Jim Kerr
One of the important lessons from MySpace and Facebook continues to be lost on local media–the key value proposition of interactivity. Interactivity is the key drawing point of MySpace and Facebook, but this is not the case for practically every local media site today. Ask almost any newspaper, television, or radio website manager in markets across the country what the greatest value of their sites are and interactivity would be very low on the list. You’ll hear things like “local news,” “station information,” “promotions and contests,” and a whole host of other things ahead of interactivity or community. All of those things are important, but they far undervalue the incredible power of interactivity, and this lack of prioritization is one of the reasons Facebook and MySpace are as big as they are.
Why is interactivity important? It is important for two reasons: It provides users with a stake in your brand and their use of the site, and it generates so much traffic and site engagement that it dramatically improves a site’s revenue position.
Let’s look at the traffic proposition first. There are plenty of examples, but a good one is a site designed to mirror an actual newspaper: The Huffington Post. While The Huffington Post generates a lot of traffic from provocative and politically-charged articles, the majority of the actual site engagement goes on in the lengthy conversations (and arguments!) going on under the actual columns themselves. It is not unusual for a Huffington Post article to generate hundreds of comments. Each single comment is not only an individual putting his or her personal statement on the site (which is powerful in and of itself), but is also a massive boost in terms of page views and individual engagement on the site. Take away the interactivity, and the Huffington Post’s revenue position is dramatically worse. This is true for most major blog sites, and is an important lesson for traditional media sites.
There is a nuance here worth noting: It is common knowledge that MySpace and Facebook, the icons of interactivity and community, have a difficult time generating the rates and revenue of content sites. For example, sites like the Huffington Post, Go Fug Yourself, and others generate huge premiums on their advertising inventory compared to Facebook. What is the difference between the massive interactivity of Facebook and the smaller interactivity of Perez Hilton in terms of generating revenue? The answer is a major dose of good news for traditional media sites: The difference is the original content. Sites with content as a destination generate better rates than sites featuring people turning each other into vampires while chatting.
So while the bulk of The Daily Koz’s page views may come from the intense conversations going on, the original content that leads to those conversations is a shield against the lower ad rates generated by “pure” social networks. Clearly, this is exactly where a local media site finds itself if it adds interactivity: Original content bolstered by interactive traffic. Outside of search, there is simply no better revenue proposition on the Internet right now.
Beyond revenue generation, the second reason that interactivity is important is that it is one of the most powerful ways to create a connection to your online brand. This is why when we talk about community and social networks on sites like radio, simply tossing the platform on the website isn’t enough. There must be a connection between the content generated and the community that evolves from it. Fark.com is the perfect example of this.
Fark, which was launched by Drew Curtis as nothing more than a cool collection of links with funny headlines, has evolved into an entire community built around commenting on the links. Today, if you’re a fan of Fark, you aren’t just a Fark.com reader, you are a “Totalfarker.” Again, this is a lesson for traditional media: Interactivity is an incredibly powerful catalyst for taking a site with compelling content to a site with a real live community.
When you put all of the above together you see the real power of interactivity: It multiplies the traffic and engagement on your site. So much so that there will become a point where the actual page views and usage derived from interactivity far outstrips the traffic and engagement from your own original content. This should be the goal of all media sites: Combining the compelling content value proposition of a site like Yahoo with the compelling community value proposition of a site like Facebook.
Local media can bring to bear external forces to initiate and spark the conversations and interactivity that are so important on the web today. They can not only invite commentary but also use their news anchors, writers, DJs, and sports personalities to launch conversations themselves. The vehicles to do this can range from personality blogs to participation in forums to lively discussion sparked by unique content presented as online exclusives.
The last point is worth discussing further, as it speaks directly to my opening point about local sites: Web managers see the content as an asset but don’t feel the same way about the interactivity. As a result, most current local media outlets make a significant amount of effort to provide the exclusive content, but they often don’t leverage the interactivity. The missing element of Interactivity is a major error in today’s new media landscape: Every piece of content on the site worth reading is also the potential start of a conversation, and that conversation should start right on your own site. And starting conversations is a critical way to keep the interactivity from drifting off your site.
One of the seminal lessons for media in the digital age is Napster and the record industry. The lesson is that if you don’t provide what the consumers want, they WILL find it elsewhere. And when we are talking about things that people are passionate about—music in digital format, their favorite TV show, a radio morning show, their local high school football team, etc.—they will want to be able to share it with others. This is the essence of interactivity, and as we have seen with Facebook, MySpace, RealGM, Epinions, and more, plenty of sites are already out there providing it for your customers. But it is not too late. Local media still have a tremendous number of assets to initiate conversations and interactivity. Now they just need to use them.
Jim Kerr is Vice President/Digital Development of New Media at Pollack Media Group. Reach Jim at 214 324 9060 or Jim@pollackmedia.com.
