GirlHacker's Random Log

almost daily since 1999

 

One way to get readers to visit your site frequently is to have frequent updates. I’ve been continually frustrated by online newspaper sites that mimic their printed counterpart by updating once a day. While there’s value in having the content online, they miss the greater point of the dynamic publishing medium. A study from the University of Texas at Austin tracked updates to the home pages of 30 news sites. Their two week sample took the top 10, the middle 10 and the bottom 10 from a list of the 100 largest circulation newspapers. During a day, 5 made almost no updates, 13 added minimal breaking news and 12 had constant updates. Automated wire feeds were not counted as updates. The researchers did more detailed analysis as well, identifying the types of news and timing of changes. I know where to go when I absolutely need new news, but the old print cycle is still ruling publishing in many news houses.

Written by ltao

July 29th, 2004 at 4:57 am

Posted in Uncategorized