By Mike English, Assistant Editor for Albuquerque Business First:
The old journalism model was that a reporter would write a story, an editor would check it for accuracy and readability, a designer would fit it on a page, the guys in the warehouse would crank up the press and print it and the delivery drivers would fan out to distribute it. Your only guess about the popularity of a story came mostly from buzz on the street.
Digital publishing and social media have changed all that. A story can take on a life of its own via outlets like Facebook and Twitter, and we can track a story's popularity quite accurately, from impressions to engagements to clicks to retweets, tallied by the minute and for days on end.
Using those tracking tools, these are the Albuquerque Business First stories that caught fire on our social media platforms in 2015. If you're a visual sort, click on the accompanying slideshow for the rundown.
1. New Albuquerque waterpark in the works
There's definitely a thirst for water recreation in New Mexico, if the social media response to this story is any indication. The Rocky Mountain Fun Factory, as it would be called, will make its home on 40 to 50 acres on the Westside or Rio Rancho, according to project General Manager Tara McSweeney. That land has yet to be identified and purchased, though. Investors with Rocky Mountain Fun Factory say the goal is to open by 2017.
2. Flying Star closing two locations, files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
This story streaked across our Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts like a comet. Most residents of Albuquerque have eaten in a Flying Star location, and the majority of those, it seemed, had an opinion about the bankruptcy of this iconic restaurant chain. Too-expensive food alienated customers, said some. Too-fancy build-outs of big restaurants in outside-the-Duke-City-core markets like Bernalillo and Santa Fe spelled trouble, said others. The buzz on social media was loud and lasted for weeks.
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