Socialized News Media Is Here

Michael Hedges April 16, 2012 Follow on Twitter

The online currency of the realm is traffic, the gross count of visitors. Ad-servers pay on some dividend of traffic. Web-masters constantly sort through traffic figures looking for keys to the coffers. But, as that physics lesson taught, there’s change in all that looking.

Website traffic growth for major Swedish newspaper has “stagnated” in the last few months, reports Media Varlden (April 12) quoting the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) internet blog. Looking one layer deeper it seems that direct traffic is decreasing while referral traffic is increasing. Fewer people are selecting a website by entering a site name into their web browser. More folks arrive at a website from another website; referral sites. The SvD blog also noted a rapid rise in mobile traffic though, in an update, suggested the rise might have been due to interest in the Japanese tsunami and, then, the Christmas 2011 holidays.

Search engine traffic – predominantly Google traffic – remains the main non-direct source for Swedish newspaper websites. Search engine optimization (SEO) schemes to affect page ranking continue popular with webmasters though more difficult to, well, optimize as the search biggies continually tweak their algorithms to please the surfers and advertisers. Prompting endless lawsuits and complaints by sufferers and other competitors, Google is, by giant leaps, the biggest web traffic generator in Europe.

For newspapers – and presumably other news content producers – Google traffic is being supplanted by social media. After the Guardian (UK) launched its Facebook app last September traffic generated by the social media portal outstripped, by February this year, traffic from Google, which at one time produced about 40% of the guardian.co.uk traffic. Guardian News and Media digital development director Tanya Cordery, speaking to the Guardian Changing Media Summit, called it a “seismic shift”.

“It’s only a matter of time until social overtakes search for the Guardian,” said Ms Cordery, quoted by journalism.co.uk (March 21), adding, “It’s the audience we want to learn about rather than the platform.”

In Sweden Facebook has become a significant traffic driver for news websites, though Google traffic remains the biggest non-direct traffic driver. Google delivers about 10% of traffic to the Aftonbladet website and Facebook just 2%, according to the Media Varlden survey of Swedish newspaper webmasters. Facebook traffic to the Svenska Dagbladet website is 8% with 15% coming from Google. Twitter generates fractional traffic for Swedish newspaper websites though the webmasters believe it is growing.

“Facebook is growing in importance,” said Expressen web editor Mattias Lundell. “The same could be said about Twitter but, while Facebook can drive significant traffic volume, Twitter, as a traffic source, is hard to figure. Twitter’s role is very different.”

Lower visitor interest in home pages and greater traffic to specific article pages is the main take away from the Swedish newspaper webmasters. ”We are able to see that traffic to our homepage does not increase as fast as it did a few years ago, while articles… hold the same pace,” said Västerbottens-Kuriren web editor Christoffer Larsson. “The traffic source that increased the most is definitely the incoming traffic from Facebook.com.”

First there was the need for a web strategy, now a social media strategy and coming soon a mobile strategy. News media outlets are certainly experimenting with them all. And so, too, are those visitors.

Ed. Note: In the six months ending April 15, direct traffic to followthemedia.com represented 46% of all traffic; referring traffic 24% and search traffic 27%. In the previous six months (April 15, 2011 to October 15, 2011) direct traffic was 43%, referring traffic 18% and search traffic 36%. The main referring sites were Twitter, LinkedIn and guardian.co.uk. There it is.

See also in ftm Knowledge

Social Media Matures (...maybe...)

Hundreds of millions use social media. It has spawned revolutions, excited investors and confounded traditional media. With all that attention a business model remains unclear or it's simply so different many can't see it. What is clear is that there's no turning back. 68 pages, PDF (February 2013)

Order here

Digital Transitions

Media's transition from analogue to digital has opened opportunities and unleashed challenges beyond the imagination. Media is connected and mobile yet fettered by old rules and new economics. Broadcasters and publishers borrow from the past while inventing whole new services. This ftm Knowledge file explores the changes. 88 pages PDF (March 2012)

Order here