Feb 4
2021
iPost adds YouTube, Instagram and Reddit
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Investigative Post has expanded our online presence to include a YouTube channel and two additional social media platforms to complement our presence on Facebook and Twitter.
Our YouTube channel includes 42 videos, most of them stories produced since the spring for our partners at WGRZ. The channel includes a feature story, which typically will be our latest piece, and playlists organized by topics, including coverage of Buffalo police, City Hall and politics. Fresh videos will be posted shortly after they air on WGRZ. (Our videos are also available on our website, embedded in stories.)
We’ve also started posting to Instagram and Reddit.
Instagram is an image–based platform that links to our most-recent stories and news about our organization. We hope it will put a human face to what we do.
Reddit is geared towards people who are inclined to read, comment and share stories. You’ll find many of our stories are posted in the Reddit subgroup r/Buffalo.
We encourage you to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram and Reddit.
We will continue to post to our accounts on Facebook and Twitter. One more way you can follow our work: subscribe to our newsletter, WeeklyPost, which is sent via email each Sunday morning.
Many of our readers find our content through social media. Last year, one-third of our web traffic came via social media, primarily Facebook, but also Twitter.
Social media has helped Investigative Post dramatically increase traffic to our website, which grew 70 percent in 2019 and 400 percent last year. The growth reflects growing public awareness of Investigative Post and an increase in the number of stories and other content we produce, more than 220 pieces last year.
Investigative Post is growing in other ways, as well.
Our revenue last year, generated primarily through donations made by foundations and individuals to our nonprofit investigative reporting center, along with fees earned through the sale of our content, topped $500,000 for the first time. The growth is due in part to our ongoing Journalism Worth A Million campaign, geared towards enlisting the community’s financial support to expand our operation.
In recent months we have also added staff to produce still more content. Reporters Mark Scheer and Layne Dowdall joined our staff in January, working alongside Geoff Kelly and Phil Gambini. Dave Halm and Tim Batt joined us on a part-time basis to shoot, edit and otherwise produce our television stories. Andy Bailey and his Primary Data have taken on a larger role to help us in our computer-assisted reporting.
We continue to experiment with different content formats. Ken Kruly produces Money In Politics, a data-based look at the influence of campaign contributions. Gambini and Dowdall produce Natural Matters, which takes a similar data-focused approach to environmental issues. Both Natural Matters and Money In Politics include podcasts.
In addition to our website, our work can be found at WGRZ, WBEN, WBFO, The Capitol Pressroom and Buffalo Spree. Our stories reach an audience of up to 175,000 readers, viewers and listeners, providing Investigative Post one of the largest reaches of any news organization in upstate New York. We hope to expand that audience through our increased presence on YouTube and social media.
