Making Use of What We Can Now

Are magazines and newspapers actually integrating these new interactive concepts? After analyzing top magazines and newspapers around the country, Todd Ziegler compiled data last year to answer this question.
His findings:
*48% of Magazines and 78% of newspapers have incorporated RSS Feeds into their content.
*No magazines or newspapers had advertisements in their RSS Feeds.
*10% of magazines and 42% of newspapers provided a “Most Popular,” “Most E-mailed” view of content. Takes your content and lets them look at it in a different way.
*34% of magazines and 78% of newspapers included video.
*14% of magazines produced podcasts compared to 36% of newspapers.
*6% of magazines and 5% of newspapers used tags to organize traditional content. Tags can be used to group related content, easier navigation, facilitate site searching.
*53% of newspapers and 12% of magazines offered mobile-friendly versions of their content. This is most often seen in Iphone technology.
*40% of magazines had blogs compared to 92% of newspapers.
*34% of magazines that had blogs allowed comments compared to 78% of newspapers.
*16% of magazines linked to blogs compared to 32% of newspapers. Without linking blogs, you lose a lot of the power of the blog because it loses its personality and casual tone.
*16% of newspapers and 8% of magazines allowed comments on articles. Comments,especially on editorial pieces, should be used strategically and can build community and generate feedback if used correctly.
Should their be accountability on the part of the user comment page? I think so, because if you allow people to publish whatever they want, it could detract from the story and even discourage other people from coming in to the online discussion.
*38% of magazines required registration to view free content compared to 24% of newsapers. Online registration is frustrating, because if the stories are linked to blogs, then the people reading the blog who want to link to the newspaper site might not be able to.

So what does this all mean? Well, almost all the numbers have increased, which means the use of blogs, comments and other interactive tools has increased as well.

Ziegler’s recommendations made me think of all the various ways I can incorporate interactive elements to my future story pitching sessions. I will be looking for a job (gulp) in the coming months, and being able to walk into an editorial meeting and include interactive elements to my story ideas will be essential for my success. At least I hope.

A lot of these tools seem like they are most utilized right now by the entertainment media. Think of TMZ and Access Hollywood. I hate to say it, because I am not really a fan of them, but the idea of using interactive tools, video and inviting the public to participate has really had a big impact on these shows. Whether or not they are “news” is up to debate, but their ratings are high and they seem to be growing every day, and I think a lot of that is because they encourage user-made content and video and are big on the blog scene.

Here are some good sites to check out for their use of interactive content in action: http://www.newsvine.com, http://www.daylife.com, Malcolm Gladwell’s blog: http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/