David Teeghman Jennifer Paull Lindsey 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 saidfaster 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: ComedyCoffeehouse: 29 views  Live Blog: Open Missouri Day at RJI: 36views  Live Blog: SXSW Debriefing from RJI:53 views  Open Missouri: Shining a Light onMissouri 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 ofPOYI coverage  Published more conventional“ hard news ” ▪ Dismal page views ▪ No social media traffic  News they want vs. news theyneed – 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 todesign/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 rule  Dealing with it in a professionalmanner  Realizing that some readers thinkcriticizing the J-School in any wayis 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 backlashbecause they weren ’ t perfect – switched to infographics  Fall 2010 Enrollment Statistics: ▪ Over 100 pages of statistics aboutMizzou – made multiple graphics ▪ Presented the information differentways to make sure it was stillinteresting ▪ Posts still centered around J-School,even if they were also about otherschools in Big 12 or other colleges

 Some of the most popularmultimedia posts: ▪ Where journalism students endup/came from ▪ How much money journalismstudents make ▪ How many students have jobs whenthey graduate, by college andsequence - lead to original contactwith Huffington Post College  Least popular: ▪ Where to park around the J-School ▪ Race breakdown - surprised mebecause I thought it would bring up alot of concern

 Social Media  No one had experience with Tumblr,unsure of what to do with it  Must be maintained/updatedminute-by-minute  All J-School s must be read forrelevant info to share on socialmedia  FourSquare – no Hootsuite-typeprogram for managing multipleaccounts  Make sure to carry on equalconversations on both Facebookand 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, earlyevening)  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 ALLcontent  All 3 editors share responsibilities,understanding that there will be alot of cross-over between positions  Learning when to respond tocomments and criticism and whento step back

 Multimedia  Switched to publishing infographics –videos weren ’ t good enough  Text that went along with the graphicsadding supplementary information  Tried to make sure there was a leastsome sort of J-School tie with all of thegraphics – our key audience  Social Media  Began posting more info on Facebookbeyond just story links  J-Info tweets were scheduled as soonas the info was received  Set up access to JSB Twitter on editor ’ s smart phone to ensure fasterresponses.

 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, 4selected  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 3 rd  “ Lessons to pass on ” Google Doc  Summer transition period ▪ Less frequent publication ▪ Opportunities to slowly take overresponsibilities ▪ Training via Skype  August 2011: New editors takeover entirely ▪ Original editors available via &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  1 st week: featured on MSNBC, Reddit  186 Facebook “ likes ”  121 Twitter followers

J-School Buzz