What I've been reading: X's monetisation programme, Enders local analysis and the importance of tagging content
I'm on a period of leave at the moment, one of the benefits of this is having some time to read around and there's interesting links below that I've stumbled upon. If you're in the digital media, digital journalism, social media, digital comms space then I hope these are a good reading list. I'll try and post these as frequently as I get chance, and if you find them useful let me know. And if you spot something I should include, or you've written something that you think should be shared then drop it over. I'm on edward_walker86 AT hotmail.co.uk
After my first Twitter payout, is the X Monetization programme worth it? - Tim Gatt - giving X (formerly Twitter) Blue a spin, Tim's done an interesting post on LinkedIn Pulse about how he's found utilising the monetisation programme on X. His 'On This Day in WWE' account, run for the love not the money, ended up making some money. There's definitely a good return on investment to be had for people and organisations who are already very active on Twitter. Although the monetisation thresholds mean it feels more like it's moving to the YouTube model where the barrier to entry is now higher for unlocking the monetisation rather than plug-in-and-go we've seen on a lot of platforms for many years now.
‘All is not lost’ for UK local news publishers, says Enders report - Press Gazette - helpfully Bron included the full report at the bottom of the article (download link). It's an insightful read and less 'end of the world as we know it' than Enders have predicted for regional and local media in the past. It highlights a major challenge - having amassed large audiences, the time spent/engagement with those sites is a difficulty compared to other apps and sites in that space.
The gradual decline of print (and perhaps more gradual than was previously predicted by groups like Enders) is giving the headspace and opportunity for experimentation within the local space by both new entrants and established players, but the report I feel highlights a clear need for innovation funding from external actors - be that government, philanthropists, research bodies or others to encourage that innovation and diversification. For a better hot take than mine, Sam Sheddon's (who does audience engagement at National World) reaction to it has some key takeaways which are very valid.
And if you want an example of the importance of local journalism, go and have a read (and watch) of Conor Gogarty's superb undercover investigation into the world of pressure selling at a Cardiff firm for WalesOnline.
https://twitter.com/ConorGogarty/status/1686629897404399616
How tagging makes the digital world go round - Tom Jackson - I hate to think how many hours I've lost explaining why tagging articles within a media content management system is important (someone at my former role and employer at Reach will be nodding here and chuckling), but is this the moment where there's an absolute clear need for AI? Journalists are great at writing, but in adding the right metadata and figuring out what category/tag/subject a story is about - beyond say the general news, sport etc - then not so much and given the labyrinth of sections, topics and more that exists within most CMS systems these days you can't blame them. An insightful piece from Tom who digs into why having a clear set up of topics for your news site is important.
Innovative local journalism collaborative, the Scottish Beacon, launched! - The Scottish Beacon - shout to my fellow UCLan journalism leaders course alumni Rhiannon Davies on making this happen, I think we'll see more of these as people find strength in numbers. Rhiannon and team take agenda-setting content from across nearly 20 hyperlocal titles in Scotland and where it has resonance beyond its geographic boundaries then showcases the content. There's a supporter/donations-based model built in. Smart. Like a mini Google Showcase for Scottish Hyperlocals, I guess.
How La langue française increased registered user acquisition by 450% thanks to a “bittersweet” strategy - Nicolas Le Roux - there's some really smart writing on The Audiencers at the moment, drilling right into how email subscriptions, registered-user flows and more work. There's a lot of detail in this, about how essentially a metered paywall and email subs campaign was run by a French publisher and the tactics they utilised to give a big bump in the number of 'known users' on their site. A mix of carrot and stick.
Growing yield and revenues on mature subs products - Ben Wood - some similarities in the overall theme here, as a B2B publisher talks through the techniques they used in defining how to grow a subscription audience from a single offering and branching it out. The 'good, better and best' approach stood out to me.