It deserves more Facebook shares, retweets, and whatever else the Internet generation does with things it likes. Maybe we should be reaching out to the 16-21 demographic? I don't want to see NB go the way of the C of E.
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Is there anything we could do to increase awareness of Newsbiscuit?
(74 posts) (21 voices)
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I'd say the main thing we could do is to be funnier.
We don't have enough contributors. I can't be arsed to do the maths but I'd bet that in any 6 month period at least 80% of published subs come from fewer than 30 Biscuiteers. It's a total guess, mind.
To function well a site like this would either have half a dozen real professionals, or maybe 200 reasonably talented peeps plugging away. We've had those numbers over the years - in aggregate - but many haven't stayed. It needs to feel more prestigious and also more welcoming, so we hold onto more talent and develop a more competitive feel.
I feel like the place is more welcoming now than some times in the past, but we need to work on that. It's easy to criticise, and 'winning' an argument doesn't justify snippy comments.
In summary: I'm more optimistic than I've been in ages. But we all need to up our game.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Looking at The Daily Mash, I'd say they focus on quality over quantity, have a distinctive house style and are generally more consistent than us. Are they better writers? On average I'd say yes, though I don't think they're super-duper - I suspect they spend a lot more time polishing and have a more professional methodology.
We're forever 'cracking out a quick one' (or maybe that's just me) - we don't do committee writing
Also - we're pretty prolific, which generates its own tensions.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
which generates its own tensions
Surely notThe Daily Mash has 2 dedicated very experienced professional writers, and are paid by adverts & sales. Different model
We could actively invite writers when we post on FaceBook etc - I don't know if we can fix a banner to this effect
We could use higher profile adverts as The Mash does
If all else fails, we could use a slightly larger font (that's a joke, btw)
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Well, I've just added NB to Wiki's List of satirical magazines
That'll help enormously
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Now it's on twice, though, so double the attention. Simples, as the youth say.
Maybe we need some contributors or retweeters with more online contacts. Or younger social media savvy ones. I confess that i don't retweet as i use my twitter profile for work mostly, and need to keep my biscuit life separate...
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Huh? It's only there once in the link I provided. Where are you looking ?
Do you mean this, with a different name ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_satirical_news_websites
Similar websites are in the first list, that's why I added it
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Talking to my young friends, of whom I have none (to paraphrase Tom Lehrer), whacking a load of #hashtags all over things can help, I believe, but that just creates a lot more hassle & work for the editorial team, who I am sure commit ridiculously over and above already
I'm not on FB or The Twitters myself, just dip in & look at certain accounts occasionally, so I like the sleeve-tug of daily emails pinging in; it's how I got into the Mash, the Thump & Popbitch- (then thought "is there anywhere I can try/participate..?" & found this wondrous lock-in). Again though, I presume this would take a disproportionate chunk of time people don't have daily, unless there's some automated way of setting up a mailer to cream off the first line of that day's stories & send? & could also invite to share, subscribe, follow, contribute... (I know; I'm sure email feels like something from the Dark Ages to the youngsters you want to attract.)
Otherwise, we need to go viral- so who's going to volunteer to take one for the team & do something ridiculously stupid / naked / libellous / dangerous??? Or.. some kind of attention-grabbing competition?
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
This is something that I have always found exceptionally frustrating. NewsBiscuit has had a clear head start on our competition yet we lag significantly behind in reader awareness.
30 main contributors (if that's even close to being accurate) strikes me as an absolute luxury, as you only have to look at sites like NewsThump to see they have a much smaller hardcore of published contributors. Not many more than 10 in total. Yet their reach on things like FB likes dwarfs ours by a country mile.
The way we present our content is also (in my opinion) limiting, with essentially only 3 new pieces per day - publishing 1 FP and 2 NiBs stifles our potential reach and isn't dynamic enough for readers who demand more daily content.
Other sites weight each new story equally and simply present them in a contemporary rolling news style.
That said, I think with a few tweaks and and a visual revamp, we could really make significant headway.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
I think the number of pieces we currently post every day is fine, as long as quality is maintained. It's been like that for the seven years I've been coming here. Maybe a few more tickers might be in order, with updates every day or two days. I think tickers are the one wasted resource here, as I see loads of good ones that never get used.
Otherwise, we need to go viral- so who's going to volunteer to take one for the team & do something ridiculously stupid / naked / libellous / dangerous??? Or.. some kind of attention-grabbing competition?
OK, we'll draw lots to see who assassinates the Queen.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
FB page has 10k fans and literally one or two reactions per post.
I have a satire/comedy/feelgood page for vets and vet nurses with 26k fans, been going 18months; written mainly by me with a couple of others; posts are largely visual with a punchline, and generally get 300 to 1k responses.
There are peak times to post (7am morning poo, 1.10pm lunchtime, and especially 9pm sofa veg; and some of the content is designed to be engaging / tag / respond / comment. If something gets considerable traction I leave it up without a subsequent post for a day, generally there are 2-3 posts a day though and always with some sort of picture template.
Somewhat depressingly, I don't make a bean from it, but we do have people commenting how much they like it and how important the humour - especially the gallows humour and feelgood stuff- is to them. So that's nice.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
I think tickers are the one wasted resource here, as I see loads of good ones that never get used.
Agree. A lot more people deserve to get their tickers subs used. Also, too many tickers stay on display for far too long. And there are too many of 'em - takes ages to scroll through them all, just to see if there just might possibly be one-or-two good new ones buried in there.
I know it's a theme I've flogged to death previously, but I am not going to apologise for repeating it yet again: Tickers need to be reviewed / updated / replaced far more frequently. At least every day and certainly more frequently than full-length stories.
To do otherwise is to utterly misunderstand the function of tickers, which (as on any real news site) should be brief and transient, just posted up temporarily to give readers a 'heads up' on 'hot' news stories on which there hasn't yet been time to write a full report.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
I think NB does really well considering how low-budget it is.
No frills, no technology, no media profile, just basics.
I imagine bright young things might be put off by the lack ofbullshitglamour
NB stands or falls on content alone.
For me. that's its remit.
Very few media outlets would have the nerve to even try it.
You get chance to win a virtual mug once a month.....what more do you want?Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Interaction is the key to driving traffic Facebook. Mrs Wrenfoe is on about 180k followers on FB, but so much of that is down speaking directly to your readership. NB gets the odd viral story every month, but we struggle collectively to engage with the engagement, so to speak.
Ironically the best thing all our contributors can do is interact with the comments on FB & Twitter.
JoF subsidises the site as it exists now. Techguy & the Editorial Team all work for free, but are only part-time. It would probably need a full-time advertising manager to bring the level of revenue to push NB up to the next size. Obviously that comes with its own risks.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Sinnick - I take the opposite view. We shouldn't expect such a high proportion of our output to get up there, it should be a rare triumph - because we're competing with so many talented people.
I wouldn't expect to win a Nobel Prize every year - 1 in 3 is plenty. A FP on NB should be like that, except not Swedish.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
I wouldn't expect to win a Nobel Prize every year - 1 in 3 is plenty.
Well done you!
What about other awards?
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Dec, you said "We don't have enough contributors", but if we get more then they'll want to be seen - that's a major part of why folk are here. If the current superb authors get less visibility, then some may drift off
We need to be clear what this thread is about if it's going anywhere
- sydalg suggests we want more visibility, esp among younger folk
- decangli wants higher quaality, to be achieved with more contributorsI suspect the 2nd will follow the 1st
I also agree with sydalg that the younger generation won't daily browse websites (like us old gits), they'll use social media - so, how do we raise our profile there ?
Could we get Mrs Wrenfoe & Ironduke to do the online marketing ?
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
To extend an old saying, three things you should never see being made: laws, sausages and satire.
NewsBiscuit rather fails there.With NewsThump and The Daily Mash, you don't see all the build-up and thought-processes, the back-slapping ("ooh, stars from me!") and the sniping ("Fuck off, Titus!"), and the machinery of humour laid out like a set of Airfix pieces, all in need of having excess flash removed before they fit properly.
The completed, finished nature of every article on Thump & Mash makes these two sites very much readers' sites.
NewsBiscuit, by contrast, displays itself as a writers' site.It's a bit like Tony Blair and Labour. He knew he would never get Labour elected by sticking to traditional Labour-y Social-y things. Hence he became the most Tory-ish leader Labour ever had. And it worked. If by 'worked' you mean getting elected. So NB can either be true to its history and principles, or it can be popular and read by lots of people who find what it does funny. It needs much heavier, more ruthless editing, and a complete suppression of non-satirical non-humourous posts. NOTE: This may result in a lot of existing NB contributors and dabblers leaving or getting ousted but, after all, aren't they(we) the ones who got us in to this situation to begin with?
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Good point; WE; I was really surprised by that when I joined; the fact anyone can go into the writers & chat-rooms & see all our comments & peccadilloes aired- I expected that bit to be accessible only to members. This does give it a very different feel to the other sites (I don't want to say unprofessional ( :-) ), but I do agree with the comment about seeing the inner workings.
This is fine if happy to continue as we are, but the theme and existence of this thread suggests not & are seeking more readers, contributors, or both. If you want readership up in notable numbers, the vast majority will want to be entertained with a daily giggle, a smaller number to be thought-provoked, but vastly most will not want to contribute, nor see behind the scenes. The final (nutters) may be spurred on to want to give it a go and join in (why I joined), which would be easy to invite with 'interested in contributing? We welcome new writers, this is how you...' etc.
& all the others do do mailers with teaser-intros....
I absolutely agree, with it's history, longevity, pool of resources and quality, NB bloody well deserves to be much higher-profile. Do I have to be naked when I assassinate the Queen? On which bit of me should I inscribe 'NewsBiscuit.com'?
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
I think it'll just read "NB", Rich
Lots of good stuff there
Again, what exactly is the problem?
I agree, Chat Room should ideally be logged-on only. No-one wants to see our laundry. Not even us
Maybe the Writers' Room too, though it really shouldn't go off on tangents (guilty as charged) - how will that be policed? Just by goodwill ? More tech changes ? (I hear TechGuy groaning as I type)
There's a risk with this little project of asking for tech changes that can't be done, writing rules that won't be honoured, giving editors tasks they don't have time for, and not really solving anything
So, given the current model (more or less), and without chewing more fat than we can digest (see what I did there?), how do we raise the profile with minimal effort ? How does everyone else do it ?
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Absolutely agree the WR and CR should be viewable only to members - don't know if it's doable easily. I understand you have to apply to join now and that has stopped a lot of the spam, should help make being a member an aspirational thing especially if the WR and CR are hidden from casual visitors.
Probably the site needs to move on - it's doing essentially what it did years ago, so a bit of evolving is likely to be good. How that's achieved with volunteer workforce I don't know, but the conversation is surely the starting point.
A couple of points - I monitor the tickers and subs closely for WOTM so notice these things. There has been an incredible increase in tickers over the last three months. I think it was fourteen new ones yesterday alone (although it followed a couple of empty days to be fair). Regarding waiting for them to rotate to see if any new ones have been posted - just refresh the page - newest tickers are always the first to scroll. Finally, some of the editors have been posting up to four NiBs a day over the past few months - not always easy as it requires suitable material in the first place, but to be fair there are more subs per month now than there were in January.
Posted 3 weeks ago # -
Interesting info, Throngs
Far from convinced about "moving on" though
In my experience of numerous IT projects (er, not this type), changes should only be done when you know where you are & where you're going. So here, make minor changes, observe the results, consider more minor changes
And we don't want to mess with our USP, do we ?
Posted 3 weeks ago #
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