Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
Joseph L. Amadio
1
April 21, 2014
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
By Joseph L. Amadio/Web Editor
I. Situation Assessment
My assessment of the Digital Newsroom question will cover these areas: Traditional Media, Mobile Sites/Apps, Social Media, Video, and Digital
Newsroom Management. For the purpose of this study, I will refer to our two main external websites – utsouthwestern.edu as “the edu,” and
utswmedicine.org as “patient care.”
A. Traditional Media
It is no secret that the reach of traditional print and broadcast media is changing. The number of science and health journalists has dwindled
in recent years. The circulation of most major market newspapers has plummeted over the past 10 years.
The population of the booming Dallas-Fort Worth market grew by 132,000 people from 2011-2012, according to U.S. Census estimates.1
How can traditional media be waning amid such explosive population growth? Increasingly, consumers are reading their content via
smartphones and other mobile devices. In 2009, daily circulation at the DMN dropped 20.8 percent and 15.5 percent on Sunday.2
In November 2013, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram cut 275 jobs and outsourced its printing operation to the DMN.3 Given current trends,
both regional newspapers may only offer digital only editions in the near future. In October 2012, Newsweek announced it would no longer
offer its print product and would go strictly digital.4
While daily circulation is down for the two major newspapers, all is not lost. The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) reported in mid-2012
that digital circulation made up an average of 14.2 percent of all news publishers’ counted products, up from 8.66 percent in March 2011.
Digital circulation includes native tablet or smartphone apps, metered or restricted-access websites, and e-reader editions.
Our local television stations also have fewer resources dedicated to covering science and medicine. Only Janet St. James of WFAA-TV and
Julie Fine of NBC5 come to mind as TV reporters who cover these topics regularly.
Anecdotally, I have seen the number of media members signing up for any of our five email listservs dwindling. In fact, a system purge the
utswscinews list on 4/16/14, showed three possible media partners on the unsubscribe list.
Joseph L. Amadio
2
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
B. Mobile Sites/Apps
“Already 61 percent of smart phone users and 64 percent of tablet owners search locally once a week or more.”
− Pew Internet Project
1.
UT Southwestern
a. Mobile Sites
i. Fortunately, Web Services is currently addressing the Mobile Site/App issue. Using the Responsive Design5 methodology,
the group’s tech team is converting our websites to a mobile friendly design. (See Tom Mathews or Jonathan Maedche
for more information.)
b. Mobile Apps
i. The offerings in this area are few. Information Resources offers Mobile Device Management (MDM) software that will
synchronize your work Outlook email/calendar to iPhone and Android smartphones. There is also a UTSW app store for
iPhones.
ii. Shuttle Tracker: Available for iPhone and Android.
iii. EPIC: A system used in our hospitals and clinics to track patient care, is available for mobile devices.
2.
The Competition
a. Patient Care
i. Mobile Sites: Only Texas Health Resources has a mobile website for iPhone or Android devices (See Appendix A).
ii. Mobile Apps
1. MD Anderson: four; Duke: six; Johns Hopkins: eight; Mayo Clinic: 11
b. Academic Medical Centers
i. Mobile Sites: None
ii. Mobile Apps
1. Harvard offers students MyCourses Mobile, while Duke has an alumni app
Joseph L. Amadio
3
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
C. Social Media
1. Here is what happens every 60 seconds on in the Internet: 6





695,000 Facebook status updates
1,500 blog posts
13,000 iPhone app downloads
100-plus new LinkedIn accounts
98,000 Tweets
2. For its Communications/Marketing functions, UTSW has the following Social Media Channels:





Facebook
Twitter
Google+
YouTube
MedTalks Blog
Since the Communications group launched these channels more than two years ago, it has made great strides. I designed and launched the
UTSW News page on Facebook. After one year, it had 847 fans and averaged more than 1,000 visits per month. Three years later, the page has
7,466 fans.
However, there is no full-time resource dedicated to achieving our objectives. And the jingoistic tone of our Facebook posts should be
reconsidered.
A comparison with our peers is sobering. Despite having been in Social Media for some time, UT Southwestern lags behind the competition in
most channels. MD Anderson, Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic and Stanford are Social Media juggernauts – each with exponentially more
followers/visits than UTSW. An argument can be made that Mayo Clinic has its own Social Media team, which results in its tremendous reach in
this arena. But isn’t MD Anderson also a UT System medical institution (See the chart on page 5)?
Joseph L. Amadio
4
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
Social Media Channels
Site
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
YouTube
Other
UT Southwestern
7,467 likes, 21,740 visits
4.082 followers
391 followers,
66,505 views
159 subscribers
RSS
MD Anderson
86,769 likes, 174,845 visits
26,4000
followers
1,442 followers,
356,027 views
2,210 subscribers
Pinterest - 542
pins
13,000 followers
236,069
followers,
485,929 views
779 subscribers
Pinterest - 1,179
pins; Instagram
994 subscribers
Pinterest - 686
pins; RSS
Blogs
UT System
MedTalks:
latest 2012
Cancerwise:
283 sitewide,
current
Local Competitors
Baylor Scott & White
Texas Health Resources
13,703 likes, 368,295 visits
6,359 likes, 2,294 visits
5,723 followers
NA
Duke - dukemedicine.org
7.056 likes
23,800 followers
630 followers,
16,376 views
Harvard - hms.harvard.edu
122,159 likes
75,000 followers
NA
Johns Hopkins - hopkinsmedicine.org/som
145,805 likes, 2,055 visits
368 followers,
17,240 views
Mayo Clinic - mayoclinic.org
509,162 likes, 19,785 visits
Stanford - med.stanford.edu
26,6867 likes, 9,488 visits
232,000
followers
765,000
followers
72,9000
followers
ScrubbingIn
Are You a
Well Being? current
Nationwide Peers
NA
11,866
subscribers
Pinterest - 202
pins
1,621,852 views
8,576 subscribers
17,744
subscribers
NA
LinkedIn,
Instagram,
Sharecare
Pinterest - 616
pins;
NA
6,587 subscribers
Flickr, RSS
106 sitewide
- current
999 entries current
1,000 entries
- current
5,400 entries
- current
Scope Blog
D. Video
1. In today’s digitally focused world, using video as part of your content marketing strategy is practically a must. Consider these stats: 7



62 percent of Web traffic will be video by 2015 (Cisco, 2012)
The YouTube player is embedded across tens of millions of websites (YouTube)
100 million people take a social action on YouTube (likes, shares, comments) (YouTube)
Joseph L. Amadio
5
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
There is currently no unified video plan or practice currently in use in the Communications group. It is done on a rather “siloed” level. Marketing, for
example, contracted with third-party vendors to produce our library of patient care and branding-focused videos in these locations:
a. Life@ (edu)
b. Voices & Views
c. YouTube – UTSWMed only 102 subscribers; and UTSWNews – a scant 159.
2. The Competition
Peer academic medical centers such as MD Anderson and Johns Hopkins have dedicated video news channels. Videos increase web traffic and
time spent by consumers on a page. So does the Mayo Clinic (See Appendix B).
Ours news reach could be further extended by leveraging the video/multimedia options offered by our media friendly sites – Newswise and
EurekAlert!
3. Cost Analysis
Vendor
VNR-1
Medical TV
Staff
Description
Third-party vendor based in
Addison, TX
In-house vendor – a cost-recovery
department in Information
Resources
Highly motivated, web-savvy professionals in Communications,
Marketing and Public Affairs
Cost (flat fee/hourly/contract)
$800 per day w/out gear
$2,000 per day with all lighting and
audio
$800 per day (or $100 an/hour)
Equipment owned and operated
($0)
Negligible …
(One-time fees for a Flipcam(s) $150 and Final Cut Pro suite $299)
Turnaround Time
15-minute drive time for spot news

Same Day for spot news

24-48 hours for in-depth pieces
Equipment Purchases
None
None
Communications already has a digital HD video camera with a tripod
and microphone; or Flipcam, $150
Software
NA
NA
Final Cut Pro for Mac - $299
Joseph L. Amadio
6
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
Pros/cons
High-quality production, from a
former TV news journalist.
Med TV is a cost-recovery entity;
they charge for everything they do
Does not feed $$ back into the
institution.
Can be overbooked. Limited
bandwidth to help out in breaking
new situations.
What is the ROI?
News videos will have a limited
shelf life/period of interest (one to
two weeks after they are released,
generally)
April 21, 2014

Rapid deployment of video content will enhance media
placements in local, national and international news outlets

Improved employee creativity/compulsive collaboration

Available staff is on-site; can react to
breaking news immediately.

News videos do not need the level of production of Life@ or
Patient Care videos done previously by VNR-1.
E. Digital Newsroom Management
There is currently no dedicated full-time resource to producing/managing Social Media or Video for the Communications group.
Until now, Web Services has attempted to manage Social Media. It has done its best without the needed resources to manage the Digital
Newsroom. It has plenty of work managing content updates for the rest of the 17,000-page edu website, uploading new content for the patient
care site, building Deluxe Profile microsites for physicians, and creating lab sites for our large research community.
II. Objectives – What are we trying to achieve by adopting this technology?
A. Mobile/Social Media
We need a comprehensive plan and measurable goals, in order for the Digital Newsroom to succeed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What is our image or brand?
What are the most effective? Should we add/drop any?
Do we need a dedicated Social Media resource to “manage the message?”
Are we serving our audience?
Do we incorporate Social Media in crisis management communications?
How can we expand Social Media with our media partners?
Joseph L. Amadio
7
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
7.
April 21, 2014
Can we tap into influencers on Twitter, blogs, etc.?
B. Video
Objectives:





Reach: What is the total audience that your video is reaching?
Views: How many views did your video generate?
Shares: How many times has your video been shared?
Subscriptions: How many people subscribed to your channel or site?
Conversion rates (for the call to action): What percentage of people followed your call to action?
III. Strategies, actions, timelines – what’s our strategy for achieving the objective … How would we carry it out
and in what timeframe?
Our web content is often marketing-focused, rather than news or informational. Our brand matters, whether it’s news or marketing.
A. Mobile
As indicated above, Web Services is already working on Responsive Design to make our sites “mobile friendly.” The question of mobile apps is
worth considering … Do we need a UTSW News app? Would patients use them to track their treatments for cancer, heart, digestive disorders,
etc.?
B. Social Media
1. How do we accomplish our objectives?


Add a dedicated Digital Newsroom resource … A thought leader to focus on this vital centerpiece of the edu. This Subject Matter Expert
(SME) will serve as a liaison between the Communications team and Web Services. The Digital Media resource should have a solid news
background, enthusiasm for new web technology, and excellent people skills.
Add a LinkedIn channel to help attract the best and brightest talent, help our researchers engage with their peers.
Joseph L. Amadio
8
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom







April 21, 2014
Post more relevant content (including blogs).
Encourage interaction with our content consumers. Of course, all comments should be edited/screened before going live.
Parlay our strong regional reputation as a biomedical research institution, but add more human interest through these channels.
Build a community -- Have patients tell their story through existing/new Social Media channels or blogs.
Manage our channels constantly.
Monitor our competition.
Track our metrics monthly to ensure we are achieving our goals.
This infograph illustrates the value of a Digital Newsroom resource.
*Above illustration from “8 Ways to Build Your Social Media Brand,” January 2014, Market Wired.
Joseph L. Amadio
9
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
C. Video
The aforementioned Digital Newsroom resource could fill a void by shooting/editing/producing short News videos for the Digital Newsroom.
Other than dedicating a full-time employee, the cost is negligible (See Video Cost Analysis in Section I).
Calendar: There would need to be an organized schedule and procedure for shooting these videos. Most likely they should accompany a
news release or news tip. In no way should this be an attempt to produce Patient Care videos for marketing or film press conferences.
The latter are handled by Medical TV here on campus.
Existing Resources: Communications already has a digital HD video camera with a tripod and microphone. Resources could be
augmented by purchasing a backup flipcam or video-editing software like Final Cut Pro for Mac.
Collaboration: The Digital Newsroom resource would attend Communications group meetings in order to know what news releases are
being planned. Communications leadership can regularly brainstorm with the resource, in order to devise creative video shoots.
ROI: Having a video resource, would enable the Communications group to:



Joseph L. Amadio
Rapidly deploy video content; thereby enhancing media placements in local, national and international news outlets (which have
lost resources of their own, as previously stated)
Improve creativity/spontaneous collaboration when it comes to the group’s products
React to breaking news immediately
10
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
D. Timeline/Implementation
1. Social Media
6
5
4
Page Views
3
Subscribers
Reports
2
1
0
May-14
Joseph L. Amadio
Jun-14
Jul-14
Aug-14
Sep-14
11
Oct-14
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
2. Video
7
6
5
4
Page Views
3
Media Sites
Reports
2
1
0
May-14
Jun-14
Jul-14
Aug-14
Sep-14
Oct-14
IV. Results – What would we expect the results to be and how would we measure them – so that we would
know that the commitment of resources was paying off?
With the decline of mainstream media – dedicated science and medical journalists in newspapers, magazines and broadcast channels –
UT Southwestern needs to become its own content producer across the web, video, mobile platforms, and Social Media.
A common theme among the analysis of mobile, social media and video is that a dedicated Digital Newsroom resource is needed. Success in
Digital Media takes time, dedication and creativity. One dedicated full-time staff member can manage this process. This person would also post
news releases to the edu and send out listservs – a process currently managed by Web Services.
What is missing is the Communications group does not own/control its own content. Too often, Communications does not have a proactive role
in planning major improvements/changes to its own content.
Joseph L. Amadio
12
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
While Web Services has done its best with limited resources – it does not have the bandwidth to manage the Digital Newsroom. It has a heavy
workload managing content updates for the rest of the 17,000-page edu website, launching the William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital site,
uploading new content for the patient care site, building Deluxe Profile microsites for physicians, creating lab sites for UTSW’s large research
community, fixing spelling and link errors, and regularly the sites under its purview.
A. Social Media
1. Measure Newsroom page views in Google Analytics to achieve a 5 percent increase each quarter.
2. Track the following to determine if a goal of a 10 percent increase each quarter was met?
a. Facebook: Likes/Visits
b. Twitter: Followers
c. YouTube: Subscriptions
d. Google+: Followers/Visits
3. Seek periodic feedback in the form of campus-wide surveys, with the assistance of Internal Communications.
4. Conduct town hall meetings at gathering spots across campus to seek feedback from faculty, staff and students at – i.e., South Campus food
court, North Campus food court, Student Center, Bass concourse, clinics, and use the video screens and/or projector.
5. Work with Marketing and HR Employee Discounts to offer prizes for those who help us to “move the needle forward” with Social Media:
T-shirts, Stars’ tickets, key chains, gift certificates, etc.
6. Monitor competitors’ channels (quarterly) using such tools as Hootsuite.
7. Submit quarterly reports to Communications management.
8. Use all of the above to make recommendations/submit a Social Media plan for improvements.
B. Video
Your video will have a better chance of success if it passes at least one of the three Es test: (1) Is it entertaining? (2) Is it educational? (3) Is it
emotional?
A Case Study
Joseph L. Amadio
13
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
We should not expect our videos to go viral on YouTube or other Social Media channels with regularity ... When it happens, the results are
astounding.
Let’s look at the video “Happy” by singer Pharrell Williams, which went viral after its release in November 2013 on YouTube. In an interview with
TV personality Oprah Winfrey on OWN, he said the song got very little airplay until it hit YouTube. At last count, people in at least 23 countries
around the world have uploaded their own version of his song. “Happy” is a feel-good, soulful song that reaped more than 185 million views. 6
Distribution is Our Friend
YouTube is the second-largest search engine – and you want your video to be found and easily shared. Newswise and EurekAlert! offer options
to share video.8
Newswise and EurekAlert! offer the option to include uploaded videos or links with news releases submissions. As staffing at traditional media
outlets continues to dwindle, UTSW must increasingly become a content provider. Whether it’s simply B roll or a basic 1-minute video
supplement of a researcher talking about the latest advance in cancer research … It will give our online product more impact.
The well-known handwashing video produced by our own Ashlie McGill took several months to complete. It was filmed by a professional crew
and edited by a paid consultant. It was a funny, memorable video. Was it worth the cost? What was our goal? Did we get our Return on Our
Investment (ROI)?
Digital Newsroom videos need not emulate the slick production value of the handwashing video. Certainly, there needs to be quality standards
when shooting/producing these. After all, the Communications group does not want to produce a shoddy product. However, the quality of HD
video and video editing software makes this a goal easily attainable! All we need is proper organization and a dedicated Digital News resource.
How to measure the success of video in the Digital Newsroom


Measure website metrics for our sites using Google Analytics -- before and after adding a Video News channel to the Digital Newsroom
on a quarterly basis (Goal: 10 percent per quarter)
Measure hits on Newswise and EurekAlert! before and after implementation on a quarterly basis (Goal: 10 percent)
Joseph L. Amadio
14
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
Sources
1. U.S. Census Bureau – Dallas Morning News, March 13, 2013
2. Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), September 2009
3. Dallas Business Journal, Nov. 6, 2013
4. USA Today, Oct. 18, 2012
5. Responsive Web Design, Wikipedia
6. Consultant James Loomstein’s brownbag, Spring 2014
7. Ragan Media: Nov. 9, 2012
8. CNN.com, April 15, 2014
Joseph L. Amadio
15
April 21, 2014
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
Appendix A
Academic Medical Centers
Site
Mobile Site
Mobile Apps - iPhone | Android
No
Shuttle Tracker, Mobile Device Management to sync with Outlook
No
MD Anderson mobile app, Quit Smoking (3);
Duke - dukemed.duke.edu
No
DukeMed: Alumni Weekend 2013 (iPhone/Android); six science and health-related
Android apps
Harvard - hms.harvard.edu/
No
MyCourses Mobile
Johns Hopkins - www.hopkinsmedicine.org/som/
No
Android apps - eight;
Stanford - med.stanford.edu/
No
Three Android apps
Patient Care
Site
Mobile Site
Mobile Apps - iPhone/Android
UT Southwestern - www.utswmedicine.org
No
iPhone: myVisionTrack; myChart, EPIC
MD Anderson - www.mdanderson.org/patientand-cancer-information/index.html
No
Same as above
Baylor - www.baylorhealth.com
No
One android app
Texas Health Resources - www.texashealth.org/
Yes
iPhone/Android: MyChart; FindAWay Texas Health Alliance (wayfinding)
Duke - www.dukemedicine.org
No
Two health-related apps for iPhone
Harvard - huhs.harvard.edu/Home.aspx
No
Online refills
Johns Hopkins www.hopkinsmedicine.org/patient_care/
No
Android apps - eight; the Color of Poop: Stool Guide for babies
No
11 iPhone apps, nine Android apps
No
Epic Mobile
UT System
UT Southwestern www.utsouthwestern.edu
MD Anderson - www.mdanderson.org/educationand-research/education-and-training/schoolsand-programs/graduate-medicaleducation/index.html
Nationwide Peers
UT System
Local Competitors
National Peers
Mayo Clinic - www.mayoclinic.com/
Stanford Hospitals & Clinics stanfordhospital.org/
Joseph L. Amadio
16
Recommendations for the UT Southwestern Digital Newsroom
April 21, 2014
Appendix B
Academic Medical Centers
Site
Video News
Podcasts
No, Patient Care/Life@
None
Video Tips – UT Television
Cancer Newsline
Duke - dukemed.duke.edu
None
None
Harvard - hms.harvard.edu/
None
999 entries
Johns Hopkins - www.hopkinsmedicine.org/som/
Media Center – Videos
Media Center - Podcasts
Stanford - med.stanford.edu/
No
Yes
Patient Care
Site
Video News
Podcasts
UT Southwestern - www.utswmedicine.org
Same as above
Same as above
MD Anderson - www.mdanderson.org/patientand-cancer-information/index.html
Same as above
Same as above
Baylor - www.baylorhealth.com
Yes – B Roll; No - Patient Care
One – West Nile Virus
Texas Health Resources - www.texashealth.org/
None
None
Duke - www.dukemedicine.org
Same as above
Same as above
Harvard - huhs.harvard.edu/Home.aspx
None
None
Same as above
Yes – Mayo Clinic News
Network
None / Patient Care and
Features
Same as above
UT System
UT Southwestern www.utsouthwestern.edu
MD Anderson - www.mdanderson.org/educationand-research/education-and-training/schoolsand-programs/graduate-medicaleducation/index.html
Nationwide Peers
UT System
Local Competitors
National Peers
Johns Hopkins www.hopkinsmedicine.org/patient_care/
Mayo Clinic - www.mayoclinic.com/
Stanford Hospitals & Clinics stanfordhospital.org/
Joseph L. Amadio
17
Yes and Mayo Clinic Radio
1:2:1 Podcast