Note: This is one of a series of posts from the America East 2007 conference in Hershey, Penn. (See more coverage from the first day and second day of America East.)
America East: Community Newspaper Web Sites: Developing a Winning Strategy
Speakers: Susan Karol, Executive Director, Suburban Newspapers of America Foundation, and Sam Papert III, Chairman and CEO, Belden Associates
Link to community groups, frequent updates, a local search engine, searchable local classified databases and local photos and videos from community members are the five top things suburban adults want from a local community Web site.
That’s one of the most interesting, useful findings of the Suburban Newspapers Association Suburban Market Study (2006) by Belden Associates, said Sammy Papert III, Chairman and CEO of Belden Associates. The study sought to identify what people want from community Web sites to aid local publishers and developing their own Web sites. Other goals of the study were to identify best practices and help community newspaper publishers with changing technology issues. The study included 21 markets and thousands of interviews.
Some of the key findings: In the “past week,” 79 percent of suburban adults were online. Internet use is split along generations, however, with more young people using the Internet than older people. Many suburban adults use the Internet to find community/local news and information.
All of the sites do a huge amount in terms of niche-publishing (especially niche Web sites that are very separately branded from their ‘flagship’ site) and 24/7 updating. All three have also made huge strides in making their newsrooms physically and culturally integrated and converged – print and Web have equal focus.