Logo a go-go? When to change or keep your logo
As we’ve been working on redesigning the Chicago Reporter’s website, I’ve been thinking about colors, infographics and, lately, logos. A logo is the centerpiece of a news organization. People identify with logos, recognize them and can get extremely upset if you change them. Take Gap’s gaffe with their attempt at logo redesign. Or, when Wired launched a redesign contest of iTunes’ ugly new icon. Sometimes, what you’ve got is good. What you have is memorable. You could consider an update. You slightly tweak what you already have. Maybe bold the font, go two shades darker with your logo’s shade or switch to a sans serif — little things that help spruce up your image. Updates can go undetected by your audience. Did you notice that Google, Wikipedia and Cartoon Network changed their logos … Read entire article »
Filed under: Advertising
Twitter tests new ‘top people’ and ‘top news’ search results
Twitter is testing ‘top news’ and ‘top people’ feature that appear in a highlighted box above regular search results. When people search for keywords on Twitter, the ‘top news’ will show a headline, teaser text, thumbnail image and direct link to a popular story on that subject. And then, ‘top people’ will highlight Twitter users with the strongest followings. The feature has only been tested with a few users, but seems like a significant change if … Read entire article »
Filed under: Advertising, Audience Engagement, Public news consumption, Social media
Google saving news business one experiment at a time
Judged solely by the three stories we’ve published about Google–two on analytics and the other on the ‘standout’ search tag–it’s clear that the presentiments expressed in last year’s Atlantic cover story (that Google was trying to save the news biz) were right on target. And it appears that Google’s efforts are far from over. On Friday Nieman Journalism Lab reported that Google is flirting with new ways for users to access content. They discovered that, when clicking on a link … Read entire article »
Filed under: Advertising, Sustainability
Google Analytics introduces flow visualization
Break out the champagne—anytime Google Analytics adds helpful goodies to their interface is cause for celebration. Google is adding features that help site owners visualize website traffic and see that traffic instantly. Susan Wojcicki, senior vice president of advertising at Google, announced the additions at Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. The Visitors Flow provides a graphical representation, showing how visitors find your site, where they start and where their first interaction on the site occurs. The … Read entire article »
Filed under: Advertising, Metrics, Social media, Web development
Chicago Independent Ad Network launches, aims to make advertising cheap and effective
Yesterday marked the launch of the Chicago Independent Ad Network, a funding stream designed to protect the finest digital journalism in the city. With 15 publishers, the ad network guarantees more than one million ad impressions each month. Though the ads won’t go live until November 1, the network is already accepting ad reservations. Only five advertisers a month are allowed to participate, which is intended to limit the noise and increase the productivity of the digital ads the network generates. The news sites acting as publishers are largely small community news sites like the Beachwood Reporter and Roscoe View Journal, but the Chicago Reporter and the Chicago News Cooperative will be participating as well. The group of sites received a $50,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust to form the network. The … Read entire article »
Filed under: Advertising, Featured, Sustainability