The 10 laws of multimedia

We can get ourselves into such a fluster in our hurry to add the latest innovation to our websites that we may lose sight of what exactly it's meant to be doing for our readers.

So it's probably a good idea to take a step back from time to time and take stock.

Deb Wenger has a report, on the Advancing the Story blog, of a talk given by multimedia expert Al Tompkins (pictured) to educators at the Poynter Institute listing what he calls the 10 laws of multimedia.

He told them: "To be great, multimedia has to make the story better than it would be in a legacy form.”

The rules include making the site interactive, being search engine friendly, and tapping into local passion groups.

“The most important reason to do multimedia is to improve the journalism,” Tompkins told the group.

Of course, many people have what they consider to be a good multimedia strategy but it's always good to look at what other people suggest doing. You never know, you might be missing a trick.

How the New York Times football tracker could help journalists with effective targeting

It may all seem like a bit of pointless fun, but the New York Times' football tracker could indicate a way to tailor your content based on what your readers are most interested in.

In something similar to Twitter trending topics, the simple, interactive tool tracks the amount of discussion each team player attracts on Facebook and then creates a graphic based on the resulting numbers. The larger their picture, the more talk there is about them.

For example, Robert Green's infamous football fumbling resulted in him being the player most discussed on June 14th. Likewise, an uninspired performance from England against Algeria on the 18th gave Wayne Rooney the top spot.

Interestingly, perhaps suggesting that the discussions aren't entirely focused on the players' performance on the pitch, Christiano Ronaldo has dominated the tracker. As Portugal were eliminated from the tournament at the end of June, perhaps his continued presence is due to his reported Facebook announcement regarding his new role as a dad.

It's great for both the most obsessive of footy fans who dont want to miss a trick and those who have little interest in football but may want to keep up with the watercooler chats.

Arguably, it's also a good way of sport writers and editors keeping track of who and what is catching the attention of their readers which could allow them to tweak their content accordingly. It certainly gives pause for thought.