The Wardman Wire

You are browsing the archives of Media.

For some time there has been conversation about the need to look at the Quality and Engagement of audiences for media websites.

This article looks at one of the data items available via the Quantcast.com service, which segments your audience by loyalty. The free service can also identify which organisations and businesses are sending visitors to a website.

I look at the data for national newspapers, and also for this site and journalism.co.uk.

Following on from Tom Watson MP’s release of a Code for Participation for Civil Servants online, I thought I would turn it into a Wordle.

Since the Statement of Principles is free of waffle and padding, it seems to work quite well. Click through for the full size version.

Yesterday I promised further first impressions of the new Total Politics website. Instead I have done a more detailed review. I have not seen a copy of the magazine yet, but I am likely to be a regular reader on the website so I’ve approached the review from this angle. This is a long piece, and I’ve reproduced my conclusions at the top.

Total Summary

Let’s not beat about the bush: I like it and I will read it, and in some ways Total Politics will be a unique resource - editorially and for some months at least until somebody else catches up with the resource centre.

With adjustments to the screen colours, I’d say it’s at about 80% of where a mature version of the site should be - very good indeed for a first day launch of a complex new website built from scratch. Throw in the site adjustments I’ve highlighted, and I’d take that up to about 85%.

Is it as a viable proposition and a viable business? I don’t know - look in 18 months time to see if it is still here and in what form.

What needs to be right for success? All the usual things - delivery on time, good writing, facts correct and all the other attributes that create a good editorial reputation.

The longer term future of the site will depend on the “free magazine for elected politicians” business model proving profitable, and the website a volume and mixture of traffic to promote the areas of the business which will generate cashflow.

Do you remember the lost tribe shooting arrows at a low flying aircraft? It turns out that the picture was not a lost tribe at all - it was a tribe known for around a century.

On May 30th it was:

Aerial images prove existence of remote Amazon tribe

Deep in the Amazon jungle, one of the Brazil’s last uncontacted indigenous tribes has been photographed from the air, to prove its existence.

This morning the Observer has a story:

Tribal guardian admits the Amazon Indians’ existence was already known, but he hoped the publicity would lift the threat of logging

The new Total Politics magazine has just launched their new website www.totalpolitics.com.

My very first impressions are that there are a lot of interesting features there, including a local politics blog - which is something British Politics is crying out for a least a year.

In the spring there was a great kerfuffle over an anonymous blogging Civil Servant called Civil Serf.

At the time Tom Watson MP asked for advice on his blog about what guidance should be given to Civil Servants making comment and participating in communities online. He’s now come out with a “Code of Practice”. Here it is, verbatim:

Principles for participation online

1. Be credible

• Be accurate, fair, thorough and transparent.

2. Be consistent

• Encourage constructive criticism and deliberation. Be cordial, honest and professional at all times.

3. Be responsive

• When you gain insight, share it where appropriate.

4. Be integrated

• Wherever possible, align online participation with other offline communications.

5. Be a civil servant

• Remember that you are an ambassador for your organisation. Wherever possible, disclose your position as a representative of your department or agency.