In our #MetricShift chat on Friday, August 11, at 1 p.m. ET we’ll be talking about how to measure the success of a news site homepage. What metrics matter most? What changes are worth testing? And what lessons does this new research hold for publishers? The chat, which you can find by searching for #MetricShift on Twitter, will be moderated by Tim Cigelske, associate editor of metrics at MediaShift; and will include special guests from the Engaging News Project; MediaShift metrics and impact editor Jason Alcorn; and more.

A Storify recap will be posted below after the chat.

The post #MetricShift Chat: Homepage Metrics with the Engaging News Project appeared first on MediaShift.

In our #MetricShift chat on Friday, July 21, starting at 1 p.m. ET / noon CT / 10 a.m. PT, we’ll preview our upcoming online panel on how to get better video metrics. The free online panel is sponsored by Parse.ly. Parse.ly empowers companies to understand, own and improve digital audience engagement through data, so they can ensure the work they do makes the impact it deserves.

The chat, which you can find by searching for #MetricShift on Twitter, will be moderated by Tim Cigelske, associate editor of metrics at MediaShift; and will include special guests Andrew Goldstein, sports content executive at Marquette Wire and features reporter at Planet Princeton; Erin Supinka,  Assistant Director of Digital Engagement at Dartmouth College; the students of Marquette University’s Social Media Analytics and Measurement class; and Jason Alcorn, MediaShift.org metrics section editor and nonprofit news consultant.

A Storify recap is posted below.

Tim Cigelske (@cigelske) is the Associate Editor of MetricShift. He has reported and written for the Associated Press, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Budget Travel, Adventure Cyclist and more. Today, he is the Director of Social Media at Marquette University as well as an adjunct professor teaching media writing and social media analytics.

The post #MetricShift Chat: How to Get Better Video Metrics appeared first on MediaShift.

The New York Times saw a 47% year-over-year rise in digital subscriptions with 500,000 more in 2016, the Wall Street Journal added more than 150,000 digital subscriptions, and the Chicago Tribune added about 100,000 in weekday digital circulation, a 76% year-over-year gain, according to new reports from Pew Research Center.

The digital subscription metrics are a bright spot as the overall newspaper industry saw the 28th consecutive year of declines in total weekday circulation. Will digital subscriptions become the new top metric for publishers?

In our #MetricShift chat on Friday, June 23, we’ll discuss the metrics of subscriptions amid the fall of traditional circulation and the rise of digital.

The chat, which you can find by searching for #MetricShift on Twitter, will be moderated by Tim Cigelske, associate editor of metrics at MediaShift; Andrew Dunn, Editor-in-Chief of Charlotte Agenda; Wanda Cash, professor and associate director, UT School of Journalism, retired; Jason Alcorn, MediaShift.org metrics section editor and nonprofit news consultant, and more to come.

A Storify recap is posted below:

The post #MetricShift Chat: The Metrics of Subscriptions appeared first on MediaShift.

In a new report called The Rise of Hyper-Political Publishers, NewsWhip provides data on how hyper-political publishers rose on social media and which mainstream news outlets compare to the partisan sites, as well as insight into how headlines of major publishers have shifted.

The chat, which you can find by searching for #MetricShift on Twitter, will be moderated by Tim Cigelske, associate editor of metrics at MediaShift; Gabriele Boland, analyst and content strategist at NewsWhip; Wyatt Massey, America Magazine Postgraduate Writing Fellow; Chase Palmieri, Cofounder and CEO at Tribeworthy, and more to come.

A Storify recap will be posted after the chat.

The post #MetricShift Chat: The Metrics of Hyper-Partisan News appeared first on MediaShift.

Read the full Social Metrics series

“How publishers use social media is in a state of flux. At some level, that has always been true, but with the Facebook algorithm once again causing anguish, messaging and chatbots well-established as core platforms and a flight to quality for business reasons, the shifts are especially seismic. If social isn’t only — or even primarily — a distribution channel and funnel for website traffic, what is it? What can it be instead?”

In our #MetricShift chat on Friday, May 26, starting at 1 p.m. ET / 12 p.m CT / 10 a.m. PT, we’ll look at what we’ve learning — and what we’re still sorting out — when it comes to social metrics.

The chat, which you can find by searching for #MetricShift on Twitter, will be moderated by Tim Cigelske, associate editor of metrics at MediaShift. Guests will include Kim Bui, editor-at-large at NowThis; Richard Sunley, UK Marketing Lead at Talkwalker, a social media analytics company; Kaidi Yuan, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism student; Art Jones, social media intern at Marquette University; Jason Alcorn, MediaShift.org metrics section editor; and more.

A Storify recap is posted below:

The post #MetricShift Chat: Social Metrics appeared first on MediaShift.

But today, many media professionals don’t have a common definition of audience engagement within their organization. So how do you know if you understand what your audience wants?

In our #MetricShift chat on Friday, May 12, starting at 1 p.m. ET / 12 p.m CT / 10 a.m. PT, we’ll talk about getting the most out of analytics by starting with the best ways to define audience engagement.

The chat, which you can find by searching for #MetricShift on Twitter, will be moderated by Tim Cigelske, associate editor of metrics at MediaShift. Guest will include Jeff Weisbein, founder/CEO of KYA; Julia Carpenter, Embedded Social Media Editor at The Washington Post; Kyle Lelli, Head of Audience Development at The Tylt; Pam G. Dempsey, Executive Director at The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting; Simon Nyi, Media & Business Program Manager Illinois Humanities, and Jason Alcorn, MediaShift.org metrics section editor.

A Storify recap is posted below:

The post #MetricShift Chat: Defining Audience Engagement appeared first on MediaShift.

This next wave of digital fundraising brings challenges as well as opportunities for growth. Does recurring monthly giving work? One-time direct appeals to donors? Pay-by-article and digital tipping? And when is the best time to ask for money?

Whether a commercial publisher, public media or nonprofit newsroom, answering these and other questions about money requires careful measurement of what’s working and how.

In our #MetricShift chat on Friday, April 28 at 1 p.m. ET, we will talk about the metrics of fundraising for journalism in the digital era.

The chat, which you can find by searching for #MetricShift on Twitter, will be moderated by Tim Cigelske, associate editor of metrics at MediaShift. Guests will include Bikram Chatterji, Managing Director of Maximum Fun; Becca Edwards, strategy director Rallio; Fiona Morgan, journalism program director Free Press; Jason Alcorn, MediaShift.org metrics section editor and nonprofit news consultant, and more to come.

A Storify recap is posted below:

The post MetricShift Chat: The Metrics of Fundraising appeared first on MediaShift.

The new 7-episode series achieved 10 million downloads in four days, which broke the fastest-download record of its predecessor, Serial. Both are special projects of the mothership franchise of This American Life, which provided the hosts and staff of the new podcasts.

S-Town is one of the more recent and dramatic examples of publishers opting to spin off special projects that explore issues in more depth, push the boundaries of storytelling formats and reach audiences in new ways. Innovation creates an opportunity to change how we measure success.

We’re seeing publishers create special projects as microsites, podcasts, email newsletters or other stand-alone brands that are a production of a larger publishing brand. More recent examples include The Daily podcast from the New York Times or the What’s in Store Medium publication from MailChimp.

In our next #MetricShift chat on Friday, April 14th at 1 p.m. ET, we’ll discuss the metrics of special projects. What are the benefits of a spin-off and how do you measure them? Why not build your bigger brand and drive clicks to your main channels? Is it about targeted certain audiences? How can you think differently about measurement with special projects?

The chat, which you can find by searching for #MetricShift on Twitter, will be moderated by Tim Cigelske, associate editor of metrics at MediaShift. Guests will include Erin Caughey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel special projects/investigations web developer; Laura Kezman, Radio Milwaukee video producer; Nate Imig, Radio Milwaukee community stories manager; Nathan Bashaw, co-founder and story maker at Hardbound; Sarah Schmalbach, Product manager at Guardian mobile lab; and Jason Alcorn, MediaShift.org metrics section editor and nonprofit news consultant. A Storify recap is posted below:

Tim Cigelske (@cigelske) is the Associate Editor of MetricShift. He has reported and written for the Associated Press, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Budget Travel, Adventure Cyclist and more. Today, he is the Director of Social Media at Marquette University as well as an adjunct professor teaching media writing and social media analytics.

Icon by Milan Gladis from The Noun Project.

The post #MetricShift Chat: The Metrics of Special Projects, on April 14 appeared first on MediaShift.

For journalism instructors and professors doing the training, this often means learning about new metrics and measurement tools on the job.

In our #MetricShift chat on Friday, March 24, at 1 p.m. ET we’ll collaborate with our #EdShift section to talk about resources, challenges and sharable tips in combining media metrics and education.

The chat, which you can find by searching for #MetricShift on Twitter, will be moderated by Tim Cigelske, associate editor of metrics at MediaShift. Guests will include Aileen Gallagher, MediaShift.org’s new education sector editor and a journalism professor at Syracuse University; Dr. Liz Gross, social media and market research strategist; Jennifer Sadler, Instructor of Integrated Marketing Communication at University of Mississippi; Amara Aguilar, digital journalism professor at USC Annenberg; Carrie Brown, social journalism director at CUNY Grad School of Journalism; Jason Alcorn, MediaShift.org metrics section editor and nonprofit news consultant, and more to come.

A Storify recap is posted below

The post #MetricShift Chat: How to Teach Metrics appeared first on MediaShift.

A few smart people think so. Opinary, for instance, thinks that by replacing comments they can invent a new type of engagement metric. NRK is making readers answer a question before commenting to increase civility. But many sites are still throwing up their hands and saying, “I give up.”

In our #MetricShift chat on Friday, March 10, we will discuss comment metrics and how to measure what readers are telling us.

The chat, which you can find by searching for #MetricShift on Twitter, will be moderated by Tim Cigelske, associate editor of metrics at MediaShift. Guest will include Simon Galperin, U.S. head of growth for Opinary; Andrew Losowsky, Project Lead for Mozilla’s Coral Project; Katie Steiner, Communications and Program Coordinator for the Engaging News Project; Ståle Grut, founder of NRK beta; and Jason Alcorn, MediaShift.org metrics section editor and nonprofit news consultant.

A Storify recap of the chat is posted below:

The post #MetricShift Chat: The Metrics of Comments appeared first on MediaShift.