Ottawa

Giving the readers what they want

Susan Delacourt argues the media’s fascination with Justin Trudeau is driven by reader fascination.

Many of us who made the trek to that out-of-the-way, crowded auditorium in Montreal on Tuesday night were there to watch Trudeau launch his campaign for one main reason: readers demanded it. Every time we put anything about Trudeau on our web pages or Twitter feeds, our readership numbers go through the roof. Can we explain this? Not really…

There’s a little gadget on Twitter, for instance, called bitly. It shortens weblinks to fit more tidily in the 140-character limits, which is handy. Even handier, though, is the “stats page.” It shows you which of those shortened links is getting the most web traffic, and where the clicks are coming from. I guess I don’t need to tell you that on my stats page this week, the links I posted about Trudeau were generating hundreds and hundreds of clicks, while non-Trudeau links attracted a few dozen here and there.

Here at Macleans.ca, you can read Jason Lietaer’s eight questions about Justin Trudeau. (And don’t forget to pick up this week’s print edition with Justin Trudeau on the cover and an interview with the Liberal leadership candidate inside.)

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