Robin Hamman over at the Cybersoc.com blog has analysed each of the UK national newspapers in terms of their use of the web. Inspired by the Bivings Report which looked at the top 100 US newspapers and their use of the web, Hamman looked at each website for 13 different categories: RSS, RSS sections, Most popular, Videos, Podcasts, Chat, Journalist blogs, Journalist blog comments, Blog roll, Comment on articles, Registration, Bookmarking and Forums/Message boards.
Needless to say the online news powerhouse, The Guardian, scored top marks with 13/13 but, as Shane Richmond from the Telegraph Technology Blog points out, the analysis could have included a few more Web 2.0 characteristics such as tags. Or, if I add my two pence worth, it could have included some citizen journalism features like moblogging.
To quote and agree with Richmond again, a subscription feature isn’t a good thing on a website in my humble opinion so perhaps it could have been marked a “-1 point” for that one?
I’m quite interested to see what the regionals are doing in this space. I know they tend to be a bit further behind their national counterparts in terms of online activity. But when I asked the question of what does the future hold for the regional press in June it prompted some positive comments from Piaras, Richard, Heather, Philip, Richard M and a response post from Stuart on how it’s thriving.
If the regional dead tree versions are doing so well I wonder if they need to embrace it at all at this point in time?
technorati tags: web+2.0, newspapers, newspaper, regional+newspapers, national+newspapers
Stephen is a communications consultant based out of the UK. You can connect with him on Twitter or check out his LinkedIn profile. | Email Stephen
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David Phillips
Craigs list has not yet had an impact on the UK local media yet!
Then there will be blood on the floor.