Attending the Key Executives Mega Conference
Our job is fun when newspapers do new things! The Affinity Express business model is easy and makes sense. We support newspapers so that they can find other cool ways to meet and support their audiences.
Some of my favorite sessions at the Mega-Conference were about moving forward in a modern media world and taking on digital agency type activities. It was really cool to hear Joe Boydston, vice president of technology and new media at the McNaughton Newspaper group, talk about open source technology and how it's a great match for newspaper publishing online. But, even better was the fact that their breaking news is literally tweets from their journalists. Because it breaks on Twitter by the journalists, it's news before it even hits the news!
Also, the social media aspects that Mathile Piard, social media manager for Cox, presented to this crowd, are game changers. Questions each newspaper has to ask itself are: when posting an abridged story on your Facebook page do you keep your user within the Facebook platform, or do you direct them to your website? What then really counts as a page view?
What about the even more controversial topic of frictional sharing? This is defined as the sharing of activities that happen online using Facebook, but without the bother of the app requesting permission to share. Say, you read an article about vaccinations for children. Do you want all of your "friends" knowing you read this and when? There could be real complications with immediately sharing your activities in the online social space.
Another fun session was all about mobile, moderated by Patrick Scanlon, director of digital strategy and business development for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. This was the only session that I attended that allowed audience questions to be asked via text and I thought this was so fitting.
