ISOJ 2011

1. Engaging
Communities With the
News @ TBD
Jim Brady
April 2, 2011

2. The TBD Theory…
No news site can be successful in the
21st
century by having readers…

3. The TBD Theory…
No news site can be successful in the
21st
century by having readers…
It needs to have engaged
participants…

4. The TBD Theory…
No news site can be successful in the
21st
century by having readers…
It needs to have engaged
participants…
And they need to be engaged in
journalism, not uploading pet
photos.

5. Engagement
• As viewed by many news organizations…

6. Engagement
• As viewed by many news organizations.

7. Engagement…
• As it should be viewed by all news organizations...

8. Engagement…
• As it should be viewed by all news organizations.

9. How TBD Went About It…
• We built a community network of more than 220
local sites.

10. How TBD Went About It…
• TBD curated the best content about the DC
region, regardless of source.

11. How TBD Went About It…
• We leveraged our audience to report out stories,
both individually and collectively.

12. How TBD Went About It…
• We drove traffic to the work of our community
network members.

13. How TBD Went About It…
• We delivered
curated information
about areas our
users told us were
important.

14. How TBD Went About It…
• We used Twitter and Facebook to gather news,
not just disseminate it.

15. How TBD Went About It…
• We were conversational in tone in all social
media. No Headline-Colon-Link here.

16. How TBD Went About It…
• We didn’t treat mobile as an add-on; we hired
mobile developers and designed apps that
appealed to the need of mobile users..

17. How TBD Went About It…
• We did events with local bloggers and other
interested parties.

18. How TBD Went About It…
• We held public office hours at coffee houses in
the region.

19. How TBD Went About It…
• We offered free training to community members
on social media, blogging, SEO, ethics, etc.

20. The Results…
Unique Visitors
• November 2010 -- 715,000

21. The Results…
Unique Visitors
• November 2010 -- 715,000
• December 2010 -- 838,000

22. The Results…
Unique Visitors
• November 2010 -- 715,000
• December 2010 -- 838,000
• January 2011 -- 1,500,000

23. The Results…
• We had a terrific buzz in DC-region blog
community, who viewed us as partners, not rivals.
• When possible, local bloggers naturally linked to
TBD vs. other local media.
• Consumers created a hashtag “#HeyTBD” to alert
us to potential breaking news stories in the area.
• We were able to leverage the community to
produce better journalism than we could have by
ourselves.

24. Since Then?

25. Since Then?
• Not much has really happened…

26. Thanks!
Hope you enjoyed your stay.
Please come again.