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More cuts at USA Today?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Moderator1, Sep 3, 2014.

Page 2 of 7
  1. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    You can blame them for using follower count as a metric. If I followed 100,000 people and 20 percent followed me back -- voila, 20,000 Twitter followers. So a beancounter would see that, and only that, and think I have a decent audience on Twitter when I just gamed the system.
     
    playthrough, Sep 3, 2014
    #13
  2. jojoblack

    jojoblack Active Member

    Lucky to work there? How 'bout you skillfully provide a service and they pay you for said service? You know, like putting in the work to build that brand.

    Meanwhile, a bunch of snake oil salesmen roll through, make promises they can't possibly hope to deliver, get paid handsomely for it and move on. Oh, but not before totally snuffing out any hope of a recovery.

    BTW, folk there are being worked into ground and it's not all about utilizing social media.
     
    jojoblack, Sep 3, 2014
    #14
  3. reformedhack

    reformedhack Well-Known Member

    Sounds like it's going down in an ugly way, though. From Romenesko's site:

    Sports pages editor Liza Koon writes on Facebook that after being laid off, “my escort out of the building wouldn’t let me talk to anyone, so hello social media.”

    http://jimromenesko.com/2014/09/03/gannett-layoff-updates-are-trickling-in/
     
    reformedhack, Sep 3, 2014
    #15
  4. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    You can't follow 100,000 people on Twitter unless that many follow you. I think the limit is 2,000.
     
    RecoveringJournalist, Sep 3, 2014
    #16
  5. HejiraHenry

    HejiraHenry Well-Known Member

    I do not know. I am, however, reminded of that always appropriate line from Road House: "Opinions vary."
     
    HejiraHenry, Sep 3, 2014
    #17
  6. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    That is very true. Especially with Sports Editors. You never know what Gannett can do to a guy.
     
    RecoveringJournalist, Sep 3, 2014
    #18
  7. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Well, you get my point. It's a flawed metric and a horrible way to judge an employee's competence and worth. If my boss said I needed to boost my follower numbers by X in a finite amount of time or lose my job, I wouldn't turn into a better reporter. I'd turn into one of those Twitter users that you want to strangle.
     
    playthrough, Sep 3, 2014
    #19
  8. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    If Gannett is using raw numbers of followers to gauge worth, it'll be sorely disappointed. Most organizations are focusing on actual engagement -- who you're interacting with, and how often -- more than sheer numbers of followers, because most of them aren't worth a damn.
     
    Bob Cook, Sep 3, 2014
    #20
  9. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    Yeah, gotta love the ones who tweet play by play. I think you can have a presence on social media without being one of those guys who tweet 100X a day.
     
    RecoveringJournalist, Sep 3, 2014
    #21
  10. RecoveringJournalist

    RecoveringJournalist Well-Known Member

    Wait, you mean newspapers aren't loyal to people who have been there forever?
     
    RecoveringJournalist, Sep 3, 2014
    #22
  11. 1HPGrad

    1HPGrad Member

    Ramos has 7,100 followers ... and follows 5,200.
    The "follow you if you follow me" thing certainly applies in some cases.
     
    1HPGrad, Sep 3, 2014
    #23
  12. jojoblack

    jojoblack Active Member

    No, I mean it's pretty naive to even suggest that it's all about whether you embraced social media or not.
     
    jojoblack, Sep 3, 2014
    #24
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