From the editor’s desk: Looking back but also looking ahead

Published 6:00 am Saturday, February 3, 2024

As the Rogue Valley Times arrives at its one-year anniversary of publishing online, it’s good to take a look back but also ahead to the future.

The Times’ website went live in the late morning of Feb. 6, 2023, and the first full print edition was delivered by mail to subscribers Feb. 18.

Today, our website continues to grow, bringing in 8.2 million views and engaging 1.3 million users since our start, according to EO Media Group’s Audience Engagement Editor Julia Moore, who just so happens to work out of the Times’ office at 2 E. Main Street in downtown Medford when she’s not helping other papers across our chain from her remote office.

Recently, stories about a new downtown hotel and the canceled Rogue Music Fest kept readers engaged. A report on the Copco 1 dam blast and drawdown in Klamath County performed well in online searches, as did the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife appealing a proposed quarry expansion near Eagle Point.

Graduation rates and Rogue Music Fest’s cancellation were among our top stories fueled by Facebook users.

Here is our most recent weekly list compiled by Moore. We use this to gauge reader interest and shape our coverage to follow the stories readers most care about.

Top stories of the week

Copco 1, last of three remaining Klamath River dams, breached by blast (2,540 views, 2,130 users)

Expo officials: Rogue Music Fest canceled due to cost and logistics (2,070 views, 1,830 users)

Medford, Ashland grad rates fell in ’23; Eagle Point and Logos soar to new heights (2,020 views, 1,770 users)

Development agreement for downtown Medford Marriott Hotel due by February (2,030 views, 1,690 users)

State appeals Jackson County decision on quarry expansion near Eagle Point (1,500 views, 1,310 users)

Top Facebook posts (ordered by total engagement)

Expo officials: Rogue Music Fest canceled due to cost and logistics (370 simple, 1,339 link clicks, 6.1% social engagement rate)

Medford, Ashland grad rates fell in ’23; Eagle Point and Logos soar to new heights (399 simple, 894 link clicks, 4.9% social engagement rate)

Development agreement for downtown Medford Marriott Hotel due by February (117 simple, 369 link clicks, 16.1% social engagement rate)

Hunter’s breakout effort lifts Beavers over No. 3 Colorado (362 simple, 234 link clicks, 4.5% social engagement rate)

Reinvented Pump House in Talent expected to open in March (from our partner Ashland.news — 157 simple, 219 link clicks, 12.3% social engagement rate)

After nearly a year in operation, here are our social media user numbers:

Facebook: 7,560 (2.1% increase)

X (Twitter): 1,122 (.90% increase)

Instagram: 702 (.72% increase)

With our anniversary approaching, we thank our readers — and especially our subscribers — for letting us share the news of the Rogue Valley and beyond with you every day. Here’s to Year No. 2.

— Troy Heie, editor