Curious about how many people have seen your latest social media post? Metrics can help. Wondering when the best time to publish a story is? Metrics can help. Since the internet and social media have become a daily part of journalism, web analytics have become essential to fully understanding the audiences your content is connecting with.

Web analytics are tools you can use to measure user behavior on websites, social media platforms and more. This translates into pageviews, unique users, social media engagement and performance over multiple social media platforms, among others. 

Journalists can use web analytics to determine the user traffic for stories, how they can promote a story more effectively to their audience and which stories are getting the most engagement. While the data you get from web analytics need context, it is a valuable tool for newsrooms and journalists alike.

Part of the work I do with KBIA as production assistant involves capturing social media content for “Radio Friends with Paul Pepper.” The social media team uses analytics to determine the content viewers are engaging with the most. This helps me capture behind-the-scenes moments from the show that I know viewers enjoy the most based off the metrics from past social media posts. 

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Data-based indicators of performance were so important to newsroom The Guardian that they decided to design their own tool called Ophan. One way The Guardian used Ophan was through streamlining their process of deciding which stories were displayed on the front page of their website.

Rather than editors and reporters emailing each other, Ophan used metrics from “recently published” articles to automatically display certain stories. The distinction between algorithm and human are at play, however, because the newsroom doesn’t make this process completely automated. Some stories that gain the most traffic might be more suitable for social media rather than their front page, which is where this newsroom relies on newsroom staff rather than web analytics.