Why doesn’t the Austin Chronicle do more with their online presence? Given their audience and influence, there’s a great opportunity there for them.
One thing the Chronicle does exceptionally well online is making their back issues available in their archive section. You can browse back issues by date, or look for items by author, by column, by special annual issue, or by other sectional archive grouping.
Beyond that, there’s the standard “online version of the issue” presentation online. And that’s where the beginning of the opportunity presents itself. For example, Margaret Moser’s interesting piece “My Gang Don’t Bow Down” about Mardi Gras Indian Chief Kevin Goodman offers links to related stories, but no interactivity. There’s no direct link to talk about the story, offer feedback, relate your own impressions about Mardi Gras, etc. It’s still stuck in the one-way, presentation journalism model.
The best piece of interactivity on the site is the Postmarks Online forum, which I noticed on a recent visit because it was promoted in a banner ad at the top of the page. However, on a subsequent visit the next day, I had a hard time finding any type of link to it. When I did eventually find my way to the online version of Postmarks (their letters to the editor section), the forum was promoted at the end of each entry, but in small type that read: “Discuss this letter in our online forum”. The forum itself isn’t very well-trafficked. I counted 50 topics on the first page, which dated back to April 19. In those 50 topics, I counted a total of 45 replies, 20 of which were on a single topic. Also by my rough count, those 50 topics had been viewed about 1,260 times. Take away the busiest topic - “Which Country Is More Dangerous” - which had been viewed some 186 times, and the remainder of those forum topics averaged about 22 page views each.
The reason I spent so much time (and math) on the forum is that the Chronicle took a shot at the Statesman earlier this year for that paper’s efforts in creating blogs for staffers and readers. Calling the Statesman’s efforts “bland” and “not ready for takeoff”, the Chronicle did concede this point:
(Full disclosure: the Chronicle does not currently offer blogs on its Web site, although a handful of readers have turned the “Postmarks” online forum into a running town hall meeting on everything under the sun. – Ed.)
The point is, there’s not a lot of activity in this area, which presents a terrific opportunity for the Chronicle to jump into blogging as a way to foster discussion and debate. Editor Louis Black’s Page Two column is tailor-made for online production. His passionate and acerbic style practically begs for immediate reaction, and I’d love to see Black engaged in a two-way discussion with his readers. Other featured writers - Moser, Jordan Smith, Christopher Gray - would all contribute greatly to the local scene if turned loose in a more interactive format.
So to the Chronicle: Turn your talents loose, open up to your readers, and let the discussion begin. You’re good at letting loose the spark for the conversation, now spend some time tendering that conversation.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Austin Irrigation & Landscaping // May 8, 2006 at 3:10 pm
I totally agree. They need to get with the times.
They should have a comment section for every story and instead of “letters to the editor” that’s in print, they should have a forum where people can post topics (basically a letter to the editor) and people could give their two cents.
In the paper they have the letters and sometimes staff response. It would be cool if they posted a letter and then afterwards “Reader John Doe comments…”. All they would have to do is pick the best letters to the editors in the forum every week. Heck, let the readers rate them and do it that way.
It would encourage community involvement in the site, increase readership, and best of all for them, increase online ad-sales.
2 The Jeff Beckham Weblog » Austin Chronicle Looking for Web Developer // Jun 14, 2006 at 11:25 am
[...] There was good discussion here back in May about the improvements the Chronicle should make to its web site. This appears to be a step in addressing those needs. [...]
3 Ryan Joy // Feb 12, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Jeff, I appreciate your Drive-By Consulting posts and hope you continue with more of them. You’re exactly right in your assessments of two of Austin’s most venerable icon’s websites: The Austin Chronicle and Alamo Drafthouse. Both currently offer very poor online experiences for their users.
Disclaimer: At the risk of exposing myself for working for the
liberalconservativecommunistpro-businessAustinUn-American-Statesman, I must disclose I am a lead developer for the statesman.com/austin360.com/statesmanclassifieds.com family of websites. The Statesman catches a lot of flack, but I’m not a content guy.That said, I love the Chronicle. The paper version, that is. I loathe when I meet someone for the second time and their comment is “Oh yeah, you work for the Chronicle, right?” because their caliber of website is not even remotely the same. Of course, the Statesman could be doing a lot more, but it may be that there will always be the reluctance to overturn the old guard, Print. I remember reading that article and agreeing with a lot of their points, especially in that it’s not blogging if reporters are the only one’s that are featured. It’s just stream-of-consciousness journalism. I think our “Talk of Austin” feature on some stories is a step in the right direction. I look forward to the Chronicle improving their online influence within the Austin community.
4 The Jeff Beckham Weblog » Impressive Redesign for AustinChronicle.com // Feb 15, 2007 at 11:38 am
[...] Related: Drive-By Consulting: AustinChronicle.com [...]
5 ryan.joyserve.net » » AustinChronicle.com - Redesign review // Feb 15, 2007 at 1:16 pm
[...] Following Jeff Beckham’s review of this redesign and original critique of their old design, I’d like to offer my first impressions: [...]
6 The Jeff Beckham Weblog » Kind Words from the Chronicle’s Louis Black // Apr 17, 2007 at 2:35 pm
[...] Drive-By Consulting: AustinChronicle.com [...]
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