Henry Howard’s Weblog

It’s getting abundantly clear that newspapers and their Web sites will need to change quickly and efficiently to remain relevant to their audience. One of the most successful changes to date has been adding a social-networking aspect.

The most prolific of these has been a site for moms — Lafayettemoms.com has joined many others, including Indymoms.com, the originator. The concept is simple: build a site aimed at a specific group where members with common interests can bond.

Historically newspaper research has focused on audience. “xx percent of our audience is interested in politics, so we’ll give them deep coverage on the issue.”

But as Moms and other group sites have shown, there is an interest in more specialized groups. Groups aimed at pet owners, sports teams and others have emerged. We’ve worked with a local high school on a micro site, shown here, where members of the student paper post news, opinions, photo galleries, etc.

While it may be tempting for some newspapers to divvy up their core audience too much, it would be wise to remember one key strength: most newspapers have a tradition in their community that pre-dates TV, radio and certainly the Web. How newspapers determine how to leverage their longtime experience with the demands within their core audience will go a long way in determining their worth in coming years.