How to Create a Paper.li Online Newspaper

by JoHarrington

Paper.li is a curating service, which collects links from your Twitter, Facebook or RSS feeds. It reproduces them in newsletter format under a handy URL.

Starting your Paper.li newspaper is very intuitive and easily done.

I'll be guiding you step by step, so that you can take advantage of the great marketing opportunities that it enables.

Once it is completed, you can walk away and never touch it again, if you so wish. Your online newspaper will automatically update at regular intervals, as indicated by yourself.

It will also send alerts to your social networking channels each time, if you ask it to!

Signing Up to Paper.li

It couldn't be easier to register for an account here. Most people simply log in using their existing Twitter or Facebook accounts!

Before anyone starts raging about Paper.li's apparent reliance upon social networking, it's worth noting why Small Rivers created it.

It came from Twitter!  Their initial inspiration was to turn Tweets into newspapers, so that you didn't lose any fascinating stories in your channel.  That developed into a broader remit.

You're not looking at a general curating service which adapted to social networking. You're looking at a Twitter add-on, which broadened its horizons.

So sign in with your social networking account and enjoy!

Setting Up an Online Newspaper in Paper.li

You will probably find that you don't need this guide. The website itself will walk you through it.

Once you are logged in, you will probably be prompted to create your first ever newspaper.  If not, then the button to begin is on the top site browser bar.

There are dozens of ways to use this service.  You can have it based around subject, theme, friends or a personal paper.  Today I'm going to be creating one which takes the hundreds of great articles at Wizzley and turns them into a newspaper.

You begin by filling in the details in the pop-up box.

Image:  Setting Up a Paper.li Newspaper
Image: Setting Up a Paper.li Newspaper

The pull-down menu allows you to change the frequency of each new edition.  Your options are: daily; morning/evening editions; and weekly. How much content do you think that you can generate?

Whichever you select, that's how often your links will be scanned for content.  That's how often your newspaper will be up-dated.

Please note, this isn't the same edition acquiring some new links.  It's a fresh one, with the old version archived.  Readers will be able to click through a calendar and look through your past editions though.

Searching for Content for your Newspaper

The next stage is to add feeds on which the links may be found.  The left-hand column is invaluable for this, but I'm going to start with the search box at the top.

I've typed in 'Wizzley' and Paper.li has searched the internet for likely feed channels. There's quite a list!  Just about every Wizzley author has social networking channels.  I can flick through them all here. 

But what I want is generic ones.  This is a gift to the whole Wizzley community, not just myself and people I've befriended here. 

Those feeds which I know will generate the broadest possible content are moved across. Clicking the plus button beside it will do that.

Image: Paper.li Newspaper Sources
Image: Paper.li Newspaper Sources

Please note that this isn't the end of days.  You can go back at any time to add or remove sources from your newspaper.

In fact, it might take a few weeks of tinkering before you're absolutely satisfied with what's being pulled.  At least, it will if you're a perfectionist.

The rest of us set it up once and wander off.

Filtering your Feeds on Paper.li

This is a handy feature for those who want to arrange their newspaper by keyword or theme.

All of these Wizzley sources have been selected, but naturally we only want to show articles by JoHarrington.

We don't?!  Oh!  I thought that we might. *grin* 

In my newspaper, I really have no reason to set up filters, but you might.  For example, say you want to add your Twitter channel, but only display links pertaining to 'fiber'. 

That can be done here (or later) by clicking the icon that looks like a funnel and adding the word 'fiber'.

You will have to remember this though.  In future, every related Tweet will have to include the word 'fiber' in order to show up.

As for the example in the image, don't fret, I did remove those filters after I took the screenshot.  You can add 'Wizzley' to any Tweet and it will show up in this newspaper until the end of time (or Twitter, which is surely the same thing).

Pressing Done makes the Paper Immediately go Live

Image: Launch Edition of the Daily Wizzley Herald
Image: Launch Edition of the Daily Wizzley Herald

How to Feature in the Daily Wizzley Herald

  • Publish an article on Wizzley.  The feed from the site will send it in.
  • Post something on Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus which mentions Wizzley.
  • Be featured on the official Wizzley Twitter or Facebook channels.
  • Upload a video onto the Wizzley YouTube channel. This one only really works for the Wizzley Team.

Books about Online Marketing

eMarketing involves thousands of sites like Paper.li to increase your web presence. Learn more about them with these books.
Updated: 03/18/2014, JoHarrington
 
Thank you! Would you like to post a comment now?
8

Comments

Only logged-in users are allowed to comment. Login
JoHarrington on 10/06/2012

Excellent! I love it when synchronicity kicks in. :)

wrylilt on 10/06/2012

This was a very timely article! I've just launched a directory with a friend - we both hate Twitter but wanted a presence there. This fits perfectly!

JoHarrington on 10/06/2012

Let m know how you get on. :)

JoHarrington on 10/06/2012

You're welcome. <3

Sheri_Oz on 10/06/2012

Got it now! Thanks.

JoHarrington on 10/06/2012

This was very much a companion piece to an earlier article, where I went into its uses. http://wizzley.com/how-to-use-paper-l... I hope that shines a light on its usefulness!

Sheri_Oz on 10/06/2012

This is interesting. Never heard of it. But I'm not quite sure I understand what this is good for.

JoHarrington on 10/05/2012

Yes, I am. More than ok, in fact! Thanks for pinning it. :)

Sam on 10/05/2012

BTW, I have pinned this article meanwhile manually as you are obviously ok with that ;-)

JoHarrington on 10/05/2012

Yes, I will do. Thanks for the head's up. :)


You might also like

How to Use Paper.li to Promote your Online Writing and eCommer...

Paper.li is a curating site. It acts as a newsletter, lifting links from wher...

How Does Chitika Work?

Chitika provides on-line advertisements that complement, or act as a replacem...


Disclosure: This page generates income for authors based on affiliate relationships with our partners, including Amazon, Google and others.
Loading ...
Error!