A Newspaper's Conversation Quotient
from the are-they-part-of-the-discussion? dept
The debate over whether or not the Wall Street Journal has missed the boat by locking up their content and staying out of the conversation is nothing new. However, it appears that some are trying to come up with a better way to quantify just how involved various newspapers are in the online conversation. E-Media Tidbits points to a crude, but still interesting, method for rating how “bloggy” a newspaper is. The stat is determined by comparing how many blogs are linking to the newspaper to their paper circulation — basically comparing online mindshare to offline circulation. While the stat certainly has its problems, the results do still give a general sense of how involved in “the discussion” certain newspapers are. The interesting findings show that the Christian Science Monitor is a huge part of the discussion — getting linked and discussed at a disproportionate rate compared to their paper circulation. However, at the other end of the spectrum, the Wall Street Journal is barely in the conversation at all. This isn’t that surprising, but trying to actually quantify how involved a news organization is in what’s being discussed may become much more important as the nature and purpose of a news organization changes.
