Hunter Medical Research Institute

May 2013

State of the media

• Business model imploding:

• Dumbed down

• Infomania

• Senior + specialist

journalists leaving

• Trust eroded

State of Science

• Locked out of public debate, misquoted in media• Thousands of credible and independent experts• But locked in an ‘ivory tower’

The best of both worlds together

• Turn the university into a Giant Newsroom!• Combining academic rigour, journalistic flair

Found: The last untapped goldmine

Bound by Charter

• Unlock knowledge

• Explain big problems, offer solutions

• Give experts voice in scientific, cultural & intellectual agendas

• Free from commercial, political interest

• Seed other media, heal the patient

Commercial media

Not for profit xAuthors recognised experts xContent free to the public xFree from commercial agenda xSolution-centric xSafe publishing platform xCreative Commons, access to all xNew voices x

Why we are different

Pipeline of information direct to the public

• 15 commissioning editors• 4910 registered academics• Global university networks

• State of the art site: readability index at aged 16

• Authors sign off and approve – full control• Daily newsletter, active social media

How we’re doing – KPIs

Source: Google analytics. Last Updated: 1 April 2013

• Traffic and reach

26m page views

15m visits

8m unique visitors (35% international)

• Engagement– 5,000 authors– 290 institutions– 10,000 articles– 142k+ comments– 6K+ republications

Compared to others?

Average unique daily visits (Feb 2013)

The Conversation 21,400

Business Spectator 20,200

Crikey 16,500

Source: Nielsen. NB: Nielsen excludes: international, republications

• 69% of articles republished • 43% of authors contacted by media

Seeding the media

Smart, engaged community

80% are not academics

89% have an undergraduate degree or higher

75% are employed

29% live in a household that owns a business

47% have household income over

$100,000

41% hold a postgraduate degree

Source: TC reader survey, March 2013

13-17; 1%

18-24; 19%

25-34; 33%35-44; 23%

45-54; 13%

55-64; 7%

65+; 5%

51% 49%

Case studies: Viral international pick up

• 400K views, 32K on facebook

• Most widely-read article

• Re-tweeted by: Richard Dawkins, Ricky Gervais, Tim Minchin & others

Case studies: Monday medical myths

• Popular myths busted• Over 70 myths (e.g., ‘Vitamin C prevents colds’)• Creative Commons: republished SBS & others• 249,840 unique readers

Case studies: Obesity infographic

• Interactive infographic: 23K views• Republished in: Mamamia, Life Hacker, ABC,

Food Mag, Nestle• Partnership: Baker IDI, Aus Sci Media Centre,

TC

The ConversationNewsroom

Engaged in the news cycle

Writing for The Conversation

Writing for The Conversation

Writing for The Conversation

Writing for The Conversation

Every author gets a rich control centre

Measure of public engagement

Get involved!

• Get your researchers to create profiles

• Pitch to our editors