The Chicago Tribune’s Facebook page was created on Nov. 12, 2007, and it currently has 56,256 likes. The site’s administrators mainly post statuses with links to stories from the newspaper’s website. This is a great way to get more readers on their website. For example, on Nov. 16 a post was made titled “Twinkies and Wonder Bread. Will you miss them?” It includes a link to a story on their website about Hostess Brands Inc. closing down. Many people like Twinkies and Wonder Bread, so as they’re trolling around on Facebook, seeing that title would make them more likely to click the link and read further. This seems to be what their strategy is for the majority of their posts. They want to catch peoples’ attention and interests so they click on the links and browse the Chicago Tribune’s news site.
The Facebook page is updated every day with usually at least two posts per day. The page’s likes include journalists who work for the Chicago Tribune as well as other pages that are in some way associated with the newspaper. The fans of the page seem to be very interactive on the site. Every post has multiple likes and comments from readers. The more popular posts receive shares from fans, such as the Nov. 7 post about election night in Chicago.
Overall, the content and they way it is displayed on the Chicago Tribune’s Facebook page is organized and effective. Posting links to stories is a great way to retain more readers, as well as a great way to keep the page uncluttered with all different types of posts. They seem to only post links to the most intriguing stories, which are more likely to catch potential readers’ eyes. The site is clean-cut and regularly updated to maintain the number of current fans as well as gain new fans.
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