I like it when a training program stimulates questions that continue after the program ended.
Wednesday’s Leading a Mobile-First Newsroom webinar for the American Society of News Editors was such a program. So I’ll continue the discussion with a few questions (which came as we were running out of time or in follow-up emails) and answers (acknowledging up front that I don’t have all the answers):
Q: What steps should we take to adapt websites to be more mobile friendly?
I will get out of my depth quickly here, so I will keep this answer short: You need a mobile version of your site. Some sites use a WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) site, which your tech staff can handle fairly simply, as I understand it. (But be sure to read Rocky Agrawal’s comments below about alternatives.) When I was at the Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, our tech staff said all we needed was a fairly simple plug-in (we were on a WordPress site) to provide a mobile version of a niche site we were launching for an event.
I don’t know how the technical magic works, but when a mobile device goes to your site, it gets the mobile site, which loads faster and is easier to use on the small mobile screen. You should have the option to switch to the web version (I have seen tweets objecting to the automatic loading of the mobile site, but I think more mobile users appreciate the mobile site).
Q: How should newsrooms use short codes and short urls?
I admit that my knowledge of short codes and experience with them is pretty limited, so I welcome others to join in answering here. But some ideas a news organization might try:
- Use short codes to crowdsource information from the community about a big community story (festival, weather, disaster, a distant event like the possibilities I discussed in April.).
- Map crowdsourced information using Ushahidi (this New York Times story explains some possible uses).
- You could collect money for a community charitable cause.
- Short codes also can be used for advertising and other revenue opportunities.
As for short URLs, they take up fewer characters in tweets, other social media updates and text messages. Most URL shorteners also provide detailed metrics such as traffic from the links and how many times a link is tweeted.
Q: Which companies are others using for mobile websites that they like?
As mentioned above, I understand that WordPress has a plug-in that converts a site to WAP. I frankly don’t know a lot about vendors who provided this service. If you are pleased with a vendor, I hope you will share your experience in the comments.
Q: What are best metrics (& how do you get them) to measure mobile success?
Again, metrics are not a particular strength of mine. But a participant in the webinar (I think it was Bill Bortzfield of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville) said Omniture provides mobile metrics. Frankly, I think any vendor of analytics or of mobile services would need to provide strong mobile metrics. And if they don’t already provide a measurement, they should (and probably would) begin working on that metric once you asked about it (because other customers and potential customers would be interested, too).
Of course, you want the basic measurements of how much people are using a service: such as page views, unique visitors and downloads of an app. But seek metrics that show the depth of engagement: comments, social media sharing, time spent on the site, etc.
Chris Cobler, editor of the Victoria Advocate in Texas, asked by Twitter during the webinar:
chriscobler What journalists are using iPhones instead of cameras, laptops for reporting? That’s hurdle I’d like to clear. @stevebuttry #mobilefirst
If you have an answer for Chris, please share your story of iPhone use in the comments here. Jeff Raasch, our mobile journalist when I was editor of The Gazette and gazetteonline in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, used a BlackBerry frequently in his reporting, and I’m sure TBD reporters will be using iPhones (in addition to, perhaps instead of, cameras and laptops).
Early in the webinar, I asked a question of my tweeps:
stevebuttry Question for @NewsEditors webinar (starting now): What should top editors do to build mobile-first culture in your newsroom? #mobilefirst
The answers, mostly from tweeps in the webinar:
chriscobler Buy everyone an iPhone. RT @stevebuttry: What should top editors do to build mobile-first culture in your newsroom? #mobilefirst robertlahue @stevebuttry I’d say frequent encouragement for staff to be engaged in social media at minimum. #mobilefirst michelleottman @stevebuttry equip reporters with smartphones, set them up with twitter for starters… BradE_HutchNews @stevebuttry @NewsEditors Place emphasis usability for all users: WAP phones, smartphones. Content needs to be readable for all #mobile robertlahue @stevebuttry Even on the business side, sales reps should be out on social networking making themselves available to clients. #mobilefirst robertlahue @stevebuttry When @appealdemocrat has brking news, goal is manual updates to Twitter, Facebook and txt alert users in 5 min. #mobilefirst jhazard @stevebuttry Eat your own dogfood: Push staff to consume as well as produce. robertlahue @stevebuttry Oh, and e-mail alert within 10. A little more time to get that written. #mobilefirst BradE_HutchNews Good point @robertlahue. Real-time news is key and smartphones offer that. #mobilefirst robertlahue @stevebuttry How effective is pre-promotion of mobile events in print, i.e. letting people know of an event hashtag? #mobilefirst
Thanks to all who provided answers during the webinar. If you have any answers now, please add them in the comments.
Maybe it depends on country but WAP in Russia is quite expensive for readers. We do PDA version. For GPRS users it’s more comfortable and cheaper
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Thanks for sharing that international perspective, Oksana.
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WAP is a bit dated. Most modern browsers can render full HTML, CSS, etc.
If you’re using the hosted version of WordPress (wordpress.com), as you are for this blog, they’ve done it for you automatically.
Whatever you do, don’t use a system that just transcodes Web sites. The results are mostly crap.
The more important thing than technology is to really think about the user experience, screen size and user context.
Here’s a blog post I wrote a while back about how to design for mobile:
Think beyond just daily news stories: Don’t forget that your news organization likely has content such as restaurant reviews, neighborhood guides, etc. that are very useful in the mobile context.
For the US market, I think shortcodes are unnecessary because phones these days can easily send to an email address. Plus an email address like tips@newsorg.com is easier to remember. Setting up email is a lot cheaper and simpler.
The exception to this, of course, is if you want to be able to do premium rate SMS.
While you’re thinking about mobile, you should also think about geotagging the news stories that you generate.
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Thanks, Rocky. Excellent suggestions.
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WPtouch is the popular WordPress plugin that automatically restyles your site for touchscreen smartphones. For simpler phones and Blackberries you still do need a simple text-based mobile site.
On the question about vendors, I believe Verve Wireless is one of the leaders in working with newspapers, including AP. They have some out-of-the-box solutions, and I think will do revenue sharing deals where there’s no upfront cost.
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Thanks, Jeff. Not surprised that you have good answers. I probably should have consulted you before writing this.
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Jeff / Steve,
I’m partial to the wordpress plug-in known as the “WordPress Mobile Pack.” It comes with mobile themes included, and does one thing the WPtouch doesn’t do, which is that there are separate themes for touchscreen-based mobile handsets, (which WPtouch is ideal for), as well as non-touchscreen-based mobile handsets.
Another feature it has that is quite neat is that it allows you to select wordpress widgets to include on your mobile site, which is usually something that mobile themes and plugins usually forego.
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[…] link: Mobile-first strategy questions and answers « Pursuing the … Topics: Mobile Themes Tags: mobile, mobile-handsets, one-thing, plug-in-known, press-mobile, […]
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[…] Mobile-first strategy questions and answers […]
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[…] I suggested an idea for a mobile project news organizations could undertake to engage their communities effectively on mobile devices with news and revenue opportunities. I had proposed the project for Gazette Communications and the 2010 Orange Bowl, where Hawkeye fans would be in Miami in large numbers, out of reach of our newspaper and TV station, but carrying their phones. The company didn’t give it a try. I outlined the idea publicly and on the blog for the 2010 American Society of News Editors conference, but I’m not aware of anyone who tried it. I followed up the post outlining the project idea with a Q&A from questions the editors asked. […]
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