Tuesday, July 16, 2013

We've started a sports-only Facebook page


In the years I’ve been involved in local news a lot has changed. We have great new tools that help us bring in readers, even in the early stages of newsgathering.
Some things, though, never change.
Take sports.
Some readers love sports, but there are an awful lot who don’t give two hoots.
In the newspaper, we always handled it by printing  sports in a different section.
Don’t like sports? Toss it away, or give it to the family member who loves sports.
He or she might not even read the news.
As they say, it takes all kinds and believe me, among our readers, there are all kinds.
This is why we’ve launched a new sports-only Facebook page.
No law and disorder, no tax increases, elections, abortion, wars, gun control or health care just sports.
There’s another thing I’ve learned about sports fans. They all want the same thing in their sports report - more.
That’s a little joke, because “more sports” means different things to different sports fans.
There are very few who like it all. 
Some people like NASCAR, but hate golf. Some like high school football, are lukewarm about college games and can’t stand pro. Some follow evey stat in baseball, others find baseball boring and can’t wait for hoops season. 
Some are runners, while others avoid even walking when they don’t have to.
The way to serve sports fans is to have as much as we can, so the readers can cherry-pick what they want.
But this approach doesn’t serve our non-sports fans very well. This is the reason we decided to establish a second Facebook page devoted to local sports.
What will appear on this new Facebook page?
OK, there will be links to our sports stories, tweets, touts and photos from local contests, usually as they’re happening.
But what else?
This is where you can play a big role.
It’s bare-bones now, but we want to link to other local facebook pages, a sort of a clearing house for all sporting things local. Beyond that, we want to be the area’s man source for sports information in print and online, delivering wahat readers whats when and where they want it.
If you have a suggestion, please stop by ad like our Facebook page ot or email me or the Sports Depatment at: Sports@OneidaDispatch.com
Our Facebook pages. If you click “Like” you will receive our news on your news feed:
Main: Facebook.com/OneidaDispatch
Sports:  Facebook.com/OneidaDispatchSports
Kurt Wanfried, a Penn State graduate, has been editor of the Oneida Daily Dispatch for 12 years. Visit his blog at kurtwanfried.blogspot.com follow him @OneidaEditor on Twitter or email him: kwanfried@OneidaDispatch.com