Checking USAT's main sports page, I can't find a link to the new site. Am I missing something? And what's the strategy driving the Tumblr?
Thursday, October 11, 2012
USAT | A new sports Tumblr without a link?
Checking USAT's main sports page, I can't find a link to the new site. Am I missing something? And what's the strategy driving the Tumblr?
13 comments:
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Strategy? What?
ReplyDeleteThat logo is hideous.
ReplyDeleteNice big red ball, looks like a clown nose and should be placed on Maryam Banikarim who decided to rebrand to this monstrosity.
Can someone explain how Nightengale gets to use unnamed sources AND shows his bias in his bio? Where is Brent Jones when you actually need him?
ReplyDeleteThe Tumblr probably helps USATS accomplish a few things.
ReplyDeleteIf properly curated, it will make USATS a destination for people seeking interesting content from the web and social media. USATS as aggregator.
It provides a national outlet for USAT and GCI content as part of that information stream. USATS as repurposer.
Tumblr blogs can be more tablet and smartphone friendly than conventional blogs, especially if the user has a Tumblr of their own. See something you like, and one touch to share on your Tumblr. USATS as tech-savvy.
Tumblr blogs are popular among those who use them, but remain a bit of a niche offering, like Storify. Still, USATS as pushing the envelope, seeing what works.
As for the lack of a link from the USATS page, perhaps it's just been a soft launch. Tumblrs are best when deeply populated with content. It takes time to do that.
Strategy? One of the new genuises said that to be taken seriously in the new media world, one needs a Tumblr...and it's a way to drive audience. Whether it really does that is a different matter - it's all new media Marketing speak of an accomplishment that someone will use on their resume. ("Started a Tumblr for USA TODAY...")
ReplyDeleteYou can see on that Tumblr how USAT Sports is taking (awkward) pains to appear cool. The old newsroom management of journalists must be turning over in their graves watching USA TODAY Sports go from news to attempts at funny and viral. But hey, that's what Dave Morgan was hired for - survival = complete overhaul, one guesses. Or hopes?
USAT sports is having credibility problems with content. Today's golf story on Belgian Nicholas Coelsarts (sp) carried an inaccurate listing of the bottom 25 golfers on the PGA money list. In fact, the story stated Colesarts (sp) was at 120 on the money list yet the sidebar listed a different golfer. (Check the facts please!)
ReplyDeleteMonday they screwed up a cut on a Detroit Tigers pitcher naming him as a member of the Oakland As.
And please in these days of electronic pagination lose the inadvertent ragged right on many box scores.
Two weeks ago they ran the same puzzle page on consecutive days in the entertainment/lifesyles section. Hardly the work of a paper on the rise.
I know it's complaining, but the front page story last week on killings in Chicago carried "near quotes" which appeared in both the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune many months ago.
I am a former Gannett employee, no axe to grind - they treated me well. However, it is frustrating to see so many avoidable mistakes with just a little fact-checking.
Sports has turned into a complete POS on line. Misleading and wrong heds. Editorializing in news articles. Silly story ideas. Isnt anyone in charge of qualuty and content, or does simply no one give a damn?
ReplyDeleteNo one gives a damn. Once we were forced to reapply for our jobs, we didnt care about anything but survival. I know journalists are supposed to ask questions and challenge authority, but you dont do that internally at Gannett. Drink the koolaide, suckup to management and play the nice guy. And pretend like every new hire is a genious.
ReplyDeleteMongo says redesigned website very reader unfriendly. Mongo no like.
ReplyDeleteUSAT's logo and redesign (mainly print, but I also have issues with the website) are flat out ridiculous. I don't know how else to put it. But worse, content has been on the decline for 4-5 years, and if that trend continues, I doubt USAT will be a viable player on the national level down the road. To me, this looks like a brand that got rid of too many of the experienced gatekeepers who demanded certain standards, and at the same time, might have kept too much dead wood or relied too heavily on new hires to fill in the gaps. Just my two cents from another the newsroom of another Gannett paper that is having similar problems.
ReplyDeleteNew hires have little editorial judgement. What they bring to the table is mystifying. What they actual do is, too.
ReplyDeletebeusse, morgan, you need some fucking quality control in younoperation. Quit focusing on the art of the deal. Focus on the content. It sucks.
USA Sports used to be one of the most reliable places to go for sports.
ReplyDeleteBeusse has made a total mess of it.
Sports needed a shot in the arm. Instead, Beusse shot it in the foot.
ReplyDelete