Don't talk down to teens on the web

“The term ‘youth news website' conjures up visions of a site heavy with lifestyle and entertainment content, with a little news on the side. But what teens say they want are news sites that do news well, not dumb it down or pose as experts in teen culture,” says Michael Smith, director of the Media Management Center at Northwestern University.

Smith, who conducted the study for the Newspaper Association of America, will present the results at this conference which will focus on a full range of strategies to successful connect with the young on multiple platforms. The event is one of the first to be conducted since the merger of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and IFRA to become WAN-IFRA.

Says Smith, “Given that teen responses were very similar to those of adults who are light readers, we recommend creating a new type of site - not just for teens, but for all people who lack experience with news and have a limited amount of time to get engaged with it.

“We found that there are better ways to serve teens with online news. The answer isn't to dilute the news, but to be bolder.”

Key recommendations

Key recommendations of the youth news website study include:

• Focus on a few items, illustrated with photos, and explain clearly but briefly what is happening and why it matters.
  
• The home page should provide a general sense of the news and a seductive pitch for each story in the simplest, most visually enticing manner.
  
• Breaking news should be supplemented with basic information, background material, definitions and other insights about the topics.

“The results offer useful lessons for newspapers worldwide, especially as we've seen such international parallels in behaviour and preferences in other youth media research,” adds Aralynn McMane, director of Young Readership Development at WAN-IFRA.

Other topics to be discussed at the World Young Reader Conference include:

• How social networks and online activity are translating into newspaper loyalty among the young.
  
• How newspapers are monetising young reader content and approaches, including the use of free content provided for this purpose by WAN-IFRA.
  
• The benefits of adopting a "Total Youth Think" approach to staffing, content, platforms and attitude in a way that appeals to the young - and those who advertise to them -- but that does not alienate older readers.
  
• The new audiences that newspapers in education programmes are creating among important new young adult target groups, including parents and young professionals. And the very newest ways to approach all newspapers in education efforts.
  
• Great ideas from the 2009 World Young Reader Prize winners, who were honoured for devising the best projects and activities in the past 24 months to develop young readership. "Young reader" refers to those under age 25.
  
• How newspapers can exploit the latest technologies to interact with, and deliver information, to young people.

The conference is supported by Norske Skog, the Norway-based global paper producer, and the Czech Publishers Association.

Full details can be found at www.wan-press.org/prague2009.