Newspapers and Social Power

A recent (Nov/Dec 2008) survey by Gartner Inc. Analysts said that newspapers are faced with declining circulations, falling offline and online revenue, and competition from digital sources, but are failing to capitalize on their biggest supporters, their readers. [hat tip Shel Holtz]

Methodology: The survey of 989 Internet users in the U.S., U.K., and Italy was aimed at understanding how consumers discover and share different types of content. It looked at the main influences on media consumption, the main factors that prompt people to look for content, the main tools people use to search, what they do when they find interesting content and whether they share this content.

Findings: newspapers are not providing brand stewards with the necessary tools they need to optimize their role as influencers. This starts with a failure to optimize the search experiences at their Web sites and then carries on to a lack of integration between content and social media functionality.

This is a failing in many businesses as well, I agree with Shel.

Some data that transpired from those surveyed:

• While about 49% of respondents use general search engines (i.e., Google and Yahoo) once a week or more to find content, only 20% use search tools built into a newspaper or magazine site.

• Only 24% of those surveyed share good content "finds" with friends or others via personal communications — such as email and instant messaging (IM), and a mere 7% said they usually or often share content via embedding into social network sites.

• Although many newspapers list their staffers who are on Twitter, few offer Twitter users the ability to "tweet" stories from their Web sites.

• When asked what they do when they find interesting content online, more than half of respondents (52%) said that they usually read it immediately. Only 9% said that they bookmark it to read later.

Is this a question of integrating content management tools into newspapers digital properties? Or is it one of integrating a new way of thinking about content into the minds of the newspaper publishers?

I'll be reporting on a mini research project on content I've been working on this coming week. The punch line is that today you can figure out what content your readers are most interested in by observing their behavior. Newspapers do write also about things their readers are interested in, don't they? Why wouldn't you give them the tools to share that content?

In many ways, sharing content has become the substitute for commenting on content - the act of recommending, linking, and liking is an indication that the content is relevant and useful. People share expertise, even that of others, to improve their self-confidence.

This also the other angle. That of the social power. For users and for the publishers. As more and more journalists are measured by clicks and page views, they have the opportunity to become sources of influence with good quality content. Will that content chronicle our current age? There are journalists who are going hyper-local.

The Web is not just a place to upload content to - the same content of print - it's a way to create opportunity for people to interact with that content. Google proved that interactivity and relevance go hand in hand with an advertising model.

[chart from Internet Overtakes Newspapers as news source, Pew Research Center for the People & Press]

Comments

[Luca Conti]

If You have access to this research, please send me an email, I would like to ask You something for the Italian part :-) Thanks Valeria

[Joel]

I just want to say that I LOVE your blog...I follow you on Twitter and you have to be one of the best sources for information about using conversation to increase brand awareness. I just wanted to let you know that I read your stuff all the time and I love everything you have to say! THANKS!

[mark ragan]

You asked,

"Is this a question of integrating content management tools into newspapers digital properties? Or is it one of integrating a new way of thinking about content into the minds of the newspaper publishers?"

I came out of the newspaper business, having covered politics for 15 years until 1992.

Many of my friends are top players in the industry, and I can tell you that most of them struggled mightily to change their mindsets.

I worked for a year to get a friend of mine, who is an executive editor of a daily newspaper, to understand the huge potential he had to grab the online market and save his newspaper.

After all, though his paper was in decline, he still had a strong brand and a loyal customer base numbering in the 10's of thousands.

I couldn't break through, and now his newspaper is headed for slaughter like all others. It's very sad to see institutions who had the talent and the customers, but couldn't make the transition.

Thanks for the great post.

Mark

[Kfir Pravda]

Great post.
You propose that:
The Web is not just a place to upload content to - the same content of print - it's a way to create opportunity for people to interact with that content. Google proved that interactivity and relevance go hand in hand with an advertising model.

But - are today's journalists able to do that? Doesn't it require a different skill set?

[Mike Brewer]

In response to the question;

"Newspapers do write also about things their readers are interested in, don't they? Why wouldn't you give them the tools to share that content?"

I think any astute business owner would look at the advent of the internet, the innate need of people to be social and the proliferating set of networks to do it and say - "okay - I get it!" We love to share - we love to be first - it's a me econo[me]; business must recognize that to be successful going forward.

Thanks for the great information.

[Jesse Liebman]

Valeria,

I'm in complete agreement with you that Newspapers are failing to listen to their readers and adapt to their needs.

I think those that offer premium online content and also a hard copy, for the news purest, are adapting the best and seeing great results.

It will be interesting to see how newspapers adapt as trends are showing they may soon be obsolete.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Luca - I'll see what I can do.

@Joel - you are very kind, thank you.

@Mark - change is the hardest thing for people and for companies. We're creatures of habit and tend to become comfortable with what made us successful. It is the rare person who goes ahead and mixes things up, especially when they don't have to. And the way we track businesses in the market, growth becomes a drug they must take every quarter - so they learn to manage to that and lose sight of where the marketplace is headed. New entrants have an easier time with change, they can start there and have nothing (or close to) to lose.

@Kfir - nice to meet you and what a great name for the business you're in, media and marketing. Journalists write content, and in the end there is no substitute for good content. In the long tail online there are people interested in all kinds of topics.

@Mike - what happens instead is that the desire to control and drive are stifling businesses that are uncomfortable with people taking just what they need. It's the product-driven mindset, still, especially in B2B.

@Jesse - I've seen our main city paper get thinner with content and fuller of ads and circulars - that holds much less value for me. Unfortunately, that also means the loss of some really good journalists under the guise that "we need to do more with less". Sometimes, less is just less. I think the distribution model is finished or thereabouts, as it would not be sustainable just for the few who are not online. The content piece is needed now more than ever.

[Ekaterina Tsvetkova]

Great point about "integrating a new way of thinking about content into the minds of the newspaper publishers". To add to it, when it comes to content management, it is important to remember about reaching the right public. I think here it comes back to measurement, circulation auditing and other accountability strategies. Here is some useful information: www.buysafemedia.com