David TeeghmanJennifer PaullLindsey Wolf

J-School Buzz

I. Audience Research: Web Analytics• Our audience• Most/Least popular stories• Balancing “spinach & sugar”• Social media

II. Lessons Learned• Publication• Content• Multimedia• Social Media• Criticism

III. Implementing Changes• Editorial philosophy• Publication schedule• Content• Operations• Multimedia• Social Media

IV. Sustainability• New editors• Transition• Expansion

V. Conclusion

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

-Henry Ford

Our study Examined site statistics using:

Studied numbers/feedback from:

Blog post comments

Bit.ly links

What we learned about our audience…

Source: Quantcast Audience Profile

Some of our least popular stories:

Starving Journalist: Comedy Coffeehouse: 29 views

Live Blog: Open Missouri Day at RJI: 36 views

Live Blog: SXSW Debriefing from RJI: 53 views

Open Missouri: Shining a Light on Missouri Government: 53 views

Why did they get so little traffic?

Content-Sharing/Links

Huffington Post College PBS MediaShift

Romenesko

Only Wire

Most Popular Post Elements:

Multimedia: graphics/video

Strong opinion/voice

Controversial

Updated (Process over Product)

Crowdsourcing

Balancing “sugar & spinach” stories

Negative feedback about lack of POYI coverage

Published more conventional “hard news”

▪ Dismal page views

▪ No social media traffic

News they want vs. news they need – the debate

Social Media Twitter: 1,177 followers

▪ Our most conversational medium

Facebook: 421 “likes”

▪ Lots of “likes” on posts, decent # of comments

▪ Slower growth, less conversation due to design/layout, convenience

Tumblr: 39 followers

▪ Reblogs site content

▪ Slowest growth of all social media

FourSquare: 149 friends

▪ Minimal # of check-ins

▪ Ultimate goal: Leave helpful “tips” that illustrate our role as the insider’s guide to the J-School

Publication Schedule Staff size limits publication amount

(with the exception of breaking news)

How to use site stats to our advantage

▪ Title wording can make all the difference

▪ No one reads JSB on Saturday

▪ Starving Journalists don’t work as blog posts

Content

Balance – hard vs. soft news

Tone – inserting voice, humor

Readers’ opinions on objectivity (or lack-thereof)

Importance of absolute transparency

Criticism Our 80-20 rule

Dealing with it in a professional manner

Realizing that some readers think criticizing the J-School in any way is negative

Using it to improve

Trolls

Fake Twitter accounts

Vitriolic Commenters

Multimedia

Important from beginning Show, don’t tell

Video pieces got a lot of backlash because they weren’t perfect – switched to infographics

Fall 2010 Enrollment Statistics:

▪ Over 100 pages of statistics about Mizzou – made multiple graphics

▪ Presented the information different ways to make sure it was still interesting

▪ Posts still centered around J-School, even if they were also about other schools in Big 12 or other colleges

Some of the most popular multimedia posts:

▪ Where journalism students end up/came from

▪ How much money journalism students make

▪ How many students have jobs when they graduate, by college and sequence - lead to original contact with Huffington Post College

Least popular:

▪ Where to park around the J-School

▪ Race breakdown - surprised me because I thought it would bring up a lot of concern

Social Media No one had experience with

Tumblr, unsure of what to do with it

Must be maintained/updated minute-by-minute

All J-School emails must be read for relevant info to share on social media

FourSquare – no Hootsuite-type program for managing multiple accounts

Make sure to carry on equal conversations on both Facebook and Twitter. Don’t minimize Facebook because it is less popular

Editorial Philosophy

• Puts the “objectivity” debate to rest

• Clarifies “news site” vs. “blog”

Terms of use

Publication schedule

Frequency (twice once)

Time of day (morning, early evening)

Days of the week (Monday-Friday, Sunday)

Content

Disclose all biases Be the J-School’s biggest fan

as well as its biggest critic

Operations

Hired a copy editor to review ALL content

All 3 editors share responsibilities, understanding that there will be a lot of cross-over between positions

Learning when to respond to comments and criticism and when to step back

Multimedia

Switched to publishing infographics – videos weren’t good enough

Text that went along with the graphics adding supplementary information

Tried to make sure there was a least some sort of J-School tie with all of the graphics – our key audience

Social Media

Began posting more info on Facebook beyond just story links

J-Info tweets were scheduled as soon as the info was received

Set up access to JSB Twitter on editor’s smart phone to ensure faster responses.

Fall 2011: Independent Study Credit Publicized opportunity:

Blog post with video Social media (JSB & Personal)

J-Info & Convergence Listserv

RJI TVs

Application process

10 applicants granted interviews, 4 selected

Editor-in-chief: Claudia Tran

Social media editor: Mel Gibson

Graphics editor: Francis LaBelle

Video editor: Zach McGowan

Three sequences represented

Transition & Training Introductory meeting: May 3rd

“Lessons to pass on” Google Doc

Summer transition period

▪ Less frequent publication

▪ Opportunities to slowly take over responsibilities

▪ Training via Skype

August 2011: New editors take over entirely

▪ Original editors available via email & Skype for questions

▪ New titles for current editors

Launched April 17, 2011:

Executive Director: Josh Lory

Senior Content Editor: Zach Fleeman

Senior Web Editor: Thomaz DeSouza

Social Media Editor: Tyler Clark

1st week: featured on MSNBC, Reddit

186 Facebook “likes”

121 Twitter followers

J-School Buzz