voci.usbuilding communities around news

Team Members

Dan Berenholtz

Venkat Dinavahi

Evelyn Larrubia

Thomas Kong

Initial Idea

Centralized online platform to discuss news events

Smart, informed audience

Use social media identity

Comment on any story

News media as key partners

Business Model Canvas # 1

News Sites -Talking to Users and Large News Sites-Finding AI developer-Drafting Mockups-Developing Site

Users-Providing central place for individuals to connect with other readers about news storiesNews Partners-Taking away burden of policing comments-Enabling communication among their readers-Driving trafficAdvertisers-Financial

Co-creation

-Partnerships w/ News Sites-Large user base-Human Resources

-The web-Social Networks-News Sites

-Multi-sided platform

-CPM Ad revenue-Fixed Costs-Variable Costs

What We Did Surveyed users

Interviewed users

Talked to six large newspapers and chains

Executives

Editors

Legal Staff

Started drawing mockups and building the site

What is the MVP?

Drupal vs. Ning. Vs. Wordpress

What We FoundNews consumers

Want to engage in dialogue

Lack of civility prevents engagement

Want real identities

Large news sites

Fed up with trash talk

Hesitant to drive traffic off their sites

Not legally responsible for readers’ posts

Slow to change

Business Model Canvas # 2

-News Sites(waiting on Stanford Review’s decision)

-Developing site-Talking to small News sites-Testing viral features-Talking to users

Users-Engaging in high-level conversations about news articles with like-minded individuals and friends-Bookmarking articlesNews Partners-Demographic data-More eyeballs due to viral elements-Shared ad revenueAdvertisers-Reaching educated, high-income individuals

-Co-creation

-Large user base-Human Resources-Potentially news partnerships

-The web-Social Networks-Potentially News Sites-Email-Peer-to-peer invitations

-Multi-sided platform

-CPM Ad revenue-Web site programming, design, and maintenance; salaries related to business activities and site monitoring

What We Did Talked to smaller news sites

Mountain View Voice The Modesto Bee The Daily Herald The Stanford Review The Stanford Daily

Talked to more users Ethnographic studies of face-to-face conversations Tested moderation Continued building site

MVP completed Improved UI Analytics

What We FoundUsers

Like the mockups

Slow to migrate to new platforms

More likely to share than discuss articles

Moderation created more robust conversations

Small news sites

Interested in leveraging social media

Interested in demographic data

Slow to make decisions

Have deficient IT infrastructures

Business Model Canvas # 3

-News Sites*(Stanford Review rejects partnership)(Stanford Daily wants to be involved)

*We are exploring ways to become less reliant on news partnerships

-Brainstorming ways to become less reliant on news sites-Continuing site development-Testing viral features

Users-Engaging in high-level conversations about news articles with like-minded individuals and friends-Bookmarking articlesNews Partners-Demographic data-More eyeballs due to viral elements-Shared ad revenueAdvertisers-Reaching educated, high-income individuals

-Co-creation

-Large user base-Human Resources-Potentially news partnerships

-The web-Social Networks-Potentially News Sites-Email-Peer-to-peer invitations

-Multi-sided platform

-CPM Ad revenue-Web site programming, design, and maintenance; salaries related to business activities and site monitoring

Conclusion News partnerships are a slow process

Don’t want users to leave their site Are slow to make decisions

Users are not engaged Empty room effect

Potential solutions Focus on a niche community Recommend active conversations

Technology Was Drupal necessary? Focus on testing community, not features

The End