Sunday, June 12, 2011

With the current competition between newspapers and online news, how audience feedback would chart further course of action for both the media.


What is feedback?
Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence the same event/phenomenon in the present or future. When an event is part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop, then the event is said to "feed back" into itself.
There are two forms: positive feedback (strengthening the event) and negative feedback (weakening it).

Measuring audiences
For print media, the two main measures of audience are readership and circulation. Circulation relates to the number of copies circulated to the public. Readership is the number of readers - either of a specific issue of the publication, or over a certain time period, such as 3 months. Circulation is measured from sales figures, but readership is measured from surveys of the population. Readership is practically always larger than circulation, because of "pass-on readers" - in other words, each copy sold is normally read by some people as well as its buyer.

The collapse of print advertising and the downturn in sales, at the news stand and through subscriptions, has led to a frantic search for new ways to monetize content that’s often available online for free.

For newspapers, that channel can increase the chances of survival in a market where commodities information has diminished the value of individual brands. Here are few ways newspapers can use the social media to save the industry.

1.      Twitter headline feeds
     These are sub-channels that support personalized interaction, a point of interest for advertisers.

2.      Acquiring providers of social media services
     Look for more acquisitions, or partnerships, as legacy publishers broaden their online portfolios.

3.      Creating more online events to attract the readers

4.      Promoting and monitoring user-generated content

5.      Story-based communities

6.      Collaborative outsourced news services
    To collaborate with established news sites, including newspapers willing to outsource parts of their magazine sections.

7.      Customized delivery

8.      Branded communities
   A branded community site which talks about user-created groups, user-posted content, and special interest sections and it promotes more interaction, which helps advertisers pinpoint their targets.

9.      Publishing APIs(Application Programming Interface) for third-party developers

Exploring the Options for Getting Feedback

1.  Lab Studies
You can learn how user-friendly your document or Web site is by testing it with readers in a controlled setting, or lab. This is an excellent way to compare two versions and find out which is better. Lab studies involve asking people to complete a specific task, such as finding their way around a Web site. As the tester, you observe which aspects of this task are easy and which are hard for people to do. You can then use your observations to make your material more user-friendly.

2. Structured Interviews
One-on-one interviews are the best way to get detailed feedback about a document, particularly if the material is about sensitive subjects. You can ask an intended reader to looks at your document. This way, you can see how the reader uses your document. Listen for general comments and follow-up with specific questions such as, “What do you think about the pictures?” or “Why did you skip over (x) section?” etc.

3. Focus Groups
  • Also known as “group interviews,” focus groups are an excellent way to get general feedback from readers about a document’s design, content, and key points. Focus groups usually have 6 to 10 members of similar age, culture, and familiarity with the subject.
  • You might want to test your material with more than one focus group. This way, you can compare responses from different groups.

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