There’s some good practical advice and yes, ice lollies are mentioned.
Crowdsourced tips
Combat Teams presenteeism with this trick
Helen Picton: “A friend I swim with told me she puts a long YouTube vid on and then goes and lies in the sun for an hour. The vid apparently stops your Teams going to sleep.”
It’s all about the cold drinks
Tom Gannon: “My fridge is full of drinks, water, beer, cokes etc. Water and cokes during the day, beers for an evening. Freezer also full of ice pops, cornettos and aldi do amazing biscoff ice creams.”
Sweyn Hunter: “Drink lots of water.”
Helen Chater-Franks: “The joy of iced coffee.”
Make sure your feet, neck and shoulders are cold
Heather Pearton: “Use a water spritzer. I have one in my handbag, one on my desk and one by my bed. A quick spray on the feet – the human body’s thermostat – and the face before you want to go to sleep and you’re sorted.”
Vickie Page: “When we hit high temperatures last year, I soaked tea towels in cold water then whacked them in the fridge. Would take out and place over my neck and shoulders – always had two in rotation.”
Michaela Soltys: “Icing your drink the night before. Fill a bottle up and pop it in the freezer and then you have a cold drink most of the day. And copious supplies of ice lollies.”
An imaginative use of the freezer
Sarah Clarke: “Hot water bottle, cooled in the freezer and either hug it for dear life, or put it in front of a fan to cool the air…”
Susanna Griffiths: “Gel packs in the freezer.”
Re-design your working space
Alice Eleanor Ford: “Foil on the windows to reflect the light and heat out.”
Claire Turner: “If you want to work outside, use a cardboard box to put your laptop in to shade it from the sun. Hello Fresh boxes are perfect.”
Helen Taylor: “Use larger rooms for meetings when it’s an option, and keep them short and to the point. Provide – and drink lots of – room temperature water.”
Vikkie Page: “Blinds down, curtains drawn and windows shut in rooms the sun is on – don’t let that hot air in.”
Fan tactically
Keely Gallagher: “If you have a fan, make a swamp cooler – DIY air con – by putting a big glass of ice water directly in front of the fan – it will cool down the air blowing at you.”
Kerry-Lynne Doyle: “Confuse your cat by using a fan.”
Open the right door or window at the right time
Vic Spong: “If you have a velux window anywhere then open it. It’ll draw on warm air from downstairs and funnel it out. Just leave a window or door open on the cool side of the house to get the flow of air.”
Change your hours
Si Whitehouse: “Start early, long lunch with siesta. Plenty of liquids.”
Sara Hamilton: “Sunscreen, siestas, Soleros.”
Tactical exercise
Michelle Anne Rose: “Make sure you take a nice lunchtime walk with an icecream or iced drink.”
Stay safe outdoors
Danielle Starling: “Stay sun safe, remember suncream and a hat if you’re outdoors.”
Something I often mention in training is the hill I’m prepareds to die on is the need for social media house rules.
In short, this sets out what you’ll do for people and what you expect from people in return.
So, set out how fast you’ll respond and the hours you’ll monitor, for example.
But it’s setting out what you expect of people tyhat’s the really useful reason for having a set of house rules. The internet is only the Wild West if you allow it to be.
The pub example
There was a pub in Tipton in the Black Country in the 1990s that was proving hard to run. Landlords would last a few months before they quit. When a lesbian couple walked through to door to take it over there was raised eyebrows. When they introduced a ‘no swearing’ policy it was a gamechanger. Don’t behave? There’s the door. The pub ended up as winning the CAMRA best pub award within two years.
There’s a lot of similar things that good social media house rules have. No swearing is one. Don’t put up with it.
I’ve gathered together a few examples that caught my eye with some interesting approaches.
Glasgow City Council – the gold standard
This is the gold standard, the Rolls Royce, the ‘Sergeant Pepper’ of the genre. I spent 20 minutes once trying to pick a hole in them and failed. They’re particularly useful in the ability to show a red card to persistent offenders.
For example:
“We will remove messages and/or disable comments (where function allows) including reporting and/or blocking users on our social media channels who post messages at us which we believe are:
Abusive or obscene
Deceptive or misleading
In violation of any intellectual property rights, including copyright
In violation of any law or regulation
Spam and off-topic content (persistent negative and/or abusive posts in which the aim is to provoke a response)
Promotional material, including links to external websites and promotions
Anyone repeatedly engaging with us using content or language which falls into the above categories will be blocked and/or reported to the associated social media platform. We will not tolerate or respond to abusive messages.”
Government Digital Service – sets out what they’ll do for you, too
Over the years, GDS has done some really good work in the field of government web. Their social media rules are a useful contribution to the genre.
Their responding to users notes are good:
“We’ll do our best to respond to your enquiries within two working days, but in most cases it will be within a few hours.
We’ll try to help you, or direct you to people and/or departments who can, wherever possible.
Our working hours are 9.00 – 17.00 Monday to Friday. We’ll deal with enquiries sent outside of this time as soon as possible when working hours resume.”
The rules only mention Twitter. Fine if that’s all you have. If you have more you may want to be clear that the rules cover ALL social media.
I love the language here. The same ground is covered as others but it’s a lot less harsh and a lot more personable. They start their rules in a cheery fashion:
“We love hearing from you across the social media platforms that we use. To ensure that everyone has a positive, informative and safe experience, here are a few house rules for being part of our online community.”
I also like the idea of gently encouraging users to flag-up issues.
Renfrewshire Council – to remind people that they’re people too
Here, they also speak out against aggression aimed at staff. That’s a really important point to make.
“Please remember to be kind, members of our team are working hard to deal with your enquiries and will respond when they have an answer for you. Anyone who is repeatedly rude and/or aggressive to members of our team will be banned from commenting and posting on our channels.”
Fife Council – to reminds people of what’s acceptable
Here, I like the way that Fife Council have linked to the unacceptable actions policy. That’s a document that sets out behaviours council staff won’t put up with. It makes sense to link the social media channels to those
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust – that sets out an accessibility manifesto
Accessibility is added here to the list of the things the organisation promises to do, which thinking about it makes sense. Accessibility means making it understandable for everyone regardless if they have a disability or not.
“We aim to make our social media as accessible as possible for our communities, and there are a number of ways we do this:
Adding image descriptions to photos on social platforms
Using CamelCase in hashtags to ensure that screen readers interpret hashtags correctly
Energy Saving Trust – for account names and profile pics
This charity covers the main ground but also has a good take on an extra niche that could be problematic. I can’t help but feel they’ve got experience of this.
“We will remove, block, ban and / or report any user to the associated social media platform who:
Lancashire Fire & Rescue – for a reminder to be politically neutral
Many organisations in the public sector have a politically neutral line. This is a really useful addition and I’m adding this fire and rescue example as it includes that and also because it sets out as web text really clearly what the message is:
“Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, as opposed to the governing Lancashire Combined Fire Authority, must be politically neutral in its communications. Please do not use any of our social media channels to promote party political messages or related content.”
When things go wrong, it may well wash up on social media.
There’s no point in having a too and fro in public if you can help it. But to do that you need proper customer service buy-in.
Here, Hyde Housing point people towards the webpage where people can complain. That’s useful. Don’rt expect everyone to go there first. But it’s handy to have that in the house rules to reach for:
“Keep to the point. Please keep comments relevant to the original topic. We are aware that sometimes things go wrong, but please don’t make repeated negative postings in order to provoke a response. You can find out about our complaints process on our web page.”
Social media house rules are one part of the ground covered in ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER workshops here.
There’s a definite trend in social media companies being more open about algorithms. This is a good thing.
Here’s Instagram’s algorithmic checklist that you’ll find handy if you are using the platform. The original is here but I thought I’d blog it to get my head around it.
Many of the pointers are refinements on previously published notes on the algorithm but its good to see the latest version.
Instagram say their algorithms vary for their feed, for stories, for explore for when you are searching the platform as well as Reels.
Good to know.
What you can do as a creator
All too often, people just shovel content out in a way they always have. Don’t. As the algorithm changes, so how you create content should change. Key to all of this is engagement. You should be asking how you can encourage people to engage with what you are sharing. Reading through the algorithm and so much is about this.
You also need to educate the client. This means letting them team know. Letting senior people in the organisation know that you may be tweaking what you are doing.
Don’t wait for people to get the wrong end of the stick and criticise what you’re doing.
The Instagram feed algorithm
Here’s what gets rewarded and penalised.
You’re likely to see things from friends, family and the accounts you follow.
You’re also likely to see things they think you’ll like.
They’ll work out how likely you are to spend time and engage with it. They’ll judge this on your past history of you liking, commenting, sharing and tapping the profile picture. If they think you’ll do that with this you’re more likely to see it.
They also won’t show a slew of posts from one person. If you’ve seen something from them already you’re not likely to see something else for a while.
They’ll also look at how popular the post is with other people. They’ll judge that on how others are liking, commenting, sharing and tapping the profile picture. The more others do it the more you’re likely to see it.
They’ll also check what’s being posted against community guidelines. So, hate speech, bullying, harassment, adult nudity, sexual solicitation, violence, incitement and buying and selling restricted items will also be marked down.
Posts found to be misinformation will also be marked down.
The Instagram stories algorithm
Here’s what the skinny is:
You’ll see things from accounts you follow. You’ll see more from people close to you.
You’ll see ads.
They’ll check what’s being posted against community guidelines. So, hate speech, bullying, harassment, adult nudity, sexual solicitation, violence, incitement and buying and selling restricted items will also be marked down.
They’ll see how you use Stories and see what you’ve been seeing. They want to show you the things they think you’ll like.
They’ll see how you’ve been engaging. The more engagement the more chance of seeing things.
The instagram explore algorithm
Explore helps you discover new things, this is how the algorithm works.
This is about new profiles. You won’t see friends and family here.
They’ll look at the kind of picture or video you’ve engaged with previously to find things that are similar. If they think you’ll engage with it you’ll see more of that kind of post.
They’ll look at how popular that post is with others. If there’s lots of likes, comments and shares then you’re more likely to see it. This is particularly important in explore.
They’ll look at how you’ve used explore in the past.
They’ll look to see if you’ve interacted with someone before. If you have but don’t follow them there’s more chance of seeing them.
They’ll see if you’ve used the ‘not uninterested’ button on similar content before.
They’ll check what’s being posted against community guidelines. So, hate speech, bullying, harassment, adult nudity, sexual solicitation, violence, incitement and buying and selling restricted items will also be marked down.
The Instagram Reels algorithm
Here’s what they look for.
This is about discovery and new accounts more than friends and family.
Entertainment is key. Is it entertaining?
Survey data. They’ll ask on Reels if that video was worth the time. If the answers are broadly yes it’ll get shared to more people.
They’ll look at what kind of Reels you watch all the way through. You’ll see more of that.
They’ll see if you’ve interacted with that person before. That’s likes, comments, if you’ve sent it to someone or favourited.
They’ll look at the content of the video, the audio, who posted it and popularity.
They’ll penalise Reels for being watermarked – eg from TikTok as well as being low res, majority text, if they’ve already been posted on Instagram or about politics.
Enjoy. Algorithms and how to use them features in my five-part ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER workshop. More here.
There’s a lot of uncertainty in public sector comms right now with people’s jobs under threat.
Large swathes of the NHS have been put under review with the likelihood of some people losing their jobs and for those who are left facing a bigger workload.
It’s a tough time. I thought I’d briefly blog with some pointers for you on how to navigate the process.
I’ve been involved in such processes three times. Two ended up in redundancy and both times I was fine with that. Other people are veterans of more than a dozen reviews and restructures. Heck, they’ve been around the block.
Here’s some pieces of advice for you.
Join a union
Let me tell you a story. When I was 21 I got a job in a newspaper darkroom to keep body and soul together while I was working out post-University what I wanted to do. After two weeks it was announced that the paper was being put up for sale. Ten months later the hammer finally fell. Six of us were made redundant and three kept their jobs.
At the start of the process, the newspaper proprietor tried to cut corners. One of the printers was in a union. One phone call later, the union organiser was delivering chapter and verse as to what the process was and what would be happening. There was no more corner cutting. It was black and white.
As a result of this experience, I’ve been an NUJ member since 1995. What’s union membership? It’s basically an insurance policy against rainy days. Restructuring and redundancy maybe a new process for you. Have someone in your corner who knows the law backwards. HR are there for the organisation. Not for you.
When I came to leave local government, I took voluntary redundancy, Having a union rep in the room meant they had to do everything by the book.
Now you’ve got your union membership sorted it’s now down to how you behave. Be professional. Don’t be a dick. Be polite. Address the question. Be civil.
Ignore rumour
There’s going to be a lot of discussion in the weeks ahead and an absence of hard facts. Rumour will become fact for half a day then exposed as false. From experience, don’t listen to it. Don’t add to it. Hard facts in writing are the currency. Speculation isn’t. It’s damaging to you. Ignore it.
Keep a record
When you’re informed of the process keep a record. When you are communicating, keep a record. When something is said to you go back and confirm it in email.
One door closes and another opens
When I was a kid my Mum told me that when a door closes another opens. You won’t appreciate being told this at the time and often the door closing can be tough and painful. But it’s true. You may well look back in months and years to come and with hindsight be pleased that this fork in the road presented itself. There is life beyond your current employer.
That cliche about ‘it’s not you, it’s the post’? It’s true.
Some comms people who don’t fancy the platform have used it as a ready-made excuse not to use it. That’s lazy. Others have been frustrated in adopting it while others are carrying on as normal. It’s a weird mix.
So, that’s it, is it? Actually, no. It’s important to stress that there isn’t a blanket ban on people in the UK using TikTok and there are ways to still use it. Many public sector organisations do.
In this blog I’ll look at constructing a business case for communications to use the platform that works within the security guidelines.
I’ve blogged before on the strong and growing audience reach of TikTok. It’s a channel that demands your attention. Your evaluation should be around if your audience use it in their spare time not if you do. You are not the audience.
Firstly, there is no point using TikTok if it won’t reach the people who you are after. This is nonsensical. It is bad communications. What I do suggest is firstly looking to see if your audience ARE there.
Yes, there is an audience on TikTok
According to Ofcom data, TikTok’s audiences are strongest amongst young people but the app is breaking out into older demographics, too. Stats show 85 per cent of 13 to 24-year-olds use it monthly. This moves to 63 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds and 44 per cent of 35 to 44-year-olds.
These are really strong numbers.
No, it’s not all about dancing nurses
Trends come and go. It’s not all about dancing. It’s perfectly possible to use TikTok and not dance. To be successful at using TikTok in 2023 is to first spend some time to understand the platform and then shape content with the content in mind. It’s no longer good enough or an effective use of resources just to crosspost a video. Does that mean it’s a huge time suck? Not really. As with anything, if the time it takes to reach an audience is worth the rewards then do it.
Many organisations play a pretty straight bat with TikTok. Sky News on TikTok has 4.3 million subscribers BBC News have 1.5 million followers and tell news stories with upright video that work with the platform’s audience. The Telegraph has 300,000.
There is no ban on TikTok but there is guidance and its allowed for work purposes
UK Government advised that TikTok should not be on phones where there is email. It has not banned it for people. This is a really important distinction. This is what the original statement says:
“Today’s ban does not extend to personal devices for government employees, ministers or the general public. Individuals should be aware of each social media platform’s data policies when considering downloading and using them.The ban on government devices applies to government corporate devices within all government departments. Specific exemptions for the use of TikTok on government devices are being put in place where required for work purposes.”
I’d argue that using TikTok for work purposes applies to communicators looking to use TikTok for work purposes.
Yes, there are existing workarounds
Government Minister Grant Shapps announced that he is continuing to use TikTok on his personal device. This device doesn’t have government email on it. Anecdotally, the second phone route is being used as a way to separate and build a firewall between TikTok and any official business. This represents a workable alternative that allows communicators to carry on using TikTok.
Your own organisation’s policy encourages the use of innovation
Google it. Run a web search. See what your own organisation’s policies are on technology and innovation. I live in Dudley in the West Midlands. The first words of the Dudley Council digital policy are:
“Users of public services expect to access what they want 24/7, by a variety of digital means, such as smartphones, tablets, TVs, and computers. We will listen to our residents, businesses, and communities; and use this knowledge to deliver better services.”
In other words, it would be council policy to use TikTok if there is an audience for it on TikTok.
UK Government policy has long been to go to where the eyeballs are
In 2010, Martha Lane-Fox, UK Government’s Digital advisor said:
“We should put government transactional services and content where people spend their time on the web, rather than always expecting them to go to Directgov.”
We shouldn’t expect people to come to your website. That’s long been the case. By creating content on TikTok it means that we’re going to where people are. This is in line with government policy.
Government policy has long been to encourage people to use internet in all its forms
UK Government policy has long been to encourage people to use the internet
In 2014, UK Government policy has been to encourage people to use the internet as a driver of growth and prosperity. Using TikTok supports that. It reads:
“To make sure the web is truly for everyone, we need to provide more than just access. We need to equip the whole country with the skills, motivation and trust to go online, be digitally capable and to make the most of the internet.”
NHS digital policy has encouraged the use of the internet to reach health results
In 2023, using the internet to adopt tools that reach the poorest in society. TikTok does that. NHS Digital policy in 2023 reads:
“In 2023, The need now is for the health and care sector to adopt digital tools, urgently and consistently, to address both our long term health improvement goals and the immediate tasks of recovering from the pandemic. We must design inclusive services to benefit those whose health outcomes and outlook are poorest.”
If you’re in Scotland, Scottish Government policy supports it
“The digital agenda goes beyond the adoption of the latest digital technology. It’s about the adoption of digital thinking, the way we lead organisations and how we embrace the culture and processes of the digital age. An approach to doing business which is user centred and process (rather than silo) focussed. A way of working which maximises the value of networks. A recognition that the pace of change is accelerating and action to equip all of us to embrace this change and take advantage of the opportunities it presents.”
If you’re in Wales, Welsh Government policy supports it
The Welsh Government Digital Strategy argues that Government should be flexible to support the needs of the user and not the other way round. Using TikTok to reach an audience supports that.
“Digital change isn’t just about technology, it’s about a change of culture. It’s about being open. It’s about using data to solve problems. Instead of designing services from the viewpoint of what organisations think a citizen needs, a digital approach involves designing services that meet the needs of the end user.”
If you’re in Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Assembly policy supports it
Use of social media in particular is picked out as being evidence of using digital channels in the Raise Digital Strategy. Using TikTok supports it.
“Our use of social media, the development of the Research Matters blog, the creation of a Brexit hub, and the KESS podcast series are four examples of innovations which have become an embedded feature of our services.”
Yes, others in the public sector are still using it
The business case you can draw-up needs to be bespoke to your organisation. It’ll be strengthened by drawing from your own policies. I deliver the ESSENTIAL TIKTOK & REELS workshop where I can teach you how to plan, shoot, edit and post effective portrait video. More of that here.
This week, news that Twitter has been falling as a source of clicks for publishers, according to UK Press Gazette.
News publishers with less than 10,000 page views have seen their clicks fall by 98 per cent since 2018. Larger news outlets have seen volumes fall, too. You can read the full analysis here.
There’s several things to be aware of here if you are public sector. The one conclusion you can be sure of is to take a fresh look if you are not already at how you are using Twitter. I’ve blogged about this before and the general weather for the platform hasn’t improved.
What muddies the water
There are a few things that mean you can’t make a clear assessment of the data. These are newspapers. Their goal is to get you to click links to a website. Public sector organisations are not newspapers.
It’s possible that the newspapers – or news brands as they like to be called – may have been the architect of their downfall by insisting on links when they’re posting. Links have been penalised for some time on Twitter.
What you need to do
As I’ve blogged before, I don’t think that the Stephen Fry route is a sensible one just yet. It’s not time yet for quitting and deleting the account. I’ve argued several times that organisations should be slowly reversing away from Twitter. It still has a role to play in crisis communications.
But what is clear is that it would be useful to take a close granular look at how your tweets are performing. The important thing is how you’re doing not newspapers. But the light being shone on them yet again makes this important.
I thought I’d take a look at how the TikTok algorithm is tailored and unique to every user.
So, I asked a number of volunteers to take part in a survey to show just how unique they are.
Everybody who took part scrolled through 100 TikTok clips and wrote down what they were.
It’s not a representative sample instead more of a quick straw poll amongst 12 volunteers aged between 12 and 51.
Adverts were surprisingly common often being in the top two of the most seen clips. What’s unique about TikTok ads is that they are usually shot and posted as native TikTok clips so they jar far less. They’re also scrollable. So if you don’t like the look you can navigate past really quickly. As a daily TikTok user I find the mandatory five second ads on YouTube really grate after having the ease to navigate past.
There’s no doubt that the algorithm is the secret sauce that TikTok has that competitors like Facebook are struggling to manoeuvre with. TikTok looks at what you’ve watched, commented on, liked, downloaded and complained about. It also looks at wider trends as it decides which video it serves you.
Every election I’ll sign up for multiple party political channels. Why? Because they’re a petri-dish of experimentation you can learn from.
The US Presidential elections will see $2 billion dollars spent on each side that’s about £1.6 billion.
Since Joe Biden declared his candidacy on April 25 I’ve taken a look at his campaign emails.
They show how email works in a combined arms operation that blends TV, radio, TV, social media, face-to-face and email.
The importance of campaign emails
Back in 2010, I remember hearing Obama’s email strategist Joe Rospars of Blue State Digital talk at a conference to explain their approach to email. In earlier campaigns, nobody was monitoring the replies, he said. This changed.
What also changed was that email campaigns were tested and retested. Three different subject lines were tested with small test groups with the most successful of these used for the majority of email subscribers.
The most successful of Obama’s email messages in his 2008 campaign was ‘We are in danger of being outspent.’ This particular subject line played on the fear that the rival Republican campaign would surge ahead with its messaging.
That particular approach can be seen in the Team DNC email: ‘We could fall behind.’
Here’s Biden’s campaign emails
13.5.23 Joe Biden / I would love to give you a call soon
13.5.23 Team DNC / We could fall behind
12.5.23 DNC HQ / [TAKE ACTION] Make calls with the DNC to help keep control of the PA House!
12.5.23 James Carville / Dan, this is HUGE:
12.5.23 Team DNC / Here’s where we’re at:
11.5.23 Democrats.org / We want to send you and a friend to the Democratic National Convention:
8.5.23 Biden HQ / What we can expect, Dan:
6.5.23 Democratic National. / [EXCLUSIVE] Win a trip to the 2024 Democratic National Convention
6.5.23 Democrats.org / We’ll get right to it:
5.5.23 Biden HQ / [Get Involved] We want to hear from you!
4.5.23 James Carville / Dan, this is HUGE:
Dan, this is HUGE:
3.5.23 James Carville / Dan, this is HUGE:
Dan, this is HUGE:
2.5.23 2024 Democratic Con. Democrats / [WATCH] We want to make sure you’ve seen this clip from the 1996 Democratic National Convention
2.5.23 Democrats.org / Thank you. Really.
30.4.23 Team Biden-Harris / re: our email to you →
30.4.23 Team Biden-Harris / FWD: LAUNCHING: The Biden-Harris Founding Donor Fund
27.4.23 Presidential HQ / We need you now more than ever:
25.4.23 Jill Biden / I wanted to share something special with you, Dan
What this teaches you
Use different email addresses
In the two week snapshot of 18-emails there are 12 different email addresses. The candidate himself only sent one email where he addresses the audience directly with ‘I would love to give you a call soon.’
A single call to action is most common
Fourteen of the fifteen emails are please for fundraising. With $2 billion dollars to raise this is more important than stuffing envelopes or canvassing neighbours.
Twice a day is okay
With different email addresses being used it’s fine to email twice in a day at points during the day.
A subject line that teases
The subject line encourages the recipient to open it. The tease is designed to provoke curiosity. You never really get the whole subject in the subject line. So, ‘We’ll get right to it:’ or ‘What we can expect, Dan,’ provokes curiosity.
With emotion, use fear sparingly
As we’ve seen, the ‘We could fall behind’ email comes from an earlier successful Presidential campaign. But look at the other email subject lines. The fear button that this generates is only used once. That makes sense. If all the content created panic what would that say about the campaign?
Instead, they also use other emotions. The attraction of a prize win in some (‘We want to send you and a friend to the Democratic National Convention:’) as well as levity in others (‘Here’s where we’re at:’) and treating you as having the inside track in others (‘Dan, this is HUGE:’)
There’s also the personal, such as ‘I wanted to share something special with you, Dan’ or ‘I would love to give you a call soon’ You can find the Joe Biden campaign here.
Arthur Sulzburger was the chairman of the New York Times and navigated the company from newstand to mobile phone.
He started as a journalist in the 1970s in a newsroom of typewriters, ashtrays and journalists who were largely male.
“Newspapers cannot be defined by the second word — paper,” he once said. “They’ve got to be defined by the first word — news.”
As a statement, Sulzberger’s is a useful yardstick to measure the transformation of the product that dominated the landscape.
Newspapers are no longer newspapers. They think of themselves as news brands. They are titles whose masthead bleed from print to social media, email, the web and even radio.
So what about newspapers?
Nothing paints a picture as to where local news is like Holly and Phil. Why does this matter? And what’s this got to do with local news?
Well, if a title is one of the largest in the area it matters what they are covering. It also matters what kind of content they are interested in so it can be shaped accordingly. Newspapers, sorry, news brands don’t have the staff to be papers of records faithfully covering everything that a council, police force, fire and rescue service or NHS Trust does.
There is a disconnect between comms and PR people and the reporters who work in local news. In simple terms, newspapers have changed. Clicks not print sales is the currency of news brands. Sure, we get that. But what does that look like?
This is where Holly and Phil come in.
They show local titles are not so much about about local news anymore.
The data on local news shows a mixed picture
The local newspaper still have a role to play in the media landscape but the data tells a conflicting story. The Reuters Digital News Report of 2022 shows that fewer than one in ten get their news from local titles online or in print.
However, more granular JICREG data that looks at print and online reach is often more generous. The Reach plc-owned print Birmingham Mail reaches less than one in 10. Online, the title rebranded as Birmingham Live reaches 80 per cent of the population online. That’s a mix of web, email, Facebook.
Where there used to be a strong daily title there’s often a strong shift to digital. The exception to this is often London. The Evening Standard, which thinks of itself as a national newspaper, has largely sucked the oxygen out of the capital’s newspaper market. In Brent, for example, the Brent & Kilburn Times is the largest title and reaches a mere 16 per cent. In Haringey, the largest title reaches just six per cent.
Local newspapers aren’t all about local news
Last September, I started a review of local newspapers across the UK mapping more than 20 daily and regional titles. I looked at Facebook as well as the print edition. It became a piece of work so involved that I’m now rolling it forward to a second year.
What I can tell you is that the content of local titles isn’t really very local anymore. On Facebook, 60.7 per cent of daily titles was local content. In print this was 64.5 per cent.
For Reach titles, just 51.2 per cent of content on Facebook was local.
In the local news audience field Reach plc dominate the top 10 slots. What they are doing others will follow.
What Holly and Phil show about the state of local news on Facebook
And so we come to Holly and Phil the presenters of ITV’s ‘This Morning’. The rolling story is that the pair of them may or may not have fallen out and may or may not be dismissed.
The pair of them are, not to beat about the bush, catnip for clicks. It’s not just regional papers but it’s also The Guardian whose story on the story was the most clicked that day.
How did they fare on a local title?
Well, reader. Let me show you how it fared.
I chose Reach plc’s Birmingham Live to map. It’s local. They have reporters who cover local stories and they have reporters employed nationally to provide shared content on national stories. They are the model of the local news titles.
In a 48-hour period, Birmingham Live posted to Facebook 59 times with 20 of the posts being Birmingham stories. Amongst the Brum content was coverage of the deposing of the Leader of the Council and a fatal collsion.
Elsewhere, there was Harry & Megan, Harry Potter films going to Netflix, Madeleine McCann and like a bright shining beacon rolling coverage of Holly and Phil – around 10 per cent of the title’s output.
It’s a 48-hour period on one title. There’s a limit to how representative this is. There are many ways to look at this.
The old school journo view
To a reporter who worked on newspapers before the internet held ascendancy this list of stories would have got a bollocking from my news editor. ‘Know your fucking patch,’ was an admonishment that still rings in my ears when I added a story from a few hundred yards off the area we covered. If it’s in the circulation area, it gets covered. If it’s not, it won’t. For a six month period the district office as a punishment I was in had to cover every council meeting large or small. Even the meetings that only had apologies for absence in public.
Using this yardstick six stories in little over 24-hours is career ending.
2. The digital first news view
To an editor charged with keeping the lights on at a century-old title this is what news looks like. Its about clicks, attention and interest. That interest can be quickly judged through analytics in a way that stories in print never could. Those in charge make no apology for this approach. The national content pays for local reporters to be employed. Fewer of them but none the less still employed.
3.The Arthur Sulzburger view
If Sulzburger’s view is that newspapers had to be judged by news not the format they were presented in I’ll wager that the judgement would be critical. Holly and Phil are news and what people want but I’m not convinced that there are more important things in Birmingham deserving equal coverage. Would those things get the same clicks? I’m not so convinced.
4. The reader view
The fact that there’s so much Holly and Phil content means in a data sensitive environment this is what the readers want. If that’s what the readers want, that’s certainly what they’re getting.
What comms and PR people can learn
The hard fact is that newspapers are a different product than they were 20 years ago. You can be depressed or impressed by this. It won’t change reality.
Anybody who is making news work in 2023 deserves a round of applause. But the thing is, I’m not sure if they’ve fully told people that they actually are a different product than the one their parents bought on the way home from work.
They are entertainment, gossip and strong reactions more than the affairs of the Town Hall.
Newspapers have changed and to properly understand how that’s changed in your area you need to properly map the content and what they looks like. Some things you got coverage for you won’t get coverage for. Other content needs to be re-shaped.
The one absolute truth is shovelling the same press release out of the door and expecting it to be picked up is on a listicle of pointless things for comms people to do.
