Transforming Traditional Media
It surprises me, how many newspapers and niche magazines, feel that they can fulfill their online reader’s quest for information, by taking the PDF of the print publication and promoting it their website. Some, who feel they have surpassed the PDFers’, pride themselves on taking the same copy in print and promoting that to the web, at or around the same time the print publication hits the street.
Take my hand, and let me explain to you why this approach will not stand the test of time.
Although elements of the data may be the same, the functionality of the sources, at which people access information, are different. For example, lets review the new age, yet old, make up of two primary media competitors. Print Media and Online Media.
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PRINT |
ONLINE |
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Portable |
Accessible at any time, with data updated as it becomes available. The user and not the publisher then governs time dependency. |
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Leisure reading |
Used as real-time communicating agents. (many sites encourage user forums and the ability to communicate with site creators, with just one click of a button) |
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Timeline driven (readers know and expect a delay in reporting a story, due to print deadlines, etc…) |
Transferable data or shared data (users are accustom to sharing what they find with friends – either through electronic logging sites ((del.icio.us)), emailed link or full article, through dynamic site functions. |
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Browser reading enabled (encourages readers to glance, read other articles and advertisements they would not have been otherwise interested in) |
Tactical hunt and scanning (with site segmentation, keywords and advance search capabilities, browsers can find exactly what they are looking for, bypassing articles or items of no interest.) |
User generated differences, with information gathering, should not be ignored. Countless studies exist today and prove that readers use the web far differently than they do print. So seeing publishers try to compete online, with dated online formats is puzzling. The key is to always be thinking about how the relationship between the publishers print and website can evolve to give readers more of what they are asking for.
Honorable mention goes out to the Gannett Company, a publishing group taking steps to transform traditional print media. Gannett’s daily newspapers have recently undergone a change in news media that in some cases, have Gannett editors working shifts around the clock.
In late 2005, Gannett Executives commenced the testing of a special newsgroup called ‘The Information Centre’. The idea of ‘The Information Centre’ was that editors and writers work at earlier start times to get breaking and time sensitive news, on the dailies accompanying web site, as soon as they occur. For a Gannett reader, ‘The Information Centre’ meant no more waiting 12 to 24 hours after the event occurred, to read about it online. The test proved favorable and in some cases, dailies saw slight increases in print circulation. As Gannett proved that relevancy and accessibility was key for their online readers, all 85 of the Gannett dailies, across the
The Gannett’s ‘Information Centre’ is an example of the types of things publishers should be thinking about, to stay current and in the game. The move is brave and gutsy, as it defies the conservative, extensive fact-checking principal, but is risky enough to make a difference when sized up against the other guys in the traditional publishing world.
Bev, You are SOOO right – well said!