Insight into Media 7 - Jakarta Globe experience

Social media networking – Jakarta Globe experience

Lin Neumann, Chief Editorial Officer of the Jakarta Globe spoke on social networking and the media on September 7, 2011 at the WAN-IFRA conference in Chennai.

The Globe newspaper was launched on November 12, 2008. Neumann, an American, at the outset, said that a foreigner needs to be welcomed in the newspaper industry. He cited the example of Raju Narisetti, an Indian, who has become a managing editor of The Wahsinton Post.

As he found that the web edition lacked interactive features, he started tapping the social media potential, especially Facebook, which he termed “a great leveller.” By May 2009, it had 5000 fans on FB which grew to 10,000 by September. In the next two months, FB fans went up to a staggering 50,000 with 5,000 followers on Twitter;
By January 2010, there were 100,000 fans and 10,000 followers on Twitter; by September 2010, it shot up to 125,000 fans on FB and 24,000 on Twitter. In September 2011, the figures stood at 154,646 fans and 58,721 followers.

FB referrals and Twitter posts brought 10 to 15 per cent of the web traffic for the paper.

This successful presence on the social media, though not revenue generating, was brought about by youth ambassadors --- similar to the strategy adopted with success by Jakarta Pos and Ringier AG. The target was the young audience. There were FB contests with prizes such as copter rides.

Between 10 and 15 stories were posted to FB and almost all stories were given links to the Twitter. This was done by a dedicated team of five persons on the web edition.
The building of the brand, which has been done through these ventures, is likely to have a potential for garnering ads later.

The Globe plans to launch Sunday Globe in October 2011.

He said there was no big change as such in the journalism practised, but “we no longer publish into a black hole.”