Welcome to the Digital Edge Blog!
The Digital Edge Blog focuses on developments, trends, best practices and more in newspaper digital media. The blog launched in 2006 (archives before August 2008 are here).
We look forward to reading your comments and contributions to the Digital Edge Blog. Questions? E-mail Beth Lawton at beth.lawton@naa.org.
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Digital Edge News Update: Google Lets Consumers Compare Ads; Omaha Newspaper Buys Wikicity
Google Combining
Search, AdWords to Let Consumers Compare
 Google is introducing a new advertising format that lets
consumers compare offers from multiple advertisers. For now, the comparison ad
feature is only for mortgage advertising, but it will expand to other areas
soon. Paid Content reported that users can search for certain words and will
have the opportunity to input additional information to better target their
search. See an example here.
Source: Paid Content
St. Louis Globe-Democrat to Relaunch Online-Only
Publication
A former television IT person is planning to launch a news
site supported by advertising called the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. The
newspaper of the same name printed its last edition 23 years ago. Dan Rosalito,
formerly of KSDK, says he will hire 20 to 30 journalists for the news site, The Editors Weblog reported.
However, whether the online news publication will be called
the Globe-Democrat is in question. A free, history-focused newspaper of the
same name is already operating in the market. The free paper acquired the
Globe-Democrat name when the newspaper ceased operations.
Source: The Editors Weblog
See also:
Starting Your News
Web Site: A Checklist for Students and Mid-Career Beginners (Online
Journalism Review)
Omaha World-Herald Buys Wikicity
 The Omaha World-Herald Co. announced last week that it has
acquired WikiCity,
a hyperlocal site with content about 22,000 neighborhoods in the United States,
Nieman Journalism Lab reported. Buying WikiCity "offers us a new an exciting
opportunity of looking at other avenues of connecting with our readers," Joel
Long, the company's director of public relations, said.
Source: Nieman Journalism Lab
Quote of the Day: Is
There Too Much News?
"Is it possible that there's too much news? ... When I look at
the media industry in the United
States, it's largely been funded by
advertising, and in my work as an analyst, one of the things that you took as a
given was that advertising would always outpace gross domestic product. The
reason media stocks were always interesting was because ad rates would always
grow faster than inflation. I think all of these relationships have completely
fallen apart."
--Lauren Rich Fine during a presentation at the INMA and
Online Publishers Association (OPA) Europe's
annual conference Outlook 2010.
Twitter Lists Now
Available for All Users
 Twitter gave a select number of users access to its latest
feature last week, but Twitter Lists is now available for all users.
"The feature will permit users to create and follow themed
lists of breaking news feeds, news outlets, specific journalists, niche
sources, or indeed any group of related Twitter users," The Editors Weblog
reported. "It is expected that the tool will be particularly handy for the news
hungry or journalists."
Source: The Editors Weblog
See also:
How Journalists Can Use Twitter Lists to Customize, Discover
and Curate (Poynter)
Doonesbury's Roland Hedley, World-Class Twit (Washington Post)
Membership Clubs:
Could they be the Secret to Monetizing Newspaper Readers?
An increasing number of newspapers are launching membership
clubs to generate a new stream of revenue. The clubs range from topical clubs
(wine, for example) to those more closely connected to the newspaper's
editorial content. The Editors Weblog took a look at two different kinds of
newspaper membership programs - one from the Times of London and the other from
the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Yahoo!'s Relaunched
Home Page Drives Engagement, Ad Clicks, Time on Site
Yahoo!'s redesigned home page has resulted in an increase in
page views, time spent on the Web site and a higher click-through rate on the
main display ad, MediaPost reported.
Source: MediaPost
Registration is Now
Open for NAA's mediaXchange 2010  As newspapers refocus their business models toward multiple platforms, the
Newspaper Association of America will host mediaXchange 2010, a conference for
industry professionals to share audience and revenue development strategies
that have generated growth in print and online.
Registration is open now at mediaxchange.naa.org!
Upcoming NAA
Webinars: Free Classifieds, Local Digital Revenue Strategies, More
 Nov. 18: Some newspaper executives believe that offering
free classifieds - at least in some categories - can increase print
circulation, online traffic, classifieds revenue or some combination of those
positive results.
Learn about the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's program, how
it has grown the newspaper's classifieds audience and how free classifieds
might help your newspaper in this free webinar from NAA. Registration will open
soon for this webinar!
Dec. 2: Innovation and opportunity in the local market often
benefits from the expertise and experience of partners who have developed
tools, technology and business models across many markets. Here is a
no-cost, time friendly opportunity to hear specific, quick-to-market
opportunities to drive digital revenues in your market.
Each of four sponsoring companies will present an overview of their offering,
describe the business opportunity from a newspaper digital media perspective
and invite followup/questions on and offline.
Confirmed presenters: Paper G and Second Street Media.
If you are an industry supplier interested in participating, please contact
Kevin McCourt at Kevin.McCourt@naa.org or 571-366-1055.
Registration for attendees will open next month.
To register for the free NAA webinars listed below, go to www.naa.org/events.aspx:
- Oct. 27: Monetizing Digital Content Vendor Presentation:
Microsoft
- Nov. 4: Retail Newspaper Partnerships: Perspectives from
Retailers, Agencies and Newspapers
- Nov. 10: Monetizing Digital Content Vendor Presentation:
Yahoo!
- Nov. 18: Free Online Classified Programs
- Dec. 2: Local Digital Revenue Strategies (registration will
open soon)
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Published
Nov 02 2009, 09:10 AM
by
Beth Lawton
About Beth Lawton
Beth Lawton is manager, digital media communications in the Business Development division of the Newspaper Association of America. She writes and edits many of NAA’s Digital Edge reports and the Online Publishing Update.
Prior to joining NAA two years ago, she worked as a Web producer and editor in newsrooms in the Midwest and the Caribbean.
Beth is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism (MSJ New Media 2003).
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