5. Features
Features are a matter of how much is possible with an effort relative to the added value.
Here are some ideas, that very few other news sources have adopted:
- Permanent, human readable URLs, for example something like http://taz.de/2007/07/04/this-storys-headline/. See Jakob Nielsen article and recent research by Microsoft (PDF) revealing the importance of URLs.
- Personalised news preferences: see ABC News Australia.
- Use tags, a more modern way of organising articles.
See “Tagging”, “My Tags”, “My Stories” and “My Preferences” on this page.
- Integrate regional content, see ABC News Australia again,
looking at the section for each of the states (NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS, ACT, NT)
- Social bookmarking links, to draw mainstream attention to particular articles.
See this article.
- Links to articles on same topic in other news sources.
Linking to other websites does not necessarily mean you will lose readers,
and linking to the same articles from sensationalist or conservative media
(such as those from Springer Verlag) would be reasonably frech and would allow
readers to appreciate their balanced alternative source of news.
Also, given the trend of aggregating news, this would encourage readers to
keep visiting the site instead of adding the content to iGoogle or something similar.
- Give print edition subscribers better access, offering them a privileged version.
- Offer feeds and mailing lists. A daily email can bring the headlines to each reader,
bringing daily visits, RSS will do the same for the techsavvy.
- Offer Podcasts, for the millions of Apple-friendly students.
This would typically require audio or video content.
- Open up free access to the archive and encourage visitors to read them.
This may include a section looking at stories of the past or a new interface for accessing older articles.