Below is an idea for a content analysis I started kicking around about 2 years ago. It is based around the idea is that local media creates and reinforces community, so why don’t newspapers become cognizant of it and start designing their websites around this principle. If they do they will create all kinds of positives. First, it has been shown that newspapers can create increased civic participation and social capital in a community. It then stands to reason that if a newspaper explicitly tries to increase civic participation and social capital they will be able to do it more effectively. The more people care about their community the more likely they are to read news about their community. Hence this is a reinforcing spiral. Community reinforcing media creates people who care more about the community. People who care more about the community use more local news media.

But how do we do this. I think there are three important concepts that we need to think about. First, the reader/user must be engaged in the content. Once they are engaged in the content feelings of connection to the community and the news organization must be cultivated. News source must also provide the mobilizing information to allow people to get involved in the community. This is my modest idea.

So how do newspapers make money off this? First, we need to accept that because of increased competition the newspaper is never going to turn the profit margins it did in the 90’s. What it is going to make is a solid, consistent profit. Say goodbye to the 15% return. Say hello to the 2% return.

Now that we have that settled we can start really thinking about making money. There we come back to advertising and feedback loops. Good advertising is all about creating good feedback loops. The more you know the customer the better you can serve them. The better you can serve your customer the more money you can make for advertising. Secondly, the more Internet real estate you have the more you can sell. So offer more than just news and you can sell more than just news.

Anyway, I have been droning on for too long and this is merely a first draft from 2 years ago. I can think of a number of sub-discussions I can pull out from this essay and extend a lot. Maybe I’ll do that over the next while.

First Draft of:

Community Creation Measure

Nicholas W. Geidner

Prepared: 02.16.07

The community creation measure is based around the following three variables, engagement, involvement, and connection. Engagement measures whether the website allows the users to find out more about local stories and interests. This variable is divided into two categories, technical and content. The second variable, involvement, examines if the website encourages involvement with local organizations and interests. The final variable, connection, measures whether the website allows to users to connect to other users in the community.

Engagement

Content

1. Coverage of local stories – local news prominently displayed on the front page of the website
2. Neighborhood new – Hyperlocalized information based around the zip code or neighborhood of the user
3. Political coverage on all levels – Information on up coming elections from the township level up to the federal level
   1. Township
   2. County
   3. Regional
   4. State
   5. Federal
4. National stories localized – National stories connected to the local community
5. Interactive features – Addition interactive features for larger stories. This could include interactive maps, timelines, etc.
6. Polls
7. Streaming video – The website offers the user to view video assets for most stories
8. Regular online news option – Website offers a regularly scheduled online news program (ie. a noon 3-minute news brief)

Technical

1. Allowance for user submitted content
   1. Text stories
   2. Pictures
   3. Video
2. MyCoverage option – A feature which allows the user to customize the website to concentrate on the stories that interest them.
3. Tagging – A feature that allows users to tag stories or sort stories in some fashion
4. Alternative outputs – Website allows the user to access alternative formats
   1. RSS
   2. Cell phone updates
   3. E-mail updates
   4. Podcasts
5. Comments – A feature that allows the user to comment on stories posted to the website

Involvement

1. Community Calendar
2. Additions to community calendar – Allows the users to add community events
3. Contact information for local organization
   1. Political
   2. Social
   3. Religious
4. Volunteer opportunities – Announcements of where people can volunteer with-in the community
5. Station supported community events – Website promotes community events created by the station
6. Direct donations – Allow users to donate directly to community fundraising campaigns

Connection

1. Profiles – A feature allowing the user to create a personal, unique profile that they can be identified as by other users
2. Chatrooms – Does the website have any chatrooms where users can meet and discuss topics?
3. Message boards/forum – Allows the user to post messages on to a public message board or forum
4. Online social networking – Allow users to display profiles and look through profiles created by other users
5. Community meet-ups – Tool that encourages face-to-face meeting of users with similar interests
6. User created blogs – Allow the user to create personal blogs
7. Link to other local bloggers

Nick Uncategorized Community, journalism, research