Dream on! If only a million views on Facebook could be cashed in for pounds!
I wish! But I did achieve a million page views on the Down News Facebook page this morning for the past month.
I’m just like everyone else. I dream of winning a million on the lottery. And sadly I don’t have any mega-rich uncles in the States with me as their last living relative. But I dream on.
I resigned myself to hard work and tried to put in the hours and even at times burn the midnight oil.
It has in a way paid off. I have made a million but traffic on Facebook does not translate into pounds.
I woke up this morning at 6am and first thing I did was check my iPhone. I was expecting to hit the Big M, a million page views (in a month I must say. I’m chuffed.
And it’s down to the support from the many readers around County Down and farther afield who have liked, shared, commented, emojied, and contributed, and even read the linked articles and viewed the images posted up on the Down News page. And to all the people who have sent in news and sports articles and encouraged me along the way.
Thank you everybody!
Back in 2011 I had been on Facebook for just over a year and my tally for that first 12 months was 517,000 page views.
I thought back then that this was great. It helped me win the Best Use of Social Media award in the Down District Council awards in late 2011.
And this morning I was over the moon to see I had eventually made it on my journey to achieving a million page views.
I had to rush off to a meeting at 7.30am but was back at my desk just after 9am.
But it’s been a bumpy ride since those early days 16 years ago as the media has since generally increasingly battled for sustainability… and still does. Some businesses have been more successful that others, but many titles have gone to the wall and many are showing negative bank balances as they struggle on year on year looking for the silver bullet that will pull them through.
Different models are being tested and there is definitely a state of flux going on, and many journalists, photographers and production staff are being laid of or going on to short working time with pay rises frozen and over the horizon.
Journalism and photography are useful skillsets to have but I would not recommend a young person taking up journalism at the moment even though the prospective journalist/photographer sees the profession as the fourth column protecting the bastions of liberal democracy at all levels. Such idealism won’t last too long in a modern newsroom, often a bubbling pressure cauldron.
But through the years I have built up a decent amount of followers organically (ie without having to ‘pay’ for followers, something I think is unethical) and this has proven to be a fairly sound strategy.
Facebook itself has changed considerably as you all may well know. It’s a struggle at times to keep up with it. But I’m confident now I can bring this to its next level.
I have covered news that is joyuous but mostly all too little, and news that is very sad and troubling such as the recent attack on Canon Murray in Downpatrick and the murder at Marian Park.
At times my journalism skills have been stretched but I keep going, and I keep studying most of the time as a life-long learner.
In July this year I went to London to complete a pilot module at the Microsoft Centre in Paddington – a one day event with 4 modules to complete on my own. The course – Ethical Journalism and Artificial Intelligence – was organised by Impress, the media regulatory body which I am a member of. It was mind-blowing!
Down News as a media news website platform using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is set to hopefully expand more in the coming year.
So a million thankyous to everyone who has helped make Down News a success.
Here’s to the next million !
And if the next million is ‘pounds’ and not ‘views’, then there will definitely be grounds for a real celebration. You’ll all be invited to the party!
Including Facebook!
And maybe if I did make a million pounds which is most unlikely, I’m pretty sure the secret would be down to four things: a good work ethic, strong desire to learn, being creative, and being a social, empathetic human being.
You may tick all 4 boxes, but is the hand of God or Lady Luck on your shoulder ?
