These days page views translate into profit, at least in the minds of many journalists and bloggers. Nielsen has devoted many resources to examining the worth of page views. In recent blog called, “Journalists won’t report on news unless it drives page views,” author Tom Formenski examines the negative impact mouse clicks have on worthy news that could be left behind.
But are page views like an emperor with no clothes?
Let me ask: During the normal course of browsing do you read everything that you see or do you take part in tabbed browsing? Meantime, as soon as a new tab is opened, metrics start measuring the amount of time you are on the website even though you are busy with something else. Hey, People, page hits could be an outdate metric - image and content loads will inflate the number of people that you think are engaged. Right now, I have several pages open, but I’m busy writing.
Ok, maybe The Emperor has on underclothes. Page views could be are useful if you happen to have a site with a lot of pages. At a recent conference I had a group discussion which included Matthew Renner of Truthout.org. He says that while considering diagnostics, one can find out whether certain pages are getting a greater number of hits. But there could still be other reasons for that, such as navigations, errors, or special content issues. The group felt that one can still determine whether the front page gets the highest number of hits. But the reality is that tabbed browsing inaccuracies still exist.
We can continue to utilize the services of billion dollar global corporations to calculate the worth of websites or browsing for us. Nielsen measures actual people and projects their activity to a carefully enumerated Internet universe. Google analytics is similarly helpful in producing the uniques on the average time users spend on site, i.e., what browser they are using, where the user came from, and the last page they were on.
We can also develop a new best practice for the Fifth Estate. Use analytics to put page views into perspective and then engage in the content and participate the comments. Respond actively online and with people you know and spend as little as five minutes a day to take part in story, particularly if it is useful to you and society.
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Bernie Heyman
Ray Nichols
suitablegirl
DLogan
Lisa Kern
Mary Ann Sorrentino
Salon.com
Comments
I think the metrics and measurements we've been using online are outdated but are not irrelevant. There is clearly useful information in there, especially when you look at Google Analytics, which shows you all kinds of cool info about time on site, time per page, bounce rate, source of traffic, which browser users are using etc.
One big indicator that I think is probably the most important is real tangible engagement with the content. Comments, actions taken, reposts, retweets, diggs, etc. These measures represent how useful your content was for those who read it. They repost to Facebook, or retweet because they want others to read it or they feel an attachment or identity overlap with the content.
The question of pandering to an audience is a very important one. We need to get them in the door, but when they get in there, our job as journalists is to challenge their assumptions, make them think and shed light on dark corners that many consumers would rather not think about. This is going to be a very hot topic for years to come. My attitude is let the commercial media pander to the lowest common denominator. They can have them. ;)
I recommend reading The Big Thaw - http://www.themediaconsortium.org/thebigthaw - and this great post by Jessica Clark - http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/05/5-needs-and-5-tools-for-measuring-media-impact131.html
As I read Formenski's article and the quote from Sam Whitmore, it sounds as if what they are encouraging is pack journalism. Write like all the other boys on the bus to get your share of page views.
I would suggest that if you really want to have an impact, you need to break away from the pack and write about your passions. You might not get as many impressions, but as we move towards a world of more targeted advertising the value of your impressions may be much greater.
For more thoughts on this, see my blog post on Orient Lodge
http://www.orient-lodge.com/node/4123