EATON: What you want from EastIdahoNews.com in 2017
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IDAHO FALLS — Is it just me or did 2016 flew by in the blink of an eye? Everyone says time goes faster as you get older and I’m suddenly realizing how true that is!
Now we’re over a week into the new year and I want to thank you for making the last 12 months so successful for EastIdahoNews.com. Our web traffic, growth and interaction with you exceeded any expectations we ever could have imagined.
Nearly 20 million pages were viewed on EastIdahoNews.com last year – a massive number considering we’re a small local website that’s been around less than 18 months. Several of our stories – the marijuana smokers who called 911 and turned themselves in, the tourists who put the bison in the car,the couple who invented the potty protector, our helicopter footage of a church fire – went viral and were seen around the world.
While ‘going viral’ is an honor, it’s not our goal. We simply want to provide you with unbiased, trusted local news that impacts you, your family and our communities.
Around Thanksgiving, we launched an EastIdahoNews.com user survey. We asked questions about what type of stories you want us to cover, where you get your local news, what you like (and dislike) about our app and other topics.
More than 4,000 of you participated in the survey and we learned a few things.
1. You turn to us for breaking news. We already knew that but so many of you told us we are the first place you go when something big is happening. We won’t make you wait until tonight at 10 or tomorrow morning to get the news (and we won’t make you pay for it). In 2017, we’ll continue to be your local breaking news source.
2. You want more investigative and in-depth pieces. So do we. This year we are dedicating more time and resources to long-form stories that impact east Idaho. We’ll explore issues that are important to all of us and present the facts – pure and simple.
3. You really like our free mobile app. While it’s only a few months old, thousands of you have already downloaded our app. We have received countless emails and messages expressing how happy you are that we have an app. If you don’t have it on your phone or tablet, check it out and let us know what you think. It’s a great way to get news, traffic and weather alerts as events are happening.
RELATED | READ THE EASTIDAHONEWS.COM CODE OF ETHICS
4. In addition to crime and other stories, you also want positive news. Some of our most clicked-on pages are happy stories. In September, we launched a weekly series called ‘Feel Good Friday.’ We’ve also produced a weekly ‘East Idaho Eats’ series about local restaurants and we’ll continue to post as many positive stories as we can.
5. You want national and local news when you visit our site. Well, at least most of you. Some of you only visit for east Idaho news. That’s fine. But a large majority say you want a “one stop shop” for all of your daily news. Because we are a non-traditional news agency without a television, radio or newspaper partner, many national news affiliate services (such as Associated Press, Fox News, ABC, NBC, CBS) will not work with us. CNN is the exception. They provide us national and world news content and we share Idaho stories with them. That’s why you see so many CNN stories on EastIdahoNews.com.
6. You want us to continue to be innovative and creative. That’s a commitment we’re happy to make. We have a small newsroom staff (5 people) but we love to take risks and try new things. After all, that’s why EastIdahoNews.com is here in the first place!
We know there are literally hundreds of places you can go every day for news. We promise to work every day in 2017 to continue to be a news source you can trust.
If you have story ideas or suggestions for EastIdahoNews.com, email news@eastidahonews.com, send us a Facebook message or call our news tip line at (208) 528-NEWS.