voci.us
building communities around news
Team Members

Dan Berenholtz

Venkat Dinavahi

Evelyn Larrubia

Thomas Kong
Initial Idea

Centralized online platform to discuss news events

Smart, informed audience

Use social media identity

Comment on any story

News media as key partners
Business Model Canvas # 1
News Sites
-Talking to Users and
Large News Sites
-Finding AI developer
-Drafting Mockups
-Developing Site
-Partnerships w/
News Sites
-Large user base
-Human Resources
-Fixed Costs
-Variable Costs
Users
-Providing central place
for individuals to
connect with other
readers about news
stories
News Partners
-Taking away burden of
policing comments
-Enabling
communication among
their readers
-Driving traffic
Advertisers
-Financial
Co-creation
-The web
-Social Networks
-News Sites
-CPM Ad revenue
-Multi-sided platform
What We Did

Surveyed users

Interviewed users

Talked to six large newspapers and chains


Executives

Editors

Legal Staff
Started drawing mockups and building the site

What is the MVP?

Drupal vs. Ning. Vs. Wordpress
What We Found
News consumers

Want to engage in dialogue

Lack of civility prevents engagement

Want real identities
Large news sites

Fed up with trash talk

Hesitant to drive traffic off their sites

Not legally responsible for readers’ posts

Slow to change
Business Model Canvas # 2
-News Sites
(waiting on Stanford
Review’s decision)
-Developing site
-Talking to small News
sites
-Testing viral features
-Talking to users
-Large user base
-Human Resources
-Potentially news
partnerships
Users
-Engaging in high-level
conversations about
news articles with likeminded individuals and
friends
-Bookmarking articles
News Partners
-Demographic data
-More eyeballs due to
viral elements
-Shared ad revenue
Advertisers
-Reaching educated, highincome individuals
-Web site programming, design, and maintenance;
salaries related to business activities and site monitoring
-Co-creation
-The web
-Social Networks
-Potentially News Sites
-Email
-Peer-to-peer invitations
-CPM Ad revenue
-Multi-sided platform
What We Did





Talked to smaller news sites
 Mountain View Voice
 The Modesto Bee
 The Daily Herald
 The Stanford Review
 The Stanford Daily
Talked to more users
Ethnographic studies of face-to-face conversations
Tested moderation
Continued building site
 MVP completed
 Improved UI
 Analytics
What We Found
Users

Like the mockups

Slow to migrate to new platforms

More likely to share than discuss articles

Moderation created more robust conversations
Small news sites

Interested in leveraging social media

Interested in demographic data

Slow to make decisions

Have deficient IT infrastructures
-News Sites*
(Stanford Review
rejects partnership)
(Stanford Daily wants
to be involved)
*We are exploring
ways to become less
reliant on news
partnerships
-Brainstorming ways to
become less reliant on
news sites
-Continuing site
development
-Testing viral features
-Large user base
-Human Resources
-Potentially news
partnerships
Users
-Engaging in high-level
conversations about
news articles with likeminded individuals and
friends
-Bookmarking articles
News Partners
-Demographic data
-More eyeballs due to
viral elements
-Shared ad revenue
Advertisers
-Reaching educated,
high-income individuals
-Web site programming, design, and maintenance;
salaries related to business activities and site monitoring
-Co-creation
-The web
-Social Networks
-Potentially News Sites
-Email
-Peer-to-peer invitations
-CPM Ad revenue
-Multi-sided platform
Conclusion

News partnerships are a slow process



Users are not engaged


Empty room effect
Potential solutions



Don’t want users to leave their site
Are slow to make decisions
Focus on a niche community
Recommend active conversations
Technology


Was Drupal necessary?
Focus on testing community, not features
The End