Wikileads 2.0
Since its online debut, Wikileads has been dedicated to covering the news, buzz and analysis surrounding anonymous whistle-blowing site Wikileaks. Wikileads has reported the leaks and analyzed their implications — from Scientology’s secret bibles to Zimbabwe’s secret rockets, from Kenyan corruption to Chinese suppression, from Wikileaks’ legal battles to the site’s prestigious awards.
But do people want Wikileaks news, buzz and analysis? Or do they want stories of whistle blowing from a variety of sources?
Wikileads surveyed its readers, and four out of five respondents agreed: Stick with Wikileaks. It’s new, it’s now, it’s relevant and intriguing, and I may be the only one blogging about it.*
The problem, then, is attracting more readers.
Part 1: Wikileads’ untapped online community, or: Who could be my readers?
Wikileads readers care about big issues and are ready for some change. They’re hyper-connected activists who pay attention to world events. They’re philosophical techies who are intrigued by the implications of the Internet. A lot of them participate in multiple online forums. In bullet-pointed format, they are:
- People who distrust big, secretive organizations. Wikileads readers are activists, whistle blowers, Scientology haters, liberal idealists and others who want to make the bad men stop — and who see Wikileaks as a warrior in this battle.
- Journalists and techies (a.k.a. the hyper-connected). This group consists of mainstream journalists, especially technology writers, tech bloggers and the readers of both. This crowd seems particularly interested in Wikileaks’ technological and legal implications. They may care more about what Wikileaks means than about what Wikileaks does. They love nothing more than a feisty Slashdot message board.
- Insiders. People involved in the Wikileaks project are aware of Wikileads and some may read it on a regular basis. Wikleads could provide insiders with an outsider’s take on the project. What do other commentators have to say about the most recent leak? What attracts more attention: a Scientology document or a letter from a Church of Scientology lawyer? What kinds
of leaks do people care about most? Wikileads could offer a fresh perspective on these and other issues. - The world. Wikileaks is international in scope — in the past three months, Wikileaks documents have exposed sketchy behavior in places as diverse as Zimbabwe, South Korea, Colombia
and the US. People around the world care about the Wikileaks project, so people around the world could care about Wikileads. In fact, some already may. Although 66 percent of visits were from the U.S., people from 37 countries and every continent except Antarctica have visited Wikileads.net.
Part 2: Everyone should read Wikileads, but how to convince them?
Wikileads 2.0 would look a lot like the original Wikileads, but with more original reporting and analysis of Wikileaks-related current events, more user interaction and more multimedia.
- Real reporting, deep analysis. The most successful posts so far — the posts where a lot of people spent a significant amount of time — included original reporting and analysis of Wikileaks-related current events. The top four posts in terms of pageviews and time spent did more than aggregate Wikileaks news:
So if the author of Wikileads.net were to come across some money to improve this site, her top priority would be to do more original reporting.
- Wikileaks Weekly News Roundup, the video. Posts that contain audio and video have proven popular as well, especially in terms of time spent on a page. In the ideal Wikileads, every week I would create a short but interesting news roundup video to summarize Wikileaks-related events.
The power of the link. About 46 percent of Wikileads’ traffic resulted from incoming links. Of that, 25 percent found out about Wikileads through a single link at Enturbulation.org, an anti-Scientology site. Also, Digg provided seven percent of link-based traffic even though I only started Digging my posts about three weeks ago. This demonstrates the power of social bookmarking and forum participation. Part of the Wikileads 2.0 plan is to participate more in online discussions of Wikileaks. Well-placed, insightful comments could draw visitors to Wikileads.- Make it pretty. More Tom Cruise videos in posts about Scientology. If Robert Mugabe is trafficking Chinese rockets, insert a photo of Robert Mugabe or Chinese rockets. Photos and graphics break up the text and make a site more aesthetically appealing. A prominent photo of a rocket might intrigue a new visitor enough that he/she sticks around.
With these changes, the new and improved Wikileads would attract a loyal following of readers with its engaging, original and newsworthy commentary on the Wikileaks project.
*WikiLeak.org is also about Wikileaks, but since early March, posts have only addressed Wikileaks’ technical problems
Read more:
Wikileads Community Profile
Wikileads 2.0: The Plan