Generating Pageviews is Nothing Like Selling Newspapers

Responding to my post “Stop Paying Bloggers and Journalists for Pageviews“, someone asked me: “What’s the difference between pageviews and selling papers?” I answered: “They aren’t anything alike”, which garnered response: “Certainly the journalists who cause people to buy papers are kept around. So isn’t a PV like selling a paper?”

“Nothing like it”, I answered. Of course, the questioner asked “Why?” The answer could be a 20-point list, at the least. But I rat-tat-tatted some explanation, which I recap here. The comparison is the traditional news organization versus the typical blog. I may add to the list over time but start with five items. 

1. The newspaper is 100-percent editorially curated before anything is printed. Blogs are not; many of them post first and ask questions later. Pagerank matters more than accuracy. That’s one reason some blogs use the tactic of putting up reviews pages long before a product is available—placeholder for capturing links lifting pagerank.

2. Newspapers control all the advertising. On the web, five non-publishers—Facebook, Google, IAC, Microsoft, and Yahoo—account for close to 65 percent of digital advertising dollars, according to eMarketer. That means someone else determines the metrics for advertising’s value. Clicks matter more than audience, for example. For newspapers, particularly those locally focused, audience-oriented advertising matters more.

3. Newspaper reporters receive salaries. Most bloggers are compensated by clicks/pageviews. The salaried writer isn’t as conflicted, because financial benefit isn’t as directly tied to content. Pageview compensation is fundamentally conflict of interest.

4. Many blogs institute story quotas for the purposes of pumping out more content and driving up pageviews.  Accuracy suffers. Aggregated and clickbait stories increase. Writers can’t spend the reporting time necessary to produce accurate, meaningful stories—or scoops, which rumors replace; unfortunately.

5. Newspapers separate advertising and editorial to avoid conflict of interest. Many blogs do not. Paid promotional posts are increasingly common, as one example where advertising and editorial interests can collide.

Photo Credit: Anne Wilcox