Ante Fumić za Europsku Federaciju Novinara u intervjuu na temu aplikacije Lika App

Izvorno je članak objavljen na web stranici Europske Federacije Novinara pod naslovom Croatia: Interview with Lika Club, bringing the local to diaspora. 

Can you give a bit of a background to Lika Club?

Lika Club je hrvatski regionalni news medij koji sam pokrenuo 2014. godine. Medij je u vlasništvu moje tvrtke Prilika Grupa, kao dio portfelja uz druge medije I poslovne aktivnosti, no možemo reći da je od Lika Cluba sve počelo. Od samih početaka njegovali smo neovisnost I kvalitetu informiranja svojih čitatelja, a putem smo razvijali medij koji je tehnički napredan I ima mnoštvo ekstenzija I svojih kanala. Jedan od njih je i Lika App, mobilna aplikacija koju smo razvili 2023. Godine I time svojim čitateljima omogućili kvalitetnije informiranje.

ENGLISH VERSION

Lika Club is a Croatian regional news media that I started in 2014. The media is owned by my company Prilika Grupa, as part of the portfolio along with other media and business activities, but we can say that it all started with Lika Club. From the very beginning, we have nurtured the independence and quality of information for our readers, and along the way we have developed a medium that is technically advanced and has many extensions and channels. One of them is the Lika App, a mobile application that we developed in 2023. In this way, we provided our readers with better information.

Can you explain the app? How did you manage to launch it in such a short period of time? What made this app so successful?

Mobilna aplikacija Lika App može se downloadati na platformama Apple Store I Google Play, Potpuno je funkcionalna I trenutno imamo nešto više od 2000 aktivnih korisnika. Aplikacija je izrađena u Flutter sučelju, na njoj je radio moj cijeli tim uključujući kolegu koji je software developer.

Moram priznati da smo djelomično u samom početku stvaranja ovog projekta, ne toliko dobro procijenili vremensko razdoblje u kojem možemo razviti aplikaciju. Iz tog razloga morali smo praktički cijelo vrijeme u našoj tvrtki, a koja ima više različitih djelatnosti, posvetiti samo ovom projektu kako bi isporučili ono što smo obećali Journalismfundu Europe kroz projekt LocalMedia4Democracy. Prilično sam zadovoljan zbog toga jer smo uspjeli, a čestitati mogu cijelom svom timu, najviše kolegama Tamara Hodak I Antonio Kezerić, a onda I svima ostalima. Znam da im je bilo naporno napraviti takav u projekt u tako malo vremena, no sve se može ako je tim kvalitetan I složan. U tom smislu, čestitam njima, kao I Journalismfundu koji nam je omogućio potpuno financiranje cijelog tako velikog posla. Bez njih također ovo ne bi bilo moguće I ključan su faktor našeg uspjeha.

Aplikacijom su korisnici prezadovoljni. Ona je osmišljena da bude jednostavna I brza, da uvede nekoliko novih tematskih kategorija u naš rad, te da bude kvalitetna ekstenzija našem mediju. Sve to ona jest, zato smatramo da je I uspješna.

ENGLISH VERSION

The Lika App mobile application can be downloaded on the Apple Store and Google Play platforms. It is fully functional and we currently have slightly more than 2,000 active users. The application was created in the Flutter interface, my whole team worked on it, including a colleague who is a software developer.

I must admit that partially at the very beginning of the creation of this project, we did not estimate the time period in which we can develop the application so well. For this reason, we had to dedicate practically all the time in our company, which has several different activities, only to this project in order to deliver what we promised to Journalismfund Europe through the LocalMedia4Democracy project. I am quite satisfied because we succeeded, and I can congratulate my entire team, especially my colleagues Tamara Hodak and Antonio Kezerić, and then everyone else. I know that it was hard for them to make such a project in such a short time, but everything is possible if the team is of high quality and harmonious. In this sense, I congratulate them, as well as Journalismfund, which enabled us to fully finance such a big job. Without them this would also not be possible and they are a key factor in our success.

Users are very satisfied with the application. It was designed to be simple and fast, to introduce several new thematic categories in our work, and to be a quality extension of our medium. She is all that, that’s why we consider her to be successful.

Tell us about your partnership with Hrvatski Radio Otočac. i.e. how did you start working with them? Why them?

Partnerstvo s Hrvatskim radio Otočcem želim istaknuti kao uspješno I kvalitetno. S obzirom da je riječ o dugovječnoj I najslušanijoj lokalnoj radio postoji Ličko-senjske županije, na čijem prostoru djeluje I naš Lika Club, I prije smo imali određenih kontakata u razmjeni vijesti. No nikad nije došlo do toga da zaista nešto zajedno radimo, jer su oni radijska postaja a mi online medij. Sad se prvi put, zbog Lika Appa, dogodila šansa da I oni I mi imamo benefite ove priče. Odlučili smo razgovarati, ponuditi im suradnju, oni su ju objeručke prihvatili, I danas smo ovdje. Na aplikaciji Lika App, možete na naslovnici slušati 0-24h radio stream Hrvatskog radio Otočca. S druge strane, oni svoje slušatelje svakodnevno tri puta obavještavaju o toj opciji, što je dobro I za njihov radio, kao I za našu aplikaciju. Mislim da smo svi zadovoljni. Ono na čemu trenutno radimo su zajedničke ponude za oglašavanje prema klijentima.

ENGLISH VERSION

I would like to highlight the partnership with Croatian radio Otočac as successful and of high quality. Given that it is the longest-lived and most listened-to local radio station in the Lika-Senj County, on whose territory our Lika Club also operates, we previously had certain contacts in the exchange of news. But it never came to the point that we actually do something together, because they are a radio station and we are an online media. Now, for the first time, because of Lika App, there is a chance that both they and we can benefit from this story. We decided to talk, to offer them cooperation, they accepted it with open arms, and we are here today. On the Lika App, you can listen to the 0-24h radio stream of Croatian Radio Otočac on the front page. On the other hand, they inform their listeners about this option three times a day, which is good for both their radio and our application. I think we are all satisfied. What we are currently working on is joint advertising offers to clients.

How does your business model support the use of this app? i.e. what are your revenue streams to support it? How do you train your journalists to use it and how do they use it for their work? How do you promote the tool with your audience and how do you interact with them?

Za ovu aplikaciju nije potreban poseban trening tima zato što se njome upravlja putem našeg web portala Lika Club unutar sučelja. Portal I aplikacija povezani su API-jem, I iz tog razloga novinari vrlo jednostavno mogu upravljati njenim sadržajem. Stvar je maksimalno jednostavna, jer je takva bila I moja uputa programerima kojom sam želio objasniti da novinari nisu tehničari, već novinari. Oni se bave stvaranjem teksta, ne programiranjem. Programeri su to shvatili, te napravili kvalitetnu aplikaciju kojom novinari vrlo lako upravljaju.

Naša prodaja pozicija unutar mobilne aplikacije tek je počela, radimo na tome uz sve druge stvari, vjerujem da će prvi rezultati doći tek u drugom dijelu godine. Prodaju prostora unutar aplikacije zamislili smo na način da daje posebne pozicije I vidljivost našim oglašivačima, prigodno za njihove kampanje koje imaju. Na primjer, sponzori mogu zakupiti I biti partner naše kategorije.

Lika App se I dalje reklamira putem naših drugih kanala, primjerice ispod svake vijesti na www.likaclub.eunalaze se tipke za download aplikacije u storeovima, a na Facebook stranici redovitom objavljeno screenhotove aktualnih naslovnica na aplikaciji po raznim kategorijama.

ENGLISH VERSION

This application does not require special team training because it is managed through our Lika Club web portal within the interface. The portal and the application are connected by an API, and for this reason, journalists can manage its content very easily. The matter is as simple as possible, because that was also my instruction to the programmers, with which I wanted to explain that journalists are not technicians, they are journalists. They do text creation, not programming. The programmers understood this and created a quality application that journalists can easily manage.

Our sale of positions within the mobile application has just started, we are working on it along with all other things, I believe that the first results will come only in the second part of the year. We designed the sale of space within the application in such a way that it gives special positions and visibility to our advertisers, suitable for their campaigns. For example, sponsors can rent and be a partner of our category.

The Lika App is still advertised through our other channels, for example, under each news item on www.likaclub.eu  there are buttons to download the app in stores, and on the Facebook page screenshots of the current covers of the app are regularly published in various categories.

How many requests have you received since launching the tool? Do you have any success stories that you can share?

 Imamo nešto više od 2000 korisnika. Taj broj se konstantno povećava jer se nalazimo I u velikim oglašivačkim sistemima poput Google Playa I App Storea koji nas oglašavaju unutar svojih storeova. Ono što je zanimljivo, je da nas je aktivnije počela pratiti I hrvatska dijaspora, jer dostupnost web stranice u cijelom svijetu ponekad zna biti ograničena, pa aplikacija omogućava stalno čitanje vijesti I slušanje radija I ona je zaista uvijek dostupna.

Svaki pozitivan komentar na aplikaciju uzimamo sa veseljem, čitatelji nam često javljaju da smo to odlično napravili I to je samo dodatna motivacija za nove korake ka boljem informiranju u Republici Hrvatskoj.

ENGLISH VERSION

We have slightly more than 2000 users. That number is constantly increasing because we are also in large advertising systems such as Google Play and the App Store, which advertise us within their stores. What is interesting is that the Croatian diaspora started to follow us more actively, because the availability of the website in the whole world can sometimes be limited, so the application allows you to constantly read the news and listen to the radio, and it really is always available.

We welcome every positive comment on the application, readers often tell us that we did a great job, and this is just an additional motivation for new steps towards better information in the Republic of Croatia.

 

---

Foto: Josip Durdov