Parse.ly Blog

  • Three Truths about Social Media and Your Readers

    As publishers and digital media companies compete to reach new audiences, the battle lines have been  drawn on  social media sites. In our recently released Authority Report, we looked at year-over-year referral traffic to our network of hundreds of publishers. Social media sites sent a  seven percentage point increase in social referrals, and a decrease…

    parsely

  • Rethinking the Deadline in Digital Media

    If you spend any time in marketing forums or classes, one goal becomes clear: marketers want to deliver the right message to the right person, at the right time. As digital media teams compete for the attention of an over-saturated online audience, many of their actions begin to mirror that of the marketing world. Journalism…

    clareondrey

  • Dear colleagues: What an editorial on Scotland can teach us about journalism

    As media companies continue to transition toward digital operations, one of our goals at Parse.ly is to help them by sharing best practices. One way we do that is through resources, like our white paper “Why Being Reader-First Matters: An Editor’s Guide to Digital Media.” However, we believe it’s always best to hear it  directly…

    parsely

  • 4 Ways to Improve Search Traffic (That Your Readers Will Love!)

    As an editor or writer, you can no longer separate yourself from reader discovery. When you hit “publish,” the journey is just beginning; your story enters the noisy, crowded and demanding online world. It’s your baby; give it its best shot to perform. To help your current and future content flourish, you must understand how…

    parsely

  • Breaking All the Rules: Why Being Reader-First in Digital Publishing is a Game Changer for Editors and Reporters

    For years, journalists, writers, and editors have lived by a certain set of rules. When all of their work was published in print form in a newspaper, magazine, guide or book, these rules made sense. But those rules have shifted over the last five to ten years and now editors, reporters and writers need to…

    parsely

  • 5 mistakes publishers make with their data

    What do most people think of when they think of analytics? Metrics and measurement, mostly. Is this wrong? No. Analytics starts with data that can be counted, sorted and arranged into recognizable patterns. But limiting analytics to just metrics and measurement limits what you can do; the power in analytics is in the translation from…

    sachinkamdar

  • 10 ways you can use data like Mashable, Upworthy, BuzzFeed and College Humor

    Everyone wants to know the secret to attracting and keeping audiences on their site. BuzzFeed, CollegeHumor, Upworthy and Mashable have gotten a lot of attention for their fast growth, millennial audiences  and innovative approach to integrating analytics  into their operations. For these sites, collecting and accessing data is just the beginning; the real power comes…

    parsely

  • Speaking Different Languages: Separating Ad Measurement vs Audience Insights in the Attention Debate

    This essay is a reposted response from Parse.ly’s CEO, Sachin Kamdar as part of a debate on Attention Minutes over at The Media Impact Project. A frank conversation on the value of attention minutes/engaged time is long-overdue.  Richard Tofel  kicked it off  by questioning “the panacea some have suggested that [engaged time] might be.” And…

    sachinkamdar

  • Learning from your audience: What your readers are already telling you

    Often, when presented with an analytics platform people focus on metrics. What are the numbers telling us? How many people are reading my post right now? Last month, at the News:Rewired conference, hosted by Journalism.co.uk, we asked 40 journalists, editors, social media editors and audience development to not think about numbers, but to think about…

    clareondrey

  • 85% of the Internet has better things to worry about than LeBron James going back to Cleveland

    The news broke at 12:29 p.m. Four years after LeBron James announced he was taking his talents to South Beach in an on-air extravaganza with ESPN, SI.com released a personal essay by Lebron explaining why he was coming home. How did the internet react? The  SI.com article has the highest  Twitter shares, with over 130,000…

    parsely