In this edition:
- This year’s Newspack Performance and Customer Satisfaction Survey
- Next publisher call: How to join Apple News + Jeremy Gilbert on how to apply for the Data-driven Reporting Project
- Claudiu’s workshop on Google’s Core Web Vitals
- Get Newspack calls on your calendar
Newspack Customer Survey
Please take a few moment to fill out this year’s Newspack Customer Satisfaction Survey. Deadlines being a journalist’s friend, this is due Friday March 11.
For those who are new to the platform, this is a survey we send out every year to gain valuable insight into what’s working, what’s not, how we can improve, and what you need going forward. There are both multiple choice and open-ended questions.
The survey is intended for customers who have already launched on the platform. Only the multiple choice questions are “required” – so if you’re pressed for time you can move through it very quickly.
That said, folks have been great in the past about giving us detailed long-form responses, which help us pinpoint unseen problems or new areas of development that are a priority for you.
(The survey is also a requirement of our grant funding – so even if you’re totally happy with the service, we’d love to hear from you!)
We only need one response from each publication. So it should probably be completed by a senior person on your team, though depending on the size of your organization, you may want to consult several folks as some questions are product focused, some editorially focused and others business focused.
Apple News, expediting Newspack applications
On the last publishers’ call, Microsoft outlined how they are working with Newspack to expedite onboarding to Microsoft start for Newspack customers. (More info in the #ms-start channel in our Slack workspace).
Next up? Apple News. They’re also in the process of expanding their local news coverage and are working with us to speed the approval process. They will give a presentation on our next call (Tuesday, March 8 at 11a ET, 4pm UTC) that outlines how to apply and what the terms are for individual publishers.
Also, Jeremy Gilbert, Knight Chair for Digital Media Strategy at Northwestern University Medill School, will tell you how to apply for the Data Driven Reporting Project. Here’s a quick synopsis:
The Data-Driven Reporting Project aims to address the inequality of resources for local newsrooms and freelancers when doing essential data-driven, investigative reporting. The project is committed to awarding $2 million to journalists working on document-based investigative projects that serve local and underrepresented communities throughout the United States and Canada. This project is a partnership with Google between the Google News Initiative and the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. but Google plays no role in selecting projects to support. The deadline for applications is Friday, April 8th, 2022 at 5PM CST. If you have questions, contact us at datadrivenreporting@northwestern.edu.
Understanding Google’s Core Web Vitals
Claudiu hosted a workshop to help publishers understand and test your site’s CWVs and how to understand PageSpeed Insights’ info and recommendations. You can review the video. Also look for Claudiu to do a more in-depth presentation at one of our upcoming publisher calls.
Get our regularly scheduled meetings on your calendar with a couple of clicks
We have a meeting every other Tuesday at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. This is for publishers and developers to get together, but it is by no means mandatory. Most of the meeting is turned over to guest speakers for professional development, or to one of our team members to highlight a major change to the Newspack platform. We use this meeting to update you on business and product developments, as well.
The next meeting is Feb. 22.
And here’s a handy way to get them all on your calendar:
Add event to calendar
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We also hold a 30-minute How To session each Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. We offer a quick look at one topic, block, feature or other useful maneuver. You can see how these work by going here for or small-but-growing library of videos. The password is ilovenews
Add event to calendar
Apple Google Office 365 Outlook Outlook.com