|
The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C., Dan Barkin column: Online dialogue enriched
(News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jun. 14--We launched the new online commenting software midweek, and in the first two days, we had more than 200 comments posted.
The Lynn Paddock case got a bunch. So did the Patsy Christian resignation story. Some of the most interesting comments came at the end of Michael Biesecker's story about the attack on a nurse by a patient at John Umstead Hospital.
One commenter said she is a nurse at Dorothea Dix who had her jaw broken by a patient and lost some teeth. Another Dix nurse said that staff injuries happen "all the time." Yet another Dix nurse talked about daily assaults involving "broken noses, knocked-out teeth, lacerated lips, stitches, cuts, bites." The safety problems for staff at mental institutions have been documented to some extent.
But the comments that were posted at the end of Biesecker's story are some of the most valuable: firsthand accounts from people on the front lines.
Blog conversion
We will be converting our newsobserver.com blogs next week to new software.
This will change the look of most blogs, but it will have the benefit of making them easier to access. You may have noticed in recent months that sometimes our blogs take a long time to load and, on occasion, don't load at all.
This should be remedied when we make the switch. I am also reliably informed by our technology folks that the new blogging software will allow us to add more features to the blogs.
Most-read stories
We have a gizmo that tracks how many times a story is read online, and we look at it because it's a handy barometer of what people are interested in. It can be skewed, because online readership of a particular story can increase sharply if it gets picked up by one of the national Web sites, such as the Drudge Report. But that doesn't happen every day.
You can find this list by clicking on any online story. It sits on the right side of the page under the red letters "Most Popular." There are several lists, actually. You can look at what was most popular in the past 24 hours and what was the most popular over the past seven days. You can also see which stories were forwarded by e-mail the most.
Here's what I have noticed. Anything with the word "Obama" in the headline gets a lot of hits. Here's my guess: It's probably because there are a lot of young, Web-savvy folks out there -- in the Triangle and nationwide -- who routinely search for stories about the senator.
Stories about local ACC teams are also popular. For example, there seems to be a lot of online interest lately in UNC's Ty Lawson, because of his recent encounter with the law as well as his travels through the NBA draft maze.
But the story doesn't have to be about a star player.
One paragraph about a third-string defensive back getting suspended for missing a team meeting can become the top story of the week. I'm guessing that our best online audience consists of UNC-CH alums who are liberal Democrats.
Here are the five most-read newsobserver.com stories of the past week:
--Smoky air triggers Code Red
--Lawson likely to leave UNC after arrest
--Patient's death shows hospital lapses
--Obama lays out economic plans in Raleigh
--Boy tied to tree found dead
One caveat: I am finishing this column on Friday, and this list could change by the time you read this, because it continually updates.
dan.barkin@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4562
To see more of The News & Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsobserver.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
[ Back To Smart Product Home's Homepage ]
|