Madison Taylor

I was sitting at a table on Tuesday during one of two back-to-back meetings. Coffee in one hand, pen in another and mind miles away on a beach somewhere on the North Carolina coast. The subject at the moment was about our website, namely ways to generate content users simply can’t live without.

Well, perhaps it’s not that drastic. Let’s just say we want to provide the kinds of interactive features, stories, videos and photos that people will be interested in enough to come back again and again. Perhaps they’ll even invest in a subscription online.

At this point, I had an epiphany. We didn’t have enough facts at our disposal to make an informed decision about any of this stuff. After all, I said, there is no website at the moment that I return to with any frequency — and absolutely no content short of iTunes that I pay for online.

Ad director Mike Little suggested conducting a quick survey among users at www.thetimesnews.com.

We immediately knew it had to happen.

So we’re asking for your advice, hopefully looking beyond what the little girl states repeatedly on those cute but damned effective AT&T commercials. Yes, we already know you want more.

Promotions director Michele Terry compiled a survey with a few points of potential interest listed for our online audience to evaluate — from least interested to most interested. But these items are mainly guesses compiled by a few of us in-house. Look at those as starting points. We also have areas on the survey for users to write their own ideas for cool or useful items that could be future fixtures on our site.

That’s what I’m most interested in seeing — what users actually want or might find helpful. Look for it on Sunday at http://timesnewshosting.com/sections/WeWantToKnow/. People who participate will be in the hunt for a few prizes, including a top gift of a $100 gift card.

Why are we doing this? Well, it’s no secret that newspapers around the nation are going to what we call “paywalls” in our industry. That’s a system in which newspapers charge for content on their websites. All are created with certain variations. The New York Times, for example, allows a certain amount of web visits at no charge. When that maximum is reached, users are shut off until they pay for some level of service sectioned off by day, week, month or year.

Dozens of newspapers around the nation already have paywall formats of some kind, including the nearby Greensboro News & Record and Raleigh News & Observer. Next week, the Washington Post will roll out its paywall.

Our owners, Halifax Media, said last year that paywalls would be coming to its 30-plus newspapers in 2013. Some of our sister publications in Spartanburg, S.C. and Wilmington, have already done so. We will be following suit sometime in the early fall or slightly later. At this point, I’m not sure what the launch date might be.

Also at the moment, we aren’t sure exactly how our pay system will be constructed. What we do know is that our content has to be very good in order to draw paying customers and keep them coming back again and again.

Like I said, we already know we need to offer more. But what do users want more of?

That’s the $100 question.

Well, this might make life a little easier.

That was the first selfish thought that crossed my mind late Friday afternoon when the News & Observer in Raleigh posted a story online with this headline: “McClatchy to end unlimited access to web sites.”

I had to chuckle a little once I opened the file. Not only was the item posted late in the day on Friday during the rush to go home for the weekend — an old government / military trick — it buried the lead. Nowhere in the headline did it say News & Observer, newsandobserver.com or even the blast from the past, Nando.

The lead of the story was more clear but still backed into things a little. Here’s what it said:

“McClatchy Co. announced Friday that metered pay walls will be installed at the company’s newspaper web sites, including newsobserver.com and CharlotteObserver.com.”

While it’s clear and to the point, it’s also phrased very much as a message to the online audience that has come to rely on free and unfettered information via sites managed by the News & Observer and Charlotte Observer. The indirect message is this: “Hey, it’s a corporate decision, we’re not doing this ourselves.”

And I understand why it was done that way.

I couple of weeks ago I posted an item here about plans by our company, Halifax Media, to install a paywall system for its 36 newspapers, including the Times-News. Our site, thetimesnews.com, likely won’t begin to charge until sometime next year and all the details aren’t known — but it’s coming.

And we’re not alone. Company executives estimate that by the end of this year, 38 percent of websites operated by newspapers will have a paywall of some kind. Some charge for specific content, others charge based on amount of use and others have an across-the-board subscriber fee. As the number of print customers has declined and web growth exploded, it was probably only a matter of time before newspapers began to look for ways to augment lost circulation revenue.

Still, people have been picking off free content via media web sites for so long, there are bound to be mini-uproars as the dominoes fall. And paywalls are controversial within our own industry. Digital Firsters strongly believe that newspapers have to be creative in finding ways to generate revenue online via advertising and other sources without charging for content, which they contend will ultimately kill audience numbers. They point to Facebook and Google as examples.

But publishers believe that giving away content online has only hastened the demise of print while also destroying a business foundation online that would ensure the future of reporting, photography and videography.

I understand both points of view.

What I do know is that while some web users won’t be surprised by the inevitable changes, others will be irritated beyond belief and will express themselves loudly.

But it’ll be far easier for newspapers like the Times-News to go to a paywall if our larger neighbors do so, too. Look for the News & Observer and Charlotte Observer to make the switch later this year.

Thanks McClatchy.

People who follow me on Twitter — and my hunch is that it’s about a dozen hearty souls wedged somewhere amid the spamming grocers, ice skating enthusiasts, European boat buiilders, BET executives and a dizzying array of of people who seem to work in what is generously called the adult entertainment industry — may already suspect that something a little unusual has been going on at the Times-News this week. Since Tuesday, most of my posts have involved a series of meetings about a new initiative within our parent company dedicated to our newspapers doing a better job of meeting customers where they seem to hang out most these days.

I’m talking, of course, about social media.

For the most part, we’re looking mainly at Facebook and Twitter — the two largest by far. In fact, Facebook apparently has enough users to be the world’s fourth largest country. it already has its own Hollywood movie, for those who might have forgotten. Hard to believe. 

Yes, a lot of folks get news on those sites first. Even more, Facebook and Twitter are spots where people tend to sit a spell, make comments and communicate. Our emerging philosophy is we must meet them there and, well, play nice while providing content, advertising and customer service.

I’ll post more about this later. It’s fascinating stuff. I’m excited to be a part of it. I’m guessing our staff will as well.

But during our talks this week I had the opportunity to try two online productions for the first time. Neither are things I could be arrested for, at least I don’t think so.

First, my colleague at the Kinston Free Press, Bryan Hanks, asked me to take part in his weekly podcast, which was recorded from my office in beautiful downtown Burlington. Inspired by a view of the ice pop factory, Bryan, the managing editor at the Free Press, a fine blogger and sports fan, asked me questions about, well, our social media seminar and what I thought the changes ahead might mean. He had Jon Dawson, a columnist at the Free Press record the audio by speakerphone. We had it knocked in 10 or 15 minutes. Here’s the link. I hope it’s interesting. And no, you don’t have to tell me I sound like Huckleberry Hound.

 So I cleared that hurdle pretty easily. It’s fair to say, though, that Bryan did the heavy lifting. He’s a gracious host. Thanks, dude.

No. 2 on the first time list was our use of a new online storytelling device. It’s called Storify.

In reality, it’s a story aggregation or “curation” service. Users can pluck content from a variety of online sources and tell stories in new ways with a variety of elements. It’s very cool and not too difficult. City editor Brent Lancaster was at the controls of his laptop computer. With a little guidance from ad director Serena Bowman and myself, we assembled an online story about Elon University’s big upset of the University of South Carolina Tuesday night in Alumni Gym.

Brent assembled the elemennts via Storify — Tweets from fans, a link to our story by Adam Smith, a cell phone video of the end of the game via YouTube, and a link to coverage by ESPN. Here’s the finished product. It took us about 20 minutes to do, tops.

 We’ll be doing a lot more of this kind of thing. We’ll also be meeting more of our readers on Facebook and Twitter.

Come join us. I hate to be lonely.