MEN Media Project: S&B Digital Board (May 2008) Page 1

Sarah HartleyMEN Media1 Scott PlaceManchester

M3 3RN0161 211 2418

What’s happening?May 2008

MEN Media Project: S&B Digital Board (May 2008) Page 2

What’s happening?

What’s coming upWhere the web is atHow UK local/regional newspapers are responding

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Where the web is at

Web 2.0 here to stay

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Where the web is at

Life is socialPeople consume content from where they are.There’s interaction with the provider PLUSInteraction with other users.Technology is mobile.A many-to-many model.

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Where the web is at

Life is mobile.More mobiles than people in many countries.Britons send more than one billion text messages per week. Mobile has turned people into content creators.

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The challenges we face

How to reach audiences.How to reach advertisers.How to move staff from print to digital.How to maintain relevance.How to be useful to people’s lives.

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What others are doing

Four themesSocial(Hyper) LocalMulti-media, multi-platformOrganisational change

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

ExperimentingMashing upIdentifying core purposesRe-structuringTraining

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What others are doing

SocialBlogging, lots of bloggingBirminghamFirst TM use of multi-author blogsConsultation and involvement of existing bloggers.Designed to reflect Post interests. eg. AutomotiveSuccess without sport

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What others are doing

SocialBloggingLiverpool business communityProfessional and UGC shared platformLaunch of “club”

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

SocialMicro-blogging with Twitter.Evening Leader in Wrexham doing sports updates.

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

SocialUse of Twitter as campaign tool.MEN launched Save Sven.Utilised feeds from MEN, BBC and Sky.Tight niche content i.e. Sven related.Just part of mix – print, online, social, video.

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

SocialMicro-blogging with TwitterPlymouth Herald breaks newsFollows with online

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

SocialMicro-blogging with Twitter.Liverpool’s election night coverage.

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

SocialUsing Twitter for news feeds.Carlisle News and Star, Birmingham Post

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

SocialTaking the content to the user on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube etc.

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

HyperlocalAll groups looking at geo-tagging content.Northcliffe enhancing its CMS to enable geo-tagging across the group's 'Thisis' websites.Archant to geo-tag all copy to postcode level.TM to start geo-tagging for community sites.

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

Hyper localAward-winning community sites for Teesside.Defined by postcode.140,000 UU.Built on a blogging platform.80% unique UGC, 20% re-purposed.Small business advertising.

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

HyperlocalAward-winning community sites in Hull.Launched in January1,000 registered users.More than 50,000 visits, 280,000 page views. 2,000 user-generated posts since its launch.

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UK local/regional activity

HyperlocalGlasgow launch of 36 sites started in March.UGC news, events, pix and video.14,000 users since launch quoted.

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

HyperlocalUse of interactive mapsMEN asked users to plot traffic issues.Hundreds of responses and still growing.

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

HyperlocalUse of interactive mapsRochdale Observer asked users to plot fuel prices.

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UK local/regional newspaper activity

Multi-media, multi platformVideo, lots of it.Mostly TV styleExeter Express and Echo trial report.Just part of the mix.Pushing into mobile with text alerts.

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

Multimedia, multi platformVideoSmall amount of “made for web”Westmorland GazetteLess presenter led

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

Multimedia, multi platformUse of video for campaign.Reading Evening Post launched ‘Keepy Uppy’Invited UGC via You Tube.In-house VJ contributed celebrities.

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UK regional/local activity

Multimedia, multi platformVideoLimited use of UGCOpportunity in this areaSkycast using for footballStarting to move into news

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UK regional/local activity

Multimedia, multi-platformVideoLive streaming experimentation going on in Qik, BambuserEarly adoption in SeesmicVideo going social

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UK regional/local activity

Multimedia, multi-platformAudioThe Northern EchoInterviews and headlinesSocial element with RSS, myYahoo and myMSN

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UK regional/local activity

Multimedia, multi-platformAudioThe Lancashire Evening PostTalking newspaperSubscribe on iTunes

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Multimedia, multi-platform

Live streaming experimentLiverpoolBlogging, micro-blogging, video, mobileGoing live today

“Tuesday is a way of trying to reconnect with past, present (and hopefully future) audience. We'll test the technology and hopefully change some mindsets - internal and external,” Alison Gow.

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UK regional/local activity

OrganisationalRe-structuring of newsrooms.Multimedia editors appointed in every TM centre.Northcliffe ‘handed back’ websites to the print staff.Newsquest this month announced print/online/mobile restructure in Scotland.All groups adopting “web-first” strategy.Training schemes across groups.

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UK regional/local activity

OrganisationalSetting up of community teams.Journalists and co-ordinators.Teesside a dedicated team of seven.

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UK regional/local activity

OrganisationalEstablishment of “data” teams.Specialist journalists for mobile services.

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To conclude

A time of experimentation for all newspaper companies.A mix of media across a mix of platforms.Exploring the opportunities of social media.Facing the new demands with new structures.Local is important.Personal is more important.

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UK regional/local newspaper activity

Any questions?

Contact me:Sarah Hartley, blogger (and head of online

editorial)M.E.N Media, 1 Scott Place, Manchester.0161 211 2148.sarah.hartley@men-news.co.uk