Advanced Online Media – Blog Post 20 (critical report)

When I started thinking about the individual project for Advanced Online Media, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to focus on. But going through the different workshops helped me narrow down my choices. It was either going to be an app or a live blog. I eventually went for the latter as I thought there was a gap in the market for an in-depth, multi-topic live blog on the world of motorsport.

Many live blogs focus on just one topic but I wanted mine to cover a range of things. Most of the posts would revolve around the biggest motorsport event taking place but there would be frequent updates and posts on other championships also in action. So, my project was a motorsport live blog, running for longer than many others and providing in-depth coverage on one series, and semi-regular updates on categories.

I completed a practice run the weekend before covering Formula E in Mexico and IndyCar qualifying in St. Petersburg. They were on similar time zones so it made covering them both easy, as they effectively ran one after the other. It went well but I felt I definitely learned what to do and what not to do when completing a live blog. As part of my freelance work with Grand Prix Times I also regularly contribute to their live feed for F1 sessions so that gave me added practice, but the assessment for Advanced Online Media really helped develop my skills in this area, which I have been able to transfer on to my work outside of university.

Having completed a run-through, I then completed my assessment live blog on the following weekend, covering third practice and qualifying for the F1 2016 Australian Grand Prix. It was a busy day for motorsport, which enabled me to chip in with updates and posts on other series, but the timing for the Australian sessions meant there weren’t many clashes or categories racing at similar times. This made things a bit trickier compared to the practice blog but I think I managed the challenge well and brought added motorsport flavour to the feed, so it wasn’t just all about F1.

 

But because of this, it did steer away a bit from my initial plan. The feed was started at 2:41am for a 20-minute build-up before FP3 and ended at 7:38am, following almost 40-minute wrap-up. There were lots of small details from my practice blog that I looked to change and did so, such as using hyperlinks rather than the full links, more consistent use of symbols, mixing it up with tweet embeds and pictures, breaking up sessions with bullet-point round-ups and a summary of what was to come at the start of the feed, along with a picture.

Another crucial detail was producing pre-planned content, which I did the evening before. This ranged from fun facts about the race to explaining new F1 2016 regulations and introducing new drivers and teams. This proved to be a big help and was mainly used in the gap between FP3 and qualifying, to keep the blog ticking over and provide potential readers with interesting information that will be useful to take into the season and sessions.

I was pleased overall with the content I produced, it was the right length, the updates were shorter, sharper, looked smarter and the whole blog looked nice and uniform. I used colours to split up the series I was talking about and I felt the short summaries worked well. I really enjoyed completing it and didn’t get caught up in the speed of it, I kept things consistent and in the right, light-hearted and chatty tone. Which is exactly what I wanted to achieve.

But I feel there are negatives to it as well. I could have started a bit sooner and taken longer to wrap up the feed, providing more information on developments at the track before and after the sessions. I did not publicise the blog but acted as if I had, but perhaps feedback from those following it would have been beneficial as I went along. I was limited by the version of Live Blog Pro slightly as there were limited symbols and no way of directly embedding it onto my blog. It would have been handy to add video too but Formula One Management are strict with this and so it wouldn’t be used anyway, and the F1 social media accounts do not post videos during sessions. It lost some of its unique edge by being more focused rather than reporting on a broader motorsport spectrum but that was partly the weekend it was completed on and the time of year. There was plenty of room for improvement but overall I was pleased with the work completed and the finished product.

During the first Advanced Online Media lecture, I immediately wrote down some initial ideas for the pitch assessment, one of which was a supercar spotting app. It’s something that a friend and I had been discussing a few weeks earlier, without even realising it could be explored during an assessment. We were out in London supercar spotting, seeing what exotic cars were out there, but we were struggling to find the cars people were posting about on social media. We realised an app pin pointing the locations of these supercars and hypercars would be really helpful.

It took me a while to come up with a name, it was one of the last things I thought about. I had two apps to choose from but following a meeting with the head of year, I started to realise how crucial it would be for the app to be a spin-off of a popular automotive brand. Car Throttle proved to be perfect. I work as a freelancer there, so had the information, knew how the company worked and was passionate and knowledgeable about the current products – the website and apps they currently run.

I struggled initially with names, but I soon saw just how important it would be to have the Car Throttle name in there and Car Throttle Spotter was born. It was the one I thought worked the best from my brainstorming sessions and was short, catchy but still described the app perfectly. I soon started developing the idea and got really into it. The car industry is one of my passions and so it was really great to be exploring an idea that I would genuinely use in real life.

I think the core of the idea is strong, with the mix of location (not a new idea, but it is in the supercar area) and user generated content to produce pins where supercars have been spotted. The audience is niche, but there is still a substantial potential user pool out there. I see supercar spotting growing with every trip.

I decided introducing the social media element with following users, having a feed and being able to comment and “plus” (like) pins would be crucial for building a community feel. I also stressed the crossover elements to the Car Throttle editorial content and how crucial it would be to utilise the social media and brand of Car Throttle for advertising and promotion.

The presentation itself went well, I spoke a little too fast but I managed to fit inside the 10 minute time limit. I didn’t focus too much on my note cards and the powerpoint, speaking in a more relaxed tone than I expected considering my nerves and tried my best to get my enthusiasm and knowledge of the car market across. The presentation had a lot of elements, from stats to trends, my own story of how the idea came about and mock-ups, but I kept the slides simple and had an additional hand-out with further information.

In the Q & A, there were concerns over privacy of the cars with the app, but many supercar owners like showing them off and that’s why they are parked on the street. We discussed in the presentation there could be the chance though of blurring out number plates in the camera software. The panel was confused by the logo but as the Car Throttle branding it can’t be changed, and there were questions about the potential user base. While it is a small sector I do think a considerable amount of people within that would be interested. I feel I handed the Q & A segment well and backed up my answers with my research and knowledge.

This module has enabled me to improve my skills in many areas like social media, blogging and content creating as well as introducing me to others like data journalism. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone at times but kept to what I know best for the assessments and was really proud of what I achieved. It was a big learning curve and one I enjoyed very much.

Advanced Online Media – Blog Post 19 (pitch, the presentation)

Prior to my Advanced Online Media presentation on my pitch idea, I completed a number of tasks in preparation. I gathered together stats, facts and information on Car Throttle and the world of supercars, on topics like social media, revenue, investment and app usage.

I found out some fascinating facts about Car Throttle, for example its apps have 400,000 daily users and the website gets 20 million views per month, five million of those are unique. I was also able to use information I have previously been told by the Car Throttle staff, as I am on their freelance team. For example, 99% of content on Car Throttle is user generated.

I used the information found to put together my pitch document, which gave a brief overview of my idea, the research I had completed, the market and why I think the idea is worth pursuing. It contained many details that I explained in my presentation, but in the powerpoint I was able to go into depth about why I thought of this idea, my passion for cars, my enthusiasm for the industry and look more at the increasing trend of supercar spotting.

As well as my pitch document and powerpoint slides, I also prepared a hand out with other facts and information in written form for the panel to look at during it. The document also gave them a closer look at the logo. I felt the presentation shared a lot of information in a short space of time and enabled me to really get my enthusiasm and passion across on the subject and idea.

During the presentation itself, I veered off topic from my slides slightly to share facts like how Car Throttle predicted mid-way through 2015 it would make over £1million in revenue that year, as well as information about its recent investment boost and staff numbers. It was important to share Car Throttle’s story of rapid expansion and show that something like Car Throttle Spotter could not only be doable but be something that could potentially be on the horizon as well.

The presentation lasted around 10 minutes, with a Q & A session afterwards, where I was able to push forward my idea more and give further clarity on its aims, objectives, the target audience and what the future could hold for it if the app was created.

Advanced Online Media – Blog Post 18 (pitch, logo)

Because my Advanced Online Media idea is a spin-off app of the Car Throttle media platform, it was clear what the logo for Car Throttle Spotter would include.

It needed to contain the official Car Throttle logo, but with a slight twist to show off the supercar spotting element. The two mock-ups I created feature the full Car Throttle logo and the “gate” grid which is made up of the “ttl” part of the name.

This is the style made by the person in charge of designing the logo when the website was rebranded in 2014. When those three letters are taken away in the design created, it resembles the gate of a gearbox, which is the layout of the gears.

I opted to use a magnifying glass as the additional extra to showcase the supercar spotter, it’s obviously a reference to the word “spotter” and describes the main function of the app – to help people find nice cars.

I think the branding is clear, it maintains the Car Throttle logo, colours and style but is obviously its own thing with the addition of the magnifying glass.

The large logo will be used for branding, advertising and on the app loading screen but the smaller grid logo will feature as a thumbnail, as well as on social media and at the top of the app itself.

Advanced Online Media – Blog Post 17 (pitch, mock ups)

Before my online media idea pitch, for the Advanced Online Media module, I created a series of mock-ups of what the app and logo could look like. They also debut the name of the idea, Car Throttle Spotter.

I decided to keep Car Throttle in the name due to the fact it is a spin-off of the popular automotive platform and keeping that brand association will be crucial for gaining new users and building a following.

The first mock-up is a simple one of what the app will look like when you open it up:

Next up is what the menu screen will look like:

Then there’s what the pins will roughly look like when clicked on:

Advanced Online Media – Blog Post 16 (pitch, Car Throttle)

The idea for my app is to be a spin-off of the popular automotive platform Car Throttle. I have been a freelance writer for the website for two and a half years, after completing work experience there in the summer of 2013. Car Throttle has quickly developed from a car blog to the biggest online automotive platform in the world.

Now, 99% of its content is made up of user generated content, posting to different communities. Users have the ability to follow communities, users and keep up to date with posts through different feeds – including a popular feed. There is also the editorial feed with posts by the founder Adnan Ebrahim, editor Alex Kersten, three staff writers and freelance writers too.

Ebrahim launched the website in 2009 while still at university. Once he graduated, he jumped into running Car Throttle full time and has since raised several rounds of investment from the likes of Passion Capital, James Bromley (MailOnline), Peter Read and Blake Chandlee (Facebook). When I completed work experience there in 2013, there were three members of full time staff and the website’s office was located in White Bear Yard in Farringdon.

Last year Car Throttle moved to its own new, dedicated office (also in Farringdon) and now has over 20 staff members, including website and app developers. The CT Android app launched last year and has had over 400,000 downloads so far, while the iOS app just launched, much to the delight of many Car Throttle users.

The parent company Circle Six was formed last year and a new brand, Missfit, was launched to target the beauty and style markets. The rapid evolution means there are now app developers working at Car Throttle and with the big two apps already launched, attention could turn to what’s next. A supercar spotting app would be a good fit for Car Throttle, the car spotting and supercar communities each have over 40,000 users and are some of the most active and popular on the platform.

With existing staff, a well-known brand and potential users already being there for the taking, it makes sense and could potentially be very popular. The social media aspects will also be big and Car Throttle can use its own accounts to promote the app, while also providing editorial content targeted at it, like the best cars spotted on the app that week or tips for supercar spotters. There is a lot of cross over and plenty of ways for users to switch between the two, driving traffic to each outlet.

Advanced Online Media – Blog Post 15 (pitch, the competition)

Having a look around online, there aren’t a huge deal of dedicated supercar spotting apps out there. I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing. And the ones I have found seem small, underdeveloped and haven’t had a huge amount of downloads.

The first main piece of competition that I found is an app called Car Spot, which appears to be more like Instagram but for automotive fans. It is a place where people can share pictures of the cars they have spotted, with a stream full of images taken by car lovers. There is the chance to follow users and track your own activity.

The app has a basic look and function, it’s easy to use and the branding looks smart, but it doesn’t have much substance. My idea combines a lot of different aspects – social media, location, editorial and advertising – while this one is very social media focused. It also doesn’t seem to be affiliated with any brands, which is perhaps why it has so few downloads. The visual side of it isn’t particularly refined and it is missing the community driven feel that would make it more popular.

Another rival is the Sighted website, which I only recently became aware of after they interacted with one of my supercar-related tweets. It is very similar to my own idea, using a map to place the location of supercars, with pictures being posted on the locations. The website has posts from different countries and uses Twitter and Instagram hashtags to develop the pinpoints, as well as from user uploads.

There is also the function of filtering the updates depending on the tags the posts include, which is actually a really good idea and one I hadn’t thought of. But while the main feature is very similar to my own, it doesn’t have the additional extras which I think will draw people to an app like mine and isn’t a particularly well-known brand, unlike Car Throttle, which my app will be a spin-off of.

But the overall look and way the website has been developed and built looks solid and is very easy to use, something I hope to also achieve with my own app. Going through research, there seems to be a gap in the market for this kind of app and there are few direct competitors, although places like Sighted will be tough to match.

Advanced Online Media – Blog Post 14 (pitch, the idea)

After much thought between my two pitch assessment ideas, I eventually decided to go for the supercar spotting option. My decision-making process was helped by a meeting with head of Journalism Jim McClellan, who gave me some advice on my initial two ideas and what I should be aiming for with this particular assessment.

The app gives supercar fans the chance to pin-point where the cars they have spotted are, live and when they are right in front of them. These then get added to a map of the city and will remain on there for three hours, before being removed. The pins will include an image (taken directly from the camera rather than allowing people to use older, previously-taken pictures), the name of the supercar, the user’s name and their social media details.

I want to create the app as a spin-off to the motoring platform Car Throttle, which is one of the biggest automotive website in the world. It is 99% made up of user generated content and is seen as more of a social network or forum, while also featuring high-quality editorial and video content. I have been freelancing for Car Throttle since August 2013, having done work experience with them the previous summer.

Car Throttle has four million users per month and has recently been expanding, with the parent company Circle Six being set up and launching Missfit, a website on fashion and popular culture. It draws on Car Throttle’s community strengths but moves the company into a new vertical. Car Throttle has also recently launched an app, with 250,000 downloads already.

I think with Car Throttle’s current development and already existing app developers, this would make a supercar spotting app a good fit. The car spotting and supercar communities are some of the most popular on the website and this shows a true interest in the topic. It would make sense financially and also mean an audience is already there.

 

Car Throttle could also benefit from featuring some of its content on the app, which would redirect people to the full articles on the website and app itself. It could also promote its videos, advertisers and create sponsored content, as well as taking advantage of the fact many popular supercar spotters like Shmee150 and SupercarsofLondon use the site.

So alongside having the main feature of the map with pins and the editorial feed for Car Throttle content, I think (realistically) there could also be a feed where people can follow users and keep track of their posts, even once they have disappeared from the map. Saving cities could also be a big help for navigating the maps quickly and I think comments on pins are a must.

The basic features could, I think, be achievable for the current development staff at Car Throttle, maybe with the addition of one or two extra, so that would cut costs. This is just one of the benefits of having it as a spin-off idea, as well as the branding and potential audience that is already right there.

This particular app is in an area I am really passionate about and love. Having been supercar spotting quite a few times and loved it, I know what it is like and the frustrations of not seeing anything, missing cars or not knowing where they are. This app has a big market and one that is constantly increasing and evolving. There seems to be a gap in the app industry for something like this, which draws in other elements like social media, editorial and advertising.

Advanced Online Media – Blog Post 13 (Pitch, idea pros and cons)

So my two ideas for the online media product for the pitch assessment were explained in my last post, which can be found here. In short, it is a local news aggregation app using a map, and a supercar spotting app.

There are plenty of advantages and disadvantages to both, which made it tricky to decide on the final idea. The pros for the local news aggregation are that it incorporates several different elements – local news, aggregation and location. It could be handy and useful for people travelling too, which got me thinking about possible secondary features.

As well as local news, the app could also bring in local events and weather. I thought an attractive design could be a pin-point symbol on the location you want, with a circular band arriving around it, which local headlines to scroll through, weather, events and maybe traffic updates as well. These could be viewed by scrolling around the circle, increasing the section selected.

The app would be a way of supporting local news, being informative and engaging. The additional features would give it more substance and make it more appealing to those travelling. It is a service that I could see a lot of people using, but it draws in a lot of different features, meaning development could take time and be more expensive.

Other negatives could include a complicated user interface, more scope for errors to occur, the pure effort it would take to get local media outlets on board and part of it and also the fact that for the amount of work and development, the app would probably have to be made available for a cost – more so than the other idea at least. It’s also an area I am least interested in when comparing the two.

Switching focus to the supercar spotting app, I think it could go two ways. It could be a stand-alone app, or it could be matched to a automotive website, magazine or social media account. Examples of this could include Car Throttle, Road and Track, Autocar and Supercars of London. This would open up more opportunities for features, improve funding and could give it a better draw promotion and development wise.

The app could be complicated to develop and set up, but when it is created, I think the user interface, experience and additional content could be really popular and look good too. The simple part of it would be marking the locations of supercars on a map using your current location, with a photo and comment of what the car is.

I was thinking about how people could get around this and obviously people could upload previous pictures of supercars but tag them in locations where they are not. So I thought, to solve this, the camera function could only work where you have to take the photo then and there. You can’t scroll through your galleries and previously saved visual content. It opens up the camera and one shot is taken, which then moves the process on.

I then started to look into other areas to go down. I was thinking comments could be posted on the pins, with opinions on the car, colour, location, if they have seen it before etc. I think a good duration for the pins to stay on the map would be between three and five hours. Then people could also add their social media details to their accounts, which would be displayed below the pins, to draw people to their accounts.

Partnering up with a car website or magazine could also lead to additional content like features with tips, advice and the best cars uploaded in certain areas. These could be presented as snippets, with the full articles viewable by visiting their websites/apps/online versions of magazines. This would be a big draw for people investing in the app as they would get something else back other than advertising revenue from the app itself and from the costs of the app itself to consumers.

I also thought about other potential features like being able to save cities like London, Los Angeles, Miami etc so you can easily access and go to them. You could also add people’s accounts and have a stream where it states when someone has posted, the picture and where it was. So even after the pin has disappeared, people can see what others have been up to and seen.

But this app could be costly and time-consuming to develop depending on the features involved. It also could become overly complicated to use, so simplicity must be the main objective with the look and user experience. It also is very niche and doesn’t have the same mass market draw as the previous idea.

Advanced Online Media – Blog Post 12 (Pitch, idea development)

As soon as I learned about this assessment on the Advanced Online Media module, I started to think about the potential areas I could explore. Through the next few weeks, I started brainstorming ideas. I had quite a few different options but two really stood out to me.

The first is a news aggregation app for local outlets, where people can set a location – it could be where they are at that point, or where they are going – and see all of the local news in the area. The idea would pull together different media platforms in the region to bring up the latest stories and features.

I thought this idea would be well-suited to the module because it brings in the media industry and does something different with it. The initial thought popped into my head when I was wondering what was going on in my local area while still in London. Main news platforms like BBC News and Sky don’t narrow down the content that much, so the main stories from my home town and local area around it would rarely be included.

The app would draw together the websites of local media outlets, giving them a new audience and giving users the chance to catch up with all of the latest goings on and see if there are things happening that they should be aware of. That was the basic idea, relatively simple but one I thought could be developed.

 

The second idea I thought of was a supercar spotting app, aiding people in major cities around the world, where nice, powerful cars are more common. Supercar spotting is actually a rapidly evolving hobby and one that is becoming more and more popular. I have been supercar spotting quite a few times over the years in London and notice each time that more and more people are getting involved.

The rise of YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat have meant people have been able to turn supercar spotting into a career and make money of the content. But often they are blind when out in the city trying to spot the cars and miss them too, I have had many a frustrating afternoon seeing loads of supercars on Instagram and looking around, finding none of them.

It’s actually something my friend and I discussed at the time, how a supercar spotting app would be big help. The main feature for the app would give people the chance to pin point the locations of the supercars, with a picture. It would remain on the map for several hours, giving people a much better chance of finding them.

That was the simple, basic idea. It incorporates something I am really interested in, as well as having a lot of potential for expansion. These were my two main ideas, now it was time to weigh up the pros and cons.

Advanced Online Media – Blog Post 11 (the final live blog)

On Saturday 19 March 2016, from 2:41am to 7:38am, I ran a motorsport live blog focusing on third practice and qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix – the first round of the 2016 F1 season. I also looked at and brought in news and updates on other motorsport championships taking place over the weekend.

Prior to the live blog, I prepared content to post throughout the live blog, as well as organising a schedule, sourcing pictures and working out some of the settings of Live Blog Pro – such as creating a name for the live blog, hyperlinking and structuring round-up posts.

The live blog kicked off with a 20-minute build-up prior to third practice and concluded with 35-minute wrap-up of the feed. I opted to do this after a lack of both in my practice live blog, which I completed the weekend before. I tried to bring in more use of symbols, adding in tweets and pictures, as well as adding pre-planned content and bullet point posts to add more information in short, and sharp bites.

Despite a main focus on F1, as it was the headline event over the weekend and took place at an odd time, far earlier than other series, I still decided to add in information and mentions of other series to give the blog more depth for motorsport fans and give them additional posts and updates during the lull, especially the gap between FP3 and qualifying.

This was a key moment for the live blog, I posted tweets and pre-planned content with information and guides to the new qualifying session. The change in format for the 2016 season was a good talking point in the feed and it failed massively, the system did not go down well with supporters, teams and drivers.

The live blog can be found from this link.

I live blogged the Australian Grand Prix race on Sunday, but it was part of my freelance work for Grand Prix Times. A two-man team of myself and a colleague ran the race live feed from 4:45am to 7:43am using a customised version of Live Blog Pro, which brought with it more symbols, posts directly being shared on Twitter and other additional features.

We split up the duties, so I was reporting on the drivers in positions sixth downwards, as well as embedding tweets and posting team radio broadcasts. It was a challenge as the race was packed full of drama but we stepped up the professionalism with two people on the feed.

Because of my work on Sunday, I was not able to live blog the race for my assessment, which is why I opted for Saturday’s third practice and qualifying. But this did give me the opportunity to complete a longer live blog on Saturday and also helped me bring the ideas I have learned in this module through to my work.

The Australian Grand Prix race live blog on Grand Prix Times can be found here.