In true Victor Meldrew style: I simply don't believe it. Farmers have gone mad for our harvest highlights.....
And don't you believe it the next time someone tries to convince you that farmers are not great users of the web.
In the last few weeks, we've regularly had 140,000 page views on our harvest highlights picture galleries on www.fwispace.co.uk. We've had almost 900 harvest photographs supplied by farmers and farm workers this summer and for many we are not even half way through the harvest season. Last year, we received about 300 pictures on the same theme. It just goes to show that farmers and their families really enjoy taking shots of their farm and machinery in action and then sharing and comparing them with others online. You can register for fwispace for free, upload your pictures and create your own stunning gallery, and it's easy to do.
A handful of would-be David Baileys have sent 50-100 pictures each and we're talking about top quality snaps that would be the envy of many professional photographers. In fact, we've been so impressed and stunned by this participation with our readers and web users that we ran a photographic competition to find the best snap for the front cover of FW magazine. Look out for the winner in next week's issue. You may also have noticed the double page spreads in print showing magazine readers what's going on online. We call this kind of material "user generated content" because it's been supplied by farmers and is distinct and unique from anything the journalists here can deliver.
All this interaction is positive for the farming community and for us. Not only are farmers getting a real kick out of showing their great work off to others but it also reflects the vibrancy of this great industry. The picture galleries are driving amazing traffic growth to our website www.fwi.co.uk and I firmly believe it encourages loyalty to the magazine as well.
As people become more and more time poor, the success of all media will largely depend on our ability to be relevant, engaging, entertaining as well as informing. But what do you think? If you are a reader of the magazine or a user of our website, do you like to see pictures or words supplied by other farmers? What do you see as the pros and cons of this approach? Do you think we do enough or too much of user generated content? On what type of occasions is it most or least appropriate to use it?
So calling all web fanatics, we'd love to know what motivates you to participate in discussion forums online or supply pictures for online gallieries. And also how can we keep improving the service?.