Analytics

News and commentary of interest to journalism innovators and entrepreneurs

News and notes from the 2012 NAA MediaXchange

News and commentary of interest to journalism innovators and entrepreneurs

News and commentary of interest to journalism innovators and entrepreneurs

I spent last year at RJI studying audience engagement — reading, talking, interviewing, writing, more reading — and ended that year motivated to put what I'd learned into practice.

Luckily, the job I came back to was in a newsroom built on experimentation, with colleagues willing to go along on the engagement ride.

In August, we kicked off the Missourian's community outreach team, made up of students in a class I teach called Participatory Journalism. (The class has existed for years and was developed by Clyde Bentley, also an RJI fellow.) This year, the focus of the class broadened to include more ways the relationship between journalists and their communities are changing.

Breeze Richardson, director of strategic partnerships at Chicago Public Media (WBEZ-Chicago), provides a detailed explanation of how her organization is developing specific metrics to measure a full range of engagement with the community it serves.

New firm measures reader actions in predictive analytics endeavor. Some 40 websites are giving it a try

Brian Steffens, Director of Communications

Did your workweek get away from you? Anxious or afraid you missed something you should know? RJI shares links to hot-topic web posts of interest to those immersed in journalism innovation and transition.

Much has been said and written by editors about the need for headline writers to understand search-engine optimization. This is certainly important, although it is really just a different way of thinking about something that headline writers have always thought about: keywords. I’ve heard much less about another aspect of online headline writing that we talk about here at the Missourian. I’ll call it “reader-optimization.” First, though, an overview of what we’re teaching and doing.

Brian Steffens, Director of Communications

iPad publishing do's and don'ts

Clear Channel radio embraces multi-platform model

Prime time competition: Readers adopt DVR time-shifting concept

Design, not templates, the future of tablet news?

News staffs begin to adjust to mobile workflow

Localleaks can provide 1,400 newspapers with tips, documents with one form

Print news closings slow while digital news launches accelerate

News Corp going mobile with coupons

Stephanie Padgett, 2009-2010 Fellow

When I am not “fellowing” at RJI, I help private schools with their media and marketing efforts. Just five years ago, most of these campaigns focused on finding the right mix of school and camp guides. Some schools were lucky enough to afford a billboard or two. It was a fairly predictable business and success which was measured by the number on the waiting list.

Those days are over—just ask any newspaper or city magazine that still attempts to produce a bi-annual school directory. Schools are just one of many organizations to realize that parents begin their search for product information online. Thus budgets have shifted to paid search, SEO and online ads.