Ah, Facebook: the main source of social media today. And like other news sources registered with the site, cleveland.com takes a piece of the promoting action. Editors post new articles for its Ohio audience at least every hour, and for good reason. It's a new era: readers today skip the actual website, go to Facebook, and catch their updates there. The comments and "like"'s usually follow. But the days I looked at the site, my prediction of such feedback backfired.
I decided to act like a regular reader and scrolled down through each post. What sparked my interest was the lack of comments and likes found on breaking news or regular news posts. Cleveland needs feedback for problems that affect the state or the world. But no. Instead, commenters didn't really comment on any other post other than those related to sports. And I also noticed that the main content that Ohio's page posted was sports. Chunks of "other" content clustered around each other made it apparent that no one cared that much about anything else. I rolled my eyes. So much for not covering anything sports-related this week. The page made it clear that that wasn't an option. Readers dodged stories like a prosecutor's office and either typed in enthusiasm toward the Cavaliers or liked shared stories about the Ohio State Buckeyes. I understand you people like basketball. But come on. But then I saw the article about "Terry Pluto's Blog: Tribe scribbles from Goodyear, where the sun has been shining on the Tribe." It's a piece on baseball: one like. A "Now is the time to impact our children's mental health: Lynn Barabach" post appears Saturday. No likes on Facebook's page. The Plain-Dealer isn't a popular news site, but it's still a site for all news. Not just sports-related news, but issues that the community really needs more of a focus on. TPD needs a new strategy to make such stories more interesting. How that can happen is the question. I suggest finding some stories that mix sports and important issues together. Focus on local basketball and how they relate to the mental health issues: anything to get someone to reflect.
1 Comment
12/12/2014 03:05:41 pm
It's a new era: readers today skip the actual website, go to Facebook, and catch their updates there. The comments and "like"'s usually follow. But the days I looked at the site, my prediction of such feedback backfired.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Meet Casby.Majoring in journalism with an entrepreneurship minor at Archives
May 2013
Categories |