Comments on: A next generation in Ann Arbor

By: Trena Geiss

Trena Geiss — Tue, 03 May 2011 03:59:26 +0000

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By: lida

lida — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:33:12 +0000

Rob: I read that as well. According to chief of content Tony Dearing, “a majority took a pay cut to join us.” (Which makes me wonder if there were pay cuts across the board.) Apparently some two dozen on the staff were either print-edition vets or had some experience in local news.

By: Bob Davis

Bob Davis — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:50:33 +0000

So far, annarbor.com looks OK. If you like the look of facebook. But it’ll rise or fall as a news organization. And so far, it’s pretty weak on that point.

The stories are thin, bland, and can generally be summed up as “hooray for everything.”

Ugh. We’ve just witnessed the total loss of news coverage in the city.

By: Miguel Buckenmeyer

Miguel Buckenmeyer — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:06:35 +0000

I agree with Eric, the interspersed ads are a bit of an insult. It sort of screams “low-budget-blog-trying-to-make-money-anyway-but-loose.”

On the other hand, we’ll all learn from their successes and failures at making money from local news on the web. So their approach is a welcome case study.

As a professional news and information designer, I like the very clean and professional design. I really like the blog/list approach to news items as it reminds me of the Bloomberg website approach, which I find very functional. But I think it works most for the sections: news, sports, etc. as opposed to the home.

The home doesn’t feel “complex enough” to serve the needs of the residents of Ann Arbor. If I am a resident of Ann Arbor I think I want a quick scan of the latest in different areas like news, business and UM sports, for example. With the current format, I have to click on three different tabs to scan by topic. And as a web surfer, I might be too lazy to do that.

Finally, the “Featured,” “Popular,” and “Everything” tabs are very Web 2.0 but brilliant nonetheless and help me see what the web operators deem important as well as what readers/users see as important.

By: Tom Brandt

Tom Brandt — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:15:46 +0000

I gave the wrong URL in comment #1 for the Ann Arbor Chronicle – it is http://annarborchronicle.com/

By: Robert Levine

Robert Levine — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:05:56 +0000

Is it an entirely new legal entity? If so, do you know why? Kind of odd, given that the new firm benefits substantially from the accumulated goodwill of the newspaper.

By: Mike Manitoba

Mike Manitoba — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:46:29 +0000

By: Jeff Jarvis

Jeff Jarvis — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:08:12 +0000

It’s a new company with new jobs and new job functions and a new product with a new relationship with the community. The old company and product were shut down entirely. Some people went to work for the new company.

By: Rob Levine

Rob Levine — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:45:33 +0000

I have a couple of questions about this venture: Is it true, as has been reported online, that employees of the newspaper had to re-apply for lower paying jobs at AnnArbor.com? If so, don’t you think that’s worth mentioning when you talk about the new venture’s business model? And how do you think it will affect the quality of the journalism that is being produced?

By: In Ann Arbor, designing a news site that doesn’t look like a news site » Nieman Journalism Lab

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:02:21 +0000

[...] Journalism observers have been quick to offer their two cents — Dearing sees insiders’ reactions split 50/50, based on utility and aesthetics — but Dearing said “most people who have [...]

By: AnnArbor.com toma el relevo del diario Ann Arbor News, tras 174 años de historia | Periodismo Ciudadano

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 06:06:49 +0000

[...] Jeff Jarvis se hace eco en BuzzMachine de la inmediata puesta en marcha, tras el cierre del diario, de “AnnArbor.com un nuevo servicio, basado en Internet y en la comunidad, estructurado de forma muy diferente a un periódico: más pequeño y colaborativo”. “Es un blog y es intensamente local.” Estamos en nuestra infancia, pero tenemos grandes aspiraciones. Queremos ser la más fácil y más completa manera de obtener noticias locales y publicidad. Queremos ser su conexión con la comunidad y sobre todo lo que hace de Ann Arbor un gran lugar para vivir. [...]

By: Matthew Snodgrass

Matthew Snodgrass — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:50:58 +0000

I like their initiative on this. My only suggestion would be for them to close up some of the white space. For someone looking to get a scan of the news, there’s an awful lot of non-news above the fold.

By: Internet Marketing, Strategy & Technology Links – July 28, 2009 « Sazbean

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:25:03 +0000

[...] A next generation in Ann Arbor (BuzzMachine) [...]

By: Eric Gauvin

Eric Gauvin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:31:09 +0000

It looks very nice. I love the look of this pristine blog. But it doesn’t seem all that innovative and calling ads “deals” and working them in as blog posts is kind of an insult. The linear format of a blog works great for something like gawker, which is a continuous stream of tidbits that drift past. A blog is basically a mini content management system and if used for a newspaper should be capable of a much more complex presentation of information. At least more than one column would be nice. Maybe a story that sticks around if it’s getting lots of comments. However, I think I might prefer this blog over http://www.courant.com...

By: Brian Carr

Brian Carr — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:43:21 +0000

Jeff —
I’m sorry, I had high hopes for Ann Arbor too, but I cannot reconcile why a Moveable Type blog needs 54 people, including at least three administrative assistants.
http://www.annarbor.com/staff/

I’m a former Advance employee as well, and this is what happens when the best and brightest newspaper folks spend three months transitioning to the web, I’m leery.

Perhaps more important, nothing in the presentation of the site screams “Local” to me. The blog could like like anytown, USA — would it have killed to put one picture of Ann Arbor in the header or some such?

I too wish it the best, but a re-launch opportunity and national attention has been squandered so far. Have you seen I WantMyrocky.com lately? Lots of initial buzz, and now not so much. I fear the same result in Ann Arbor.

Regards.

By: Digitale medier, håb & falliterklæringer – Endelig! Nogle huggede min idé

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:24:23 +0000

[...] at se, er hele den tankegang, holdet bag websitet, forsøger at føre ud i livet i forhold til at være en synlig og aktiv del af lokalsamfundet, som Jeff Jarvis beskriver her. Det var også en af de ting, vi snakkede meget om, når vi sad og tegnede og fortalte over et par [...]

By: Bradley Horowitz

Bradley Horowitz — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:37:33 +0000

Thanks Jeff. As a former Ann Arbor resident, I’ll be watching this closely. The monetization method you describe “local deals that are interspersed in the content” is interesting… If these “deals” are actually returning value to readers, then I think this stands a fighting chance of working… There are quite a few interesting things at play here – thanks to bringing it to my attention.

By: A new approach to advertising at AnnArbor.com « Pursuing the Complete Community Connection

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:20:07 +0000

[...] Jeff Jarvis notes, the blog approach of AnnArbor.com also includes a different approach to advertising. I don’t [...]

By: Web Media Daily – July 27, 2009

Web Media Daily – July 27, 2009 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:13:39 +0000

[...] A next generation in Ann Arbor… BuzzMachine [...]

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:03:17 +0000

Can you talk a bit about the business structure side of things? I live in another Advance Publications town (Portland, Oregon) where The Oregonian and oregonlive.com are two completely separate businesses, albeit both owned by the same parent company. Having the print and web operations as two separate companies generally isn’t a recipe for success, and I’d be interested to hear whether the AnnArbor.com approach might be a part of a broader strategy. Thanks

By: Tom Brandt

Tom Brandt — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:10:15 +0000

I live in Ann Arbor and am friends with several people who are either employees or unpaid contributors to AnnArbor.com. Yes, it will be well worth watching. They made a few very public misstemps pre-launch (such as hiring an NYC firm to design its logo rather than a local), but these things will, one hopes, smooth out over time.

It will be interesting to see how things play out with its much smaller rival, a2chronicle.com. a2chronicle.com was founded by The Ann Arbor News’ former business editor, Mary Morgan, and her husband, Dave Askins. It is strictly on-line, there is no print edition. a2chronicle.com does a superb job covering the city council, the county board, and other elected bodies, as well as community events. I hope both can thrive.