Social media: The internet’s the best way we can stay connected and relevant in people’s lives. If used better, social media can get us more eyes online, and best of all, more hands on print.
Expanding our use of it: Our biggest competition for students’ attention during the day isn’t another paper — it’s Twitter and Facebook.
Both direct traffic to our website, get people talking about our articles and are completely free advertising.
We should create a social media team to engage the community and bring them with us into the newsroom throughout the day. As editors, we should be engaging with the public as often as we can.
The online experience
Keeping content fresh: Our website should actively rotate its stories throughout the day to keep people coming back.
Stimulating more conversation on our website: Often, when our stories go viral, it’s the comments left by readers (as much as the story itself) that get people laughing, talking and — more importantly — picking up papers. Why make it harder by requiring a verified address?
Expanding our staff
Diversifying the DTH newsroom: We can make the DTH more inclusive. When hiring editors, we should do our best to build a team that reflects the diversity of the campus community it represents. Part of uncovering great stories is bringing in new perspectives.
Actively recruiting the University’s best talent: We should take a more pro-active role in filling all jobs at the paper.
Let’s find the Mark Zuckerbergs in the computer science department who would never think of joining the paper but have the know-how to revolutionize our website. Let’s ask UNC musicians to create music for multimedia. Let’s find student artists who might not have an interest in journalism but could make our pages come alive.
The bottom line is, the more people that are involved in the paper, the more people that pick up the paper.
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Providing better (and specialized) training: To improve training, we should mandate the kind of training a staffer’s current job demands. For example, state, city and campus writers should all know how to make a public records request; an arts critic might not.
Everyone should be briefed in breaking news reporting, fact checking and libel. All writers should be trained in the basics of photography. If we asked every writer to come back with photos for their story, we’d widen our options for print, and they’d improve their prospects for finding work.
