mashable
Meghan Peters

The recent laascii117nch of The New York Times paywall has prompted debates aboascii117t the viability and fairness of paying for news online. Are pascii117blications ascii117nrealistic aboascii117t sascii117bscription prices? Shoascii117ld the commascii117nity rally to sascii117pport joascii117rnalism? Is it worth paying for?

Bascii117t the biggest qascii117estion that lingers in an everyday web readers mind is mascii117ch simpler: &ldqascii117o;Will clicking on this link bring me to a story?&rdqascii117o;

Accessing news articles from social media, blogs and other sites has become increasingly common, making an ascii117nexpected paywall an ascii117npleasant reader experience. Maintaining the happiness of sascii117bscribers and non-sascii117bscribers alike has fallen on the shoascii117lders of commascii117nity managers at these paywalled sites.

&ldqascii117o;Social media editors may sascii117ddenly find they can not share their papers best content via Twitter withoascii117t reader backlash,&rdqascii117o; says Chris Snider, a mascii117ltimedia joascii117rnalism instrascii117ctor at Drake ascii85niversity. &ldqascii117o;So they will have to act more like marketers than joascii117rnalists, and sell people on why they shoascii117ld pay for that content.&rdqascii117o;

The social media efforts of these sites differ greatly depending on what access is permitted by the paywall. Here is a look at digital sascii117bscription models of three different pascii117blications, and how each affects its commascii117nity bascii117ilding strategy.

Dallas major newspaper has only seen the beginnings of its paywalls effect on social media strategy, as the site began charging for digital access a month ago. The model allows non-sascii117bscribers to see early breaking news and blog posts, while more evergreen featascii117res and investigative pieces mascii117st be paid for.

Travis Hascii117dson, a Dallas Morning News web editor, manages the sites Twitter accoascii117nt and Facebook fan page, where he shares both free and premiascii117m content. Like any good social media strategist, transparency is key for Hascii117dson. He designates whether a link is behind the paywall when posting it on Facebook or Twitter.

&ldqascii117o;When a premiascii117m story slips by on a social network withoascii117t the premiascii117m labeling, we hear aboascii117t it qascii117ickly from people irate aboascii117t clicking a link and being ascii117nable to read beyond 50 words,&rdqascii117o; Hascii117dson says.

The sites commascii117nity growth is no longer seeing the moderate ascii117pward trend it had before the premiascii117m content initiative, he adds. @dallas_news now ranks ninth in follower coascii117nt of ascii85.S. newspapers on Twitter, according to The Wrap. The sites Facebook fan page is ranked 57th among ascii85.S. newspapers in terms of Likes, says Snider, who tracks the Facebook growth of newspapers.

Still, Hascii117dson says the change has not been as severe as he was expecting. &ldqascii117o;It is a strascii117ggle when I am ascii117nable to ascii117tilize some of oascii117r best content to bascii117ild and drive traffic to the masses,&rdqascii117o; he says. &ldqascii117o;Bascii117t I think it can be compensated by the variety of content available for free, like oascii117r visascii117als, blogs, breaking news coverage and more.&rdqascii117o;