Nearly 25 years ago, Gannett changed the newspaper landscape with the launch of USA Today. Like it or shudder, that bold stroke showed a willingness to break the mold (even if it meant creating a new one) and it paid off. A revamp of USAToday.com scheduled to start this Saturday isn’t quite as dramatic—or as likely to make a huge impact on the rest of the news industry—but it shows the same willingness to challenge the norm: in addition to the much-needed redesign, the paper is expanding an already strong interest in social media by adding a number of tools and options. Many of those features come through an agreement with Austin-based Pluck.
The redesign not only smooths out navigation issues (the site has struck me for years as the organizational antithesis of the print edition), it incorporates and highlights a variety of ways to engage readers. Kinsey Wilson, executive editor of USA Today, describes it as “expanding the mission of the site at the broadest level.” The idea isn’t to mimic the paper but to “convey some of the same sensibility.”
Some of the changes:
—Everything is done in Ajax.
—design-wise, a lot more white space signaling a shift away from dense pages stuffed with information.
—providing a different view of the news with RSS feeds featured on the front. But, says Wilson, they won’t be using the
term RSS because they want to make it easier. And the editors are selecting the featured feeds; readers will not be able to add their own. Again, he says, “we’ve really gone toward simplicity.”
—With registration, readers will be able to leave a comment on on any story. No moderating but a profanity filter; also, an abuse button will be on every comment. Anyone can read stories and view the comments. Registered users have to provide a valid address but can use screen names. Wilson: “Initially, we were viewing reader comments before we posted them ... very, very few needed to be taken down.”
—Registered users will have profile pages where they can upload photos, write reviews where it makes sense and have their own blogs. The paper expects to add some reader reporting elements. Eduitors and reporters are expected to have their own profiles.
USA Today Online launched in April 1995, described in company history as “an electronic news service based on USA TODAY” that “uses Internet technology to provide readers with live, detailed news in an easy-to-use format.” The name changed to USAToday.com three years later. Ten years after the initial launch, the daily and print newsrooms were combined. Now, says Wilson, “This is an effort to really try and tailor the news in a way people consume news on the web —and to draw them into that process.”
From the explanation to readers: “There’s a concept here called ‘network journalism’—the idea that reporting can drive readers and readers can drive reporting.”
Jeff Jarvis has a detailed view.
Update: The relaunch went off as planned Saturday but most users are expected to see the vastly changed site today. An editor’s note explains more; it already has more than 140 comments from registered users. As is usually the case, many are from people unhappy with change. Wilson’s response.