Sep 19
The StarTribune just emerged from bankruptcy and it's clear that WCCO has the same challenges as all traditional media outlets (the fact that those of us formerly known as their audience have turned our attention elsewhere) but WCCO is driving forward hard on doing the smart thing and that is to figure out how to embrace this shift rather than stay with a "dying business as usual" approach.
WCCO "gets it"...StarTribune, not so much
Reading the dead trees version of the Minneapolis StarTribune this morning, I realized that I wanted to tweet an article so picked up my iPhone next to me, opened up my browser and went to the same article online. This one event will illustrate why the StarTribune hasn't yet figured out how to work with the online world and why WCCO does. This is what I had to do on my iPhone to tweet the StarTribune article from my iPhone (or from a computer, frankly):
1) Copy the URL from the browser address bar
2) Launch a new blank window and type in "bit.ly" so it will go to http://bit.ly, the URL shortener
3) Paste in the URL
4) Click the "shorten" button
5) Copy the bit.ly shortened one
6) Launch TweetDeck on my iPhone, write the tweet and paste in the URL.
Wow....someone has to be VERY MOTIVATED to go through that pain in the butt workflow!
WCCO has an iPhone application. If I'm reading an article online and want to share it, here's what I do:
1) Click the "share" button at the top of the article
2) Choose email, text, Twitter or Facebook
3) Enter my credentials and send...
...all from within the same application (which saves alot of hassle and time too).
About the only thing worthwhile is the StarTribune RSS feed which is increasingly a moot point in a day of the real-time web. The StarTribune MUST find a way to engage and extend what they're publishing online by following WCCO's lead! NOTE TO STRIB LEADERSHIP: Anyone who clicks on the shortened URL goes to your webpage AND SEES YOUR ADS. Isn't that the point of offering your stuff online?
To be fair, WCCO isn't perfect. Their application (built by the smart folks at DoApp in Rochester, MN and InergizeDigital in Minneapolis) wasn't passing my Twitter credentials since I have a secure password (letters, numbers and special characters) which is a problem with many apps tying in to Twitter's API. DoApp is fixing that problem now, according to my call this past week with John Daenzer, New Media guy at WCCO.
The other thing that John addressed is the inability of any of us to embed videos from the WCCO website. That is apparently something that is being discussed and debated within the halls of 'CCO.
