Footfall to Hx.com

[Alkaz]

We're already looking into ways of introducing this into the News department. We already have non-Habbo related entertainment news as well as interviews and shortly we will be reintroducing room reviews back to the site. A similar subject popped up a little while ago and 'articles' as a whole is something we will be looking at developing more when the new year is here along with Habbox v6.

I don't know if there will be a separate department for it but we will definitely be looking to have more of the old article department content back on the site. As I say though, this is something we plan on happening in about two months time.

[Martin]

The News department is already planning on branching out into some articles early next year and I'm going to be discussing this with General management soon. Reviews are already coming back, and we already have interviews. The team will expand. Since News itself these days isn't read as much, like you said I think the way to go is to introduce exciting new articles and this is something I would like to do- just not at this precise moment where we have other things going on.

I really don't think it requires a whole new department at all, that would be silly considering how the last time this failed, and it would be far more sensible to trial it as part of a current department so that it could be trialed and tested as to how well it works.

As I said I will be discussing new ideas for the department with general management soon, but we do have reviews coming shortly. There's a wide possibility of different kinds of articles, from teen style articles relaying real life issues which should hopefully capture our target audience well. I know that articles were also discussed as part of the V6 discussions too. I would just say watch this space.

[Casanova]

that's great guys, can't wait to read your habbo related articles. I'm sure that'll go down a storm.

Surely you could see I didn't mention anything about bringing back habbo related articles? Articles that actually branch out to your biggest crux. the most amount of users habbox get is from the forum, from users that DON'T USE HABBO. I'm not sure why on earth you continually dismiss this.

To put it under a manager that already runs a forum, already runs a news department and does competitions? No offense martin but if you do branch out and add articles it will fail. You won't give it the dedication it needs, if you already merge the departments it makes it secondary and doesn't get the full potential of the staff and of course the raw material.

I don't think you're opening your eyes, sorry.

[rnix]

that's great guys, can't wait to read your habbo related articles. I'm sure that'll go down a storm.

Surely you could see I didn't mention anything about bringing back habbo related articles? Articles that actually branch out to your biggest crux. the most amount of users habbox get is from the forum, from users that DON'T USE HABBO. I'm not sure why on earth you continually dismiss this.

To put it under a manager that already runs a forum, already runs a news department and does competitions? No offense martin but if you do branch out and add articles it will fail. You won't give it the dedication it needs, if you already merge the departments it makes it secondary and doesn't get the full potential of the staff and of course the raw material.

I don't think you're opening your eyes, sorry.

I admit i didn't read the whole thread. *Yawn*

But i would love to see more articles on HX cause it will be something else to browse for a range of different audiences!
I used to love articles

[Mrs.McCall]

I don't want to come across childish but THIS WAS MY IDEA

In all seriousness, I've been saying this for ages. There is now a gap on the market so to speak for Articles to return. Habbo are now posting news themselves more and more frequently, we're not able to grab as many exclusives as previous and they're not associating with fansites like they did. We need a unique selling point and I think Articles is it.

I was Articles manager for a while and I worked in Articles for a long, long time and I loved it. It never quite got the recognition it deserved and many people gave up on it but that was because Habbox was over-saturated. I think now, the members of the forum are older and don't play Habbo as much. Non-Habbo targeted articles mixed with Habbo articles will make for a popular read.

I used to post a script series on the site called Teenage Lives and that used to get lots of views, bring lots of discussion and that was fantastic. So much so, I'd bring it back if Articles were to return.

Merging with News is a fantastic idea as, at the moment, Articles wouldn't be strong enough to form a new department. I'm so pleased somebody else has bought this up.

[Casanova]

I think it could be a great addition, I'm not fooled into believing it will be like the forum or radio; pillars of habbox. I just feel it would add more variety, more of a reason to browse and stick around. I think more users should post ie the ones that don't use habbo!

speak up, voice your opinions. And sorry renior I just babble

And yes, you did bring it up before Mrs.Mccall. I remember you brought it up now I think.
I totally disagree. To merge it, to keep it hidden under another department which (no offence martin) isn't doing too well will ultimately make articles fail once again. The issue was it was given the time by a dedicated, passionate staff. I agree yes, bring back habbo articles if you wish but as I said dan done it with RVR it still wasn't articles or news, it was habbox rare values not in any way connected.

So to connect the two is wrong. Look at it, the news department can expand and bring more habbo variety, and an articles department can do articles, reviews, investigative reports, real life news pieces, popular culture/news spots (like the royal engagement, the hadron collider, the eu's struggle), technology reviews and articles about what the sillicon valley brings us next, hollywood news and expose's...

there's so much and everyone seems to think it's under the same as habbo news? Look at it!

[Martin]

that's great guys, can't wait to read your habbo related articles. I'm sure that'll go down a storm.

Surely you could see I didn't mention anything about bringing back habbo related articles? Articles that actually branch out to your biggest crux. the most amount of users habbox get is from the forum, from users that DON'T USE HABBO. I'm not sure why on earth you continually dismiss this.

To put it under a manager that already runs a forum, already runs a news department and does competitions? No offense martin but if you do branch out and add articles it will fail. You won't give it the dedication it needs, if you already merge the departments it makes it secondary and doesn't get the full potential of the staff and of course the raw material.

I don't think you're opening your eyes, sorry.

If you read my post you would understand that it's not just Habbo content we would be offering. We already do interviews which aren't just habbo based, we already do entertainment news which guess what- are not Habbo based. We can write other things perfectly fine.

Habbo is one of the things we offer news related, however it is not the only thing we offer.


So, you won't have to just read out "Habbo related articles" you can read our normal articles too!

I don't think you have the right to judge how much dedication I can put into something. It failed last time there was an articles department- it closed for a reason, and to stop it failing again it will be best put under a current department to see how it works/whether the content would be used or not. News itself is becoming lesser and lesser and in a quiet department like news something like this would be great.

At the end of the day it's mainly the staff members that make a department successful, and once I get a larger team behind me it will be easily achievable.

Merging with News is a fantastic idea as, at the moment, Articles wouldn't be strong enough to form a new department. I'm so pleased somebody else has bought this up.

This. Why bother setting up a whole new department when it can be brought under one and given a go to see response.

[Mrs.McCall]

Yeah I don't think its fair to target News. We work darn hard and Martin is a fantastic manager. The department is quiet because it's slow news. We can't report on everything. The front page can go a little quiet because the most we're able to report on is Habbo announcing winners of competitions. There's no point reporting that because it's, well, boring! News has changed dramatically, we don't report just anything. We have to ensure it's interesting to read and we can put our spin on in.

Articles reopening under News would be a MASSIVE win for News as it will just make us stronger.

[Martin]

Yeah I don't think its fair to target News. We work darn hard and Martin is a fantastic manager. The department is quiet because it's slow news. We can't report on everything. The front page can go a little quiet because the most we're able to report on is Habbo announcing winners of competitions. There's no point reporting that because it's, well, boring! News has changed dramatically, we don't report just anything. We have to ensure it's interesting to read and we can put our spin on in.

Articles reopening under News would be a MASSIVE win for News as it will just make us stronger.

This. (again)

I swear you are saying what I want to say!

Merging the two seems most sensible to me, and gradually bringing things back and basically offering a wider variety of interesting content for users of the site to read. This will be especially nice on V6 in my opinion. Not just Habbo stuff at all either, it will be a wide variety and we will come to members and see what kind of articles they would like as well as researching what was popular in the past. With a larger team anything is possible and this will kick the new year off with a bang.

[Casanova]

precisely, you're all amazing staff but you're positions and your actual audience get the news from habbo. Why on earth would you go a ten minute walk for a coffee each morning when you have a starbucks in the lobby? Guys, news isn't the best department to put it under because I think it's not going great it's self.

Yes, you can evolve the department, bring a fresher feel to your work (which is good while i'm looking at it!), get habbo articles, interviews, habbo room reviews--the issue is IT'S HABBO. How many times.

Habbo is in no way joined with real life, this is the reason why it shouldn't be put UNDER habbo news? Articles has nothing to do with habbo and you're fooling yourself if you think so. I just think it'll be an afterthought like it's been in the past. It'll fail once again.

And yes you're dedicated martin but open your eyes :S? you're in charge of the forum, news and you do competitions? what next? a space mission. You're more thinly spread than the scrapings of a jam jar.

---------- Post added 23-11-2010 at 12:12 AM ----------

martin I sent you a message asking and you said no, hop off the band wagon darlin'.