By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
USAToday.com last month moved into the world of widgets when it introduced several offerings to allow users to incorporate the news site’s content on their personal and social networking Web sites.
Widgets, essentially shortcuts, give users immediate access to content generated from other sites (see sidebar, right).
The newspaper trotted out three travel-themed widgets with plans to offer several more this fall, according to Joel Sucherman, USAToday.com’s executive producer.
Among the widgets available on USA Today’s site are three that deal with travel-related news. The widgets are accessible at www.usatoday.com/community/widgets/index.htm
“We are planning a politics one for the 2008 elections, which should be the next widget to roll out,” he said.
USA Today also anticipates four other widgets, including most popular headlines, pop culture, its Snapshot information graphic and video celebrities.
“We find that USA Today’s core customers have a real strong identification with the brand and would be interested in identifying their own blogs and social networking pages with USA Today,” Sucherman said.
Widgets will also let the paper reach audiences that may not currently access its site, Sucherman said.
“You might have new customers stumble upon your content and serendipity plays the part of gaining new customers who may find something they are interested in,” he said.
Test the waters
“It’s also a way for us to test the waters and find out where people want to read USA Today content. Particularly when you get into these niche categories, maybe (a widget) helps people spruce up their pages and tell the story that they want to tell,” said Sucherman.
All widgets will have an advertising aspect and house standard ad units.
Sucherman said it’s too early to determine how popular the widgets are. But the newspaper, he said, doesn’t expect to judge success in weeks or months.
“We want to learn what our customers want, where they want to put these widgets,” he said. “We are trying to make them as available as possible, from Facebook and MySpace to Google, Blogger and Typepad.”
USAToday.com’s widgets are based on software from NewsGator Technology Inc., which also provides widgets to several other newspapers, including The Miami Herald and Denver Post (see box).
But the USAToday.com widgets are different, said Walker Fenton, NewsGator’s general manager of syndication services. USA Today’s widgets promote the newspaper’s own content and make that content easier to share among users’ sites.
“Other newspapers are using widgets to aggregate related third-party content within their sites, giving their audience greater breadth and depth around a particular subject or topic in a manner that is personalized and easy to use,” he said.
What’s a widget?
On the Web, widgets are about as common as scandalous celebrity photos. But what exactly are they?
NewsGator General Manager of Syndication Services Walker Fenton describes widgets as embeddable applications that use built-in RSS feeds to draw in syndicated content from a predisposed location like USAToday.com or other third-party Web site.
USAToday.com terms them a little less officially: software that let users read, view and interact with USA Today contact on their own social network, blog or personalized page.
Regardless, widgets have become old hat to many companies providing enhanced features to social networking and blogging users. But for newspapers looking to spread their brands like a virtual Johnny Appleseed, widgets are relatively undiscovered country.
Widgets enable the flow of a wide variety of content, including news, graphics, audio and video.
NewsGator launched its Widget Framework app last June, allowing users to build widgets that syndicate content to other sites and desktops while maintaining a particular look and feel.
Users can also use the Widget Framework to present readers with related content from external sites and allow them to interact with that content.
Newspapers are moving toward offering customized widgets that offer various types of content.
“The USA Today widgets are a way for readers to put USA Today-branded content on their blog, Web page or social network page,” Fenton said. “It’s basically a fun way for consumers to experience and share news and information online while also helping to extend USA Today’s brand and advertising reach.”
Who’s got widgets?
Listed below are NewsGator widgets offered by newspapers:
•San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News: www.mercurynews.com
•The Miami Herald: www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/america_latina/cuba
•The Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch: www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.html
www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.html
•The Denver Post: http://my.denverpost.com
Monday, October 1, 2007
Wash Post taps Pluck
Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive incorporated Pluck Corp.’s SiteLife Social Media suite on its MyPost Web site.
The move adds site-wide user-generated content and social networking features that allow readers to interact with editors and other readers through story-level comments, blogs and topic-targeted communities around various news stories and themes.
“By deploying Pluck SiteLife to create MyPost we’re giving people another way to interact more deeply with the site and with each other, a strategy we have long believed will ultimately turn more visitors into loyal users,” said Jim Brady, executive editor, washingtonpost.com.
The personalized MyPost pages allow readers to upload an image, publish biographical information and track discussion groups.
It will also aggregate all comments a reader leaves on washingtonpost.com articles.
The move adds site-wide user-generated content and social networking features that allow readers to interact with editors and other readers through story-level comments, blogs and topic-targeted communities around various news stories and themes.
“By deploying Pluck SiteLife to create MyPost we’re giving people another way to interact more deeply with the site and with each other, a strategy we have long believed will ultimately turn more visitors into loyal users,” said Jim Brady, executive editor, washingtonpost.com.
The personalized MyPost pages allow readers to upload an image, publish biographical information and track discussion groups.
It will also aggregate all comments a reader leaves on washingtonpost.com articles.
McClatchy retains stake in CareerBuilder
The McClatchy Co. said it resolved outstanding issues related to its affiliate agreement with CareerBuilder and will continue with its 14.4 percent ownership stake in the online job site.
McClatchy gained a 33 percent stake in CareerBuilder with its acquisition of Knight-Ridder Inc. in June 2006, and in August 2006 sold 18.3 percent of the interest it acquired to Gannett and Tribune.
At that time, McClatchy entered into an affiliate agreement with CareerBuilder that limited the number of products McClatchy’s newspapers could sell compared to the former KRI affiliate agreement and the Gannett and Tribune affiliate agreements.
Earlier this year, McClatchy began talks with Gannett and Tribune to renegotiate the affiliate agreement to be more equitable for its newspapers. Those talks have been successfully completed.
Details of the affiliate agreement were not disclosed.
McClatchy gained a 33 percent stake in CareerBuilder with its acquisition of Knight-Ridder Inc. in June 2006, and in August 2006 sold 18.3 percent of the interest it acquired to Gannett and Tribune.
At that time, McClatchy entered into an affiliate agreement with CareerBuilder that limited the number of products McClatchy’s newspapers could sell compared to the former KRI affiliate agreement and the Gannett and Tribune affiliate agreements.
Earlier this year, McClatchy began talks with Gannett and Tribune to renegotiate the affiliate agreement to be more equitable for its newspapers. Those talks have been successfully completed.
Details of the affiliate agreement were not disclosed.
Fla. papers launch database
Gannett Co. Inc. newspapers and television stations in Florida launched a searchable database of more than 2 million files about the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the 2004 hurricanes that raked the Sunshine State.
The posting ended months of legal wrangling over the files.
The database spans the four hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004 — Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. It includes applicants’ addresses, how much an applicant requested and how much FEMA paid to satisfy each claim.
The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., and Pensacola News Journal filed a lawsuit in 2005 asking for information about public and individual assistance distributed by FEMA.
The information became public record on June 22, 2007, when the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the release of the information was essential for the public to evaluate FEMA’s responsiveness. The News-Press received the record Aug. 27.
The searchable database is available at:
www.news-press.com/fema
www.pensacolanewsjournal.com
www.floridatoday.com
www.tallahassee.com
The posting ended months of legal wrangling over the files.
The database spans the four hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004 — Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. It includes applicants’ addresses, how much an applicant requested and how much FEMA paid to satisfy each claim.
The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., and Pensacola News Journal filed a lawsuit in 2005 asking for information about public and individual assistance distributed by FEMA.
The information became public record on June 22, 2007, when the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the release of the information was essential for the public to evaluate FEMA’s responsiveness. The News-Press received the record Aug. 27.
The searchable database is available at:
www.news-press.com/fema
www.pensacolanewsjournal.com
www.floridatoday.com
www.tallahassee.com
Site aims to make classifieds easier for community papers
By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor
Newspapers of all sizes are looking to suture their print ad revenue wounds while building their online presence.
Web site CoolerAds.com said it has the tools to give newspapers that chance to bridge that gap through its menu of classified, local search and social networking features.
The three-year-old site, backed by Budd Lake, N.J.-based Kaesu Inc., counts as clients more than 95 community newspapers, according to Joe Nicastro, CoolerAds.com’s co-founder.
“Initially CoolerAds.com was designed to function as a classified network. It was our answer to Craigslist for community papers,” he said. “We started out with a classified program where users can upload their ads and take ads online — generally functions that most programs offer.”
But the site evolved into something a lot more sophisticated, which Nicastro said can handle the online classifieds section of any size newspaper.
Among the features: the ability for marketers to place classified ads online and in print, in multiple newspapers, with one buy.
“With the market for print and online classifieds easily surpassing $20 billion annually, we have the opportunity to build a strong business helping publishers retain and grow their portion of the local ad market,” Nicastro said.
Last month, CoolerAds.com bolstered its site with the addition of display ad archiving and distribution.
In the beginning
Gary L. Godfrey, president and publisher of Ohio-based Arens Publications, said he uses CoolerAds.com’s platform to meet the new online challenges facing his organization.
Godfrey said that adopting the CoolerAds.com platform was initially difficult because the terminology and methodology used was foreign.
“Publishers have their own jargon, and it was like being a fish out of water,” he said. “But through the years, with patience and suggestions, the CoolerAds platform is as simple as reading the screen.”
Godfrey said CoolerAds.com allows his customers to place ads based on their schedule and what they want to sell.
“I can’t believe when customers select their own ads, enhancements and number of weeks — they always select more than just calling an ad in by telephone,” he said. “The newest addition is report tabs which tell the publisher when someone new comes to the site.”
With all the free classified alternatives available to consumers, Godfrey said it’s important for publishers to realize that times have changed.
“We either get into the game or get out,” he said. “Just look at the circulation numbers of the big dailies — they keep going down and down.”
Pushing membership
The Mid-Atlantic Community Newspaper Association, meantime, last year began promoting the use of CoolerAds.com to its 50-strong membership. So far, 11 papers have signed up, said Alyse Mitten, MACPA’s executive director.
The organization includes weeklies and community papers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, reaching more than 6 million subscribers. About 1 million have access to CoolerAds.com.
Mitten said MACPA is promoting CoolerAds.com as a way for its member papers to pursue classified ad revenue lost to free sites like Craigslist.
“CoolerAds.com is a complement to our publications because it provides the younger reader or advertiser with a local venue for advertising their products,” she said. “The people that are going to come onto the Web sites are going to see all the ads from participating publications, but the ones they are most interested in will be from their local publications.”
The association is offering monetary incentives to entice newspapers to sign on to the program.
Mitten said CoolerAds provides the community papers with a Web presence they may not have been able to offer before.
“One member who runs the paper with just his wife has created an online presence where it looks like they have several more employees working for the operation,” she said.
Associate Editor
Newspapers of all sizes are looking to suture their print ad revenue wounds while building their online presence.
Web site CoolerAds.com said it has the tools to give newspapers that chance to bridge that gap through its menu of classified, local search and social networking features.
The three-year-old site, backed by Budd Lake, N.J.-based Kaesu Inc., counts as clients more than 95 community newspapers, according to Joe Nicastro, CoolerAds.com’s co-founder.
“Initially CoolerAds.com was designed to function as a classified network. It was our answer to Craigslist for community papers,” he said. “We started out with a classified program where users can upload their ads and take ads online — generally functions that most programs offer.”
But the site evolved into something a lot more sophisticated, which Nicastro said can handle the online classifieds section of any size newspaper.
Among the features: the ability for marketers to place classified ads online and in print, in multiple newspapers, with one buy.
“With the market for print and online classifieds easily surpassing $20 billion annually, we have the opportunity to build a strong business helping publishers retain and grow their portion of the local ad market,” Nicastro said.
Last month, CoolerAds.com bolstered its site with the addition of display ad archiving and distribution.
In the beginning
Gary L. Godfrey, president and publisher of Ohio-based Arens Publications, said he uses CoolerAds.com’s platform to meet the new online challenges facing his organization.
Godfrey said that adopting the CoolerAds.com platform was initially difficult because the terminology and methodology used was foreign.
“Publishers have their own jargon, and it was like being a fish out of water,” he said. “But through the years, with patience and suggestions, the CoolerAds platform is as simple as reading the screen.”
Godfrey said CoolerAds.com allows his customers to place ads based on their schedule and what they want to sell.
“I can’t believe when customers select their own ads, enhancements and number of weeks — they always select more than just calling an ad in by telephone,” he said. “The newest addition is report tabs which tell the publisher when someone new comes to the site.”
With all the free classified alternatives available to consumers, Godfrey said it’s important for publishers to realize that times have changed.
“We either get into the game or get out,” he said. “Just look at the circulation numbers of the big dailies — they keep going down and down.”
Pushing membership
The Mid-Atlantic Community Newspaper Association, meantime, last year began promoting the use of CoolerAds.com to its 50-strong membership. So far, 11 papers have signed up, said Alyse Mitten, MACPA’s executive director.
The organization includes weeklies and community papers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, reaching more than 6 million subscribers. About 1 million have access to CoolerAds.com.
Mitten said MACPA is promoting CoolerAds.com as a way for its member papers to pursue classified ad revenue lost to free sites like Craigslist.
“CoolerAds.com is a complement to our publications because it provides the younger reader or advertiser with a local venue for advertising their products,” she said. “The people that are going to come onto the Web sites are going to see all the ads from participating publications, but the ones they are most interested in will be from their local publications.”
The association is offering monetary incentives to entice newspapers to sign on to the program.
Mitten said CoolerAds provides the community papers with a Web presence they may not have been able to offer before.
“One member who runs the paper with just his wife has created an online presence where it looks like they have several more employees working for the operation,” she said.
Four questions with David W. Geipel
David Geipel, vice president of business development at CellSigns, says that the mobile experience is underpinned by a wide array of services. And newspapers better have strategies for each one.
What are some of the issues facing newspapers when it comes to implementing mobile phone technology?
Mobile isn’t new for many newspapers that have deployed WAP (wireless access protocol) sites with news, weather and sports content. They have been out for several years but most of those investments have not paid off. That’s because “mobile” encompasses a wider range of services to create an experience.
It’s not a single technology. The cornerstone of today’s successful mobile strategy is SMS (text messaging) and WAP. When you consider that a mobile phone can be a Web browser, an e-mail client, a telephone and an instant messenger, you really need to look for a strategy for each of these modes of communication. It also needs to reach consumers across various cell phone carriers like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint/Nextel.
Video will be the next big thing in the mobile space. Newer technologies like location-based services are still generating a lot of buzz right now.
How has the mobile technology industry changed over the past few years?
Over the last five years, the fastest growing form of wireless communication in the U.S. has been SMS/text messaging.
In just five years, text messaging has grown from over 18 million text messages a month to over 18.5 billion text messages sent each month in the U.S. It’s been growing 250 percent year over year. In other countries, there are more text messages sent than calls placed.
The mobile Internet will also revolutionize communication and entertainment in the near future as bandwidth increases on mobile networks. New services such as mobile video, photo sharing and music downloading will be all the rage over the next few years as the cell phone morphs into the next-generation communication device. Can anyone say iPhone?
Do you think mobile phone technology will help newspapers attract the young readership demographic?
Absolutely. According to Forrester Research, 78 percent of cell phone subscribers aged 18 to 26 use data services. Whether it’s teens, tweens or Generation X, Y or Z, they can all be lumped in as the mobile generation, or the consumer on the go.
The only way to reach this demographic is to talk their talk and create services that are useful and are of interest. They may not be picking up the paper, but their phone is with them and they know how to use it. SMS is to Gen-Y as e-mail was to Gen-X.
What Web 2.0 technology trends should newspapers pay attention to?
The newsroom has changed. Breaking news is now being reported as it happens through text message posts, mobile e-mail, camera phone photos and mobile video taken from cell phones. Some reporters are being equipped to report from the street and are now being called mojos, or mobile journalists.
Publisher Web sites will soon morph into places where collective intelligence resides. Blogs from actual editors and reporters will become the norm and garner greater readership across the Internet.
The move toward hyper-local puts the spotlight back on the street-by-street news. It also puts the spotlight on social networking applications, microsites and mash-ups — blending technologies.
Mobile technologies will allow advertisers to publish mobile special offers and specials to an opt-in list managed by the publisher. The customer will get the offer immediately on their phone, which reiterates the value of the subscriber relationship.
In the end, mobile is the universal connector between the customer and others with similar interests across all of the newspaper franchises, including news, weather, sports, promotions, and classifieds.
What are some of the issues facing newspapers when it comes to implementing mobile phone technology?
Mobile isn’t new for many newspapers that have deployed WAP (wireless access protocol) sites with news, weather and sports content. They have been out for several years but most of those investments have not paid off. That’s because “mobile” encompasses a wider range of services to create an experience.
It’s not a single technology. The cornerstone of today’s successful mobile strategy is SMS (text messaging) and WAP. When you consider that a mobile phone can be a Web browser, an e-mail client, a telephone and an instant messenger, you really need to look for a strategy for each of these modes of communication. It also needs to reach consumers across various cell phone carriers like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint/Nextel.
Video will be the next big thing in the mobile space. Newer technologies like location-based services are still generating a lot of buzz right now.
How has the mobile technology industry changed over the past few years?
Over the last five years, the fastest growing form of wireless communication in the U.S. has been SMS/text messaging.
In just five years, text messaging has grown from over 18 million text messages a month to over 18.5 billion text messages sent each month in the U.S. It’s been growing 250 percent year over year. In other countries, there are more text messages sent than calls placed.
The mobile Internet will also revolutionize communication and entertainment in the near future as bandwidth increases on mobile networks. New services such as mobile video, photo sharing and music downloading will be all the rage over the next few years as the cell phone morphs into the next-generation communication device. Can anyone say iPhone?
Do you think mobile phone technology will help newspapers attract the young readership demographic?
Absolutely. According to Forrester Research, 78 percent of cell phone subscribers aged 18 to 26 use data services. Whether it’s teens, tweens or Generation X, Y or Z, they can all be lumped in as the mobile generation, or the consumer on the go.
The only way to reach this demographic is to talk their talk and create services that are useful and are of interest. They may not be picking up the paper, but their phone is with them and they know how to use it. SMS is to Gen-Y as e-mail was to Gen-X.
What Web 2.0 technology trends should newspapers pay attention to?
The newsroom has changed. Breaking news is now being reported as it happens through text message posts, mobile e-mail, camera phone photos and mobile video taken from cell phones. Some reporters are being equipped to report from the street and are now being called mojos, or mobile journalists.
Publisher Web sites will soon morph into places where collective intelligence resides. Blogs from actual editors and reporters will become the norm and garner greater readership across the Internet.
The move toward hyper-local puts the spotlight back on the street-by-street news. It also puts the spotlight on social networking applications, microsites and mash-ups — blending technologies.
Mobile technologies will allow advertisers to publish mobile special offers and specials to an opt-in list managed by the publisher. The customer will get the offer immediately on their phone, which reiterates the value of the subscriber relationship.
In the end, mobile is the universal connector between the customer and others with similar interests across all of the newspaper franchises, including news, weather, sports, promotions, and classifieds.
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