The Future of Twins Daily

[John Bonnes]

Last night on the Talk to Contact podcast, I talked a bit about the origins of TwinsDaily and was asked about its future. What would everyone out there like to see TwinsDaily tackle in the future?

 

Thanks,

John

[Brad Swanson]

I'm not sure how possible this is, but some sort of "cover it live" type action during games would be great. My vision would be similar to how ESPN does their Daily Dime Live during NBA games. There would be the TD guys kind of running things, rotating, answering questions, facilitating discussion and whatnot. Then us pleebs in the crowd could follow along and add our two cents. Could be fun.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'd like to see you tackle a framework that allows users to have their like buttons while not suffering through agonizing load times.

 

Well, the like button has returned and speeds have been just fine for me over the past two weeks. Are you still having problems?

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm not sure how possible this is, but some sort of "cover it live" type action during games would be great. My vision would be similar to how ESPN does their Daily Dime Live during NBA games. There would be the TD guys kind of running things, rotating, answering questions, facilitating discussion and whatnot. Then us pleebs in the crowd could follow along and add our two cents. Could be fun.

 

It's something we've bandied about in the past... We just need to figure out how to implement it without it consuming a huge portion of John, Nick, Seth, and Parker's time.

[Twins Twerp]

mlbtraderumors.com twins feed widget top right hand corner. Also a possible suggestion, put a twitter feed of twins city beat writers widget somewhere on homepage. Much like what ESPN does. Just ideas. I usually come here third after checking ESPN and MLBtraderumors. 17 times daily that is.

[Brock Beauchamp]

mlbtraderumors.com twins feed widget top right hand corner. Also a possible suggestion, put a twitter feed of twins city beat writers widget somewhere on homepage. Much like what ESPN does. Just ideas. I usually come here third after checking ESPN and MLBtraderumors. 17 times daily that is.

 

I think you mentioned that in another thread and I thought it was a great idea (the MLBTR point). I'll look into it and see what can be done.

[Smcginnity]

I mentioned this to you guys in the past but I think you guys should do more traveling shows. Meaning, when the Twins are on the road in cities like Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Kansas City, etc. you should do podcasts and Twins gatherings in those cities. Do a pub crawl or reserve an area that is all Twins fans. I live in Kansas City and would love to help host an event down here at a brewery or something. There are Twins fans everywhere and I think Twins Daily can play a part in expanding the fan base.

[Smcginnity]

Also, you guys should consider selling Twins Daily merchandise. May seem silly, but I'd buy them (mugs, t-shirts etc.).

[Smcginnity]

Or maybe do a watch party for the good 'ol days. Like rent a place to watch the '91 World Series Game 7. That would be a cool event/gathering

[Smcginnity]

Sorry, I'm in sales and marketing so clearly I like this kind of stuff

[Smcginnity]

Actually, if you sell merchandise for a profit, all profits after covering costs can go towards hosting a Twins Daily community event at a bar or something.

[Brock Beauchamp]

mlbtraderumors.com twins feed widget top right hand corner. Also a possible suggestion, put a twitter feed of twins city beat writers widget somewhere on homepage. Much like what ESPN does. Just ideas. I usually come here third after checking ESPN and MLBtraderumors. 17 times daily that is.

 

An MLBTR feed has been added to the front page and all article pages. It has no title at the moment, though... I'll have to work on that later.

[Thrylos]

Well, I suspect that you all guys have day jobs and knowing that one can probably make more $ per hour panhandling at the right corner than with Adsense, I suspect that this thing is not profitable enough for you to hire full time people, so there are a few big constraints here...

 

I think that you have done great and truly created the best Twins content portal out there. I suspect that it will grow organically in the future as different opportunities arise for you all. There are a few little technical things, but these are just details (btw, Brock, could you up the title character limit on blogs and posts by like 50?) I am certain that this site will continue to improve and grow.

 

One thing that you should not do, and I really do see the potential risk here: the more and more you get closer to the Twins staff (and you are doing this) the more risk there is to cherish this "access" and stop being critical of the organization in fear of losing it. We got the mainstream media for this Just a thought

 

Congrats and thank you.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I think that you have done great and truly created the best Twins content portal out there. I suspect that it will grow organically in the future as different opportunities arise for you all. There are a few little technical things, but these are just details (btw, Brock, could you up the title character limit on blogs and posts by like 50?) I am certain that this site will continue to improve and grow.

 

Huh. Never realized that was a problem. I'll look into it this weekend.

 

One thing that you should not do, and I really do see the potential risk here: the more and more you get closer to the Twins staff (and you are doing this) the more risk there is to cherish this "access" and stop being critical of the organization in fear of losing it. We got the mainstream media for this Just a thought

 

Trust me, this is something we're very cognizant of and talk about fairly regularly. We try to keep a respectful distance from the organization to maintain a "level head" and balanced analysis.

[DaveW]

Vikings. Wild and Timberwolves in that order.

[Twins Twerp]

An MLBTR feed has been added to the front page and all article pages. It has no title at the moment, though... I'll have to work on that later.

 

Holy geez that is nice. I think the name fits it well and us internet freaks will figure it out. I would guess the Twitter idea might cost some dolla bills so that might not be as doable. Thanks for caring (smiley face)

[Twins Twerp]

Trust me, this is something we're very cognizant of and talk about fairly regularly. We try to keep a respectful distance from the organization to maintain a "level head" and balanced analysis.

 

I think we are ok on the biased part…if we were any further away from the organization this would be http://www.whitesoxdaily.com #firegardy

[bwille]

I'd like to see Twins Daily hire me in some capacity......can someone say "dream job"? I already blog on here and love every minute of it, but who wouldn't love their full-time job to be blogging for the Twins and to make a living off it?

[John Bonnes]

I'd like to see Twins Daily hire me in some capacity......can someone say "dream job"? I already blog on here and love every minute of it, but who wouldn't love their full-time job to be blogging for the Twins and to make a living off it?

 

I know I would love that.... :-)

[Willihammer]

Well, the like button has returned and speeds have been just fine for me over the past two weeks. Are you still having problems?

 

No, its been good. I'll delete the post.

[Winston Smith]

This is good! Keep up the good work and keep a sense of humor please.

 

For those that seem to have so much time/want to complain about every thread they don't like, go up to the top right corner and click on the x.

[Oldgoat_MN]

John - You guys have created a wonderful site here. Even as my optimism drains slowly from my body I cannot keep from coming to this site several times a day.

 

One recommendation: you have the notifications when we get a LIKE. That's nice. How about a notification of when someone hits a REPLY to a post of ours?

 

The reason I ask is that I have gone back to an article I had commented on and see that someone hit REPLY and commented on my comment. Often these are really helpful comments, clarifying something I had missed or explaining something I did not fully understand. It would be fun to be aware of that REPLY earlier rather than later or never seeing it at all.

 

Great site. You, Seth, et al, are responsible for me skipping hundreds of hours a year of doing productive things.

 

Peace

[Brock Beauchamp]

One recommendation: you have the notifications when we get a LIKE. That's nice. How about a notification of when someone hits a REPLY to a post of ours?

 

It looks like there's a plug-in that does just this but I'll need to vet the code a little before installing it. I'll look into it more over the weekend.

[Wookiee of the Year]

Great topic--I'll be sure to check out the podcast sometime in the next few days.

 

Lots of good suggestions so far. I like Twins Twerp's (already implemented!) suggestion of the MLBTR Twins widget, and even though I'm a Twin Cities resident, Smcginnity's idea of using the Twins Daily platform to publicize gatherings of Twins fans on road trips sounds positive.

 

For me, Twins Daily is always my first stop for Twins news--and so the more it can be a comprehensive source of Twins news, the better. I know when the site first showed up, the idea was that there would never be game summaries. But Brad Swanson's series recaps are wonderful, and I'd love to see some attention to paid to "something significant happened in today's game" without the mandate that every game needs a recap and a narrative built out of what happened.

 

Maybe the simplest way to put it is I want to trust that if anything worth talking about has happened in Twins world, I'll be able to find it on Twins Daily.

[nicksaviking]

Trust me, this is something we're very cognizant of and talk about fairly regularly. We try to keep a respectful distance from the organization to maintain a "level head" and balanced analysis.

 

What's a level head? Just a toilet you can place your beer on without fear of it falling off?

[Brandon]

Also, you guys should consider selling Twins Daily merchandise. May seem silly, but I'd buy them (mugs, t-shirts etc.).

 

me too.

[Brandon]

Here's a couple of ideas.

 

1. save option for when I am typing a post but need to put the project on hold for a day or so. (I am not a fast typer).

2. links to stats and research sites so we can go strait to the numbers to make are arguements and research faster and easier.

3. an interactive spreadsheet so we can download and update trade/ roster/ payroll ideas and post it.

4. Twins Daily Beer. nothing like a cold Brew when typing up a post and drinking an ice cold Twins Daily Beer in a bottle. ( at least 6% alc by volume) Also served at Bonnes future bar.

5. I'll have to go back to the drawing board for some more great ideas.

[John Bonnes]

I'd like to see Twins Daily hire me in some capacity......can someone say "dream job"? I already blog on here and love every minute of it, but who wouldn't love their full-time job to be blogging for the Twins and to make a living off it?

 

 

First, I just want to thank everyone for their ideas and vision for the future. I really appreciate your responses. Keep 'em coming!

 

I thought I would address this particular note. In case you don't know, each of the people involved with Twins Daily has a full time job that is NOT Twins Daily. To be honest, I don't know that I ever envision Twins Daily generating enough revenue to replace our current jobs.

 

That doesn't mean it couldn't become somewhat self-sustaining, or eventually support writers for part time work. But this is still a labor of love for Seth, Nick, Parker, Brock and I and I can't see a time where it won't be.

 

Also, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. There is a freedom that comes with that arrangement, and I think that freedom allows us to take risks and try things and not cater to the lowest common denominator. It also means our joy doesn't become our job, which can suck the life out of something we each dearly love.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

It also allows me to call an agent a "scumbag". Something Mike Berardino couldn't do last night.

[Parker Hageman]

One thing that you should not do, and I really do see the potential risk here: the more and more you get closer to the Twins staff (and you are doing this) the more risk there is to cherish this "access" and stop being critical of the organization in fear of losing it. We got the mainstream media for this Just a thought

 

Nope, no risk there. We're given the Twins a method to communicate to readers, not dancing for access to appease anyone.