Lannie Byrd » Online Media

Ten management truths for the web age

Lannie — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:43:11 +0000

Great e-book from web governance consultants WelchmanPierpoint.

The Digital Deca: 10 Management Truths for the Web Age eBook

View more presentations from WelchmanPierpoint.

Consumers want their news portable, personalized and participatory

Lannie — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:09:53 +0000

The Pew Internet and the American Life Project released their latest study on American’s use of the Internet examining how we use online news today. The overview of the report sums it up …

In this new multi-platform media environment, people’s relationship to news is becoming portable, personalized, and participatory. These new metrics stand out:

Portable : 33% of cell phone owners now access news on their cell phones.

Personalized : 28% of internet users have customized their home page to include news from sources and on topics that particularly interest them.

Participatory : 37% of internet users have contributed to the creation of news, commented about it, or disseminated it via postings on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.

So what does this mean for news and information sites over the next year? How will they change or adapt to meet the needs of the new news consumer?

Economy does in the Las Vegas Sun

Lannie — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:12:00 +0000

From a JOA where your paper is inserted in the “winning” newspaper’s edition to a multi-award winning newspaper website and a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service back to laying off most of your staff. The Las Vegas CityLife has interesting look at the roller coaster ride of Greenspun Media’s Las Vegas Sun. They examine how the newspaper reinvented the print newsroom to focus on long-form journalism, the free reign they gave new media wonder boy Rob Curley, the tension between the interactive newsroom and the print newsroom and how the collapse of the Las Vegas real estate market cause the newspaper to lose most of interactive staff and half of it’s newsroom.

Wow! One out of four pageviews is from Facebook

Lannie — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:36:04 +0000

In the United States one out of every four pageviews is from Facebook. Amazing! Google only accounts for one in eight page views (15 percent).

Will broadband and media innovation sustain democracy?

Lannie — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:56:22 +0000

The free flow of information “is as vital to the healthy functioning of communities as clean air, safe streets, good schools and public health.” That’s what the Knight Commission on Information Needs of a Democracy concluded in their report on Sustaining Democracy in a Digital Age. The 145 page report urges the nation to making sure all Americans have broadband access just as the emphasized ground transportation in building an interstate highway system a half-century ago.

The commission also examined issued the media is facing recommending:

Direct media policy toward innovation, competition, and support for business models that provide marketplace incentives for quality journalism.
Increase the role of higher education,community and nonprofit institutions as hubs of journalistic activity and other information-sharing for local communities.

When is paid content successful?

Lannie — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:14:08 +0000

What metrics do you use to measure the success of a newspaper web site switching to a paid content model? Specifically, I’m thinking about how will Stephens Media know if their switch to a paid content model for the Pine Bluff Commercial? Here’s the metrics I think a site switching to a paid content model would have to use.

Paid Subscribers both online and in print – To justify paid content model you must show an increase in print newspaper subscriptions because the reason you switched to a paid model was to stop the cannibalization of your print subscribers by your free online site. Of course most studies show that the revenue generated from paid online subscribers will barely cover the cost of running the website.
Web Site Visitors – Nope. You can keep measuring your web site visitors if you want to, but the dropoff from when it was free will be so discouraging you might change your mind and open it up again.
Web Display Ad Revenue – Strike Two. Won’t work. You just killed your audience with the paid wall. Any advertiser who runs on your site behind the pay wall doesn’t know what they’re doing.
Online Classified Revenue – Strike Three. This isn’t working for many newspapers anymore, but if you’ve killed your audience then who will pay to get their classifieds seen online by nobody.

So, the only real workable metric is an increase in paid print subscribers. That’s right a continual increase. If you only slow your decrease, then you’ve just slowed the print newspaper death spiral and given yourself another year or two until the presses stop running.

Temple on where newspapers need to head

Lannie — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:39:55 +0000

John Temple, former editor the Rocky Mountain News, has some interesting comments on the latest Nieman Journalism Lab report on newspapers online market share and Rupert Murdoch’s latest comment in support of the newspapers implementing a pay wall.

Timeline tools

Lannie — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:33:32 +0000

I spent all morning banging my head against my computer and several search engines trying to remember the name of visual timeline tool that I found that was pretty cool– Vuvox. Vuvox is a web tool that alllows to create a collage of photos, video, audio and text to tell a story. Here’s a good example of one (be sure to hit the full screen button to get the full experience).

Some other timeline tools I found while I was trying to remember Vuvox include

Trouble with twitter

Lannie — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:17:46 +0000

I recently seperated my twitter from my facebook and I am only trying to twitter when I have something to say– which hasn’t been much lately. This video is a pretty good example of what twitter can become

Make sure you watch until the fail whale appears.