How We Did It

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March 20, 2012• Mike McInally, interim publisher, Mid-Valley

Newspapers, and editor, Corvallis Gazette-Times

• Jeremy Reukauf, web designer,

Mid-Valley Newspapers

• Troy Schildan, IT specialist, Mid-Valley

Newspapers

• Graham Kislingbury, online editor, Mid-Valley

Newspapers

Albany/Corvallis: Mid-Valley Flooding

By the numbersDaily

Circulation

Sunday

Circulation

Average

Daily Unique

Visitors

Newsroom

FTEs

13,500 14,500 8,255 17

10,000 10,000 11,217 19

23,500 24,500 19,472 36

Mid-Valley flood of 2012

The mid-valleyRed markers show locations of Corvallis, Albany and Lebanon

Our communitiesThe Willamette River, pictured here, between Corvallis and Albany

Plan A: OSU vs. UCLA Plan B: The flood

Changing plans

Plan A: Do a live

blog from the Jan.

19 game in

Corvallis. Plan got

scrapped at 10

p.m. Jan. 18.

Plan B: Flooding

live blog. Decided

at 10 a.m. Jan.

19, went live at

10:47 a.m.

10:47 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 19

Day 2: Live blog starts

•Started with

introduction

by Mike

McInally.

•Mike and

others posted

updates

for hours

• Someone

needs to be

posting and

moderating

at all times.

• Coordination

is important.

Inviting staff to the live blog, and quick training

Quick start

• As Mike posted and

moderated, Graham sent

out email invitations to staff

members of all three

papers. Those not familiar

with Scribble Live got a

quick tutorial.

• As the water kept

rising, reporters and

photographers were

out getting stories, photos

and videos.

Day 2

Sports reporter Cliff

Kirkpatrick quickly

posted flood

photos from his

digital camera.

Tip: Make

use of anyone

who is available

Thursday, Jan. 19: Rivers, creeks rising

Short videos

Videos on an iPhone, Droid or

iPad will go up fast if they’re

short. The video of the father-

daughter canoeists at right was

around 30 seconds.

What we learned: Go for a lot of

raw videos. Be attentive to

when you start and stop. Think

of no more than two key

questions to ask.

Aim for 30 seconds or less

Day 3People in Corvallis helped each other online

When we resumed the live

blog at 6 a.m. Jan.

20, people in south Corvallis

had myriad questions about

how to get around.

It was their neighbors, not

us, who answered those

questions.

Day 3

Later

Friday

morning,

a family

put out a

request

for

flashlights.

Two minutes

later someone

responded

with an offer

for help.

Day 3

ResourcesSticky asset with links to needed information

The “Mid-Valley

Flood

Resources”

remained atop

the live blog until

Sunday, Jan. 22

Day 5: Final numbersSunday, Jan. 22: Rivers recede; blog comes down

• 702 unique users who

posted or commented

• 1,720 total published

comments

• 1,790 moderated

comments

• More than 1,000

viewers during one

stretch

on Jan. 19

Online Data

393

82

0

100

200

300

400

1-Jan-2012 15-Jan-2012 29-Jan-2012

Facebook Likes For The Month Of January

Democrat Herald Likes Gazette Times Likes

Average Likes Per Day Before

the Flood were 2/day

180,783

136,025

0

100,000

200,000

1-Jan-2012 15-Jan-2012 29-Jan-2012

Page Views For The Month Of January

Democrat Herald Page Views Gazette Times Page Views

27,566

21,001

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

1-Jan-2012 15-Jan-2012 29-Jan-2012

Monthly Unique Visitors For The Month Of January

Democrat Herald Monthly U V Gazette Times Monthly U V

47,657

37,069

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

1-Jan-2012 15-Jan-2012 29-Jan-2012

Visits For The Month Of January

Democrat Herald Visits Gazette Times Visits

Facebook

• Facebook was

especially useful on

Day 1 when the live

blog was not up.

• It drove traffic to

our websites and

generated nearly

100 comments.

• There was

intense interest in

the creek tragedy.

‘Likes’ go through the roof

Positive responsePeople appreciated the live blog

We received

comments

on the blog

and

Facebook,

via email

and on the

street

thanking us

for the live

blog.

Lessons learned

Future

Start it sooner

Get avatar photos loaded and use same naming convention.

Better coordination of moderators and people in the field.

Arrange for a possible sponsor

Better resource list

Lessons learned

Future

Protocols on outside links

Set the blog so links will open in a new tab, rather than leaving the blog.

Get staff feedback before memories of the flood recede; critique the effort: What worked well, what could be improved, etc.?

Provide staff with a summary of the critique.

Think of other opportunities to use the live blog:

election night

controversial meetings

Friday night prep football games

How We Did ItMid-Valley Flooding Live Blog

K

21

Comments or

questions?

Thank you.

If you have lessons to share from recent coverage of a major local news event, including live coverage via

mobile devices and other tools, please send a summary to joanne.phillips@lee.net for inclusion in our How We

Did It series.