Gingras online newsproductdesign-020710
23
Designing News Products and Business Models from a Netcentric Perspective Richard Gingras [email protected] 650 793 0093 Salon Media Group
-
Upload
richardgingras -
Category
Business
-
view
509 -
download
3
description
Observations on the design of next generation news products
Transcript of Gingras online newsproductdesign-020710
- 1. Designing News Products and Business Models from a Netcentric Perspective Richard Gingras [email_address] 650 793 0093 Salon Media Group
- 2. Prototypical Blogger? I.F. Stone
- 3. Technological change
- Embrace it. Change with it. It is the playing field; it sets the rules of the game
- Do not presume it will save any old model
- It wont!
- 4. Technology progression: simplified Exponential Convergence
- 5. What wont change We had better hope so!
- Openness of networks
- Access to distribution
- Free speech
- Whats killing print is not Google but the openness of the Internet
- Openness broke the newspaper distribution control and the associated business model
- 6. On an optimistic note
- Journalisms future will be stronger and more valued than journalisms past or present
- Newspapers are dying because we have put a press into everyones hands how can that be bad?
- Journalisms future will be molded not by the painful transmogrification of existing entities but by many new creative endeavors
- 7. Accept new economics!
- Presume no economic savior, there is none
-
- Micro-payments are not a macro solution
-
- $40 print ad CPMs are history
-
- Subscription fees are self-defeating unless content has extraordinary value
- Revenue: assume an RPM of $10
- Expense: target Cost/MPV of $5
- 8. Traffic flows Inbound traffic: Home Page versus Rest-of-Site 50% 50%
- 9. Traffic flows
- Source of rest-of-site traffic
-
- Search Engines
-
- Referral Sites: aggregators, email, blogs, social media, news-ranking sites
- Behaviors: query-driven as well as browsing
-
- 83% use search to access news; 53% frequently
-
- 15-35% of news site traffic comes from search/aggregation
-
- Its not only a good traffic but its a great source of new uniques and an opportunity to drive product discovery
- 10. Rethink content architecture Necessary to work the matrix from every dimension Ephemeral anthrax attack article Persistent anthrax attack resource
- 11. Topic Pages The new article page
- Real-time micro-sites on important issues, ongoing stories, hot topics
- Locus for engagement
- Editors as experts of their domains
- Widget structure supports variation by topic
- Increase search rank
- Draw new users
- Drive product discovery
- Increased ad relevancy
- 12. Rethink the output Every new medium begins as a container
for the old
- The long-form article is not the end product of the reporting effort
- The end product is far more than that:
-
- Articles, posts, facts, related docs, reader contributions, discussion, databases, etc. etc.
- And, yes, the long-form should be reconsidered
-
- Audience is low, abandonment is high
-
- How might one better achieve the objective to inform?
- 13. Abandonment by Length 4 100% 44% 30% 29% 3 100% 43% 33% 2 100% 41% 59% 67% 71%
- 14. Database journalism
- How can technology allow more effective use of the fruit of a reporters efforts?
- Shouldnt reporting generate persistent informational resources?
- Yes, but the thought process must change
- 15. Leverage the trusted crowd
- More writers publishing today than ever before
-
- The blogosphere, Wikipedia
-
- More chaff, yes, but also more wheat
- How can one optimally:
-
- Harvest high-quality, self-determined work
-
- Lead work into areas of interest/need
-
- Provide guidance on ethics and style
-
- Develop appropriate compensation models
- There is a huge benefit to those who develop the skills and processes to do this well
- 16. Salon Media Network Using the Salon brand to leverage the
trusted crowd
- Grow a virtual media organization of eager and capable participants
- Built on Salons quality ethic and led by its editors
- Sign-on to Salon policies. Work to its forms, guidelines, styles
- Lead work across editorial spectrum
- Evolve compensation models, largely performance-based
- Convert high-quality user contributions into Salon-branded content
- 17. Seek extreme efficiency Salons smart covers
- Stimulating, fast-changing , responsive to audience behavior; support passive and active customization
- Auto-produced via editorial rules
- Modular for flexibility, localization, experimentation, delivery to various platforms
- 18. Rethink the roles
- What is the day-to-day role of a reporter?
-
- when creation and publication can be in the reporters hands
- What is the day-to-day role of an editor?
-
- in an edition-less environment with a crowd of participants to lead, guide, and harvest
- 19. Break down that wall!
- Everyone must understand how the product and the business works
- Business: trust makes the brand
- Editorial: how the economics work
- Everyone: tracking the data
- Everyone: collaborating on product development
- 20. Working the Matrix
- 21. Premium advertising Premium pricing requires flexibility
and creativity
- Support creative flexibility beyond standard ad units
- Seeking high impact and greater engagement
- 22. Ecommerce Salon shopping experience
- Opportunity : Salon is a lifestyle brand -- clear demographic, educated, progressive, involved, higher-income
- Product : consistent with Salons values, further celebrating those values; a self-reinforcing
- Approach : strong editorial personality; ecommerce business with no marketing or inventory costs
- 23. Designing News Products and Business Models from a Netcentric Perspective Richard Gingras [email_address] 650 793 0093 Salon Media Group