Comments on: A few Long Tail basics for newspapers http://ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/ Ryan Sholin on the future of newspapers, online news and journalism education. Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:49:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Will Sullivan's Journerdism » Another Black Monday coming; EPpy Award finalists; An Entrepreneur Will Save Journalism; Why MTV ditched their Flash website; Newsvine relaunches http://ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-7550 Will Sullivan's Journerdism » Another Black Monday coming; EPpy Award finalists; An Entrepreneur Will Save Journalism; Why MTV ditched their Flash website; Newsvine relaunches Fri, 03 Aug 2007 05:30:04 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/#comment-7550 [...] A few Long Tail basics for newspapers “1. Some of your content appeals to many of your readers. 2. Most of your content appeals to smaller groups of your readers. 3. Some of your content appeals to few of your readers.” Good discussion in the comments, too. [...] [...] A few Long Tail basics for newspapers “1. Some of your content appeals to many of your readers. 2. Most of your content appeals to smaller groups of your readers. 3. Some of your content appeals to few of your readers.” Good discussion in the comments, too. [...]

]]> By: Damon Kiesow http://ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-5967 Damon Kiesow Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:36:31 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/#comment-5967 Andrew - Actually I am not thinking about marrying print and broadcast. I am thinking specifically about the Internet. In many markets newspapers can and should own the breaking news franchise. We use email, SMS (including Twitter), and RSS to keep readers informed of breaking news. On many days it is our most popular Web content. Andrew -

Actually I am not thinking about marrying print and broadcast. I am thinking specifically about the Internet.

In many markets newspapers can and should own the breaking news franchise. We use email, SMS (including Twitter), and RSS to keep readers informed of breaking news. On many days it is our most popular Web content.

]]> By: Andrew Venegas http://ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-5949 Andrew Venegas Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:14:54 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/#comment-5949 In response to Lucas: Since newspapers can't cover all those Cat. 3 stories, they should be building sites that link people in those niche places together, so that the community does the heavy lifting for them. Why skimp on telling good, in-depth stories? If papers would tie ads to the communities they build and then reinvest that money into reporting, the amount of news a paper could cover would make the NYTimes Sunday Edition look meager at best. In response to Damon: I think the first two Cats you mention are in for a good rocking in the coming years. First, the news that's immediately important can still be covered more effectively by broadcast. After all, when breaking news happens, no one runs to pick up a paper. They flip on the TV or radio and see and hear it AS IT HAPPENS. However, if you're talking about marrying print and broadcast online... well, now we're talking! Second, news that's important today (ie. stocks, traffic, etc.) can be dolled out to third party services that get the information cheaper. There's no need to waste valuable resources and talented reporters on work that can be outsourced. Let journalists do what they do best. Dig. Do analysis, get interviews, tell the big stories that are REALLY important to THEIR LOCAL communities. Ryan is right. Papers need to reach out to the people that have a vested interest in the stories, because they are more likely to be passionate. And in the news biz, passion equals money - and that's never a bad thing. In response to Lucas:
Since newspapers can’t cover all those Cat. 3 stories, they should be building sites that link people in those niche places together, so that the community does the heavy lifting for them.

Why skimp on telling good, in-depth stories? If papers would tie ads to the communities they build and then reinvest that money into reporting, the amount of news a paper could cover would make the NYTimes Sunday Edition look meager at best.

In response to Damon:
I think the first two Cats you mention are in for a good rocking in the coming years.

First, the news that’s immediately important can still be covered more effectively by broadcast. After all, when breaking news happens, no one runs to pick up a paper. They flip on the TV or radio and see and hear it AS IT HAPPENS.

However, if you’re talking about marrying print and broadcast online… well, now we’re talking!

Second, news that’s important today (ie. stocks, traffic, etc.) can be dolled out to third party services that get the information cheaper. There’s no need to waste valuable resources and talented reporters on work that can be outsourced.

Let journalists do what they do best. Dig. Do analysis, get interviews, tell the big stories that are REALLY important to THEIR LOCAL communities.

Ryan is right. Papers need to reach out to the people that have a vested interest in the stories, because they are more likely to be passionate.

And in the news biz, passion equals money – and that’s never a bad thing.

]]> By: Lucas http://ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-5948 Lucas Wed, 25 Apr 2007 01:19:12 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/#comment-5948 The catch is that no newspaper can afford to cover all of those Category 3 stories themselves. Instead, the key is to keep the costs of covering these stories very low, since they have little ROI. The best way to do that is to cover these only with user-submitted content. The catch is that no newspaper can afford to cover all of those Category 3 stories themselves. Instead, the key is to keep the costs of covering these stories very low, since they have little ROI. The best way to do that is to cover these only with user-submitted content.

]]> By: Damon Kiesow http://ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-5945 Damon Kiesow Tue, 24 Apr 2007 18:57:28 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/#comment-5945 Ryan - I would add three overlapping categories to that - which are also useful for newspapers to pay attention to: 1) News that is important right now - but will not be in 20 minutes (traffic, weather?) 2) News that is important today - and will be of value tomorrow and in the near future. (The bulk of what we usually cover) 3) News that may be of limited value to a broad audience today - but will be of increasing value to niche audiences over a long period of time. (Local databases and other long tail stuff) Ryan -

I would add three overlapping categories to that – which are also useful for newspapers to pay attention to:

1) News that is important right now – but will not be in 20 minutes (traffic, weather?)
2) News that is important today – and will be of value tomorrow and in the near future. (The bulk of what we usually cover)
3) News that may be of limited value to a broad audience today – but will be of increasing value to niche audiences over a long period of time. (Local databases and other long tail stuff)

]]> By: The long tail and newspapers » mathewingram.com/media http://ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-5943 The long tail and newspapers » mathewingram.com/media Tue, 24 Apr 2007 16:53:11 +0000 http://www.ryansholin.com/2007/04/24/a-few-long-tail-basics-for-newspapers/#comment-5943 [...] Posted by Mathew @ 11:53 am on April 24 2007 · No Comments Good advice from Ryan Sholin’s Invisible Inkling blog about how newspapers should look at their audience. [...] [...] Posted by Mathew @ 11:53 am on April 24 2007 · No Comments Good advice from Ryan Sholin’s Invisible Inkling blog about how newspapers should look at their audience. [...]

]]>