This extra feature comes courtesy of the new Facebook applications launched by The Guardian and The Independent in September. Now, every time someone I’m connected to reads an article, I’m conveniently informed of the fact and of course, encouraged to click the link and read it myself.
It’s no surprise that these two newspapers seem to be leading the way in establishing a presence on Facebook. The social network is something of a digital homeland for their demographic of politically aware students and young adults. They’ve astutely realised that the separation between ‘serious’ news and ‘fun’ online activity such as social networking is largely false.
After all, think back to the big news stories of this year: Gaddafi’s death, the Osama Bin Laden raid, and the London Riots, to name a few. The chances are, you will have heard of at least one from a contact’s comments on a social network, rather than a more traditional news source.
I do think this is a great way for newspapers to spread content and encourage debate and engagement. However, I am unsure that it can lead directly to any increase in subscription revenues. If anything, the increasing proliferation of free content is conditioning an already freebie-oriented demographic to simply settle for whatever happens to be free; migrating when it’s time to pay up.
Case in point: I have plenty of friends who are willing to start watching a free online film from Megavideo until the time limit expires, then go and do something else until the requisite 72 minutes have passed and they can watch the rest for free.
There is, of course, the option to pay up and get unlimited content, but this would be considered madder than adding your lecturer on Facebook. Personally, I’m happy to pay a monthly fee for LoveFilm delivery, but I think this makes me a bit of a freak among Generation Y-Pay.
In terms of brand-building and presence, the Facebook newspaper applications seem an excellent tool. Conversion will be more problematic, given the bountiful availability of free online news content and the traditional financial constipation of the student population. The Guardian and The Independent might have to resign to a ‘Sharing is Caring,’ philosophy for now. For students and young adults, it seems the best things in life are definitely free.
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