What I’ve been reading: Journalists as TikTokers, re-thinking live news strategy for SEO and pop-up newsrooms

I’m on a period of leave at the moment, one of the benefits of this is having some time to read around and there’s interesting links below that I’ve stumbled upon. If you’re in the digital media, digital journalism, social media, digital comms space then I hope these are a good reading list. I’ll try and post these as frequently as I get chance, and if you find them useful let me know. And if you spot something I should include, or you’ve written something that you think should be shared then drop it over. I’m on edward_walker86 AT hotmail.co.uk

You can also receive this digest of interesting links by signing up to my email newsletter – just tap here to subscribe and I’ll pop it in your inbox each time I publish.

Journalists can be TikTokers too. Three journalists explain how to use the platform for news – Nieman Lab – there’s real depth and insight in this piece where Sophia Smith Galer lifts the lid on how she as a journalist are crossing over into being TikTokers too. Let’s be honest, a lot of journalists have always been personalities and influencers too (whether that nationally, in their local area or within the niche/sector/beat that they cover). So we shouldn’t be surprised that journalists translate well onto TikTok but the tips from Smith Galer in here on how to actually build a following and an engaged audience on the platform. The chart showing the how news is appearing on TikTok – which is below – was really interesting to see where news brands/publishers/broadcasters are on the platform is a good snapshot view of the current state of play.

The force of personality – not just on TikTok but elsewhere – will likely become even more of a flashpoint as an increasing amount of the views, audience performance, and therefore monetisation, will rest with individual journalists as opposed to news brands themselves.

I think the key, as with any platform, is to decide what you want to be on there – and then go and experiment and play with it.

Publishers reckon with declining Facebook referral traffic as the platform pulls away from news – Digiday – if you were in any doubt about the step-back in referrals that’s happening from Facebook then the graph in this piece from Digiday gives a very stark illustration. Those who have been experimenting with new platforms, and revisiting perhaps older, more established sources of audience, will likely be those who emerge in a better position as the months ahead unfold. As people increasingly use Facebook less as a news source, the opportunity for new or refreshed aggregators to fill this gap offers new chances for a wider mix of audience sources for newsrooms to hook into. The challenge, each platform tends to want a slightly different content mix and the technical vagaries of how it’s delivered – making efficient distribution harder to achieve.

Why Articles Should Be Optimised Before Publishing – Barry Adams – this is a fascinating read from Barry where he drills into what he thinks are three different ways that Google crawls articles (and the priority order) and particularly the impact this has on a breaking news environment. He argues that rather than rush out a ‘breaking article’ with very little information in it, arriving slightly late to the party but with a stronger article with more depth than a breaker is likely to see much stronger performance (for search anyway) in terms of maintaining its place in top stories for longer. The challenge here is that being first in theory should be rewarded (and Google’s made noises about recognising the original source of a story) and is a journalistic gut instinct. Barry’s argument is to utilise live coverage (live blogs) to ensure being first/quick but holding off on the actual story until you have a bit more depth. It also reinforces something I can remember from being a trainee reporter – we once had a training session called ‘right first time’ which was actually about preventing legal errors but in reality would be just as important for SEO. Getting the headline, captions, summary text, headings, spelling etc all absolutely spot on means you’re putting the best possible article in front of Google for its first crawl. Making constant tweaks isn’t going to help if Barry’s theory on the priority of when articles are indexed in their life cycle is correct. Barry’s piece would certainly make me think about a live news strategy differently.

How the UK’s dying high streets are being given new life by pop-up shops and galleries – The Observer – off the back of Wilko shutting down this piece isn’t to do with journalism, digital etc but there are some parallels. It’s interesting how many digital brands are running ‘real world’ pop-ups as a way of cementing their brand. There was a trend, a few years back, of pop-up newsrooms to get journalists out into communities or new patches or re-connect with established ones. Is it time to re-explore the pop-up newsroom in these times when a fixed cost office is becoming increasingly hard to justify?

Six ways the BBC’s local digital transformation could help the broader local news eco-system – Ed Walker – a plug for a piece I published earlier this week on the BBC’s local changes which are taking place across radio and digital at the moment. Covers ways I think the increased digital output and focus from the BBC can be used to see all boats rise particularly in the local news environment.

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Six ways the BBC’s local digital transformation could help the broader local news eco-system

Much has been written about the BBC’s changes to local radio and digital expansion plans. Here I’d like to offer six ways the BBC could utilise its digital acceleration proposals at a local level to benefit the wider local news ecosystem.

This is really important because the BBC has enormous local standing, engagement and is seen as a go-to news source for many (and often a validation of news in terms of legitimacy in the eyes of the public).

Co-location for journalism outlets
While broadcasting has adapted post-Covid to being much more flexible about locations it tends to still need a fixed-location for a studio. This is one of the highest costs for any kind of media outlet – having a space to do the act of journalism. Particularly outside of the big cities, could the BBC be host to a media hub? Offering a co-located/co-working space for media/journalism companies. There would be benefits for the BBC in terms of having a building and studio which is busier, have access to potential studio guests ‘on tap’ from other media outlets and also if done in conjunction with a local journalism school/university could be an excellent breeding ground of future journalistic talent across digital-broadcast etc. And everyone keeps the finance department/facilities department happy with ensuring a well-utilised facility is operating and being used. Could these become ‘anchor buildings’ in helping creative sectors in many places across the country, particularly outside of the biggest cities where many newsrooms are struggling with having a physical presence post-Covid, that need that one building to be the catalyst?

Collaborative journalism on a local level
Within the BBC’s plans there’s much talk of having more in-depth local stories told. As it stands the early signs I’ve seen in Lancashire are of more police press releases making their way online along with more Local Democracy Reporting Service stories being used. There’s an enormous opportunity for the BBC to take inspiration from the likes of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (who they worked with on the Thurrock Council/Panorama expose) and look to dig into the big issues on a local/regional level. It’s likely there will be tip-offs just sat there at local/regional/BBC local level that are struggling to find the time to be worked on (particularly outside of the major metro titles and areas). Having a facility to, or amplifying the Bureau’s existing networks and work, could be a way to do this. And an investigation that comes out all across BBC radio, TV, digital AND on a local media outlets homepage/print edition/social channels if applicable could be incredibly powerful.

Take aggregation seriously
The BBC is part of the plumbing of the Internet. Together there’s 36.8m visitors to BBC properties (Comscore, August 2023) and we know how powerful the BBC News homepage can be (it sees large surges in audience when big news happens, many of the top searches for a news incident will have ‘bbc news’ somewhere at the start of end related to the incident). I know from personal experience how strong the BBC’s aggregation abilities can be, from linking out via their transfer gossip blog (and providing much-needed audience to excellent football reporting) through to their ‘from other local news sites’ aggregation boxes which appear to be slipping further and further down the page. There’s a skill to doing good round-ups and aggregation and the BBC can be best in class here, some ideas could be:

– Utilise their local index pages (which sometimes struggle for refreshed volume as that’s not the BBC’s game) to showcase more content from other local digital publishers

– Think about running their ‘what the papers say’ round-ups (regularly in the most-read on BBc News) more often and about specific topics which are making the headlines

– Making ‘from other local news sites’ more prominent on individual stories and trying to make it more relevant to that specific topic (it’s often very random!)

– City updates, see the great work the likes of Michael Macleod are doing in Edinburgh, he’s driving a significant amount of traffic to news sites in and around Edinburgh by being useful and consistent. We’ve seen attempts by the BBC to link out, this is the time to get that right and be best in class for round-ups and linking to strong, original, journalism from elsewhere.

Sound clipping/audio timing
There’s some fantastic content on BBC local radio – even if they couldn’t derail Rishi in the same way they did Liz Truss – and there’s a great opportunity to utilise clipping across the BBC’s local video and audio output. I was recently very kindly on a BBC Lancs show as we spoke about the Big PNE Sleep Out we’re doing at Deepdale in November, it was a good segment and we looked to utilise it on social channels/on the hyperlocal site I founded and across partners who are taking part in the Sleep Out. But you’d need to know the exact time we were on the show, and then try to translate that into ‘from 0:00’ timer on iPlayer/BBC Sounds to find the clip, download a Chrome plugin to record the clip, and then put it onto your own channels. How can the BBC open up this local radio content to make it more YouTube-like? This would allow other outlets to write around it (including their own), and make it easier to share the content for the general public or those involved in the shows. Even a simple ability to link to an actual ‘start time’ on a show or the shows because in the timestamp of when they went out would be a big step forward. Commercial broadcast outlets (TV and radio) seem much stronger here at ‘clipping’ and generating digital audiences – across social/on-site platforms – than the BBC does, despite the output of the BBC dwarfing everyone else.

Making more of presenters
BBC presenters appear quite marginalised by the changes, which is a shame as in many towns/cities/regions they are a big name in themselves – often with strong and engaged social followings (I’m going off the likes of Graham Liver, John Gillmore and others that I know in Lancs). Similar to the collaborative investigations approach above, can these presenters appear across multiple media outlets in terms of social? Could they guest present events for local media outlets? Could they have columns in print editions? I often think football reporters on regional titles really led the way on building social presences that drove audience, engagement for a digital audience (see Lee Ryder, James Pearce, Charles Watts, Phil Hay and many others) could the BBC super-charge what local presenters do with social media, in conjunction with other media outlets, and create something really special?

Run pilots on expanding the Local Democracy Reporting Service
The scheme – which sees BBC funded reporters in local newsrooms of all shapes and sizes across the country – has helped to bring dozens upon dozens of stories to readers each day across not just local news and hyperlocal sites but the BBC itself. It’s a real collaboration and strengthens local journalism in this country. There’s been calls to extend the scheme to shining a light on other bodies, for example going further with health reporting, or courts. It would be fascinating to see the BBC, particularly in the areas where it says it’s launching a dedicated online service for the first time (Bradford, Wolverhampton, Sunderland and Peterborough) to trial some kind of courts-reporting service. This could focus on magistrates’ court as Crown tends to be well covered by local news media staff, freelancers and agencies but magistrates’ is often where very local life happens and a lot of stories start life. But it’s small gains and high volume, similar to the starting point of local government coverage in a digital news landscape.

There’s lots of stumbling blocks with digital transformations but I hope the above present some food for thought on how the BBC can play a part in the local digital news eco-system and use its unique position to help local digital journalism more broadly.

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What I’ve been reading: Meta’s news chilling effect in Canada, social traffic slumps, the fans scale + burnout in journalism resources

I’m on a period of leave at the moment, one of the benefits of this is having some time to read around and there’s interesting links below that I’ve stumbled upon. If you’re in the digital media, digital journalism, social media, digital comms space then I hope these are a good reading list. I’ll try and post these as frequently as I get chance, and if you find them useful let me know. And if you spot something I should include, or you’ve written something that you think should be shared then drop it over. I’m on edward_walker86 AT hotmail.co.uk

You can also receive this digest of interesting links by signing up to my email newsletter – just tap here to subscribe and I’ll pop it in your inbox each time I publish.

The social traffic slump and what’s unfolding in Canada – various – I’ve been following Jeff Elgie’s updates on LinkedIn with interest, and slight dread, about what’s happening in Canada. Meta has unleashed a block on news being shared on Facebook and Instagram (note, WhatsApp currently not part of this). Jeff is chief exec of VillageMedia and has built a network of hyperlocal titles and its CMS also helps power many others. It appears to be a sad example of when government assumes it’s doing good, and then manages to drive the car into a never-ending vortex loop that causes a lot of damage.

Social traffic to publishers has been declining for a while, that’s not new, as this Similarweb data pulled out by Axios articulates very well. Layer on top of that a post-pandemic slowdown in news consumption and what was a challenging environment just got more challenging. But the hard stop that’s been unleashed in Canada is chilling. There’s reports of titles already shutting (does rather question their sustainability in the first place), or scaling down within weeks of the Meta news block kicking in.

Jeff Jarvis’ take on Campbell Brown leaving Facebook/Meta is also inter-linked and woven into this story and worth reading.

And let’s hope the government in the UK (I’m not holding out much hope here based on current viewpoints e.g. HS2 in the North!) is able to take a more articulated standpoint as the Digital Markets Bill makes its way through. Platforms will take action, it’s not a thinly veiled threat, and it will ultimately based on current trends in Canada result in fewer journalists and less journalism being done which seems a perverse situation to end up in. Let’s hope the government in the UK can ensure there’s a diverse group of people, publishers and actors in the room to help reach an agreement that benefits the wider UK news ecosystem and consumers too (ultimately in Canada a lot of people may just fall-out of digital news consumption because of Meta’s actions and that’s perhaps the most chilling thing). But, as evidenced by the ‘panel’ assembled for the Tory party conference in Manchester this week to debate the future of journalism (look at the quote tweets) which had more ‘Matthews’ than anyone else (I mean, you’ve got Sarah Lester, editor of one of the largest digital operations in the UK – the Manchester Evening News – on your doorstep or Joshi Hermann from the Manchester Mill again on the doorstep!) we don’t appear to have a government that is seeking that broad spectrum of views to ensure it looks to negotiate well with Google, Meta and other platforms.

In the AI Age, the New York Times wants reporters to tell readers who they are – Vanity Fair – there will be increasing focusing on audiences from Google in the wake of the social slump detailed above. And this move from the NYT I think we’ll see more of, the ‘who you are’ of a reporter coming more to the fore again. It’s been no coincidence to me that the reporters who are able to bring their own personal brand to the fore often perform very strongly on multiple platforms – or who are able to show they have an expertise and experience at something are able to get the cut through regardless of platform. Expect more emphasis on authors – real ones, not robots – in the coming months as content production through AI ramps up and differentiating between bot journo and real journo becomes very very important.

The Do Fans Care scale – Rob Abelow – this isn’t journalism strictly but I think it’s important in the concept of digital subscriptions/memberships. Rob shared this post about why ‘intent’ matters and what he calls fan development is essentially audience development or subscriptions development or membership development by a different name. It’s that wodge of readers in the middle who everyone is trying to convert, people who have shown that interest (intent) to go beyond just scrolling/clicking on something and are looking to engage with the brand. There will always be super fans (and they are ace and must be nurtured) but how do you reach and engage the large chunk of people in the middle.

Burnout in journalism – a guide for journalists and newsrooms – Headlines Network – it’s easy to work really bloody hard as a journalist, the stories and lines keep on coming, you’re out there covering stuff and this is often set against juggling other responsibilities too (families, caring responsibilities and more). Some really useful resources, especially as we head into the winter months, from the Headlines Network about recognising burnout, mitigating against it and supporting those affected. Please share it round.

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What I’ve been reading: Swiss publisher’s five Rs of digital transformation, The Mill newsletter model drilled into + extra journalism innovation course scholarships announced

I’m on a period of leave at the moment, one of the benefits of this is having some time to read around and there’s interesting links below that I’ve stumbled upon. If you’re in the digital media, digital journalism, social media, digital comms space then I hope these are a good reading list. I’ll try and post these as frequently as I get chance, and if you find them useful let me know. And if you spot something I should include, or you’ve written something that you think should be shared then drop it over. I’m on edward_walker86 AT hotmail.co.uk

You can also receive this digest of interesting links by signing up to my email newsletter – just tap here to subscribe and I’ll pop it in your inbox each time I publish.

This week’s is a bit briefer as I’ve been enjoying a few days of some superb fell walking in the Yorkshire Dales and Forest of Bowland with family and friends – marking three years since my Dad passed away from pancreatic cancer. More about him here.

On top of Ward’s Stone – the highest fell in the Forest of Bowland. I can’t think of some metaphor for digital journalism transformation so will let you think of one!

The 5 Rs of digital transformation: how Ringier is shaping the long-term success of its media titles – Madeleine White, The Audiencers – this is a really in-depth piece exploring how the Ringier group in Switzerland has embarked on their digital transformation. Their global media unit, made up of 10 execs but who all still hold operational responsibilities caught my eye – rather than having a separate strategic unit they have a blend of operational and strategic capacity within that group who help drive the changes needed to accelerate their digital change. Smart.

Is The Mill a model for the future of local journalism? – Andy Griffiths, Champion Newsletters – there’s a lot been written about the Mill (Manchester and surrounding northern cities newsletter-only model) and this is a good, in-depth, take from Andy drilling in detail into the newsletter itself and also the business model behind it. I think you’ll need to sign up to Andy’s site – Champion Newsletters – to read it as it (not surprisingly) dropped into my inbox as a newsletter. Andy asks some good questions around where the cap is for the reach, revenues and engagement of what may remain a broadly niche product for a very ABC1 readership. I thought his parallel to how broader community-based newsletters in the US are performing very strongly could represent the diversification strategy needed for future growth for all those involved in newsletter-type publishing.

Two additional scholarship places added for the Journalism Innovation and Leadership programme – Media Innovation Studio, University of Central Lancashire – thanks to the very kind generosity of Lara Ayoub and Jeremy Clifford there’s an additional two spaces on the 2024 course. I undertook the 2022 programme and I’ve been a mentor to two of this year’s cohort. It’s a fantastic chance to get the grey matter working and tackle the challenges facing journalism. Fair play to Lara and Jeremy for helping others gain access through the scholarship award.

As I said, a briefer round-up this week as I was focusing on getting away from the keyboard and getting the fresh air – with views like the below on my doorstep you can’t blame me! And there’s your final what I’ve been reading, get yourselves out for some exploration before the weather turns and recharge yourself before the final mad dash to the end of the year (I always used to end up with a bunch of random annual leave at this time of year, so get it used!).

My cousin leaping a brook on our ascent

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What I’ve been reading: WhatsApp channels the new distribution battle ground and when New York ordered agencies to spend local

I’m on a period of leave at the moment, one of the benefits of this is having some time to read around and there’s interesting links below that I’ve stumbled upon. If you’re in the digital media, digital journalism, social media, digital comms space then I hope these are a good reading list. I’ll try and post these as frequently as I get chance, and if you find them useful let me know. And if you spot something I should include, or you’ve written something that you think should be shared then drop it over. I’m on edward_walker86 AT hotmail.co.uk

You can also receive this digest of interesting links by signing up to my email newsletter – just tap here to subscribe and I’ll pop it in your inbox each time I publish.

WhatsApp says Channels will be available for everyone imminently – AndroidPolice – the big focus this week is on the launch of WhatsApp channels, a new feature that’s now rolling out globally and Zuckerberg gave us the nudge last week. In my view WhatsApp is the latest battleground for news publishers in the quest for scale and engagement. My personal use of WhatsApp tells me it’s become the unifying social app, at least in the UK, from updates about family life, to parenting pick-up chatter, to business/getting stuff done updates, it’s a space where people spend an increasing amount of time. Will they accept news publishers into this space? (the initial indications from the award-winning work my previous employer Reach has been doing is a yes). Looking through my channel suggestions it’s interesting how established and well-followed football clubs already are within the platform and they also feature in Tim’s summary below.

There’s some useful reads on WhatsApp, not just in the publishing space either, the basics here from SinchEngage on how to create a WhatsApp channel (they key is getting the channel attached to a phone number that isn’t yours, unless you want to suddenly have all WhatsApp responsibilities of an organisation attached to your personal phone number!).

Tim Gatt takes a look through how some publishers in the national space are already utilising WhatsApp channels – and as with most social platforms, the key is providing a mix and variety of post types (not just banging out link posts).

While Dan Slee looks at it through a public sector/comms lens, as concerns grow around the effectiveness/usefulness of X as a comms channel especially for public-sector organisations who need to get information out directly to the public, especially during an emergency.

The rise of WhatsApp channels, Insta channels, TikTok and more points to how media consumption is – on the whole – becoming a much more private thing or when shared, is shared with a focused and relevant (or sometimes trusted) group of people. This Insider piece explores how social media is becoming ‘less social’ on the whole compared to back in the 2000s and early 2010s.

City agencies in New York ordered to spend with community media – The Center for Community Journalism – my former coursemate Rhiannon Davies is on an interesting fact-finding mission in the States right now all about community media and the state of play there. She shared this piece as part of her learnings (worth seeing her LinkedIn summaries) about what happened in NYC when the Mayor (they have more power over there!) doubled-down on getting government agencies to focus their spending on advertising with community media. A big impact. The full report is here.

Thinking about how big anchor organisations and institutions within a city or region could focus their spend on media which is based, focused and providing impact within that geography and doing that spend directly (rather than through an agency or via a digital platform) feels like it could have a big impact for community and local media. You only need to think back to the pandemic and the industry-wide direct spend the government undertook with local media outlets for the uptick this had. The key is making it easy to do and delivering strong and tangible results – and both of those things aren’t easy!

Introducing LION’s Stages of Sustainability – LION publishers – another piece from over in the States, but the LION network of independent publishers have mapped and looked in detail at the path to sustainability for independent and community media. As someone who set up an independent media site in 2009 – Blog Preston – then I recognised many of the stages in this and it’s definitely far from being any kind of nirvana when it comes to hyperlocal or community publishing. A really interesting report and study.

The Happy Journalist – Jacqui Merrington – a smart cookie, Jacqui’s going to be writing weekly at the cross-section of AI and climate journalism. Two things I know she’s very passionate and interested in. She’s set up on Substack and I recommend giving her a follow and subscribing.

Reminder – you can have this dropped into your inbox by subscribing for free to my newsletter.

What I’ve been reading: Future of News conference takeaways, a Chrome plugin innovation and building authentic online communities

I’m on a period of leave at the moment, one of the benefits of this is having some time to read around and there’s interesting links below that I’ve stumbled upon. If you’re in the digital media, digital journalism, social media, digital comms space then I hope these are a good reading list. I’ll try and post these as frequently as I get chance, and if you find them useful let me know. And if you spot something I should include, or you’ve written something that you think should be shared then drop it over. I’m on edward_walker86 AT hotmail.co.uk

You can also receive this digest of interesting links by signing up to my email newsletter – just tap here to subscribe and I’ll pop it in your inbox each time I publish.

The Future of News conference – Press Gazette – I’ve seen a fair few different pieces from what looked to be a strong conference and discussion line-up, definitely with AI being the dominate theme from the sounds of it. Two of my former colleagues at Reach had some really strong takeaways from the event – David Bartlett’s are here on LinkedIn. I thought David’s pull-out around live coverage was very interesting, and it feels like when that ‘big news event’ happens then having the bells-and-whistles approach to Live coverage is becoming even more essential – and is then the lever for being able to drive registrations, subscriptions, brand recognition. How do you make sure your A-team is on it when those opportunities come (as they aren’t always planned for!). Jacqui Merrington’s takeaways, again on LinkedIn, were more AI-focused and it is the key gamechanger the industry is grappling with at the moment (feels similar to the rise of social in the late 2000s). There’s a strong set of global principles from dozens of publisher groups calling for clear guidelines for the use of AI in media – it’s encouraging to see this kind of collaborative step coming so early in the game, rather than a knee-jerk reaction. The bit about respecting copyright is key. While Madeleine White, editor-in-chief of the Audiencers, picked up on with subscription growth starting to level off, how do publishers keep going? This was referenced by Nic Newman and Madeleine had some good ideas on how to tackle this – and diversification of revenue streams to me feels like the absolutely core one. Also worth noting just how much Press Gazette has evolved, go back a few years and it was all reactionary and not really on the media agenda (and still very newspapers rah rah rah) – now it is writing about the topics that the industry is grappling with. A good sign and healthy.

Visiting the American community/independent media sector – Rhiannon Davies, LinkedIn – I studied with Rhiannon on the UCLan journalism leadership and innovation course, she runs Greater Govanhill CIC in Glasgow and she’s landed the chance (thanks to the Churchill Fellowship) to go and visit lots of community media/journalism research organisations and much more. The American independent media space is broad, and seems far more well-supported and developed (e.g. the recently announced $500million national fund for local news projects) than in the UK. So it’s been fascinating to read Rhiannon’s takes as she heads around the States and visits and speaks to people – big thanks to her for sharing what’s been scribbled in her notepad as she gets around.

The Myth of Non-Profit Media Immunity: A Deep Dive into Sustainability – Andrew Ramsammy – this is from over in the US but it was an important post from Andrew about how just because a media company is non-profit doesn’t make it exempt from the pressures of the wider economy. This line certainly struck true “they are not exempt from the overarching need for viable revenue streams” and has been an important part of my thinking during my time setting up and running Blog Preston during the 2010s.

Bringing together multiple news sources in a Chrome plugin – Manoj Kumar Venkataramanan, The Hindu – obviously the future is mobile (well the present really, we’re already there), but hear me out. With more people being back in offices (at least some of the time either through choice or enforced) or in developing economies like India more people working in an office than previously in more manual jobs as the economy expands then don’t write off desktop users. I thought this was really smart, the team at The Hindu group brought together their multiple titles in a Chrome plugin, so you open a tab and get a curated feed of their content as a destination from all their titles. A great example of serving a need, being useful and it’s a great introductory point to their content and helping people explore more titles in their group.

Cracking The Authenticity Code with Jon Birchall – The Community Exchange Podcast, Open Web – an interesting lesson with Jon (disclaimer: I used to work with Jon when we were at Reach), who is director of editorial strategy at LadBible as he lifts the lid on how they approach different platforms across a diverse range of brands. Jon’s spot on that it’s combining both the technical expertise but also the great content/the story, if you shoe-horn something into a platform then increasingly it will not be rewarded. You need to be ‘of the platform’ is my view on how to approach different channels/brands etc. InPublishing ran a series back in 2021 about building online communities/community building, which I contributed to, and is worth a look back through for some good tips on where to start.

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What I’ve been reading: young people and their attitudes to news subscriptions, Meta’s news hand grenade and bangin’ email newsletter strategies

I’m on a period of leave at the moment, one of the benefits of this is having some time to read around and there’s interesting links below that I’ve stumbled upon. If you’re in the digital media, digital journalism, social media, digital comms space then I hope these are a good reading list. I’ll try and post these as frequently as I get chance, and if you find them useful let me know. And if you spot something I should include, or you’ve written something that you think should be shared then drop it over. I’m on edward_walker86 AT hotmail.co.uk

You can also receive this digest of interesting links by signing up to my email newsletter – just tap here to subscribe and I’ll pop it in your inbox each time I publish.

Why news subscriptions feel like a burden to young people – The Audiencers – As subscription strategies become more complex for news, this study highlighted by the excellent Audiencers drilled in-depth into young people’s attitudes to digital news subscriptions. The study was conducted in Norway and with people aged 26-30 (I will let you all argue about whether that is genuinely young!). One of the key standout lines was this – “news content should not appear too exclusive, in the sense of narrow. Stories only covered on one news site, typically in a local or regional one, were valued as less important or even unnecessary by the informants: they felt less obligated to read about it and refrained from paying.” – fascinating given how in the UK anyway we seem to be seeing some strong examples of hyperlocal sites generating revenue from subscription models like Substack. The research also highlighted that when a story that was more issue-based/topic-based and the individual had an overwhelming interest in that topic the propensity to pay became much stronger. I guess, if you think back to magazine subscriptions, this shouldn’t be a surprise and again supports media organisations making more of ‘topic-themed bundles’ as a way of making their content attractive to subscribers. They won’t subscribe to the brand, as generally they don’t care, but they will subscribe by topic/content.

Journalist quits Meta job after Edinburgh-focused Substack takes off – Press Gazette – I referenced above about Substack and people paying for localness, and also featured Michael’s move last week, there’s more depth in this piece from Charlotte on Press Gazette about his decision, thought process, product and also background (the why) too. The numbers are interesting, essentially for a strong, curated, product then it’s bringing in just shy of £20,000-a-year. That’s without additional sponsorship/advertising or other commercial activities. A great return and shows the value in having a hyper-focused idea and sticking at it too – fair play to Michael!

An Update on Facebook News in Europe – Meta – Well the only silver lining to be found is they aren’t throttling news in the UK in the same way Canada is currently experiencing. There’s been a lot of reaction to the decision – which isn’t unexpected but is disappointing. The drift between the news industry and Meta has been widely discussed for a long period and now we are starting to see the kind of black and white decisions which are being made by the tech platform following the words and indications. There will still audience, engagement and reach to be had from such a large platform – which is still widely used and despite what it says is a source and active discussion platform for news – but diversification of audience and revenue streams if it wasn’t before becomes absolutely crucial.

I found a notebook full of notes from my earliest BuzzFeed days – Dan Oshinsky – now an email consultant, Dan literally opens the lid on his 2012 email strategy for Buzzfeed. As with many things, the truisms remain true for having a successful email strategy. It’s a good reminder that you don’t always need to reinvent the wheel and sometimes the answers are hiding in plain sight. I might just revisit some old notebooks!

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What I’ve been reading: the value of news content on Google, Substack love-ins and breaking America

I’m on a period of leave at the moment, one of the benefits of this is having some time to read around and there’s interesting links below that I’ve stumbled upon. If you’re in the digital media, digital journalism, social media, digital comms space then I hope these are a good reading list. I’ll try and post these as frequently as I get chance, and if you find them useful let me know. And if you spot something I should include, or you’ve written something that you think should be shared then drop it over. I’m on edward_walker86 AT hotmail.co.uk

You can also receive this digest of interesting links by signing up to my email newsletter – just tap here to subscribe and I’ll pop it in your inbox each time I publish.

The Value of News Content to Google is Way More Than You Think – Dr. Courtney C. Radsch, Tech Policy Press – the focus on the value given to platforms by having content featured on them is intense right now and the Swiss study within this piece is fascinating. Essentially people who see journalistic content (as in pictures, excerpts) on Google itself find their experience of the platform a better experience. The big thing I’ve noticed is how Google is increasingly taking snippets from articles, and other sources, and displaying them as the search result. This negates the need to click-through and discover more. Google, of course, says this is them providing a good user experience, but when there’s been resource and time put into researching and verifying that content then is the value exchange fair?

150 editions in: What’s next for The Edinburgh Guardian… – Michael Macleod – been fascinating to see how Michael’s round-up newsletter and website has developed, building on what was a strand of the Guardian Local project back in the early 2010s. As well as building a really solid subscriber base – which Michael says has meant he’s been able to now go part-time on the Substack-built site – he’s also sending a healthy amount of traffic to the existing news eco-system in Edinburgh and surrounds (I like how he references this and it’s clearly a metric he’s tracking closely). Given the current soul-searching at the BBC about its digital set up and plans, they could draw a lot of learnings from how shining a spotlight on good journalism and interesting stories could be a central pillar of their digital future. If Michael can do that, from scratch, imagine what a major direct-traffic website (with consistent and strong traffic to homepages and key landing pages) can do in terms of sharing of that digital audience around other corners of the internet. I wrote about the impact the ‘from other local news site’ box had on Blog Preston back in 2016.

Google is introducing an new experiment called “SGE while browsing,” – Ezra Eeman – initially the response would be ‘oh no, not more summaries and snippets’ as Google starts to make use of AI to provide ‘summaries’ of articles that appear in search results. But scrolling through the comments on Ezra’s post there’s a really interesting read on how Swedish daily Aftonbladet began to use ChatGPT to produce article summaries at the top, and this actually encouraged stronger article-read time (the concept is also being tested by NottinghamshireLive in the UK with AI-driven summaries of longer articles). Perhaps we under-estimate that to tap on a link there’s that question from a user/reader of ‘is it worth it? is it what I am looking for?’ and allowing people to see a summary encourages people to read the full article. In one sense, it’s nothing new, MailOnline has always had three to four big summary ‘blobs’ at the top of its digital articles for many years as have other sites.

What next for The Telegraph as subscription revenues continue to shrink? – Dominic Young, Media Leader – there’s a lot of focus at the moment about how subscription revenue growth is going to continue for those who have pursued this strategy in recent years. Dominic here explores the rapid growth and tactics used to drive the Telegraph, and it comes at an interesting time as the conversion of existing loyal audiences to established digital properties subsides and then comes the challenge of attracting new and different readers, and convincing them to pay. As I’ve referenced previously, The Audiencers have some excellent reading in this subscriptions space.

Building a successful presence in America – Alan Hunter and Michael Brunt, Media Makers Meet – the charge across the Atlantic is happening as more UK publishers increase their content and operations in the US market, with the Independent the latest to announced an increase focus on top of existing operations. Alan and Michael explore the differences in the market and look at whether the plays that UK publishers make here will translate in the US. One thing is clear, whatever your metric of success, expansion into the largest English-speaking market in the world is definitely on the cards in the coming months or years ahead to maintain a growth curve.

Why New Statesman became first major publisher to exclusively host newsletters on Substack – Bron Maher, Press Gazette – there’s an ever-increasing buzz about Substack, the email-focused platform that also delivers you a website and subscription services. My takeaway from the New Statesman is how they kept the focus narrow on two appointment-to-read newsletters – The Saturday Read and Morning Call – which similar to Michael’s Edinburgh effort above – are both clearly defined, arrive at a moment in time and they’ve been ruthlessly consistent too. Then the rewards come. And that buzz shows no sign of slowing, as the Mill announced it’s received some shot-in-the-arm investment as they take their Substack model into other UK cities.

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What I’ve been reading: Life without Tweetdeck, the Public Interest News Foundation’s Local News Map reaction and the future of Google

I’m on a period of leave at the moment, one of the benefits of this is having some time to read around and there’s interesting links below that I’ve stumbled upon. If you’re in the digital media, digital journalism, social media, digital comms space then I hope these are a good reading list. I’ll try and post these as frequently as I get chance, and if you find them useful let me know. And if you spot something I should include, or you’ve written something that you think should be shared then drop it over. I’m on edward_walker86 AT hotmail.co.uk

TweetDeck is officially becoming a paid service – The Verge. Farewell to Tweetdeck. A mainstay of any journalist’s toolkit, Tweetdeck (which began as a start-up and was then bought by Twitter) has become a paid-for part of X as it continues the Musk era. A really powerful search and monitoring tool, not just for journalists but all manor of industries that either had a digital presence or were producing digital content. Your choice is either to cough up the monthly fee, use the free X platform but save things like searches/lists as tabs to move quickly between them, and this TechCrunch piece sheds light on how difficult to replicate Tweetdeck it is. And how the closest similar tool, HootSuite, comes with a hefty monthly price tag that suddenly makes paying for XPro seem well worth it.

Reflections on the Local News Map, and next steps – Joe Mitchell, Public Interest News Foundation. There’s been plenty of reaction to the map, with many pointing fingers at missing publications, odd definitions etc. The basis behind the map is sound, trying to get a feel for where there isn’t the intensity of news coverage in the UK. I feel there’s definitely a missing piece around trying to score the ‘newsiness’ of an area. Journalists have that in-built knowledge around which places they just know if they source a story about then it will perform better and get people talking – because those places have strong news and digital eco-systems. This probably warrants a longer post from me but it feels like for a local authority area it’s not as simple as saying ‘x publication covers y’, are there active Facebook groups? Twitter accounts? What is the story count for major towns within those local authority areas? Are there Local Democracy Reporters? What’s the population? You could then find places with a strong potential news eco-system which are not being covered as regularly (and this becomes a starting point for helping encourage more publication in these geographies), and likewise places which don’t have the news eco-system as mature so the starting point there becomes in encouraging things like distribution channels which then encourages more news provision because there’s a distribution network digitally. The first review step is a good one, opening up the map to allow people to submit missing publications. I’ll be putting in a few I know of.

Fortune’s Chief Customer Officer: Targeting reach failed to deliver revenue for publishers – Pugpig – there’s some really interesting insight pieces from Pugpig at the moment digging into the strategies behind publishers. There’s some good stuff in here about workflows, ensuring any strategy around content is user-focused rather than content-focused and much more.

Facebook and Instagram start blocking news in Canada – The Verge – across the Atlantic and there’s a war going on between Canadian media, the tech giants and the Canadian government. The thorny issue of the tech giants needing to pay, make a contribution, however you want to call it for the use of content on their platforms has reached boiling point in Canada. It’s pretty scary that important news about locations, and wider, is not being served up on one of the most-used digital platforms in the country – see this Guardian piece about the impact the news sharing ban is having in the North West of the country which is experiencing intense wildfires. While people who are conscious consumers will then probably seek out a news platform directly – potentially seeing a boost in direct and engaged audiences for some publishers – many people are passive consumers of news. And it is those people who will be most affected – and lost to publishers – by this kind of action by Meta. And Google is due to follow suit. A worrying test case?

Seven sources of free images for journalists – Journalism.co.uk – so often you’re writing a story about something which doesn’t relate to a specific person or organisation, limiting the images you can use. Hence the stock picture. Taking that bit of time to find a picture that’s different or more unique, or matches the content, will make it perform so much better regardless of platform. This is a genuinely handy list from Jacob Granger and features some well-known and not-so-well-known picture site options.

Google changed the world but search is on for the next big hit – Tom Whipple, The Times – I read this is print over the weekend, was the Weekend Essay in The Times. Reads as a ‘what’s next for Google?’ and struck me just how geared to hyper-serving their users the platform is, and it’s important to remember that is what is behind many of the decisions, products and changes that are made. But if we do see legislation or competition, then will there become a broader set of search-engines which are more topic/industry focused than one to rule them all?

Want more links to read? Here’s the last round-up I did.

What I’ve been reading: X’s monetisation programme, Enders local analysis and the importance of tagging content

I’m on a period of leave at the moment, one of the benefits of this is having some time to read around and there’s interesting links below that I’ve stumbled upon. If you’re in the digital media, digital journalism, social media, digital comms space then I hope these are a good reading list. I’ll try and post these as frequently as I get chance, and if you find them useful let me know. And if you spot something I should include, or you’ve written something that you think should be shared then drop it over. I’m on edward_walker86 AT hotmail.co.uk

After my first Twitter payout, is the X Monetization programme worth it? – Tim Gatt – giving X (formerly Twitter) Blue a spin, Tim’s done an interesting post on LinkedIn Pulse about how he’s found utilising the monetisation programme on X. His ‘On This Day in WWE’ account, run for the love not the money, ended up making some money. There’s definitely a good return on investment to be had for people and organisations who are already very active on Twitter. Although the monetisation thresholds mean it feels more like it’s moving to the YouTube model where the barrier to entry is now higher for unlocking the monetisation rather than plug-in-and-go we’ve seen on a lot of platforms for many years now.

‘All is not lost’ for UK local news publishers, says Enders report – Press Gazette – helpfully Bron included the full report at the bottom of the article (download link). It’s an insightful read and less ‘end of the world as we know it’ than Enders have predicted for regional and local media in the past. It highlights a major challenge – having amassed large audiences, the time spent/engagement with those sites is a difficulty compared to other apps and sites in that space.

The gradual decline of print (and perhaps more gradual than was previously predicted by groups like Enders) is giving the headspace and opportunity for experimentation within the local space by both new entrants and established players, but the report I feel highlights a clear need for innovation funding from external actors – be that government, philanthropists, research bodies or others to encourage that innovation and diversification. For a better hot take than mine, Sam Sheddon’s (who does audience engagement at National World) reaction to it has some key takeaways which are very valid.

And if you want an example of the importance of local journalism, go and have a read (and watch) of Conor Gogarty’s superb undercover investigation into the world of pressure selling at a Cardiff firm for WalesOnline.

Recently I went undercover working at a door-to-door sales operation. I'd heard claims of exploitation and cult-like practices, so I got a job there to investigate

Wearing a hidden camera I gathered evidence of lies, pressure-selling and a network of linked offices around the UK

— Conor Gogarty (@ConorGogarty) August 2, 2023

How tagging makes the digital world go round – Tom Jackson – I hate to think how many hours I’ve lost explaining why tagging articles within a media content management system is important (someone at my former role and employer at Reach will be nodding here and chuckling), but is this the moment where there’s an absolute clear need for AI? Journalists are great at writing, but in adding the right metadata and figuring out what category/tag/subject a story is about – beyond say the general news, sport etc – then not so much and given the labyrinth of sections, topics and more that exists within most CMS systems these days you can’t blame them. An insightful piece from Tom who digs into why having a clear set up of topics for your news site is important.

Innovative local journalism collaborative, the Scottish Beacon, launched! – The Scottish Beacon – shout to my fellow UCLan journalism leaders course alumni Rhiannon Davies on making this happen, I think we’ll see more of these as people find strength in numbers. Rhiannon and team take agenda-setting content from across nearly 20 hyperlocal titles in Scotland and where it has resonance beyond its geographic boundaries then showcases the content. There’s a supporter/donations-based model built in. Smart. Like a mini Google Showcase for Scottish Hyperlocals, I guess.

How La langue française increased registered user acquisition by 450% thanks to a “bittersweet” strategy – Nicolas Le Roux – there’s some really smart writing on The Audiencers at the moment, drilling right into how email subscriptions, registered-user flows and more work. There’s a lot of detail in this, about how essentially a metered paywall and email subs campaign was run by a French publisher and the tactics they utilised to give a big bump in the number of ‘known users’ on their site. A mix of carrot and stick.

Growing yield and revenues on mature subs products – Ben Wood – some similarities in the overall theme here, as a B2B publisher talks through the techniques they used in defining how to grow a subscription audience from a single offering and branching it out. The ‘good, better and best’ approach stood out to me.