Your Mom Knows Better
Posted by anastasia on 04-20-2005
I posted a while back about the launch of the Quad-City Times teen newspaper site Your Mom, a project that originated in the graduate program at the Medill School of Journalism (I'm an alum from '99). Hillary Rhodes, who worked on the project at Medill, was hired by the Iowa newspaper company to turn Your Mom into a reality. Hillary got in touch so I decided to spring an email interview on her to find out how it's going…
Ypulse: Many people believe that newspapers are a dying breed especially when it comes to young readers. How is what your doing with Your Mom bucking the trend?
Hillary Rhodes: At Your Mom, we're not afraid to extend the definition of "newspaper" a bit to accommodate lifestyle patterns prevalent in teen culture. The most obvious one being their use of the Internet. Look: People everywhere like the convenience factor of newspapers. It comes to your door. You can read it over coffee. You can bring it on the train. It barely costs any money. Teens want the same convenience factor; it's only natural. But their standards are different. They have a built-in radar for what can be delivered to them in the quickest, snappiest and most user-friendly way. For them, it's gotta be online. So we recognize that rather than fight it. Not only do we give them a Web site, but we make it the primary focus.
Newsletter readers: Come to Ypulse for the rest…
HR, ctd.: Our site leads our print so that each week, the best of the Web is packaged into our little magazine. It's not a print pub with a Web site; it's a Web site with an accompanying print piece.
The Web site is interactive, which teens also need. It's immediately interactive in that any comment that is posted appears right away. After the fact, we can go erase obscene or inappropriate comments. But we give them initial credit by letting them converse with each other with no obstacles. For the most part, they do not abuse this privilege. Also, we print some of these comments in every print issue that comes out. We just cut and paste them verbatim into our print, leaving authentic all the spelling errors, grammar errors and "lol"s. We want them to know: You do not have to be a perfect writer to have an opinion worth listening to.
We asked ourselves, What is a newspaper to the typical newspaper reader? Generally, it is two things: A provider of information and a forum for voicing opinions and exchanging ideas. So… We are not redefining the services that newspapers provide a community. Only reinventing the packaging, in order to cater to an audience that doesn't necessarily like to get ink all over its fingers.
YP: When and where do teens read YourMom? Is it part of school curriculum? After school?
HR: They read the Web site articles at home and at school. A lot of them seem to be checking the Web site before school (based on frequent comments that are posted early in the morning), and some late at night. On the weekends they check it, too. Also, a good number of them check it during school, during study halls or other periods that allow computer usage. As far as the print issue, they are picking it up in the boxes distributed throughout town, at gaming arenas, pizza shops, fitness centers, and on the street corners near all of the schools. We just recently have been putting them in the two malls in town, and they are doing really well there. Teens have reported informally to me that they see a lot of people walking around the mall and in the food court with copies of Your Mom.We are also distributing it in schools through NIE papers, and some English teachers who have used the newspaper in their classrooms have used Your Moms as a way to generate discussion about current events and controversial topics.
We are not the best friend of all the school administrators because we do not shy away from topics that might draw angry calls from parents. We've done a lot on religion, because it's a big thing here. Lots of people attend Christian youth groups, and lots of other people think they're dumb. So we talk about that a lot. We let people say insensitive, or un-PC things. Once, a group of guys who write under the pseudonym "The Sensitive Guys" wrote an article entitled "Fat is not Phat," about how girls have a responsibility to guys to look good and not be overweight. The intention was satire, but of course people took it seriously. Now, it was a moral dilemma for me, the editor, about posting their article. BUT … It turned out the article generated TONS and TONS and TONS of heated debate about the issue of weight among teen girls and the greater issue of sexism. The conversation that unfolded on our Web site and in teen circles all over the community had not existed before we pushed the envelope. It was encouraging to see so many young people voicing their opinions.
YP: What is the most popular feature with teens on the site and why?
HR: In general, the opinions section does the best (we call it "Connect"). Your Mom seems to thrive on controversy and an exchange of opinions. I remember high school being all about drama that unfolded among your peers and also about sitting and philosophizing about life and the world with your friends, trying to solve all of the mysteries of this crazy universe, which seems particularly crazy when you're also an angst-ridden adolescent. That's basically what our opinions section is.
I'm not here to teach journalism. They can learn that in school if they want. I can't send them out to cover breaking news, like "real" reporters, because they are in school or at track practice, colorguard or play rehearsal all day. You can't make them scrounge around for sources because people don't take teens all that seriously, and it's too intimidating for most of them to chase people down who don't want to talk. But they CAN get riled up about issues they face or hear about in the news or among friends. And they do enjoy writing and reading first-person narratives and personal stances on various issues. So I let them do what comes naturally, and it's been a popular feature on our site. It also invites the most dialogue, naturally.
Other than that, music always generates lots of discussion and some heated debate. Teens around here seem to love music and know a lot about both the pop-culture and indie scenes. Local bands are a big thing, too. We had a big battle of the bands when our publication launched, and are planning another one for late this summer or early fall.
Our "News Nuggets" (called "Your Mom's Take" on the Web site) are popular. They are short quips about the news that are meant to be funny or tongue-in-cheek or just plain cheesy. It's basically sugar-coated, bite-sized news bits that come out once a week, half a dozen each time. Two local, two national and two global. They are a pretty popular feature and aren't hilarious but are just kind of cute. And a painless way to update yourself about at least six current events per week.
YP: Are the print readers the same or different than the online readers? Does one group cannibalize the other?
HR: There's no real way of knowing. Our Web site is generally doing better than our print, but we've been having luck with our new mall distribution and NIE inserts. It's possible that the print doesn't do as well because people have already read almost all of the content online, since the print is just online content repackaged. But I doubt it. Unless people are online for huge amounts of time, they are bound to miss a lot of what shows up in print, since it's only a small percentage of what goes online. (BTW, onlne, we put some wire and QC Times copy on if it's breaking news or particularly important or related directly to teens…in print, it's entirely teen-written content). I think it's pretty much the same groups reading it in print and online. Readers of both are constantly reminded of the other formate of Your Mom. We have the Web site address listed everywhere in the print pub and online, we have references to the orange boxes throughout town where you can pick the print issue.
YP: Anything else you think Ypulse readers should know?
HR: A lot of Your Mom depends on building a teen community, making it a fun after-school extra-ciricular like any other. Teens call me up after school ALL THE TIME, to see if they can "come hang out" in my office. We have bi-weekly meetings that are extremely informal to the point where they're almost anarchy (and they require about two weeks' worth of recovery for me afterwards!) The general idea is that we are doing our best to send the message to young people that newspapers are not bad, boring and difficult to digest. They link you to your peers. They teach you things you want to know about but didn't already. They give you a collection of different opinions about issues that you also care about. They get you thinking. They get you laughing. They help you understand the world around you. None of that is different from what traditional daily newspapers are to the adult community. But we are actually taking the time to give teens in our community our full attention, which they appreciate. We are saying to them, "We believe in you. We believe you deserve this much attention from us. Don't drag yourselves reluctantly over to us. Just stay seated at your computer. Keep your IM running. Continue with your Xanga entry. We'll come to you."