most hip and relevant stack of dead trees on the planet, so building a better brand online is one of the ways they'll survive.

Yes, there will be people who have to walk into conference rooms with publishers and spit out some traffic data (hint: comments and lists of most-recommended stories increase page views), but the value added to the brand will have a higher ROI if you're into that sort of thing.

Crap, I just said "value added" and "ROI" in the same graf. Been hanging around with the marketing folks too much...

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Mark Bradley — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 22:36:13 -0000

This thread might also be interested in this post published today on a similar vein:
http://antipodean.squarespace.com/aptus-strateg...

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Mathew — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:36:13 -0000

Thanks for that, Mark -- glad to hear others are on the social networking train as well.

And Tony, I don't know that anyone has actually published details about traffic or revenue as far as the impact of social features goes. I've come across some comments by editors at the Guardian and the BBC, but they were pretty general.

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Tony — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:33:10 -0000

Great to hear it Mat -- since I don't want you to kill me, can you point to any other enterprises which have published this kind of information? Or, are they holding that close to their chest ... ?

Cheers
t

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Mark Bradley — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:23:28 -0000

I cross posted an excerpt of your story to my blog with this comment

" An interesting comment on changes to the newspaper. Of course the Sydney Morning Herald has been doing this for over 18 months so maybe whilst downunder we are often laggard bloggers, some of our better media are leaders in new media approaches."

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Mathew — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:21:17 -0000

No offence taken, Rob :-)

And Tony, without going into too much detail (or I would have to kill you) adding comments and other social elements has definitely increased traffic, and since that in turn affects our online revenue I think it qualifies as a win-win.

Thanks for the comment, Joe.

And Mary, I think your point is a good one. People who are used to Digg-style voting are used it behaving in a certain way. Papers like USA Today will have to be aware of that if they want to incorporate similar social features.

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Mary Specht — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:00:07 -0000

I love it. The people who've left negative comments for USA Today must be a fading minority. USAT is right on with this move.

The thing that throws me off about the recommend feature: from using reddit, digg and others, I expect my vote to move the article up in the list. All it does it change the number next to the headline.

I understand the USAT.com editors want to retain control of their pages. But, at least in the article comments, voting for something should move it up. This way I don't have to sort through all the irrelevant or useless comments.

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Joseph Hunkins — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:00:05 -0000

Good question - will mom and pop wind up disliking or just ignoring the changes. The internet enthusiasm echo chamber is very large but it's a tiny fraction of all the interested folks in the world. Ultimately they will determine how this all shakes out.

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Tony — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:02:51 -0000

Question for you, Mat -- did adding social elements to the Globe and Mail do anything for its bottom line? Traffic? Ad Revenue? Actual subscribership?

Cheers
t @ dji / bh

Re: Can a newspaper be a social network?

Rob Hyndman — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 18:38:13 -0000

For me, a big part of the appeal would be socializing with other readers. No offense intended. :)