The purpose of this blog is to bring magazine readers and web users closer to our products by explaining why we do what we do and encouraging discussion. So this week I thought I would tackle the thorny subject of different types of content and ask the question - are we getting the balance right between the serious content and the lighter fun material?
Every day the team grapples with this issue as we try to provide a comprehensive information service for a very broad community both in the magazine and online. Deciding priorities and agreeing where to put resource, can sometimes be tricky and it's extremely difficult pleasing everyone all of the time.
Our number one priority has always been to work hard for farming's future by providing serious news, views, advice, case studies and analysis. We strive to deliver practical information, technical know-how, solutions and comment. Some of it is suppllied daily through www.fwi.co.uk and some through the weekly (FW) and monthly magazines (Crops, Poultry World and the Update series).
When we asked thousands of farmers a couple of years ago what they expected from us, they told us that in addition to the serious stuff they also wanted our products to reflect the lighter side of life in agriculture. They want us to project a more positive image of farming and to include more younger faces. This is why our design, both in print and on line, embraces more pictures these days and why we have introduced new youthful columnists such as Heidi Colthrup, Matthew Naylor and Hugh Broom. You may also have spotted quite a lot of coverage from the YFC convention in Blackpool too. We call this "frothy and fun content" because it's really entertainment.
Some readers and users appreciate the lighter material. For example, we got phenomenal traffic on the website for picture galleries from the YFC convention (all those youngsters keen to see pix of themselves having a laugh). But it's true that we also get criticism from some quarters that the lighter content is too much and irrelevant for some. These people argue that if they wanted "lifestyle content" they would buy a consumer magazine instead.
Last week we launched a new online dating service. Thanks to a linkup with Muddy Matches, the rural dating portal, FWi can now offer its users the chance to search for the perfect partner or friend in the countryside. We know there is a need for this kind of service and we see it as helping to expand the appeal of our website to a wider audience.
Next week, the countryside's most famous agony uncle Farmer Frank will be holding a live surgery on www.fwi.co.uk on June 19 to deal with queries on everything from aggressive bulls ro unsightly boils. Frank is making a name for himself answering questions on country matters in his own inimitable, unhelpful and occasionally very rude way. We think occasionally adding some comedy value to the products is a good way to differentiate what we do from the competition and reach out to those who want more in addition to the strong news and technical information.
One reader has set up a Farmer Frank Appreciation Society on Facebook with more than 280 members. It can be tough getting the humour right. Tim Relf, our Farmlife editor, says: "We want Frank to be old fashioned, a bit grumpy and politically incorrect, but we certainly don't want to upset or offend people". For another example of lighter content, check out Tim's blog at www.fwi.co.uk/blogs/rural-life.
So over to you. What do you think? Are we getting the balance right? Could we do any of this differently and why?