Parse.ly is an essential tool for the modern newsroom
November 23, 2021

Parse.ly is an essential tool for the modern newsroom

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Parse.ly

We use Parse.ly to track the number of page views our news stories and features receive on a daily basis. Parse.ly answers the question of what content works with our audiences, and what times of the day it is best to share it. It is also vital for knowing which channel different users opt to use to consume our content, for example, what is read most via search thanks to SEO.

Pros

  • Gives accurate real-time insights into how many people are reading a story - as well as which social channel they've used to find it and how the story compares to others [at] that moment.
  • Allows an author to keep an exhaustive bank of their stories along with the data behind them, making it easier to make informed choices on which content to create.
  • Uses data to place stories in a leaderboard-type format to show the best-performing articles from any given day, week, or month. This helps us create daily and round-up newsletters for our readers based on tried and tested content.

Cons

  • Page-view data could be more incisive. For example, a drop-down menu inside the Facebook tab which also indicates how many views have come from Facebook Stories, as well as conventional timeline posts.
  • With Facebook algorithms constantly changing, it would be useful if Parse.ly was able to liaise with social networks to send out best-practice notes to publishers. For example, which kinds of posts - and post reactions - will lead to content appearing on more people's timelines.
  • Expand the data set for page views in the 'Historical' tab beyond a year.
  • Integrate newsletter-tracking and subscription conversion data capabilities into the Parse.ly experience as standard.
  • I can't speak for senior figures in my company, but since I began using the product it has become a cultural reference across the company and given every employee who writes stories to be able to track their merits.
  • Stat-tracking capabilities mean senior management can set monthly goals - hard or soft - for page views in a bid to improve the online performance of individual news titles.
  • While reporters enjoy using Parse.ly to keep a track of their own stats, they can also use it to compare themselves to their colleagues. This can breed good-natured competition that's powerful enough to improve a title's monthly performance.
Firstly, I didn't make the business decision to use Parse.ly. I'm just an employee using it. However, the first thing you notice is the change in appearance. Parse.ly's dashboard looks far more complicated than Chartbeat's and the black, white, and green theme [are] not as visually pleasing as Chartbeat's navy and green theme. This makes Chartbeat aesthetically preferable in newsrooms displaying page view statistics across multiple screens. But when it comes to performance, Parse.ly has enabled our business to take forward its culture of analytics a step further. From what I remember of Chartbeat, its capabilities were not as in-depth as Parse.ly's.
Positives (among others): - The leaderboard function gives a clear, real-time daily picture of which stories are performing best and which channels have been used to read them. - The data given overall is informative and forms the basis of a clear plan for the newsroom. Negatives (among others): - Its appearance can make it seem daunting and less welcome than other software, like Chartbeat. - Data, particularly in the campaign tab, is often associated [with] channels with names made of jumbled letters and words resembling hyperlinks. The software could be improved by making it clearer what each of these names [is], allowing newsrooms a better opportunity to analyze.
I can't answer this question because I don't have the power to make those decisions. I believe we should continue to use the software, but I say that not knowing to know what other alternatives are being explored by people in positions higher than mine. In short, my job would be harder without Parse.ly.

Do you think Parse.ly delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Parse.ly's feature set?

Yes

Did Parse.ly live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Parse.ly go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Parse.ly again?

Yes

Parse.ly is brilliant for understanding when spikes in page views happen in a day and what caused them. It is less useful for trying to understand which individual stories have led to subscriptions and conversions. We can of course look at which stories have driven the most traffic, but these are not always the ones [that] ultimately cause people to subscribe to us.

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