TO:                     Ruby Sinreich

FROM:              Lindsay Britt

DATE:                May 1, 2010

RE:                      The Future of PARNM in N.C. – My experiences, my vision

PARNM in N.C. Today

Before the future of public affairs reporting for new media (PARNM) can be analyzed, the current status of PARNM must be considered. Historically, public affairs has been predominately covered by newspapers. With that said, two of N.C.’s main newspapers, The Charlotte Observer and News and Observer, are owned by McClatchy, the third largest newspaper company in the United States. In recent years, McClatchy has been struggling with large amounts of debt resulting from losses in readership and advertising revenue. As a result, newspapers have been functioning with severely understaffed newsrooms. This has opened the door for new media to fill the gaps in public affairs reporting that have been created by suffering newsrooms.

Bring in the Blogs

Blogs like OrangePolitics have seen a need for public affairs reporting and have stepped up to provide information that newspapers are no longer providing. This comes as no surprise to Downie and Schudson, who co-wrote the “Reconstruction of American Journalism” in October, 2009. They detailed blogs as one of the new sources of independent news reporting. Downie and Schudson observed that many of these new organizations report on their communities like OP reports primarily on Orange County politics.

The low start-up and maintenance costs of running a blog make it easy for both professionals and amateur journalists to get their work published online. The downside is that the blog’s business model isn’t sustainable enough for them to truly compete with newspapers without collaborating with other media. However, as many newspapers have realized, blogs provide new opportunities. Now, one would be hard pressed to find an online newspaper that doesn’t have individual reporters contributing to blogs on the site.  Even WRAL, a news television station, links to blogs written by their reporters on its Web site.

OP is an excellent example of the limitations surrounding blogs. Ruby Sinreich is the founder, administrator and chief editor of OP. She works on OP in her spare time. Sinreich relies on small individual donations to help pay for the site’s server space and also calls on community members and college students to help contribute content. While OP provides a significant service to Orange County, it will never be a primary news outlet that trumps The Carrboro Citizen, for example. OP doesn’t have sufficient funding or staff, and it never will under its current business model. Fortunately, ousting out other local news was never OP’s intent. OP was created as a platform to encourage discussion and interactivity among community members interested in Orange County politics. OP offers additional information and viewpoints that compliment the hard news published by The Carrboro Citizen. Sinreich is an independent blogger who also collaborates with other community members to provide content.

Most blogs today supplement other news outlets. People aren’t able to receive all of their news from a blog. But, they can receive additional information that adds to news already consumed from traditional sources. Blogs will never be the media of choice for the masses, but blogs have carved themselves a place that promises them a spot in the future of new media.

Newspapers Need New Business Model

Newspapers are no longer just black and white. They don’t come only in print. In fact, a majority of newspapers have found an online identity for themselves. Being online allows newspapers to reach a broader audience much faster than what a hard copy version can accomplish. The newspaper’s new online counterpart is why it can be argued that newspapers are a form of new media. However, along with new technologies come new obstacles.

People have come to view online content as a public good that isn’t paid for. This poses a problem for newspapers that provide professional content. It costs money to gather and report in-depth news stories, not to mention online stories with additional features. Newspapers are providing online components like multimedia, blogs, photo galleries, and interactive graphics. It only makes sense that they would charge extra for access, but why haven’t they? If readers aren’t willing to pay for the content, newsrooms will no longer have the funds needed to properly cover their beats and provide the breaking news people are craving.

In addition, the cost of online advertising isn’t proportionate with the cost of print advertising. Online ads are sold at a much lower rate. This is partly due to the difficulties in proving the effective nature of online ads. After all, how can someone guarantee the number of eyes that will actually view an ad? The cheap nature of online ads is seen as yet another cut in the financial intake that newspapers feel they are due. Not knowing how to properly charge for online access and online ads are only two of the problems newspapers are seeing in their business model.

Three Deciding Words

The picture of what public affairs reporting will look like in the future is slowly coming together. Many can guess who the main players will be: blogs, niche publications, online news sites. Perhaps newspapers will still play a major role. However, trying to picture what form public affairs reporting will take should not be the main focus. Instead, journalists should work to ensure certain standards in whatever platform succeeds the traditional newspapers.

Those standards are:

• Independence
• Originality
• Credibility

Downie and Schudson wrote, “It may not be essential to save any particular news medium, including printed newspapers. What is paramount is preserving independent, original, credible reporting, whether or not it is popular or profitable, and regardless of the medium in which it appears.”

With these three standards in mind, one can begin to chip away at the flaws of varying news platforms. For example, many blogs do not pass the originality standard. Many blogs are third party commentators on current events. Without newspapers making the first initial report on a story, many blogs wouldn’t have the foundation for their conversation. While some blogs do break stories before newspapers, those blogs are very few. Blogs have neither the resources nor the professional network necessary to gather hard news stories with relevant, credible sources. While a blogger’s viewpoints may be original, the topics discussed are borrowed straight from the headlines in many cases.

Credibility is another standard that is difficult to verify among some new media. This is because creating a Web site is easy, cheap and fast. Anyone wishing to spew their opinions can do so with the click of a mouse. Though allowing all voices an equal opportunity to be heard is in the definition of democracy, it isn’t guaranteed that these voices will share credible information. For a Web site to be seen as credible, it will need to be largely transparent. People will need to know who created the site and for what purpose.

It is also important to ask who funds the news medium. Is a political party paying a government commentator to blog about topics of interest that only favor certain viewpoints? If so, then the information given is far from independent, unbiased news, and it should not be portrayed as such. This example supports why it is vital that the identities behind new forms of media be clearly presented. After all, it took years for The New York Times to build a brand that people trust. It will also take time before new media forms are trusted.

Personal Prediction

Many people argue that newspapers are dying. I argue that they aren’t and won’t. Newspapers will be an integral part of news and public affairs reporting for a long time to come. Their role may evolve, but their existence, at least for the next 100 years, is certain. I say this because newspapers are a highly unionized institution owned by power wielding individuals and families. These organizations will not be easily dispersed of, and my opinion is that they shouldn’t be.  New media shouldn’t replace print newspapers until it can be proven that new media can consistently do the same job as newspapers. This also includes new media being made available to the same audience as newspapers, which is everyone.

While many assume everyone has Internet access, it isn’t true.  According to Nielson Online, approximately 74% of the United States’ population has the Internet. This is why news and public affairs reporting will not be placed solely online. If it were, a significant portion of the U.S.’s population, about 25%, wouldn’t have access. This would violate the purpose of news: keeping people informed so they can make good decisions that support a functioning democracy. This is the bottom line.

New media offer opportunities that traditional media never could such as interactive archiving of information. I think traditional media will quickly integrate new media practices into their infrastructures and strive for a new level of synergy that hasn’t yet been experienced in the field of journalism.

According to Professor Ryan Thornburg, public affairs reporting is:

• Shining light in dark places
• Holding powerful people accountable
• Explaining a complex world

I believe that newspapers and other traditional media will utilize new media to shine even more light in dark places, hold more powerful people accountable and further explain a complex world. The potential of new media is limitless, and when traditional media learn to harness these new opportunities for reporting, journalism will experience revitalization like never before.

That provides a good segue into something we discussed this week in class. Where has journalism been, and where is it going? In the days of Edward R. Murrow, the methods used for reporting news were transitioning into the realm of broadcast television. While the transition from radio to television was monumental, like everything else in the good ol’ days, it happened slowly. Today, no one person can stay up-to-date with the innumerable technologies that are emerging.

The framework of traditional journalism is still a key player, if not the key player, in how news is delivered. However, economically speaking, it has taken a detrimental blow. I would rationalize that this is due to its insusceptibility to change. The business model of traditional journalism hasn’t been easily translated for the online news world. While a majority of newspapers now have an online counterpart, they aren’t sufficiently charging for those services if at all. One reason is because people have come to view online content as free and news as a public good. If a newspaper started charging for online content, the web user would simply turn to another site that freely offered the same information.

Trying to tackle the challenges of today’s news industry would make anyone’s head hurt. However, The Future of Journalism, written and assembled by Gerry Storch, helps sort everything out. It uses over 70 interviews and author commentary to address many of the subjects we’ve discussed this semester ranging from the online pay wall feature, the role of the community journalist and the rise of social media.

The entire news industry is changing and that means so is the way we report on public affairs. Perhaps public affairs reporting will be the responsibility of citizen journalists. Maybe blogs will serve as the main platform for public affairs reporting. Even yet, maybe main media journalists, with their high ethical standards, resources and extended networks, will remain dominant. Whatever your opinion, there is one thing we can all agree on. This is an exciting time to be in journalism. Good night Public Affairs Reporting for New Media, and good luck to the future of journalism.

From the special “early voter” cocktail to the orange OP balloons, everything came together really well. One of my responsibilities was to bring a few orange balloons and write OP on them. I wasn’t sure where I would get the balloons so I turned to Google to search for Chapel Hill and balloons. The first Web site listed was for a small business in Carrboro called Balloons & Tunes. It was an easy decision to go to them because the importance of supporting local businesses has always been a priority of mine. It is also a priority included in the list of news values. Anytime you can apply a local angle on a story, you do. It provides a deeper context for readers.

Focusing on being relentlessly local is a concept that can be applied to all aspects of public affairs reporting. It is important to not only dedicate resources to reporting local politics, but it’s also important to translate the effect national politics can have on a small community. OP does the first part of reporting local politics very well. After all, the blog’s specialty is “highlighting local problems that might otherwise be forgotten and putting them on the public agenda.” This well crafted statement also reiterates Professor Thornburg’s mantra of “shining light in dark places.”

If OP were looking to expand discussion topics, they could begin to post on national politics and how federal legislation will affect Orange County. This certainly isn’t the focal point of OP, but I think people would find interest in a weekly or bi-monthly post featuring national issues. OP could comment on national issues by looking at them from Orange County’s perspective. For example, OP could examine the unemployment rate in Orange County (6.9%) in comparison to the state (11.8%) and national average (9.7%). What about Orange County’s approach on employment results in such a lower unemployment rate? What is Orange County doing right? What could they improve upon?

TO:                     Ruby Sinreich

FROM:              Lindsay Britt

DATE:               April 13, 2010

RE:                     Social Media Strategy

OP’s Acceptance of Social Media

OrangePolitics has embraced the use of social media to promote its political blog. Currently, OP has a Facebook fan page with 76 fans and a Twitter account with 626 followers. OP’s Twitter feed has been listed 65 times by other twitterers, and OP follows 11 lists. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, OP also utilizes a Flickr group account where 18 members share photos of events and topics pertaining to Orange County. As of April 12, 397 photos have been shared on Flickr. The Flickr photos are then displayed on the right hand side of OP’s front page. Of the three social media outlets being used, OP has developed its Twitter account the most, and as a result, benefits most from Twitter.

Note: Flickr will not be discussed in detail because it does not hold the same type of potential that Facebook and Twitter do.

Facebook’s Faults

Right now, OP’s main reason for using social media is to lead people back to the blog. The Facebook fan page is set up so any new blog post is automatically advertised on its wall. Theoretically, this would be an effective way of linking to OP’s Web site, but there aren’t enough OP fans on Facebook for it to greatly increase page visits. In addition, Facebook isn’t being used to initiate conversation but only to promote OP’s blog posts. For example, there have only been four posts by OP fans on OP’s wall since the account was created. All of the other wall posts are automated by OP every time new content is added to the blog. Facebook users immediately realize this and stop paying attention to OP wall posts. People don’t use Facebook to simply consume information. They use Facebook to socially interact with others. If OP doesn’t provide a Facebook venue that encourages interaction and prompts discussion amongst OP fans, they will go elsewhere to feed their craving for hyperconnectivity.

The Twitter vs. Facebook argument has been well detailed online. This article from www.twitip.com highlights the pros and cons of both. The following characteristics of Facebook help explain why Facebook may not be the best social platform for OP to use when reaching out to its target audience.

• Requires investment of time to realize sustained benefit
• More difficult to navigate and update
• Less immediate responses unless you stay logged on continually
• Opt in model

With time being of the essence, it appears that Facebook isn’t the platform of choice. In addition, the friend requests “opt in model” results in OP only communicating with people they already know. This is a problem because Facebook doesn’t easily allow OP to connect with people with shared interests who don’t have prior knowledge of OP.

Why Twitter is Tops

While OP isn’t reaping great benefits from Facebook, Twitter appears to be a very effective social media tool. By observing the numbers alone, it is evident that either OP followers use Twitter over Facebook or that OP prefers using Twitter rather than Facebook. The likely answer is that a mixture of the two has made Twitter the primary social media platform for OP.

For the purpose of OP’s social media strategy, the following Twitter pros and cons, taken from the list posted on twitip, are ones that pertain directly to OP. It is important to be aware of both the benefits and detriments of Twitter so OP can fully capitalize on Twitter’s capabilities.

Pros:

• Easy to navigate and update, link to and promote anything

Relevancy to OP: In addition to maintaining OP’s blog, Ruby Sinreich also runs OP’s Twitter. Therefore, she needs an interface, like Twitter, that is simple and quick to use. From observing OP’s Twitter, promoting blog posts is one of its main priorities.

• Reach far beyond your inner circle of friends

Relevancy to OP: OP can increase unique viewers to the blog by actively tweeting. As Ivor Tossell wrote, “Facebook is about people you used to know; Twitter is about people you’d like to know better.” Twitter has the power to pull in people interested in OP without requiring the preliminary friend request of Facebook.

• Pure communication tool, rapid responsiveness

Relevancy to OP: Twitter allows OP to disseminate a quick, succinct message and receive immediate feedback from the Twitter community. Facebook has many functions that tend to sidetrack users. OP’s Facebook updates compete with not only other people’s status updates, but also picture albums, instant messaging and application games.

• Cell phone and smart phone accessible

Relevancy to OP: Twitter is easy to follow using both cell phones and smart phones. People have the capability to receive Twitter feeds on almost any mobile device. OP can use this knowledge to increase its on-demand potential.

• Limited to 140 characters per update

Relevancy to OP: The 140 character limit forces OP to create short messages. This promotes the creation of concise tweets that include only the necessary facts. Eliminating unnecessary information promotes more direct user consumption of content.

Cons:

• Limited to 140 characters per update

Relevancy to OP: The 140 character limit simultaneously hinders the breadth of messages OP can tweet. Resultantly, followers may not receive enough information to fully comprehend a tweet’s intent.

• Easily abused for spam and increasing the noise level

Relevancy to OP: OP should actively prevent all tweets from appearing as noise. This supports the need to keep tweets as useful as possible by including only necessary, factual information.

• Not all people find it immediately useful

Relevancy to OP: Twitter is still developing. Not all have joined the bandwagon. Fortunately, bloggers and blog followers have, and that makes up a wide margin of OP’s audience.

After analyzing the pros and cons pertinent to OP, it is evident that the pros carry larger weight. OP’s choice to invest more time and thought into developing its Twitter was a smart decision. If OP doesn’t have the manpower to properly maintain both Twitter and Facebook, then Twitter would be the more beneficial interface to dedicate the most energy to.

Twitter Recommendations

The following four recommendations are simple tactics OP can initiate or continue to practice on Twitter to draw more audience to the OP site.

1. Avoid promoting OP in every tweet. Varying tweet messages to include useful outside information adds to the value of OP’s tweets. If all of OP’s tweets were shameless plugs for the site, people would stop paying attention to OP’s Twitter.

2. When OP does tweet about a new blog post, always include a link to the OP site to drive people from Twitter to OP.

3. Interact with other Twitterers with similar interests by utilizing the “RT” function to retweet relevant posts by other users. This will provide your followers with valuable information. In addition, it will alert those users and their networks of OP’s existence and indirectly lead them to OP.

4. Continue maintaining lists that follow Twitterers with interests pertaining to OP. This will notify other users that they’ve been added to a list on OP. Building lists gives people in the Twitter community credibility, and in return, they may choose to add OP to one of their lists.

Should OP Remain on Facebook?

While Facebook isn’t the primary social platform for OP, is it worth maintaining on a basic level? If Facebook is informing even one person about OP, it should continue existing on Facebook. If for no other reason, having a Facebook identity ensures that no other individual will create an account under the false pretense of representing OP. It is ultimately a safety measure that should be considered.

One of the human elements I am referring to is OP’s upcoming happy hour. We started planning OP’s next happy hour that will be at R&R Grill on Friday, April 16. Candidates, Orange County residents and UNC students will be invited to join in on some fun and loaded conversations about local politics. Ginny is even working on some orange drink specials.

I realized this week that blogs, especially OP, have the power to bring people together. OP’s main job is to provide a platform to bring readers and content contributors together who all are similarly interested in Orange County politics. However, OP can also physically bring people together. OP’s fans have been regularly meeting for happy hours, and we will continue that tradition next week. OP’s strength in rallying supporters goes beyond garnering hits to a Web site. That speaks of how far OP has penetrated the lives of people in Orange County.

Christina and I also visited Jock Lauterer’s community journalism class to discuss OP’s internship opportunities. Jock’s class produces the Carrboro Commons and assists with the Northeast Central Durham VOICE. I thought his class would be a great one to recruit interns from. They learn the essence of local reporting and also have experience with online blogs. In addition, both the Carrboro Commons and the VOICE have experimented with video and audio components. The video story on Cliff’s Meat Market is one of my favorites that was published online by the Carrboro Commons. This is a great example at how simple video clips can tell a great story. OP would draw more traffic by adding more multimedia content to the site. Video and audio would also put a much-needed face and voice to many of the topics discussed in OP’s blog posts. That’s another one of the human elements I am thinking about this week.

Can you think of other ways the human element can strengthen blogs and why?

Now, on to a topic I’ve been reading a lot about…

The iPad has been all over the news lately. Everyone, especially the tech world, has been waiting with excited curiosity for the distribution of the iPad since it was introduced on January 27, 2010. The question that has yet to be answered is if the iPad will stand up to its hype? We will soon find out as Apple has already pre-sold “hundreds of thousands of units” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Many critics say the iPad is just a larger version of the iPhone. Others are praising the iPad as if it’s one of the ten commandment tablets. After researching news reports and tech blogs, I have decided that this tablet computer has the potential to change lives – for some.

From what I read in The New York Times, the iPad is good for consuming content but not good at creating content. People will have the ability to use the multitouch screen to:

• check e-mail
• use thousands of apps that are already available on the iPhone
• surf the Web
• watch TV shows and movies
• read e-books and newspapers
• play games
• the list could go on and on…

Though the iPad has many of the same functions as a laptop, it’s not one. That doesn’t mean it won’t find a place in every home. I can see every family having at least one iPad. Dad can use it to read the newspaper. Mom can use it to look up online recipes in the kitchen. The kids can use it to watch movies and play games. You may say a laptop can do all of those things, too. However, it’s just not as fun. The iPad’s touch screen and interactive capabilities provide people, even those who aren’t tech savvy, with a fun experience.

What does this mean for public affairs reporting? For one, the iPad may be instrumental in the revitalization of the newspaper. Without professional newspapers, there is no in-depth public affairs reporting. I anticipate that people will be able to pay for newspapers like they do e-books and this will provide new income for newspapers.

Another cool aspect is the multimedia platform the iPad provides. The iPad can support high level graphics, video, photo and rich text all in one piece of packaged content. It’s a total media experience. This can help transform sometimes humdrum public affairs reporting into an exciting and interactive learning experience.

This video from Wired Magazine gives a great demonstration of the possibilities the iPad offers both news and magazine industries.

Whether it’s a strategic move or not Apple has granted very few early releases of the iPad. As a result, many application makers and program designers have been blindly making products for the iPad in hopes of staying ahead of the curve. I’m not sure why Apple would withhold the iPad from people who wish to do business with them. All I can gather is that Apple wants to shroud their product’s capabilities with as much mystery to keep people guessing. We’re all just living in Steve Jobs’ world, really.

Something to keep in mind is that the iPad is a closed internet system and everything has to be approved by Apple first. “Apple not only sells you the device, but also operates the only store on the planet that sells software for it,” Daniel Lyons writes in NEWSWEEK. “Such ‘walled gardens’ were supposed to be a thing of the past, cracked open first by the freewheeling PC revolution and then demolished by the anything-goes-and-everything-is-free World Wide Web.” Apple will have the power to limit what products are sold through their app store, and that also gives them the power to restrict content they deem inappropriate or not in the best interest of Apple.  It will be interesting to see what restricted freedom arguments arise in the future regarding Apple.

Overall, I’m for the iPad. I understand its shortcomings, but I find that its great potential outweighs any hesitations I have read about.

Do you want an iPad? Why or why not?

TO:                     Ruby Sinreich

FROM:              Lindsay Britt

DATE:               March 30, 2010

RE:                     Search Engine Optimization

Black and White Nature of SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of strategies that helps increase a Web site’s ranking on a search engine such as Google, Bing or Yahoo. While SEO can greatly boost the number of unique visitors a Web site receives from search engines, there are ways that SEO can also hurt a Web site. Be wary that bad SEO practices, also known as black hat SEO, can greatly harm a Web site’s reputation and credibility. For a Web site’s growth to be most beneficial, it is vital to only apply ethical white hat SEO tactics like those described below. Before you can implement SEO tactics, you must first review your Web site’s analytics report (provided by Google Analytics in OrangePolitics’ case) to determine how it currently profits from search engines.

How OP Fares on Search Engines Today

Data for this section was gathered from Google Analytics for the dates February 26 through March 28, 2010.  OP received 8,447 total visits, and 27% of those visits (2,282) stemmed from search. (Note: Visits are not synonymous with unique visitors.) An overwhelming 86% of search-driven visits came from Google.

Search engines comb Web sites to find keywords that match those used in search inquiries. People are most often directed to OP’s site after searching for the following keywords:

• orange politics
• “james protzman” “town council”
• inventor61
• orangepolitics
• carrboro etj

These keywords do not distinguish between visitors. For that reason, it is important to also learn which keywords are most popular for drawing in new visitors. If that formula was applied to these five keywords, you would discover that ‘orange politics’ and ‘orangepolitics’ are the only keywords from the top five that draw in new visitors.

Ways OP Can Improve for Tomorrow

Recommendations for OP will center on Google’s search engine since it is the leading search engine used by both OP visitors and the masses. (Bing and Yahoo pale in comparison.) The great thing about Google is that they freely provide their search engine playbook to the public. Google’s Webmaster guidelines are the starting point for anyone managing a Web site. The guidelines detail what Google’s algorithmic search engine looks for when compiling results. Since OP isn’t in the position to pay for sponsored space, properly utilizing what Google refers to as their “organic search” is essential. Review Google’s SEO starter guide for a quick tutorial.

Search engines work best in attracting new visitors to a site. New first-time visitors coming from search engines will help increase OP’s unique visitor numbers. Ideally, these new visitors will evolve into loyal repeat visitors for OP. Here are a few strategic steps OP can take to increase its ranking on Google’s organic search and draw in more traffic.

1. Determine OP’s keywords. Use Google Insights to measure the popularity of possible keywords. Regularly monitor competitor BlueNC.com to see what their most popular keywords are at Google’s search-based keyword tool. Decide if BlueNC.com’s keywords are relevant to OP and can be applied to content created on OP.

Challenge: OP needs to find popular keywords used most often by new visitors. The keywords need to compete with BlueNC.com since the two sites have common viewers. Additionally, the keywords need to help separate OP from other sites affiliated with Orange County California to avoid searcher confusion.

Measuring Success: Determine five keywords with the assistance of Google Insights by April 15, 2010.

2. Ensure that the keywords logically appear on each page. This will help increase the number of OP links that appear in a search result requesting those keywords.

Challenge: Multiple contributors supply content to OP, and OP does not heavily edit posts by other authors. For this reason, OP should provide a list of best practices for all contributors that recommend keywords to include in posts.

Measuring Success: Create and distribute list of best practices to current OP content providers by May 3, 2010. Monitor the use of keywords on a weekly basis beginning May 10, 2010.

3. Add descriptive file names, alt attributes and captions to all pictures and images. The text will help Google accurately recognize the image while boosting organic search rank.

Measuring Success: Update image file names, alt attributes and captions to OP’s preexisting photos by April 20, 2010. Implement naming conventions to all photos subsequently uploaded to OP.

4. Add a Sitemap to OP. Sitemaps not only help visitors navigate a Web site, but they also make it easier for search engines to locate all pages of a site. Otherwise, search engines may crawl right over pages of your Web site that aren’t linked well.

Measuring Success: Create and submit a Sitemap to Google by May 1, 2010.

Inside the Mind of Google

See what new plays Google is looking to add to their playbook by watching CNBC’s special featuring Google’s Internet search engine. It airs Tuesday, April 13 at 12 a.m. on CNBC.

This is my first live blogging experience. For the purpose of tonight, we will be using the live blogging application, CoveritLive. CoveritLive provides an HTML code is you insert into your blog. The frame it creates is where your real-time updates will appear. It’s a handy tool, and I am having a hard time believing it’s free. However, there is a unique stipulation that you cannot receive more than 5,000 unique viewers in a month’s time to all of your live events.  If you do, you have to upgrade to CoveritLive’s ad supported program (that is still free).

Live blogging is a platform used across industries. Just this week, live blogging was used to detail the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks game, American Idol’s results episode and the House of Representatives’ vote on health care. Live blogging can be applied to literally any event. Specifically concerning government hearings, it is very useful to have a live blogger present. From my experience on Capitol Hill, I learned that the congressional record is often tweaked a bit. Each congressman is given the opportunity to verify his or her statements and add or strike quotes. If they said something outrageous during a hearing, it may never be found on the record. Without the proper archival of congressional hearing video or accessible live blogs, reporters don’t have a resource to turn to when looking for the exact quotes of what was said.

Along with the functionality of live blogging, there is also a high level of interactivity. Most live blogs allow for comments that are displayed within the live blog updates. This allows for immediate discussion on the live event. You don’t even need to be in physical attendance!

Live blogs also raise the site’s visits per visitor numbers. When I met with Ruby yesterday, she mentioned the importance of announcing the live blog on OP before 5 p.m. She said that people check the blog most while they are sitting at their computer at work. Therefore, they need to know to return to OP that evening in order to see the live blog. Without that announcement, people may not see the live blog until the next day. Strategic insights like that are what make successful blogs.

As discussed in class, when people want breaking news, they turn to the Internet. I did that exact thing when Steve Jobs introduced the iPad. Before any video was ever uploaded, there were several live blogs of the event. It’s obvious to me that live blogs are a great outlet for providing what the audience wants when they want it. It is instantaneous new news, not yesterday’s news.

What is the last live blog you followed?

TO:                  Ruby Sinreich

FROM:           Lindsay Britt

DATE:            March 18, 2010

RE:                  Audience Development

Welcoming the Audience

When a blog is created, it receives an instantaneous audience that may be there for one minute and gone in two. Internet users often speed along the information highway without looking back. This is why it is vital to the success of your blog for you to provide a welcoming platform for conversation. Encouraging interactivity between you and your audience helps to develop and maintain visitor loyalty. But first, who is your audience?

Analysis of Current Audience

OrangePolitics has been on its current site for 2,363 days and has gathered 625 registered site members, 2,510 posts and 39,760 comments as of March 17, 2010. The specificity of OP makes for a narrow audience that primarily includes:

• Concerned Orange County citizens
• Left-leaning Orange County activists
• Local Politicians
• Media
• Visitors driven from search engines

The above audience is mostly measured by the site’s membership. This counting method is inefficient and neglects many visits, including those by first-time visitors and non-members who post comments anonymously.

It is difficult to determine the loyalty of the audience due to a lack of proper data documentation. However, the loyalty of OP contributors is high. OP was created by Ruby Sinreich and has since evolved into a collaborative blog that encourages discussion by allowing others to post pertinent content.

Moving Forward

All Web sites are vying for the attention of internet users so it is important to continually develop your audience to maintain loyalty. Not only is maintaining your current audience a priority, but so is increasing your audience size in order to further spread your blog’s message. OP needs to concentrate on increasing the number of unique visitors in order to attract new members as well as increasing visits per visitor to strengthen loyalty.

Here are the steps for moving forward:

1. Increase unique visitors.

a. Add a Digg button for visitors to share posts from your site on Digg.com, thereby promoting your blog.

b. Consider participating in the StumbleUpon community. After a month as an active member, you can begin to promote your own site through SU.

c. Network with related political blogs in North Carolina by linking to their sites from OP. Many Web sites utilize a tool like Google’s Webmaster to see what sites link back to them. This will raise awareness about OP. Ideally the sites will find interest in OP, link to it from their homepage and direct their visitors to OP.

2. Increase visits per visitor.

a. Build Twitter follower and Facebook fan numbers. People are in the habit of checking their social media accounts much more frequently than they do individual blogs. Post about your updated blog on Twitter and Facebook and direct your social media friends there.

b. Update regularly by recruiting and calling upon collaborators to write posts. The more collaborators you have, the more content you will produce. Look to BlueNC for a precedent. This community-based North Carolina political blog posts up to 7 times in one day with the help of volunteer community writers.

Measuring Success

Success will be measured by accomplishing separate terms for each objective. They are as follows:

1a. Installing a Digg button by April 18, 2010 and receiving at least 3 Diggs a week through May.

1b. Become a StumbleUpon member by April 1, 2010 and participate in the SU community twice a week during April. At the end of April, evaluate your SU experience and consider options for using SU to promote OP. Make a decision by May 15, 2010.

1c. Use Google Webmaster to see who links to OP by April 10, 2010. Determine which Web sites you should link to on OP. Link to 3 Web sites by May 1, 2010.

2a. Increase OP Twitter followers and OP Facebook fans by 10% by May 20, 2010. To increase interactivity, seek audience feedback by posting relevant questions relating to new blog posts to Twitter and Facebook. Also link the post to OP. To avoid oversaturation, post only 3-5 times a week on Twitter and Facebook starting March 25, 2010.

2b. E-mail a personal thank you to recent OP collaborators to show your appreciation by April 1, 2010. Further OP’s relationship with BlueNC to see how their success can be emulated at OP. Contact BlueNC by April 25, 2010.

What We Don’t Know

OP has utilized Google Analytics in the past but hasn’t kept up with the services offered. As a result, we don’t have access to updated raw data produced by OP such as pages per visit, visits per visitor and the number of unique visitors. It is important to regularly analyze this data in order to recognize trends pertaining to visitors. Combining knowledge learned from trend observations with the objectives stated above, OP will be able to efficiently develop its audience.

Before you can successfully crowdsource tasks via Twitter, you must have a substantial follower community on Twitter. Efforts to rally crowdsource support will be wasted if you don’t first have a large group of loyal twitterers. This is something I think OrangePolitics can focus on more – building their Twitter numbers. Though increasing views to the blog is a high priority, it is more likely that people visit their personal Twitter accounts more than they do a blog. Therefore, it is important to have a highly interactive Twitter account that encourages fellow twitterers to participate.

Twitter can also serve as a tool to disseminate tasks you need assistance with for your blog. For example, OrangePolitics can ask its Twitter community to brainstorm what issues affecting Carrboro are most important to them. OrangePolitics can then center its next blog post on one of those issues. Though I originally saw Twitter as a fad that would quickly come and go, I now have seen the potential behind the application.

My interest in discussing Twitter this week also stems from the latest addition of @anywhere that Twitter just introduced.  People will now have the capability to post to their Twitter accounts from other Web sites they are visiting like YouTube and The New York Times. For example, people will be able to tweet from YouTube about an interesting video rather than having to open a new window to log into their Twitter account. The new @anywhere application will boost the number of tweets being posted as well as build interactivity between Twitter and other Web sites. Once this application is up and running, site owners will have the capability to insert javascript that will allow the usage of @anywhere on their Web site. This is something that OrangePolitics should look for on the horizon.

Let’s go back to the original question. Can you use Twitter for crowdsourcing? My answer is a resounding yes! What do you think? Post a comment below, and we’ll discuss.