The Digital Desk

Everything you ever wanted to know about NewsOK.com

Facebook commenting enabled on LOOKatOKC articles June 29, 2011 | Comment on this article

We’re trying something different with our comments on the new LOOKatOKC website. Instead of using the traditional NewsOK commenting functionality, we’re going to try Facebook’s commenting. That means users must log in with a Facebook profile to be able to comments on an article within the LOOKatOKC... Read More

See downloadable PDF edition for LOOKatOKC swimsuit special June 29, 2011 The LOOKatOKC Swimsuit edition has been a pretty big hit. It should come as no surprise that the annual swimsuit page is traditionally the most popular LOOKatOKC page each year. I blogged about it when it launched, and I blogged about how the individual articles were leading the charge in our most-viewed... Read More

Supreme Court ruling on public records not good news for journalists June 29, 2011 The Oklahoma Supreme Court issued a ruling on June 28 that wasn’t what journalists in Oklahoma were hoping to here. Database Editor Paul Monies did a great job with his story in explaining the issue and offering some of the key background information. The issue at hand is whether or not the dates of birth of... Read More

Adding another tab to the Meebo bar on NewsOK

June 28, 2011 I wrote last week about adding the Most Viewed tab to our Meebo toolbar at the bottom of every page on NewsOK. Then, a couple days after posting that blog update, we added another tab to the Meebo toolbar — this one is the Most Recent tab that shows the most recently posted articles from our entire website.... Read More

Top-viewed stories tab appears on NewsOK Meebo bar

June 24, 2011 We added another tab to the Meebo bar that appears at the bottom of all our pages. (Just a reminder … the bar I’m referring to encourages users to connect with NewsOK and share with others via various social media tools. We implemented it a couple of weeks ago, and we will continue to refine the options in... Read More

LOOKatOKC swimsuit models attack NewsOK’s most-viewed articles page

June 23, 2011 I blogged yesterday about the launch of the annual LOOKatOKC swimsuit issue. We first posted the site Wednesday at about noon. Below is a screen capture of our Top Ten Most Viewed Articles page at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Take note of the A&E section and the list of Top 10 articles. It... Read More

Amish, sexting and solid parenting June 22, 2011 From the ‘We-Can’t-Make-This-Stuff-Up’ department come this headline: “Amish man, 26, accused of sexting Indiana girl, 12” From the story: An Amish man who sent more than 600 text messages that included lewd images to a 12-year-old girl he randomly dialed was arrested when he arrived in his horse and... Read More

Get help with weather radios June 22, 2011 I’m in the market for a storm shelter. The May 24 tornadoes finally pushed me over the edge. I will be purchasing a storm shelter before the mid-September. But I might need to stop by Homeland this weekend, as well. This Saturday, I can visit three Homeland stores in the metro area and get free assistance with... Read More

Kevin Durant still not doing anything

June 22, 2011 On Tuesday morning, we saw some posts on social media and some discussion on morning television about Kevin Durant saying something controversial about having nothing to do in Oklahoma City. Then we found the YouTube video from the episode of TMZ where they played the clip of the TMZ reporter asking him questions... Read More

LOOKatOKC swimsuit issue has arrived

June 22, 2011 The LOOKatOKC swimsuit edition is here. And we have a special web page devoted to the interviews, galleries and poll. You can vote for the 2011 model of the year after browsing all the photo galleries of all 14 girls that are featured this year. What else are you going to do on slow news days in June? Go... Read More

The Oklahoman’s iPhone app serves well in San Diego

June 21, 2011 I was in San Diego last week — a truly enjoyable weekend vacation. But I was surprised at one detail. I stayed at a hotel that didn’t offer wifi. It wasn’t a small hotel; This was one of the major hotels on the San Diego harbor. What kind of hotels don’t offer wifi? Apparently quite a few, says my wife,... Read More

User photos and videos help tell the story of the storm on NewsOK

June 15, 2011 We had a surprisingly powerful storm last night that did some real damage in parts of the Oklahoma City metro area, especially Norman. And the NewsOK audience really helped us tell the story of the strength of the storm by quickly sending us dozens of photos from throughout the metro area. Just look at our June... Read More

Nolan Clay shares latest info on Jerome Ersland verdict and the jurors June 13, 2011 Nolan Clay has been covering the Jerome Ersland and the Pharmacy Shooting saga since it began in May 2009. This weekend, he had a great piece about the jurors on the case who have spoken out. Here’s one excerpt about one of the jurors: She said she has been around conversations criticizing the verdict. “I... Read More

Meebo toolbar added to NewsOK pages

June 08, 2011 We’ve added a toolbar on NewsOK’s pages that allows our users to easily share items on social media or connect with our social media pages. Meebo isn’t new to the social media world. I know plenty of people who use a personal Meebo log in to connect all of their IM accounts, including Facebook, Yahoo!, AIM,... Read More

The Oklahoman takes the stage at Apple’s WWDC

June 07, 2011 This photo made the rounds in our building on Monday. It’s an image of the the annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC). Take special note of The Oklahoman logo on the right side. It’s referencing our iPad application. The speaker was apparently talking about the major news companies that have... Read More

New LOOKatOKC website launches on NewsOK

June 06, 2011 We have a new LOOKatOKC.com website. The new LOOKatOKC is actually a combination of the old NewsOK A&E page and the old LOOKatOKC home page. The hope is that this in an easier way for our audience to find relevant content about entertainment in our community. We no longer have two distinct brands covering the... Read More

New records for NewsOK traffic

June 03, 2011 We’re happy that NewsOK had a record-breaking month for page views and unique visitors in May. We’re not happy that it took a a couple of tragic stories to push us over the high mark, but it is gratifying to know that our audience continues to grow and that people come to NewsOK when they want to know... Read More

Helping people locate items in the debris

June 03, 2011 The day after the May 24 tornadoes, we launched a page on Facebook to help people find and share missing items found as debris was sent across the state. We called it “Oklahoma Storms Lost and Found,” and the feedback we’ve received has been tremendous. Just a couple days ago, we received this message from... Read More

NewsOK and auto-play videos June 02, 2011 I received a question the other day: 1. Why does NewsOK.com auto-play the videos that accompany the news stories? I can’t think of any other news website that does that. 2. Why is there not an option available for the site visitor to toggle auto-play on and off? 3. Had there been discussion... Read More

‘Passages’ information found on NewsOK

June 02, 2011 A couple of weeks ago, we launched our “Passages” page to cover the biblical exhibit that’s running at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art through Oct. 16. The page has all the stories we’ve written about the planning and opening of the exhibit, plus a good video with Angi Bruss as she previewed the exhibit... Read More