Gary Wilson
Morning coffee in hand you click on the Echo homepage.
What prompts you to read the lead story? Or exit and move on to the national news in your favorite paper?
The divide between what a commentator writes about and what readers want to read can be wide. What I think is important for you to know may not be of interest.
That’s especially true for me.
I’ve long been a political and policy wonk junkie. I love to delve into the weeds of Great Lakes issues. How the laws are passed, what special interests are being appeased and whether they are being enforced.
It’s important stuff but readers aren’t always interested and I don’t blame them. It takes time and research for the casual observer to stay on top of those issues.
Who has time to master the nuances of the Great Lakes Compact for example? Diversions and consumptive uses are important but they don’t inspire.
Readers are more interested in what they can see and how it impacts them.
Asian carp and fluctuating lake levels are two examples.
Five years ago when the carp story broke people were fascinated by the videos of 80 pound carp leaping out of the water. And if you owned a cottage on Lake Huron in recent years you saw its utility and value decline as lake levels plummeted. Both were right in your face.
This writer / reader push and pull caused me to examine what I wrote about in 2014 and how it was received by you. I used social media as the yardstick in my unscientific but still relevant analysis.
There are two social media icons on top of Echo stories — Twitter and Facebook. The Twitter icon registers when someone “tweets” the story to Followers. The Facebook icon counts how many times someone “Likes” the story.
I wrote 16 commentaries in 2014. Topics included Asian carp, algae, the Toledo water crisis and Detroit’s water issues. I also wrote a lot about Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.
What resonated with you based on those Twitter and Facebook hits?
The clear winner is the toxic algae Toledo water crisis from August. The image of 500,000 people without access to drinking water for three days had you clicking the “Like” button off the charts.
The commentary was titled “Failed algae policies leave Toledo high and dry.” In it I chronicle how government agencies and elected officials ignored decades-long warning signs until Toledo woke up on a Saturday morning in August without drinking water.
A piece written three weeks before the Toledo crisis about Ohio’s long neglect of Lake Erie was also high on the charts.
In “Ohio treads water as Lake Erie struggles” I took the Buckeye state to task for neglecting the algae issue and for having the dirtiest beaches in the region. I laid the blame at the feet of politicians who are about the appearance of doing something when they have done little to protect the Lake Erie and overall water quality.
“Atmosphere of crisis needed for faster action on Asian carp” based on my April interview of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was a close third.
Snyder was candid in talking about the region’s lack of urgency on dealing with Asian carp. But he gave a soft answer on what to do about the aged Enbridge oil pipeline that runs through the Straits of Mackinac. Agree with Snyder or not, you were clearly interested in what the governor of the Great Lakes state had to say.
What didn’t resonate – at least not enough to click on one of those social media icons?
Two commentaries about the need to change our mindset and collaboration and candor didn’t move the dial. I continue to like both, especially the mindset commentary. It asks that we stop being defensive about protecting the environment. If you skipped it when published in February, take another look.
Surprises?
As an ex-Detroiter the troubled city remains important to me.
I wrote about the importance of keeping Detroit’s water department under public control post-bankruptcy. It needed to be written but I didn’t expect it to get much play. There’s a certain Detroit fatigue in play where people have tired of Detroit stories. Surprisingly, there was considerable interest. That tells me that privatization of water is still a hot button issue.
One technical point merits a mention.
Facebook “Likes” outnumbered Tweets. That’s curious as I tease my work on Twitter but I’m not on Facebook .
This exercise was valuable. It provided me with insight into what’s important to you.
Clearly water quality and the algae threat in Lake Erie are high on your chart. Agencies, policymakers and politicians — especially in Michigan and Ohio — should take note. Five months post-Toledo and they’ve failed to do anything of substance about algae.
Asian carp? Not so much. The issue has faded. One can only watch those jumping fish videos so many times.
Paying attention to your interests will continue in 2015. As will the dives into policies and laws, for better or worse. They’re important because they impact what we do about jumping carp and water we can’t drink.
Keep the “Tweets” and “Likes” coming.
I’m paying attention.