Journalists can measure a number of metrics to constitute a story's success online - its traction on social media, page views or how many times it was shared.

But according to half of the 545 journalists who participated in the Oriella Digital Journalism Study, the most important measurement of a story is the number of unique visitors it receives.

The study tracked responses from journalists across 15 countries, with 86 percent of Canadian journalists citing unique visitors as its most valued metric.

And not all the ways to measure an online journalistic work can be found on Google Analytics. Newsrooms can measure a story's worth through the impact it has in its audience's community or perhaps if it opened up wider social discourse.

How do you measure the success of your work as a journalist?

Image CC-licensed on Flickr via nataliej.