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Digital publishing chief hits out at ‘clickbait snobs’

David-Higgerson-Pic-e14180431184192A regional publisher’s digital chief has claimed that so-called “clickbait” can be a good thing if it ensures journalists’ content gets read.

David Higgerson, Trinity Mirror’s digital publishing director, hit out at what he termed “clickbait snobs” in a post on his personal blog.

He claimed that “the art of over-writing a headline and top-spinning an intro to attract reader interest is hardly new to the internet.”

And he argued that by producing content designed to perform well on search engines and in social media, publishers were also increasing the chances that “bread and butter” local news will get read.

Wrote David: “Many of the academics who pinch their noses at talk of listicles, informational content and – horror of horrors – actually responding to what readers are reading will have worked in newsrooms where stories were hyped up to sell newspapers.

“They just call it clickbait because it’s on the internet.

“When I look at the Oxford definition (of clickbait), I struggle to wonder what the problem with clickbait is. What’s wrong with encouraging visitors to click on a link to visit a web page?

“If the standard definition of clickbait – and by standard, I mean dictionary definition – is content written because journalists want to be read, then clickbait isn’t the bad thing many like to believe it is.”

David added: “The elephant in the room – or rather, the elephant the critics hope is there – is that popular content is replacing the bread and butter content which makes local news brands so unique.

“I don’t see that happening, not least because the bread and butter stuff is the content which generally drives higher engagement scores, when it’s produced in a way which listens to readers.

“But here’s the rub: Articles written to perform well in search and social, and which are popular and well-shared, enhance the profile of brands like WalesOnline in search engines and social networks which run algorithms to second-guess what a user might want.

“So when WalesOnline then shares something which the clickbait snobs would approve of as good, solid local journalism, there’s a much greater chance more people will see it because those same algorithms know WalesOnline produces content people want to read.”

David concluded:  “My view, for what it’s worth, is that clickbait is content which disappoints the user when they click on it. Brands indulging in that only damage themselves. They pick up a unique browser, and a page view, but probably send their bounce rates sky high in the process.

“And when their brand appears before the disappointed browser on Twitter, Facebook or in search again, the odds are they won’t click.

“That’s not a new challenge to journalism. Nor is the snobbery around popular content. But the snobbery around wishing to amuse and entertain readers as well as informing is remarkably dangerous if taken too seriously.”

Earlier this month Kentish Gazette editor Leo Whitlock hit out at “desperate” media organisations for using “clickbait” to increase their online readership,in a thinly-veiled reference to a rival title which last year covered a national news story about the online leaking of nude pictures of celebrities.

58 comments

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  • October 1, 2015 at 8:26 am
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    What a load of patronising nonsense. “We all worked in newspapers where stories were hyped up to sell papers” says it all, erm actually, most of us didn’t. We sold papers by producing good quality stories with good quality pictures and design with a smattering of reader loyalty thrown in.

    These people simply don’t understand what they’re working in and, more importantly, they don’t care. This guy will have his eye on a six figure wage at Vodafone five years from now when all the journalists working for him are doing PR for The Welsh Sausage Sandwich Association.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 8:53 am
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    There is nothing snobbish about wanting journalists to get sore feet from gathering stories from the patches they cover.

    Cowering behind a desk in a faceless business park working on tat like ’10 best spoons as recommended by Trip Advisor’ and ‘Which local actress should be Dr Who’s next assistant?’ in order to meet management-set clickbait targets is something to be ashamed of.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 9:21 am
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    For a while this sort of condescending blather from regional newspaper managers was just an irritating nuisance.

    Now it’s dangerous and damaging and has become the sine qua non for the massed ranks of anti-journalism “digital directors” in boardrooms across the country.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 9:42 am
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    Label us ‘clickbait snobs’ all you like, but you’ll never change the fact that this sort of nonsense IS NOT journalism, and those purveying it should be ashamed to count themselves among those of us who proudly call ourselves journalists.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 9:48 am
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    There’s nothing wrong with newspaper websites being entertainment portals, news+, but I’d prefer to see news in a clearly defined space with links to other news stories on the subject.

    For instance, today’s Yorkshire Post website has an interesting, and important, story about small firms needing to put pension arrangements in place to avoid large fines.

    The Taboola promoted links on the bottom include “6 garden lighting ideas that will make the neighbours jealous”; “Is this the greatest last minute winner you’ve ever seen” and “Are they the dullest men in Britain or just eccentrics?”

    This is a wasted opportunity to explore issues in the story in more depth. By all means carry links to genealogy websites, but in a features or family history section.

    I do have personal experience of how profitable clickbait can be but you need to strike a balance between entertaining readers and irritating them.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 9:49 am
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    “And he argued that by producing content designed to perform well on search engines and in social media, publishers were also increasing the chances that “bread and butter” local news will get read.”

    The idea that click-bait is the answer to getting “bread and butter” local news read, indicates to me that the local news on offer is not really good enough to attract readers in the first place.

    I am sure that this situation can have absolutely nothing to do with the decimation of newsroom staff and photographers that is still proceeding apace, can it? No, it is those click-bait snobs refusing to play ball.

    Better a snob that a Twit-ter

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  • October 1, 2015 at 9:57 am
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    Wiser folk than me (Oliver, for example) will be able to tell you just how much revenue clickbait adds to a publisher’s turnover and profits. It’s worth noting, however, that even in late 2015, around 80-85% of one ‘cutting edge’ media company’s cash is still paper-generated – and probably higher as ad sales are conveniently ‘merged’ to validate the on-message propaganda. Whatever, I’ve yet to see a local news outfit that generates enough money to pay for the likes of those who read and post on HTFP – like me and you.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 9:59 am
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    Here’s a man who is misleading himself and trying to mislead the rest of us. We all know that increasingly trivial and badly-produced content is not being written by journalists but “curated” by the poorly-paid and under-trained youngsters who are replacing them. Dave, take some time out from writing drivel and read the drivel on your websites. Read your newspapers. Then ask yourself why readers are deserting you.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 10:01 am
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    This from a company that produced a video showing Hitler’s reaction to Wales beating England…

    Need I say more. Idiot.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 10:18 am
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    The Comments section of HTFP should be renamed Jurassic Park.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 10:20 am
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    The (excellent) David Higgerson responded via his blog to my comments left on HTFP rather than engage via this site. To pick up on some discussion points raised….

    As someone who is involved in online content and analysis of traffic it is simply not a linear geographic based answer on all use cases eg. ‘what time is the x factor on’ search gives the Derby Telegraph‎ and Western Morning news for me – and I can assure you I am not currently close to those places. I would ask back, what harm is being done to the DT / WMN brands if I read that story, bounce, and not return? Where is that visit logged, and is the information presented to advertisers?

    The meat on the bone point is the social signals affecting ranking scores, logic being if you have a ‘popular’ site Google et al will boost other content as well. Thus, looking for dull council report? G knows your ‘local’ regional is a strong website as people engage all the time with it, so will surface that content. Likewise, your Facebook footprint is good enough to give the new dull content a wider reach than normal – all great!

    Listicles, remember X when growing up in $locality and other guff ‘new formats’ soften the bounce rate and encourage the ‘engagement’ of I LUV HEROES HUN xox on Facebook.

    The response falls apart slightly with Mr Higgerson saying he does not agree that ‘popular content is replacing the bread and butter content which makes local news brands so unique’, by going on to explain (in his view) one requires the other in this new world.

    The logic is correct in terms of the technical side of things, but the underlying message is the ‘solid local journalism’ is not surfacing naturally, nor is strong enough without the – frankly – crap. Is the can being kicked down the road for solid local journalism, or will the Trinity Mirror (and other) beancounters see that all the crap gets the traffic, and the solid local journalism does not. I would imagine one is cheaper to create in regional, national, or even outsourced hubs rather than expensive local journos and when you are selling CPM deals one makes the money and the other does not.

    Clickbait perhaps is not the term that HTFP and others should use, but to me if you are doing a ‘Celebrations or Heroes’ article in 2015 to try and game the ranking signals…. you have already lost.

    To be clear the Western Morning News did not disappoint with the X Factor times, far from it, I am ‘informed’…. but did the WMN win short term, or long term?

    Another canary to me is Trinity Mirror (and others) is going for the large scale creation of clicky Buzzfeedy style content right at the time when Buzzfeed are advertising regional news jobs.

    I was not being snobbish, just pointing out something that even in the industry gets rarely mentioned. Why is that?

    btw some searches today with content created in the last 24hrs:
    site:walesonline.co.uk “what time” OR “when is”

    http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/film-tv/apprentice-bbc-series-returning-tv-10167017
    The Apprentice: When is the BBC series returning to our TV screens?

    http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/what-time-wales-v-fiji-10166901
    What time does Wales v Fiji kick off? Where can I watch live? Who’s in the team and who’s not?

    Top ‘most read’ on Wales Online? http://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/fun-stuff/hitler-reacts-wales-beating-england-10166530

    Hitler reacts to Wales beating England in the Rugby World Cup , which for around 50 words and a video embed is bylined to two people.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 12:03 pm
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    In response to RT (who I agree with on virtually everything written above), while the value of “What time is the Apprentice” is somewhat questionable to WalesOnline, “What time is Wales v Fiji” would be of great value to both the site in terms of quantity and quality of traffic and to the type of person they would want to return often – regional audience wanting bespoke regional information.

    Whether or not the information is highbrow is irrelevant.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 12:08 pm
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    Yes David. Quantity’s much better than quality. And you can even measure it with your ‘hits’ and your ‘shares’ and your ‘engagement’.

    I hope your blog stays around for future generations to read.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 12:10 pm
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    Fraid I agree with him.
    Just take a look at the guardian, for example. A brilliant website among the most-read news sites in the world.
    Yes, they do great breaking news, comment and analysis.
    But there’s also acres of other stuff covering lifestyle, fashion and pretty much everything else. None of it ‘news’ in any sense, but much of it very readable and interesting.
    I know it’s not exactly click bait, but it is a much broader offering than just news.
    And IMHO, That’s where locals need to be too.
    *****putsontinhat*****

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  • October 1, 2015 at 12:54 pm
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    Todd likens most of us to Jurassic Park, his shorthand for old farts whose opinions are worthless and who belong in the bin. Charmer!
    On a lighter note, I know of a bloke who had a parrot whose party piece was squawking:

    Colin Todd,
    England squad.

    The good old days…

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  • October 1, 2015 at 12:59 pm
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    A masterly defence of the indefensible. When I worked at Trinity Mirror I well remember its range of managementspeak to deal with all manner of situations. For example, whenever the slightest whiff of a counter view began to emerge, the person uttering it was shouted down for “being resistant to change”. Just let them get on with it.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 1:01 pm
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    @hacker – yes good point, not the best example. Cant say I am up with Welsh rugby. If WalesOnline could create a listicle on the rules, history etc as a quick new fans guide it probably would go great guns!

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  • October 1, 2015 at 1:08 pm
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    I might agree with Higgerson’s assertion that clickbait does lead people to discover proper local journalism IF his company actually had any local journalists left. But since Trinity Mirror has hardly any doing a proper local reporting job any more, his point is somewhat pointless.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 1:32 pm
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    Luka,

    Guardian’s a great example – can do all that brilliantly.

    Unfortunately, the regionals don’t have all that. I get more from my local council’s pravda than the local paper.

    Sad, but true.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 1:56 pm
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    Call me old fashioned, but I still prefer good solid news content, like they produced back in the days when senior newspaper executives wore ties.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 2:15 pm
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    I’m aged below 40. The rest of these commentators are clearly not. Back in my day……

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  • October 1, 2015 at 2:21 pm
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    Interesting that David’s rant makes no mention of the click bait targets which individual journalists and ‘teams’ have been set by Trinity Mirror – as previously leaked on HTFP. The amount of clicks clearly outweighs the quality of the content, and that can never be right.
    I am SO glad to be out of this and earning an honest? buck by freelancing.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 2:58 pm
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    Memo to arnold rimmer and Todd: back in my day… resorting to any sign of abuse was generally a confession that you had already lost the argument. The oldies are not simply resistant to change, we embraced much greater change than is happening today. We are not obsessed with the past. We just want to see a future.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 3:14 pm
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    Surely there is enough traction on this comment thread to start a LIVE: BLOG!

    Now that is where the new trendy TM focus is – time on site etc….

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  • October 1, 2015 at 3:59 pm
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    Abuse? Blimey there i was thinking journo’s are thick-skinned…. The cure for an obsession: get another one.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 4:33 pm
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    I agree with Mr Higgerson over the snobbishness around the use of the word ‘clickbait’. Editors and subs have been trying to use emotive words on front pages for years to encourage people to pick up their newspapers. In reality, this practice is no different!

    The only real difference is context and control. As he highlights in his final paragraph, with Taboola-type clickbait, you are sending users to websites which are out of your control and they are often let down by poorly-written articles with annoying pop-ups so the user experience ends right there, potentially damaging your reputation.

    With local content written as clickbait, a local newspaper website will, hopefully, provide much more useful news and information which a user wants to read. It’s easier to manage this when it’s under your own control.

    Clickbait, as Mr Higgerson sees it, is a potentially brilliant way to fill some of that gaping hole being left by print advertising and shouldn’t be knocked too hard because it’s the only thing keeping many of you in a job. However, within this rapidly growing audience, there is much to be concerned about regarding fake traffic from bots etc http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/sarah-snow/2015-09-28/how-much-your-audience-fake-or-are-your-ads-mostly-being-viewed-bots

    My problem with it all is that this clickbait strategy focuses too much on national, and even global, traffic volume and not enough on local engagement with advertisers and consumers alike.

    I don’t like sites which take advantage of certain SEO quirks by creating endless articles such as ‘What’s time is the X Factor on?’ or ‘Who won The Great British Bake Off?’. I think it puts them at risk of being penalised by future changes in the Google algorithm and doesn’t really help the local audience identify with what their brand is all about. It might prove rather short-sighted.

    While I appreciate the need to find alternative revenue streams quickly, the industry also needs shareholders who allow executives time to build longer-term strategies for local growth.

    Working with local business to ensure that they are provided with value for money should go hand-in-hand with a personalised approach to advertising, information and news for consumers.

    While it would be impossible to compete with the likes of Google and Facebook on the information which they ‘collect’ about their users, giving local teams the tools and training on how to actively gather more information about their own local digital audiences could be the difference in the future of local growth.

    Invest in training local digital experts both editorially and commercially and give them the tools to break out of the regional online model where appropriate, rather than this one-size fits all approach. While there is a fear that the newsrooms are full of ‘print dinosaurs’ (looking at you, Todd), I think publishers might be surprised by what comes out of the experience and innovation they still have in their ranks.

    Let’s not get all misty about this though. The traditional print/digital model is still staff-heavy and cumbersome so the likelihood of cuts will not go away despite any short or long-term strategies and there are plenty of smaller online-only competitors which are coming at this from the other direction.

    If regional publishers succumb to the likes of Taboola and Outbrain and develop a short-term strategy based upon poor-quality clickbait to generate large volumes of traffic so that they can hang national advertising on it, their individual titles will suffer in terms of quality, trust and local audience. Smaller competitors will then be able to capitalise on that.

    However, if editors have the digital skills and are allowed the freedom to choose which local content requires treating in a more engaging way and which needs to be dealt with more ‘traditionally’, then I think there’s value in it to everyone.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 4:39 pm
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    Arnold. There’s no apostrophe. It’s journos. Does that count as ‘another’ obsession?

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  • October 1, 2015 at 5:12 pm
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    The reason I hate clickbait – and this goes for the nationals as well as the regionals is that almost every website is going down pretty much the same route – exactly the same robotic boring writing style – same obsessions, same listicles, same ‘what time is..’ routine, and writing for Google – not local people. Driven by people in central offices who send out lists to tell people what to write about.

    The Daily Mail for example – might be very successful financially, but along the way it has become a site that seems to be written for Americans rather than British people, it has become something else.

    Which is fine – but don’t pretend it’s the original product. I know my local papers website regularly includes news about places 40 miles away as they pool their reporters and try and make the most of their scarce resources – again fine, but don’t pretend it’s the same product as the paper. It’s lazy news aggregation.

    A Facebook group I’ve just recently joined has got plenty of people who hate the way the site has gone and they’ve started writing their own paper and website purely for local.

    So if newspapers want to vacate their own USP I’m surethey will find plenty of people who are prepared to fill the gap…

    So I fear it will be the same for the regionals, driven by targets to artificially increase their readership, they will lose their soul and from becoming a portal for local news they will become just like every other website.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 5:18 pm
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    If the so-called click-bait drives readers to the site, who then go on to read more ‘serious’ news, then it is clearly a successful model.

    I still think we will have to offer a news bundle, in the form of a tablet newspaper, to promote engagement and higher ad revenues, though.

    Let’s be honest, Wales Online is a fantastic and very successful website which doesn’t post any content in the more desperate forms of click-bait, and couples this with quality news. I find the less serious content to be fun, and a refreshing change from the doom and gloom articles readers often complain about.

    It seems some are never happy. The print product is dying out; current digital tactics are keeping things afloat. We have to do what works, and if that is some less serious content (which readers actually enjoy) then why not give them what they want?

    The world has changed. Let’s move forward with it.

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  • October 1, 2015 at 5:29 pm
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    Jeff Jones arent u the chap who went into online copywriting? Clickbaits ahoy

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  • October 1, 2015 at 10:05 pm
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    It’s exactly the same as writing print headlines!

    Headlines are there to sell stories, anyone who claims papers are full of stories that are so grand they sell themselves is in dreamland.

    The other thing people are overlooking is this has become an issue for some because…..wait for it….people click on it. They want to read/watch it. And enjoy it. It’s entertaining – a bit like that grout on page 24….oh wait no, that’s the one about the jumble sale that four people care about.

    For me the true sense of click bait is the ‘X said this….you won’t believe what happened next’ headline, which thankfully most titles avoid.

    In reality the click bait that is talked about here is content that clearly tells people what they are about to read. And being the crazies the public are, they still click on it. And then tell their friends about it. And talk about it. Because, well they like it.

    Writing stuff people like. Novel idea.

    Right I’ve got a nib on 26 to write about permission for a new conservatory being granted.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 8:21 am
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    Don, I don’t see your point. I write commercial copy and clickbait is the antithesis of what we do, ‘bounce rate’ is a no no.

    Besides which it pays the bills, I don’t pretend otherwise nor do I think I’m on a quest to do anything grand or productive or special.

    I’ve got no issue with big companies like TM pursuing clickbait if that’s the model they want to pursue, but don’t pretend it’s journalism.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 8:52 am
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    You have a media website.
    They have an audience.
    Material is published by the website.
    The audience has a choice if they read it or not.
    Egg Man is right, misleading headlines are clickbait.
    What is being discussed here isn’t.
    It’s information.
    That people are choosing to read.
    It sits alongside traditional journalism also.
    In short, where is the problem?

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  • October 2, 2015 at 9:47 am
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    By the arguments here, most newspaper bills are clickbait in that they promises something and fail to deliver. So often, the ‘latest’ in the murder hunt is that… it’s still on-going and you already know this because you read it online 16 hours ago.

    Incidentally, there’s nothing wrong with news providers writing ‘what time does the match start’ type of content – I had to Google ‘When do Ireland play next’ yesterday, just because the official WRC site is so hopeless at delivering that information without a load of flashy graphics that take ages to load on mobile.
    And, yes, the Telegraph came to my rescue – I will remember that next time and check their sports section before the official rugby one. Valuable information. Remember when newsPAPERS used to carry cinema listings? Same thing.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 10:13 am
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    Five things we’ve learned from this thread (YOU WON’T BELIEVE NUMBER 4)…

    Nope, nothing to see here

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  • October 2, 2015 at 10:30 am
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    Reality – as mentioned the term ‘clickbait’ is perhaps not the best.

    How about generic content, which people do consume in vast numbers. Check http://www.viralnova.com for a huge example, some content that would not look out of place on TM regionals or Mirror sites.

    Viralnova makes tens of millions, and its not that hard to make clone sites and make a chunk of change yourself.

    The wider issue is if the TM collection of regional / sub-sites churn this stuff out along with the Mirror site, why does it need to be produced locally and why not put it all on one single brand?

    The logic stated in the comment response blog is twofold…
    – such content helps the dull stuff get traction
    – google et al surface local sites on generic queries (the ‘what time is X’ stuff)

    The latter is simply not true, and for the beancounters how attractive is the first long term?

    If the realisation is people do not want local news then fine, that is a different discussion and TM saying in Brum they are not of local record anymore could indicate that might have been seen/decided.

    If the chase is for traffic then TM should perhaps pivot in to video porn sites as they are huge, with a decent time on site measure for video content ! Perfect fit for the internal buzzword bingo! :)

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  • October 2, 2015 at 10:35 am
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    Reality, you’re right about the information which people are choosing to read.

    However, the danger is that, if abused, clickbait could affect the established trust of the local brand by diluting the audience.

    Local papers have, by definition, a boundary of interest in local issues. This was once determined by how far you could send your delivery trucks, but digital has changed that.

    If clickbait takes over in order to simply push greater regional and national audiences to stories like ‘vote for Celebrations or Heroes’ then the only use of those additional numbers are to regional and national advertisers.

    Local papers have always carried national ads so I don’t see a big problem with this in principal, but the issue with poor quality clickbait is two-fold.

    Firstly, when your traditional local bread-and-butter advertisers don’t get the ROI they would expect from the added cost of reaching this larger audience which they are being sold, they will be reluctant to advertise again.

    Secondly, if your local audience only sees you as ‘a bit of fun’ rather than a good source of local information too, the trust in what local papers have traditionally offered will be eroded.

    Local news is never going to draw in the big bucks online so regional publishers are naturally attracted towards pushing more national advertising to fill the big gap in their bottom line.

    While this short-term strategy keeps shareholders happy, there are many local start-ups with a lean cost base working towards taking over the role of providing local news to a small, but relevant, audience and real value to local advertisers i.e. local people through the door.

    What we can’t afford to do is get snobby about the definition of clickbait. Let the regional publishers do what they need to, but editors must shout about balancing this with the much smaller, but long-term value in the local market.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 11:57 am
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    Egg Man, you talk about things like conservatories being built with such disdain that I suspect you’re one of the new breed.

    A good local paper was a trusted local service, just because you consider that jumble sale to be unimportant, doesn’t mean the charity or the church that depended on it did. If that needs to be explained to you, then you’ll never really understand.

    The difference between a headline and an SEO headline is that the SEO headline is designed to build on existing buzz, by trickery if needs be, rather than create the buzz itself.

    A good example would be a headline like ‘Man killed wife with axe’. An SEO headline would probably involve a news editor sening you a Twitter trend along the lines of ‘pair caught getting frisky on roundabout’ at which point you would then have to find out what that ‘story’ is, and get it online ASAP so you don’t get left behind by the other news outlets.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 12:22 pm
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    That grumpy cat video was well funny, though.
    Never used to get that in the so-called good old days.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 1:47 pm
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    RT

    You are making incorrect generalisations. The sites are not flooded with generic national content. National content makes up about 3% of the sites.
    The content types that are being discussed in this thread are ones that are tailored around local audiences and quite often are born with the local audience in mind.

    The fact is that the engagement times of the articles and readership means that these along with other content are exactly what the local audience wants to read.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 1:50 pm
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    As someone still working in newspapers, some of the comments on here are excruciating and embarrassing, and clearly from the usual band of wrinkly curmudgeons who refuse to accept change. I’m a wrinkly curmudgeon too but also love digital journalism. That is allowed you know! I also knew David when he was a cub reporter and among the finest young newsgatherers I’ve ever worked with. Unlike many digital journalists who have little or no journalistic experience, he’s done the hard yards on local papers so, with that in mind, his opinion is always worth reading.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 2:18 pm
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    As someone who also worked with David in his younger days, I would wholeheartedly endorse the above comment.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 4:11 pm
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    How come people who call this stuff out for what it is are always called dinosaurs or subjected to some other form of ad hominem abuse? Attacking the man and not the ball is always the first and last resort of someone when they have no argument.

    As I’ve said many times, this isn’t about print vs digital, it’s journalism vs contention. Even the job titles and job adverts call it ‘content’.

    Journalism leads the debate, content follows it, it really is that simple.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 4:12 pm
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    ‘Journalism vs content’ that should say. Dumb phone spell check.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 4:29 pm
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    Hi. Thanks for the kind words Paul and ‘Dinosaur.’

    The post I wrote was aimed to put across the point that branding anything which was new or slightly away from traditional, public interest journalism as ‘clickbait’ was misleading. It wasn’t an argument in favour of dispensing with the journalism people expect from us, just an argument in favour of the fact that it’s perfectly possible to do both, and to suggest newer techniques for content, such as listicles, can be used to generate interest in stories which otherwise might be less popular.

    I don’t think there’s much point getting into a debate about what is and isn’t journalism as it’s a subjective issue, but when Jeff Jones talks about bounce rate being a big no-no in his industry, he’s summed up the same challenge which newsrooms face: There’s no point producing content which people look at, decide is rubbish, and then leave again – ie content with a high bounce rate. That kind of content, often characterised as having misleading headlines to hook people in, appeals to no-one and just damages brands, so we should shy away from that at all costs.

    Pretty much every example I see on here being cited as poor clickbait actually enjoys very low bounce rates.

    At no point have I argued we stop doing traditional journalism in favour of more light-hearted or popular content. Our challenge is to come up with a mix of content which appeals to local readers and keeps them coming back. We can’t just rely on readers to feel a duty to read local news, as some people on here seem to think we can.

    Sitting back and thinking ‘this is what we have always done and the reader can just find it if they want it’ doesn’t work with the online business model, despite what some of the comments here seem to suggest.

    As for the clickbait targets one or two people have mentioned, nothing could be further from the truth.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 5:19 pm
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    And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
    Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
    I shake it off, I shake it off.

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  • October 2, 2015 at 6:09 pm
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    Disclaimer: David’s my boss.

    …and I’m very pleased he is, because he’s been a huge champion of exactly the kind of agenda-setting, investigative, scrutinising, genuinely local content people on this thread seem to want. Not _instead_ of other types of content; _as well as_ other types of content.

    Newspapers have always featured other types of content. They have had puzzle pages and crosswords (digital equivalent: quizzes). They have had TV listings (digital equivalent: ‘what time is X?’) And so on.

    Whatever. Surely everyone can agree with this: ‘Writing misleading headlines to peddle crap’ = bad, ‘Utilising new formats and new types of content that make readers want to read and engage’ = good.

    The issue the critics on this page should be addressing is this: if the ‘traditional local journalism’ (and by the way: what exactly do they mean by that? Crime? Politics? Breaking news?) they talk about is NOT being read – or read by tiny numbers – what should be done about it?

    Their view seems to be: just keep doing it the same way, anyway. Our view is: find a way of making it interesting to people, without compromising on core journalistic principles (accuracy, fairness, context, etc).

    I know which side I’d rather be on; I imagine the truly great journalists of ANY era would think the same.

    If you’re still tempted to weigh in complaining about what David said, ask yourself this. Are you really angry about what modern journalists are doing? Or are you really angry at the world, for not wanting to read the stories you think the world should want to read, written the way you think they should be written?

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  • October 2, 2015 at 7:01 pm
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    You opened the thread on this by personally attack david Jeff Jones so you rather set the tone.

    You also misquoted the comment you were referring to.

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  • October 3, 2015 at 2:13 pm
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    I think Higgerson is missing the point. There is a difference between writing a web headline in a way that attracts readers to the site and the sort of blatantly deceptive clickbait referred to in the last par where someone puts a non-local junk story on purely as a ruse to raise site visits.
    Readers don’t like that and where they’re allowed to comment on the stories they usually say something to the effect of ‘this rubbish isn’t local’.

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  • October 4, 2015 at 12:37 pm
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    I don’t doubt Mr Higgerson’s abilities for a moment, and the debate about “clickbait” clouds the issue, for me at least. The argument is not about headlines that encourage people to click on stories – that’s what a good headline always did, and if that’s what people mean by clickbait, that’s fine by me. What gets up my nose is the gap between the rhetoric of senior industry people and the reality that readers see – on line and in print. So he’s a champion of “agenda-setting, investigative, scrutinising, genuinely local content”? Point us to it please! Where is that stuff? On websites I see, after the breaking news, comes the cutest cats pictures and the 10 best pizza toppings, and err…that’s it. Where is the investigative, scrutinising content? The sad truth is that newsrooms have shrunk, specialists have all but disappeared, and the reporters and production people who are left have been de-skilled. That content just isn’t there and what’s more, TM and others don’t want it, although they obviously can’t admit it. It’s too expensive and too difficult and doesn’t show a return.

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  • October 5, 2015 at 9:44 am
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    @wolvowanderer beauty is in the eye of the beholder and judging by your name, you’re proof that when you look at the Birmingham Mail, you choose to see just what you want to see. The Mail breaks big stories all the time, covers news live and still manages to find time to have a smile. You are very quick to list everything that is wrong, but very short on ideas about what you would like to see, other than a general riff of ‘everything as it used to be please.’ I’m guessing you used to work for Trinity somewhere, and are probably now sat in a job which allows you pretend things are like they always used to be. Cold hard audience numbers show the Birmingham Mail is doing a far better job than ever before of giving people what they want. The cat’s out of the Bag-gie, to abuse another Midlands football pun.

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  • October 5, 2015 at 10:08 am
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    @wolvowanderer

    I’ve just done a quick search of the most read stories on some of our websites.

    The Manchester Evening News is dominated by the superb live coverage of the protest march outside the Tory conference yesterday

    The Liverpool Echo by the breaking story about the policeman killed by a stolen car.

    The Coventry Telegraph by the bus tragedy.

    That’s why I asked what people mean by ‘traditional local journalism’. We do breaking local news far, far better than ever before – and a big breaking story done well is manna for a newsdesk.

    The Chronicle has a great feature about what life is like as a 18-year-old girl sleeping rough in Newcastle. I strongly advise you read it. If you don’t consider that scrutinising, agenda-setting content then I despair.

    The Gazette in Middlesbrough has new lines on the struggle to save the steel industry in the town.

    These are the MOST READ bits of content on each of the sites.

    If you don’t want to fairly assess the evidence because it doesn’t suit your agenda, fine. I can’t do anything about that. But you’re wrong all the same.

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  • October 6, 2015 at 3:43 pm
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    @David Ottewell – That is an excellent post, and Cov needs a special mention as they were getting flack on the grim reporting of the deaths prior to the formal police confirmation. A tough but good job done with old fashioned sources.

    I dont think anyone is saying such work is not taking place, nor that it is not being read.

    My points are certainly from the perspective that fluffier content should not be required to boost the ‘proper’ stuff, and if investment in true local reporting took place that would thrive equally.

    There are many many local facebook groups with news, rumour and gossip that are stupidly active and get engagement indicators beyond the wildest dreams of group heads – however the thirst for trad news is not there apparently.

    The other recent article on here on TM cuts makes me think there will be more centralised content with the ‘big’ regional stories getting focus.

    That may or may not be the case, and I could be a luddite, but it would be good to give proper local journos a crack with the modern tools and dissemination channels.

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  • October 6, 2015 at 8:01 pm
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    I wish I could believe what RT is saying, but I think it is the view of someone who loves local journalism (as we all do) but lets that love blind the reality. The fact is all news sites rely on people discovering content rather than having the luxury of knowing people will just think ‘time to read some local news.’ That discovery takes place via Google and Facebook, who set the rules on what gets seen. So the fluffier stuff, as you call it, is needed, but shouldn’t replace traditional journalism.

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