USA Today Website Redesign is Live

Posted on March 3rd, 2007
By Todd Zeigler in Media, Social Networks, Technology, Web 2.0, Website review

USA Today's new website went live this morning. You can read a note from the editors about the redesign here and a breakdown of the new features here.

I like it.

The key here is the social networking component. Users can create profiles that include personal information, blog entries, photos and a list of friends. These profiles are then linked to every time a user comment on articles. You can see the test profile I created here.

The site also includes tons of other features such as tagging, voting on stories, RSS feeds, etc. The user interface includes a good dose of Ajax, which is smart. It will cut down on page views a bit but it creates a much better user experience.

In order to succeed online newspapers are going to have to build vibrant communities around their websites. With its new site, USA Today appears to be doing just that.

Give it a look and let us know what you think in the comments.

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Comments

Steve

March 3rd, 2007 at 12:55 pm

I like the new features, but the site layout still seems too cluttered.

Further, this is just another community site.

Until I see USA Today harness this site’s features to implement its “Information Center” initiative that its owner, Gannett, is converting its local newsrooms towards, it is just another run of the mill community oriented news sites (ok, there aren’t many of them, but they have existed before today). Hopefully, Gannett is willing to test its seven desks on a national level as well as local, and this should include more than community member written movie or concert reviews or sharing of personal pictures or opinion via blogs.
Todd Zeigler

March 3rd, 2007 at 2:06 pm

Steve - I think you are a tougher grader than I am.

I would agree that there is nothing really new here. But I think now that they’ve got a nice platform built here they’ll be able to innovate in the ways you are calling for.
delportd

March 4th, 2007 at 11:06 am

Don’t forget, this is the 800 pound gorilla of the daily publishing world. Once they do it, others will come.
Alex Hammer

March 5th, 2007 at 1:14 pm

Todd,

I like it too. As you know being a contributor to Politics 2.0 (The convergence of politics and web 2.0) interactive and community technologies are transforming many fields, including the campaigns of the 2008 candidates for President.

In the media field, newspapers and TV have realized for some time that they need to be competitive online. Building successful communities increase “stickiness” and reader loyalty in this new media world of almost unlimited choices (multi-contributor and traditionally networked blogs are now of course also competitors)

Larger players like Gannett’s USA Today may be able to play in this space on their own. Smaller players will join larger networks and/or look to
Adsense and future generation monetization capabilities.

While MySpace and other large networks can already sign substantial advertising deals, the role of advertising in video is the next hot area, as YouTube and their competitors seek also to monetize their significant content and audiances.

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