In response to Craigslist eliminating a large portion of advertisements and revenue for newspapers, as seen in my last blog post, many newspapers resorted to shutting down in order to save money on production costs.
While Craigslist played a role in the diminishing income for newspapers, other reasons contributed to the decline of physical papers. One of those reasons is convenience – many might say that carrying a physical newspaper around is much more convenient than attempting to find a source of service on a laptop, cell phone or tablet. However, these days it is arguably simpler to stay up to date via online sources. Most smartphones have the capability of displaying push notifications for news apps whenever a story is posted, which can be displayed at any time of day. These constant notifications enable smartphone users to stay informed on current events as they are browsing other things on their device.
Another limitation that printed newspapers ran into was space. This was the result of fewer pages with ad-generating revenue. On printed copies, writers often needed to only write a specific amount of words – while this is considered concise writing, it could lead to parts of the story left untold. Many editors found going online as a scapegoat for this dilemma because they are able to post as many characters or photos as they want. In addition to this, online papers don’t require large production costs that physical papers would. Color photos, text and advertisements could amp up prices that newspapers didn’t always have the money for.
Finally, reader interaction and feedback is harder to come by when dealing with a physical paper. Yes, readers could, and are encouraged, to call in or send an email to the publication or writer of a story. However, online papers have the option for commenting on specific stories, videos or photos, which enables the reader to express their immediate reaction to a post. The publication also gains a better understanding on what their readers think about their posts.
With these ideas in mind of how online papers differ from physical papers, some value the sense of convenience over the feeling of reading a physical paper. For both consumers and newspapers, value of online news can be seen.
Keep an eye out for my next blog post, which focuses on the online monetization of media outlets.