World Editors Forum 11: Session Community, Jim Brady
1. 18th WORLD EDITORS FORUM
Session: How to build a community around your publication
Title: Building Community Around Journalism
Speaker: Jim Brady
Mark your calendar
64th WORLD NEWSPAPER CONGRESS
19th WORLD EDITORS FORUM
Vienna, Reed Messe Wien
www.wan-ifra.org/kiev2012
5. Why Engage?
• Because news organizations always
have…
– Used experts as sources
– Interviewed citizens for stories
– Accepted tips from the community
– Run photos & videos not taken by staffers
– Run freelance pieces by citizens & experts
6. Why Engage?
• In the new media ecosystem, you need
readers a lot more than they need you
– Collectively, the community knows a lot more
about each subject area than you do
– Consumers have a lot of choices & not a lot of
time
– They don’t need to come directly to you to
access your content
– Without committed readers, you have no
business
7. Why Engage?
• Because working with consumers
produces better journalism
– More sources of information
– An ability to cover more beats
– An ability to cover more physical real estate
– An ability to directly tap experts in the areas
you cover
8. Shallow Engagement
COMMENTS
ON ARTICLES
• Almost always a one-way
conversation.
• Rarely involves the
community in the creation
of actual journalism.
• The tone of discussions
actually keeps many
readers from engaging.
9. Shallow Engagement
USER PHOTO
CONTESTS
• Totally separate from any
kind of actual journalism.
• Usually just a cheap ploy
for page views.
• Allows editors to claim
engagement efforts
without really doing it.
10. Shallow Engagement
SHARING TOOLS
• Allows community to recirculate
your journalism, but there’s no
direct engagement.
• Doesn’t create any kind of loyalty
or deeper relationship.
11. What Is Deep Engagement?
• Any direct interaction with a member of the community
that deepens their relationship with your organization.
That includes…
– Spending real, physical time with the community
– Training the community in ways it can help you
– Using information gathered by the community in your core
journalism
– Accepting breaking news contributions from the community
– Curating the work of community members
– Using the community as a journalistic tool of scale
– Understanding that the collective community is a powerful
journalistic force
12. First Rule of Engagement
Engaging meaningfully with
your community means
giving up control.
13. First Rule of Engagement
Engaging meaningfully with
your community means
giving up control.
You HAVE to accept that.
14. First Rule of Engagement
Engaging meaningfully with
your community means
giving up control.
You HAVE to accept that.
If you don’t, don’t bother.
15. Register Citizen Newsroom Cafe
• Audience invited to sit in on newsroom meeting, watch a live
stream or participate in a live chat
• Free public wi-fi access offered, as well as coffee and snacks
16. Community Media Labs
• Among our
papers, we’re
now working
with 1,024 local
blogs.
17. SeeClickFix
• In more than 25,000 cities and 8,000 neighborhoods
• Has gathered more than 50,000 reports
• SeeClickFix has relationships with local governments
18. TBD: Complete This Story
• The audience can help you find out things you couldn’t
• It’s a tacit admission media companies can’t – and don’t – know
everything
19. TBD’s Community Network
• More than 225 sites
joined
• We sold advertising for
about 75 blogs
• We linked to them
aggressively, and put
them in our geo-coded
feeds to expose them to
relevant audiences
• Provided training sessions
for network members on
blogging, SEO, social
media, etc.
• We held public office
hours to meet with
readers.
22. Public Reporting Network
• 5,000 Reporting Network members
• They’ve helped conducted spot checks on federal stimulus
spending, unraveled loan modification stories, and tracked
the oversight of a state nursing board, among other efforts
24. If You Do This Right…
• If you apply these strategies successfully:
– The community will view you as a partner, not a rival.
That means:
• They will send you tips, not your competitors
• They will visit your site more often
• They will link to you more from blogs & social media
• They will tell their friends about you
• In short, they will root for your success
• You will be more relevant to your audience
• More relevance =
25. If You Do This Right…
• If you apply these strategies successfully:
– The community will view you as a partner, not a rival.
That means:
• They will send you tips, not your competitors
• They will visit your site more often
• They will link to you more from blogs & social media
• They will tell their friends about you
• In short, they will root for your success
• You will be more relevant to your audience
• More relevance = more audience =
26. If You Do This Right…
• If you apply these strategies successfully:
– The community will view you as a partner, not a rival.
That means:
• They will send you tips, not your competitors
• They will visit your site more often
• They will link to you more from blogs & social media
• They will tell their friends about you
• In short, they will root for your success
• You will be more relevant to your audience
• More relevance = more audience = more
revenue
27. If You Do This Right…
• If you apply these strategies successfully:
– The community will view you as a partner, not a rival.
That means:
• They will send you tips, not your competitors
• They will visit your site more often
• They will link to you more from blogs & social media
• They will tell their friends about you
• In short, they will root for your success
• You will be more relevant to your audience
• More relevance = more audience = more
revenue = more journalists
28. If You Do This Right…
• If you apply these strategies successfully:
– The community will view you as a partner, not a rival.
That means:
• They will send you tips, not your competitors
• They will visit your site more often
• They will link to you more from blogs & social media
• They will tell their friends about you
• In short, they will root for your success
• You will be more relevant to your audience
• More relevance = more audience = more
revenue = more journalists = better
journalism
