The end of the year is always a time for reflection; a time to see what went right, what went wrong, and how improvements can be made in the coming year.

That philosophy can also be extended to your News view. Right now is the perfect time for Editors and Reporters to take advantage of one of the helpful “hidden gems” of the Jostle platform—the News items stats—and take overall stock of how the News items your organization posted over the past year performed. Then, you can take that data and use it to help form your News content plan for the coming year.

These stats can be accessed in the News view by going to the Action Bar, clicking “Manage” and then selecting “Published”. Detailed information for every News item that has been published will be found here, listed chronologically (Reporters will only see stats for their own Items, Editors will see stats for all Items).

Focusing on the columns for Views, Likes, and Comments you’ll be able to easily see which Items had the most activity, were the best received, and sparked the most conversation. Likewise, you’ll be able to parse out which articles fell flat, didn’t resonate with your readers or weren’t engaging.

The opportunity here is to look beyond the numbers and dig into what caused the results you’re seeing. Look for patterns: are there noticeable trends of consistent high or low stats? If so, then find out what’s causing them. Are they based on certain topics, the types of Items, or the Reporters writing them? Once you've figured that out, take your findings and use them to your advantage going forward.

For example, if Employee Profile articles regularly pull in a high number of Comments and Likes, think about increasing the number you publish. Or, if you notice that someone’s articles always have a low number of views, then maybe it’s a sign that this Reporter needs to build a more engaging writing style, or that their choice of topics aren’t piquing your audience’s interest. If you find that your Polls always average on the low end of participants, is it because you publish too many of them and it’s driving people away or are you failing to pull them in at all by not clearly representing the Poll topics in their headlines? Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your previously published content is key when creating a plan for your new content.

Using the News items stats in this manner makes them more than just a great way to review your News output over the past year. They help to get you focused on a new, engaging, and more productive News path for the year to come!