This couldn't have been more timely. Thanks for this. I run a U.S.-Mexico border related Substack newsletter and have been really pondering what to do with the implosion of Twitter. I have thought about aggregation and providing this service on our newsletter but not sure our two-person outfit has the capacity. I used Twitter to follow other border news, and it was very useful for keeping tabs on work that was out there. Look forward to hearing more from other small outlets about what they are doing.
As the publisher of a small newsroom, I’m grateful for these ideas. Our aud dev director and editors are starting to pull together a new strategy now that it does appear Twitter is on its deathbed.
In the months/year before the Twitter implosion, we had started to see an uptick from search traffic relative to social -- so it could be that small newsrooms should go more all-in on that. We also use free-to-nonprofits Google ads with some success.
We have 3 newsletters with ~52K subscribers so that helps but also agree another newsletter may not be what consumers want. We also use Push.ly. And we are on SmartNews, Flipboard, Apple News and Microsoft Start.
Agree with you on TikTok for a variety of reasons: China -- ugh; the fact that it’s a video platform and not a text platform; and the fact that my 24- and 27-year-old sons – the kinds of young news consumers we need – can’t be bothered with it.
This couldn't have been more timely. Thanks for this. I run a U.S.-Mexico border related Substack newsletter and have been really pondering what to do with the implosion of Twitter. I have thought about aggregation and providing this service on our newsletter but not sure our two-person outfit has the capacity. I used Twitter to follow other border news, and it was very useful for keeping tabs on work that was out there. Look forward to hearing more from other small outlets about what they are doing.
As the publisher of a small newsroom, I’m grateful for these ideas. Our aud dev director and editors are starting to pull together a new strategy now that it does appear Twitter is on its deathbed.
In the months/year before the Twitter implosion, we had started to see an uptick from search traffic relative to social -- so it could be that small newsrooms should go more all-in on that. We also use free-to-nonprofits Google ads with some success.
We have 3 newsletters with ~52K subscribers so that helps but also agree another newsletter may not be what consumers want. We also use Push.ly. And we are on SmartNews, Flipboard, Apple News and Microsoft Start.
Agree with you on TikTok for a variety of reasons: China -- ugh; the fact that it’s a video platform and not a text platform; and the fact that my 24- and 27-year-old sons – the kinds of young news consumers we need – can’t be bothered with it.
Thanks for starting this discussion!
Speaking from a small newspaper, I look at the "big boys," Dick, and I'd call Twitter for them "incestuous" as well as "narcissistic."