Notes on SABEW seminar: “Writing for the Web: Taking advantage of the medium,” 9-23-09 By Jerry LaMartina Web editor Kansas City (Mo.) Business Journal Moderated by Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism SABEW has a list of resources on its site (www.sabew.org) in conjunction with this seminar, e.g., using key words and links, free ways to add multimedia,[twitter]Twitter tips and blogging. • Laura Conaway, editor of NPR’s Planet Money Q: What’s it like to head some of NPR’s more innovative and collaborative projects? A: Lot of freedom to try things but not a ton of resources. Sometimes audiences [“gets”]“get” it before the people you manage up to. Planet Money: We’re a small team, about six, launched the same day the government said they were taking over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Most of the time, it’s just me. We try to pick our battles: We don’t cover everything, and we try to find a particular point about what we do cover. Blog items tend to run no more than 700 words. We let the readers “paint the fence” (Tom Sawyer). We create a two-way-street experience through social media to get feedback from listeners and work their stuff into our coverage. They also break news for us. When you run a blog, if you think about the human voice, they will tend to think of you as the fireside chat of the economic crisis. When companies started furloughing employees, we began to report their stories. We brought them along on this journey. It’s a model of economics reporting that says pull up a chair, this is a journey, we’re going to be at this for awhile, working with financial literacy. (Cloud Source) Our [twitter]Twitter stream is about 23,000 people. We’re using a patchwork quilt of media to source and tell stories. Production pyramid: bottom, chatter, comments; higher, blog item; higher, interview; top level, story on All Things Considered or This American Life. • Claudette Guzan Artwick, Associate Professor of Journalism at Washington and Lee University and author of “Reporting and Producing for Digital Media” Production pyramid and looking at your stories differently: http://www.sabewwebwriting.blogspot.com/ How can your stories be presented more effectively? Pages that are “chunked” (broken into chunks) nicely, red-flagged, ... not linear; how to structure info so it’s most accessible to user. Readability (link to Puget Sound BJ story with subheads) Storyboards Necessary software? 1. HTML (ex. pop-up box instead of new window) 2. On-air skills, for video • David Morrow, former editor in chief of thestreet.com, and now Reynolds Professor of Business Journalism at the University of Nevada at Reno Q: What’s it been like, moving to thestreet.com from print? A: A little more harried, much more immediate. You could really do more with an audience in a community. They love feedback. When we launched video and podcasting, our e-mail increased. If they can see your face, you’re coming into their homes. Q: Moderate or don’t moderate your comments? A: We went with “no,” and had the readers moderate. I’d get an e-mail complaining about somebody else in the group, asking for their removal because they’re creating noise, not being helpful. We ask them at first to refrain; the second or third time, they’re out. Laura: I’ve always worked in a moderated system, and now with an outside vendor doing the moderating. User has to register with us, which is the first level (of moderation). Reporters and editors aren’t necessarily used to having somebody ride in and clock ‘em one. Don’t have a glass jaw about it. We’re helping users with complicated economics concepts. We have a nice living room feel. The production pyramid: If somebody has a great explanation about something, they might end up on the podcast. Rewards users for good behavior. Gives the whole thing more shape. Q: I’m planning to write two stories on recession’s effects on community, one for Web and one for ...? Photos and graphs for the second one. Use Recovery.gov or recovery.com and use interview excerpts to hear sources speaking. On the Web: The story is the story, and the chatter and response is the follow-up. Q: How about people who might be embarrassed by participating and getting much more exposure than they’re used to? A: I always give it consideration in choosing what to use. Question: Some readers’ letters are ridiculous. Are you obligated to answer everyone? Dave: (Use common courtesy.) Prime the pump: Pick something you care about and give the audience a task related to it. Ex: Say “We’re working on coverage of ...” instead of “tell us your experience with ...” Q: We’re building a “green” guide for reporters and want to make the site more interactive. Advice? Dave: Green is enormous topic in business. Ask for green definition. Sustainability is the word we’re using at the academic level. Getting the reporters to do it — start with your readers. At thestreet.com, authors would publish their mailbags weekly. Questions: • Conventional wisdom seems to be that most Web readers don’t want long stories. Ironically, though, the Web is so much more flexible a medium than print for story length. — How often do you think it’s wise to make Web stories longer when you think they merit it? — Do you think it makes sense to, for a longer Web story, write it shorter and add a link to the expanded version, for those readers who want more? Claudette: I vote for the second option and maybe linking to several different sections. • What are some of the simplest things editors and reporters can do to avoid pitfalls in Web stories? Dave: Biggest mistake is coming across as a print article; being static is the absolute worst. Link to something else. You don’t want the ads to be the only thing that moves. Present tense, immediacy, intensity, links. Q: Search engine optimization, getting more eyeballs Claudette (I think): Very important to know whether what you’re writing is Google fodder. If it’s being done everywhere else, is really obscure, probably not Google fodder. If it’s 500 to 700 words on why the Federal Reserve is going to raise interest rates, that’s Google fodder. HEADLINES: Q: What works and doesn’t work online? A: Depends what you mean by “works.” Some are too cute, too obscure. I like heads that say a human being was here: “Way high” even if you’re talking about interest rates. Follow SEO pattern but be creative within that framework. In addition to SEO, reporters have to think about how to “chunk” the story (break it into topical sections, or chunks), key words, ... Dave: I’ve had reporters aggressively use twitter for part of their story and point readers back to site for rest of story. Start discussions with readers. Q: How do you feel about presenting economic data? Charts, like print, or otherwise? Dave: We would come up with a print approach, define the news and break it up and invite comments about what’s important to the reader. Q: What can you do to make your story more interactive? A: Podcasts, links, etc. Bloggers: Don’t try to put down everything you know about the story. Find your one point, and break off. It’s like conversations with people. It’s no fun to talk with somebody who controls all the air. Q: Video games and iphone apps can teach journalists what? A: Keep learning. Presentation is key. Q: How much do you think your news consumers want info in non-narrative form? A: [The]They love slide shows. Q: Trends toward more sensationalized headlines? A: No. Boring, SEO headlines; everybody’s writing them. One of the great banes of Web work is immediate metrics. Have to look at them over time. I care about bounce rate, how much readers are sticking with me. [what]What are your goals? Q: Journalists have to do news work: conceiving story, storyboarding story, creating links, aggregating. Are we nearing a different kind of journalism? A: A lot of it has to do with widgets and tasks, and those will come along with it, and we have to be open to these things coming along. Storytelling is the native craft of the journalist, and I would hang on to that no matter the bells and whistles.