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Give them something to talk about

This blog entry was originally prepared for the Readership Institute's Get Smart blog.

What do octuplets’ mother Nadya Suleman, the “25 Random Things” lists on Facebook and the weather have in common?

They are all something to talk about.

In my consulting work and speaking engagements, I’m frequently asked to reveal the secrets to building readership in print and online. If only it was a secret, my consulting business would be much more lucrative.

As detailed in the Readership Institute’s 2003 Experience Study, the experience of “something to talk about” is a powerful motivator that drives readership. Across all demographics, researchers found similar responses – people want a source of information that gives them something to talk about with other people.

Certainly big news events – just like the weather -- are easy fodder for conversation with family, friends or co-workers, or for or those uncomfortable moments in the elevator. And nothing beats a great story to prompt conversation, even between strangers on a train, whether it is passage of a federal stimulus bill or something offbeat like the recent tragedy in which a pet chimp had to be killed after mauling a woman in Stamford, Conn.

But I’m a believer in planning ways to beat the odds rather than rely on random news events, so I am always on the look-out for regular features offered in print or online that get to the heart of giving people something to talk about.

Here are some examples of what I mean, including many items I highlighted in a recent presentation at the Minnesota Newspaper Association convention in Bloomington.

Good editorial pages often provoke thought and conversation, but I like a quirky feature from the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison. Each Sunday, Sticker Shock features a photo submitted by a reader of a bumper sticker that struck the reader as clever, funny or making an important point.

The Sioux City (Iowa) Journal goes one better with its daily front-page letter to the editor called The Mini. Readers compete for this coveted bottom-of-the page space to say in 1-2 sentences what takes the normal letter writer 250-300 words to say.

The Journal, which deserves a look if you are trying to find a small daily worth imitating, also has recently started an online feature called Afternoon Delight. Editors describe it as “a midday feature on something non-news related that helps take your mind off of everyday worries.”

Humor is a difficult thing for many newsrooms, but one that has been doing it regularly for more than 10 years is the Oregonian in Portland with its feature called The Edge. It’s a collection of news of the weird and the kinds of jokes often traded around through e-mail. It used to run on the cover of the Oregonian’s feature section (along the edge) and moved to the back page recently, running along the TV page. Says Executive Editor Peter Bhatia: The Edge is “very popular with younger readers, but also with older sick readers like me.”

At the opposite end of the spectrum, you’ll usually find just the facts in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls (Iowa) Courier’s long-running feature called Call the Courier.  The paper answers reader questions ranging from the serious to the trivial, including questions about the paper’s operations.A safe bet for something to talk about is in writing about people. One of the best online examples out there is The Washington Post’s onBeing nteractive video feature on “musings, passions, histories and quirks of all sorts of people.”i

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Some of my favorite people items include simple items, like this regular feature in the suburban weekly Wellesley (Mass.) Townsman, highlighting high school Artists to Watch. I’ll take a little credit for having helped create another feature focusing on students that has lasted more than a decade. In the La Crosse (Wis.) Tribune’s A+ Achievers section, you’ll find the Extra Effort awards. Each week, a senior from an area high school is profiled – but these are extraordinary kids who have overcome serious obstacles in their lives, ranging from personal health issues to the death of a parent. The stories are gripping – and each student wins a small scholarship, with three students each year winning full-year scholarships to one of three local colleges. Prep sports are also a great source for those talker stories. A good small newspaper example I’ve seen recently is the Faribault (Minn.) Daily News, which is chock-full of fun, easy-to-do features, including Senior Spotlight, Coaches Corner, Athletes of the Week, a question of the week, photo galleries and a fun blog called “Sports Talk with Mark (Remme) & Marc (Zarefsky),” in which two sports staffers duel over a sports question.

Of course, no good journalism discussion these days can ignore Twitter with its ubiquitous plea for you to answer the most basic something-to-talk-about question: “What are you doing?” Los Angeles Times’ columnist James Rainey does a great job explaining the value and appeal of Twitter for those of you not yet on board.  I highly recommend following that old gentleman, Colonel Tribune, to see how this new tool can be used by a news organization wanting to engage its readers.

Quincy Patriot-Ledger shopping features

Editors need to be increasingly open to more features about local shopping and consuming, providing readers with more value.

The Quincy (Mass.) Patriot-Ledger provides a couple of good examples.



One Home Living feature, In the Shops, is a straightforward look at various products for sale in local stores, and often features locally made items. The writer has a little fun with each item, providing a basic description, and includes the price as well as information about the store. Readers are directly encouraged to submit items for inclusion in the column.

The second idea is a bit riskier, but less local. Fab or Flub, which runs in a women's section, is subtitled simply: Stuff we love and hate. It might be a product or a service, or a place for editors to make a snappy comment about celebrities (such as the example with a comment about Miley Cyrus).

These ideas hit on several experience hot-buttons, especially something to talk about and reader interactivity.

I'd like to see more editors pursue shopping-related features and consumer-oriented content, particularly in times when money is tight. It can add a lot of value to the newspaper or web site.