Speech notes: Social media at the Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times has been publishing a newspaper since 1881. Let me just let that time frame sink in a bit. Since Dec. 4, 1881, The Times has published every day. For 129 years.
Quick and dirty math: That's more than 45,000 days in a row. Quite a remarkable winning streak.
Much has changed for journalists in the 129 years since. Our front pages are a lot more colorful these days.
(slide of current front page).
And that's just for starters. The changes in the print journalism industry are well documented. The rise of the internet, coupled with a drastic reduction in our print distribution rates ...
have us searching for answers.
One of our strategies has been to look for ways to improve efficiency.
So a year and a half ago we merged our print and online newsrooms. Now our coverage on the web and in the print version is managed by the same people.
And that has changed the way we operate. We used to *only* have two deadlines a day, around 3 p.m. for the features sections, and 11 p.m. for news.
We still have those deadlines, but have added rolling deadlines whenever news breaks -- all day and night.
(slide of 24hr newsroom)
We are doing it with a smaller staff; but it's a more nimble operation. And our metrics folks tell us that more people are reading our journalism than ever. Overwhelming majority of our traffic comes from direct and search engine traffic.
But it's clear that the ground it still shifting underneath us.
And we can't sit back and assume people will continue to type latimes.com into their browsers or even from search engines.
Not when they are spending more and more time on Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks. Not when Nielsen's reporting like it did this week that 22% of all time spent online is on social networks.
So about two years ago we dove in, setting up accounts in just about every social networks you could imagine. Ms. Walter from Intel said earlier, we got a bit distracted by ALL the next shiny objects.
(unhub slides)
And really who knows what might break out of the pack tomorrow.
(woof slide)
We have more than 70 plus official twitter accounts and hundreds of individual accounts.
--From one of our columnists: I find Twitter more useful and informative than email. Email is jammed w spam and 98 percent I toss but Twitter following the right people I get lots of tips, info and impt links.
--From one of our business reporters: I'm followed by many industry sources and executives and my tweets and their tweets (geez, I hate that word), has led to stories and better relationships. Even just tweeting about sporting events I'm watching has brought me closer to some sources who have the same interests.find out more quickly when scooped
A Vial of Vitriol
An unknown scoundrel hurls it on a crowd
The Fiery Fluid Burns Men, Women and Children -- A Fiendish Crime at a Carnival in Philadelphia.