Sentinel.com blog

When 15,000-plus runners came to Santa Cruz on Sunday for the 40th annual Wharf to Wharf race, we were ready to meet them. We received more than 40,000 page views on the Sentinel website.

We put to use the following services:

• Twitter – asking any and all to use #wharftowharf hashtag, we added that to the page for continuous updates. Our reporters and photographers also used the tag. Through twitter, we posted photos and video (using the twitvid service) as well as other updates. We were also able to send directly to the Sentinel home page by using another tag, #scsnews. We’ve used an advanced search widget to display tweets from our staff using that tag and always ask reporters to break news on twitter.
• Storify – we gathered photos, video, tweets from our staff, runners and spectators throughout the day, and embedded the collection in the top of our home page. Our collection has received more than 4,000 views. (See below).
• Flickr – We posted staff and contributed photos to the Sentinel Flickr account, where our set has received more than 6,500 views. We took the easily-embedded slideshow and dropped it into coverage and its own article page. We also shared links to the slideshow on Facebook
• Google maps – We updated a map we built long ago to include Panoramio photos from various points along the beautiful race route, shot by Sentinel digital intern Eric Brown.
• Brightcove and YouTube – We shot video along the route. I got to the race early with a smart phone and a Handycam. I tweeted, collected video, sent photos from my phone (DroidX, which went from fully charged to dead in two miles) and then eventually ran most of last four miles of the race (with my daughter in a stroller) while collecting sights and sounds on the Handycam. We posted the video to our site through Brightcove, embedded the video in an article page and have Brightcove set to automatically post to our YouTube channel.
• Instagram (we’re @scsentinel) – we posted just five photos to Instagram, a couple from the race, and a couple of the best from photographer Shmuel Thaler.  We also liked every photo we found for Wharf to Wharf and followed anyone who ran and posted about the race. Our photos received more than 200 likes, we picked up more than 50 followers.
• Digital producer Christina Gullickson orchestrated the show, handling all of the content flowing her way, and she worked to open the doors to user-contributed photos and promoted all our content on the social channels above.
• Sports reporter Andrew Matheson also immediately had final results and compiled his own video, so we had the first stories about the race that were updated in the afternoon
• Two other easy moves added nearly 5,000 views – we posted an early “Wharf to Wharf Information” page and we embedded the results page within our site.

Congrats to all the runners! We probably overdid, but the Sentinel loves the Wharf to Wharf!

We recently uploaded 29 photos from Wharf to Wharf by Shmuel Thaler for purchase.

If you haven’t checked out the Sentinel’s photos for sale site, it’s worth a look. We set prices at a somewhat ridiculous level, mainly as a service to readers and a possible way to help photographers make a few bucks for equipment.

This year we’ve sold 86 prints, adding some $82 to the Sentinel coffers. The point is, there are great shots, and great prices. If you see shot in the paper you’d like, you can request it. You can have your favorite photos shipped framed, on T-shirts, on coffee mugs, whatever floats your boat.

It’s not too early to start stocking thinking about holiday gifts. (OK, maybe it is, but keep us in mind).

Thanks to everyone who was out covering the Wharf to Wharf for the Sentinel

A few notes – we’ve had close to 40,000 page views for Wharf to Wharf coverage.

Monday’s single day traffic was more than 140,000 page views and Sunday’s traffic was close to 100,000, when we’re typically at 80,000 on Sundays, and right around 100,000 on Mondays.

Among highlights online – we had live updates, including photos, video, and twitter posts from throughout the race route as the event was happening. Sports intern Isis Roberts, Internet director Mike Blaesser and freelancer Cameron Moody were among Sentinel staffers sending photos and updates. Isis and Cameron also composed video reports.

Here’s what the live feed looked like

The feed also pulled in others using twitter to talk about the race – hundreds of updates, and more than 3,000 people clicked the feed

We had more than 50 photos submitted by viewers along the route and posted them automatically here

Stories were posted throughout the afternoon, by Julie Jag, Isis and Cathy Kelly.

We sent video to the home page, to the live feed and to youtube, getting more than 2,000 video views.

The highlight, though, is Sentinel photographer Shmuel Thaler’s slide show, which has received about 3,500 page views.

We also tweeted and let our fans on Facebook know about all of the above.

Thanks again!

Tom and the web team