What follows has not a lot to do with Norwich City Football Club; far more to do with you.
So if you were hoping for a thought-provoking piece on what to do with a problem like Wesley, I am about to disappoint.
And if talking about where next for you, me and MyFootballWriter/NorwichCity is not your thing either, then I will again disappoint.
But times are a-changing. And we have to, too.
In 2006, I left the Evening News where I had been the football writer for 13 odd years to go and follow you. Because you lot had already up and left the back pages of a local newspaper to read all things Norwich City online.
You had wearied of waiting for the paper boy to call. You wanted your City news delivered to your office desk. Or home study. Or lap-top.
With me came our Kevin, the ad rep, whose advertising customers too had followed you online. They wanted a new home for themselves on a computer.
For them, we had to build a new advertising platform, the Mk1 version of our Addiply, www.TWAdServices.co.uk Named after my son, Tom.
It has chugged along like the rest of us for the last eight years, recording every click, purchase, impression and occasional invoice. Eight years worth of local online advertising data. Enough to demonstrate there is still money in local advertising. If sold the right way.
But now, of course, you lot have shifted again.
We crunched some numbers last week; peered and poked beneath the bonnet.
And 52% of you now access MyFootballWriter on a mobile device every month.
We have 6,473 iPhone readers; 6,239 iPad readers and 129 on Tesco Hudl. Whatever that is.
Point being you’ve gone – mobile is now your platform of choice. And I strongly suspect you ain’t coming back to web. Not when you have a PC sat in the palm of your hand.
So, this is our challenge this autumn…
For the second time in a decade we need to catch up with you again – and build a mobile app version of MyFootballWriter/NorwichCity.
It’ll be free, don’t worry. We tried a subscription model once; it bombed. Never again.
The trick, of course, is to build a new ad platform that follows the self same path – that allows our Kevin to sell, say, Elizabeth’s the Florist an ad that appears on our mobile app.
Nice and simply.
So that both local advertiser and local reader can make this great migration from print to web to mobile.
And that way we can sustain MyFootballWriter going forward into a new mobile age for local journalism.
Fortunately we might have found ourselves some big new friends in the US to help us make this happen; to help build one, final piece in this jigsaw to make the mobile ad sales magic happen.
And there is another element en route to this Fine City which can add to the mix; to create a new and vibrant mobile space for mobile and app users.
But that is someone else’s news to impart. Nothing to do with us here, although having the ability to drop a relevant and useful message into a mobile app to the accuracy of 150m is an intriguing prospect.
And is one of the keys to making this all stack – the idea that the message is of relevance and of use to you. It’s not any old rubbish interrupting your MFW app enjoyment and experience.
But that is the plan.
We need to play catch-up.
Again.
Hopefully, we’ll see you all on the other side.
I guess you have to follow the latest financial model but if that means the death of the website, then that’s sad. I’ve only just switched from vinyl to CD, so I’ll catch up with you in about 5 years time.
52% – by my shaky sums, I make that around 12k still following by PC/laptop – closer than the Scottish Independence vote.
Note: the call-center emigration to India etc is now being reversed..not everything in modern life is irreversible.
I browse the site on both a Mac, Windows machine, iPhone and iPad.
My would recommendation would be to go for responsive design over a native app. Inevitably you’ll end up having to promote any app you make. To do this you’ll have to direct people to it from this site. It seems unintuitive.
You’ll also have development costs, support costs, and the ever nerve-wracking upgrade per each iOS version. How much did it cost? Does it work? Also, you’ll need to support multiple OS’s. Android is a nightmare as you have to build for almost any screen size.
You’ll also need to manage the app submission and review process and abide by Apple’s many stupid restrictions.
Responsive design allows you to skip all of that. Have a site that scales and just one destination for all your devices.
I work in the web industry for a company that sees a lot of web traffic through mobile, tablet and desktop (you will definitely have heard of them).
Quick bit of feedback on your plan – iphone users are more predisposed to install apps than android users. Android users prefer a mobile-optimised web page.
If you want a quick win with less money put down initially (app development is expensive), switching to a responsive web design built mobile first will provide you much bigger net to cast. I might very well be preaching to the choir here, so forgive me if I am, but a good example of this is the BBC’s mobile sites: http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport – go there and resize your browser to a mobile width and see how the content refits itself to the screen, the text gets bigger and there is less detail in the interface.
I wish canary player would follow the same route. I have emailed NCFC several times asking why we don’t have an app for IPAD etc… and I’ve yet to get an answer. In the meantime, I’ve had to consider to either fork out for a new laptop or not re-new my subscription for player. I had to opt for the latter but reading live updates on the BBC or Pink ‘un is an absolute nightmare.
To answer the simple question at the top of the article, I use PC, and only PC. I do not like mobiles and the like very much, hard to read, fiddly to use, and far too expensive.
I used to visit the club’s own website frequently but it is now absolutely awful (as are all other clubs’ using the same design) and I only go there for tickets.
Obviously a lot of information is available on the Archant sites but those providing opinions on there are normally less articulate than on here. I often feel they write what they think the most fickle fans want to hear rather than put reasoned and rounded arguments together, especially when things aren’t going well.
As for the online debate on the Pink’Un message board it is awful most of the time. I much prefer the way people go about commenting on here.
I wasn’t clear from the article whether what you are proposing is in addition to the web view that I use or instead of. I hope it’s the former.
I’m perfectly happy with everything the way it is. I use a desktop sometimes (like now, when I’m supposed to be working) and the browser on my phone resizes and fits the text to my screen so it’s absolutely fine on that.
I was preparing to comment, but Keith B (5) has said it all – and more – for me. Whatever channels you add, please keep talking to us this way too!
If I am settled, whether at home or whilst travelling, I will always use a laptop to access the internet and MFW. It is only when I am physically travelling that I will use an iphone to access the site. It is not my favourite form of access for similar reasons Keith B outlines, it is smaller and more fiddly. Smart phones are expensive too, so I am not sure that I will keep renewing mine – though expect the cheaper models now available in Asia to kick in more here some point not too distant.
Its desktop PC for me or a laptop. Always. Despite the advances in technology I don’t like or enjoy reading long pieces on a mobile or via an app. They are great for ‘flash’ news and updates, but not, for me, when you want to commit to reading something with more depth or which needs a little time and consideration.
Echo Keith B (5)-if its an addition to the stable then fine-but a stand alone replacement will leave me cold. Hope you will utilise both and work for everyone.
Never fear folks… the ‘app’ idea is merely to offer an alternative. The trusty old desktop version will still remain the driver
Gary – as one of the hardcore 48%ers doing it ‘old-school’ on my desktop, thanks for the reassurance. I’m all for change and progress but don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
Just to reiterate Gary’s point… There’s still 48% of you who access the site via non-mobile means.
Via your PC; be it home or the office.
We are certainly not abandoning anyone to their web fate.
It is just high time for us – in common with the rest of the media industry – to start to think long and hard as to how we sustain ourselves on mobile. Where, increasingly, all of us come to live our lives.
Hands up if anyone sees one of their kids running off to the corner newsagent to buy a copy of the local ‘evening’ paper?
They don’t – and they won’t.
Waaaaaay back when I wrote a blog piece… ‘It’s not in my son’s genes with a G to read a local newspaper; what’s in his jeans with a J is a mobile phone…’
That’s what we have to look at now. How do we get that to work, commercially?
R