Some communities, such as BBC Reader Comments, have a simple system of privileges: either you are a moderator or you are an end user. However, the best communities have many levels of privilege. StackOverflow has around 25 levels based on reputation points (listed here). When your contribution gets up-voted, it increases your reputation. Gaining new…… Continue reading Building a news community using the StackOverflow model
Category: Business
A news community that crosses divides?
I believe it’s possible to build a community for “news you can trust” that crosses over news brands and political affiliations. It would need the right community guidelines: being constructive, being objective, respect, adding value. WikiTribune has some thoughts about how to minimise bias within a news community. Here are some of the editors and…… Continue reading A news community that crosses divides?
The junk news epidemic
News has a bigger problem than fake news: junk news. Readers are gorging on junk news about murder, terrorism, etc. For example, the BBC have published 5 articles about murder in the last 24 hours. It’s published zero articles about heart disease, which is thousands of times more deadly. What if articles about murder etc…… Continue reading The junk news epidemic
Realtime messaging for news sites
Messaging is the most popular thing on the internet. It’s even more popular than social networks. What if news sites could get a piece of the action? To find out, i built a messaging widget for Metro… We wanted to find out quickly if the idea had potential so i kept the widget simple: No…… Continue reading Realtime messaging for news sites
WordPress curation: beyond Zoninator
Introducing Curator for curating WordPress homepages… Here’s the “Zoninator” it’s replacing. Zoninator served Metro well for several years but as the site has grown, the editors need more control. How is Curator better? Editors can customise how content is displayed – portrait crops, sections, custom headlines, etc Editors can see the featured image Searching is much…… Continue reading WordPress curation: beyond Zoninator
News: what WON’T change in the next 10 years?
Jeff Bezos says the most important question is, “what WON’T change in the next 10 years?” (As opposed to the more commonly asked, “what WILL change in the next 10 years”). What won’t change for news in the next 10 years? People will still want fresh content on demand People will still want content that…… Continue reading News: what WON’T change in the next 10 years?
The most important question you should be asking
From Jeff Bezos via TechCrunch… I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that…… Continue reading The most important question you should be asking
How quickly does the news industry change?
The landscape shifts every two weeks. Here are some of the changes up to August 2017… New social networks based on blockchain (e.g. Steem and WildSpark) – Aug 2017 Watch: Facebook’s new video platform – Aug 2017 Instagram Stories overtakes Snapchat – Aug 2017 Reddit: redesign + foray into video – Aug 2017 Facebook introduces…… Continue reading How quickly does the news industry change?
The potential of personalisation
How much could personalisation increase engagement? Here is my best guess at engagement for 100 stories on a typical news homepage. (I estimate that relevant stories have a CTR of 15% as opposed to 10%). 30 stories relevant tag/category. 4.5 interesting 70 stories not relevant. 7 interesting TOTAL: 11.5 interesting With a mix of personalisation and curated: 60 stories…… Continue reading The potential of personalisation
Why growing products is so complex – part 2
My last post talked about the complexity we face. This post gives 7 ways we can turn that complexity to our advantage. 1. Audiences are complex. We can gain an advantage if we can get feedback from real users faster than our competitors do. 2. Our product faces tough competition. We can outflank our competitors…… Continue reading Why growing products is so complex – part 2
6 reasons why growing products is so complex
Product development is complex. Outcomes are unpredictable. Here are 6 reasons why. 1. A product’s success depends on it’s audience At Metro we have millions of users who are inter-connected and who influence each other in unpredictable ways. A single influencer can make or break us on social media. https://youtu.be/iRNqhi2ka9k?t=24s We know very little about…… Continue reading 6 reasons why growing products is so complex