How people consume their news, views and other written content has always changed over time. And as a result, we've made our own gradual changes over time, as well.
In this, our 10th year, we're coming close to completing what we feel will be a sound approach for the foreseeable future, and I thought it might be worthwhile to share some of that with all of you in this edition of Site Stuff after discussing among ourselves over the past week:
• To start, exempt my columns and full-length features like Friday Insider from all that's below.
• More articles on more specific subjects, not nearly as long. That includes off games and other events. For example, if this were applied for the Pirates' lousy loss last night in Toronto, we'd have a main piece on how the visitors failed to register a hit over the final eight innings, we'd have another on how awesome Bailey Falter's been, and we'd have a third that might be a bit unexpected. Like a closeup of the winning home run. Keeps the app/site feeling faster, more user-friendly, while at the same time -- and this goes for me, too -- forcing all of us to always dig deeper than the final score.
• The main game piece, to be clear which it is, will have a graphic illustrating the final score:
GETTY
• More analysis within these pieces and, as such, turning weekly features such as Chalk Talk, Drive to the Net and Mound Visit into more frequent sub-articles breaking down things like, well, that winning home run last night. Doesn't take 18-20 paragraphs. Takes some analysis, a video, some metrics, some quotes from the athletes. I'm actually super excited about this part, mostly because of how much I enjoy doing them on hockey.
• More usage of the Feed as a live tool for distributing news as it happens. Doesn't need a big headline or multiple paragraphs or whatever. Can just be one sentence on the Feed, where you can count on it being there quickly.
• Multiply all of this many times over when it comes to the Steelers, as they've got the greatest audience and the fewest games. That should always go without saying, but I'm saying it.
• This is a tech thing, but we'll connect the article comments directly to the corresponding Feed entry, so you don't have to wonder where to go to comment on something. The commenting balloon will be available in both places.
• Our home page display will make much more visible which articles are our latest, and it'll be updated around the clock to reflect that.
Put it all together, as we'll be doing over the next month or so, and we're confident it'll be a product that succeeds journalistically, financially and in every, adding to the readership edge we already hold over the entire rest of the Pittsburgh sports market.
Happy to answer anything anyone might ask about this in comments.
BUILDING BRICKS ARE DONE!
Our final offering of Building Bricks for the HQ/shop concluded at 11:59 p.m. last night, and the total for this phase wound up at 68. Coupled with the original 154 already up in the wall, that'll be 222 once all the new ones are added. Which will be very close to the max we could've taken. It'll look great.
Thanks to everyone who came through on both phases. Immeasurably appreciated.
INSIDE THE WORKS
• Most regrettably from all perspectives, Amanda Filipcic-Godsey had to resign for reasons that'll remain personal. We'll keep eyes open for ways to create additional content on the Steelers.
• As it is, Chris Halicke will be moving up from Texas soon enough, and he, Corey Crisan and I will work in tandem to tackle all the football. In Corey's case, that'll also mean Pitt football, which doesn't take anywhere near full-time hours.
• Those strange-looking miniature commenting balloons will be adjusted back early in the coming week, the developers promise. This was an unintended side effect of the effort to ensure our blind subscribers have full access to all content.
• Our 10th anniversary celebration will be July 23 at the HQ/shop. We've already heard from quite a few of you planning to attend, including some from well out of town. For anyone looking into a longer trip, know that the Pirates and Cardinals have a three-game series at PNC Park at that time, so it's a nice double-dip.
• Everyone loving being ad-free? If you're not there yet, it's only for paying subscribers. If you aren't subscribed yet or if your subscription's expired: This is our subscribe page. Make sure you're logged in, tap on the link, and thumb down to the bottom for the SUBSCRIBE button to buy/renew at the monthly or annual level. We also offer discounts, as ever, for student subscriptions and senior subscriptions.
• Grateful that so many of you continue to leave us good reviews on outside platforms. There've been hundreds of reviews already. For anyone who hasn't yet, feel free to add your own on our Google listing, our Apple or Spotify podcast channels, our YouTube channels for the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates and, last but not least, our own app, whether it's the Apple or Android version. And again, thank you!
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers for the past week were 638,670, with 39,524 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, May 24-30. Our most-read original piece was my column on the Pirates' management from PNC Park, at 20,016.
• On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 75,854, plus another figure we (still) can't access yet on a second platform, and our YouTube video views for the past week were 132,957.
• Our company social media accounts are at 53,855 followers on X, 40,549 on Facebook, 31,384 on YouTube, 14,944 on Instagram ... and already 4,536 on the new Threads!
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• We're often asked about our HQ/shop merch being available online, and yes, it's right here. The Downtown shop itself's open Tuesday-Saturday, 12-6 p.m.
• Anything you need, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Thanks for reading and, as ever, for your support of this venture.