USAToday.com Refashions Itself as a Social Network

USA Today is unveiling a massive overhaul of their web site that adds a number of great features. The notable additions include: reader comments on every story, the ability to create a profile page that can be shared with others, citizen journalist photos, story tagging and digg-like recommendation buttons.

This is exactly the direction USA Today needs to follow. However, it doesn't go quite far enough. In addition to building these features, the media need to bridge their communities to the ones where we already spend our time. RSS, widgets and embedded content would help here. For example, USA Today should let us add our blog, Twitter or Facebook feeds or even embedded YouTube vids to our profile pages.

Connecting communities is so easy today with web services and it would go a long way toward making the their site - or any site for that matter - stronger. Hopefully we'll see this happen soon.

Comments

[Richard Gatarski]

Interesting as always when it comes from you Steve, but check out the comments on the community-featues page within USA Today (the one you are linking to). So far 54 comments in total, and after a quick glance about 50 of them are negs. Too early to tell, but reasons could be ranging from "people resist change", via "USA today readers are (still) outside web 2.0 spehere and dont get the point(s)", to "not all media should support social networking"...

In addition, Kinsey Wilson´s (executive editor) oomment (#3) is telling. Seems he is not listening, just eager to explain.

[Allen Stern]

I just posted a video review of the updates. While there are some positive ones, there are some negative ones as well.

I agree with you Steve on some of your points, but I also disagree with some. No reason that USAToday should allow twitter feeds, etc.

Click my name to watch the video.

[gzino]

I agree - this doesn't go far enough. Their content is anti-community: wide breadth, shallow depth. Communities focus around narrow breadth, deep depth. Glad they added the features, but features don't create communities. They'll need much more fundamental change to do that - along the lines that you suggest.

[Praveen]

Websites should not get into social just because it is the "in" thing now!

[Gino]

This is something I feel strongly about, as my latest blog entry points out. I also agree with what you're saying - there needs to be Web 2.0 adaptation together with offsite community integration. Other traditional media companies must start engaging with their users and encourage discussion around topics of importance.

[Matt Haverkamp]

I agree Praveen - when you try to hard it shows. Plus from the advertising perspective they have hosed any large opportunity on the front page. I realize that advertising should not dictate all, but on a site the size of USATODAY that is a HUGE dollar hit.

[Jenny Ambrozek]

Thanks all for the diverse views. Curious if anyone is predicting the outcome? Will the existing customer outcry at the change retreat and/or will existing readers actually depart or just threaten? Perhaps a new audience will be attracted? If usage and advertising revenues are affected negatively how long will USA Today stick with the redesign?

Does anyone know what redesign process USA Today used and if they engaged existing site readers in the process?

Reading the comments clearly it appears not.

[Harry L]

It's interesting that as the established newspaper media companies are stagnating, they are trying to establish some sort of online presence. Will they be able to jump on the web 2.0 bandwagon? I would guess not, but it's going to be an evolving process and they are not going to abandon their old business models overnight.

[MWD]

".. to the ones where we already spend our time. RSS, widgets"

"We" who? "We" the geeks and the dweebs? Or "we" the majority of people that consume USAToday? If it is the former, you are probably right, but likely not the target market USAToday is going after. If it's the latter you are clueless about the broad adoption of such technologies. The majority of the real world cares little about those things.

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[Oliver Reichenstein]

Just out of curiosity: Did Edelman have anything to do with this?

[Steve Rubel]

Nope. I would have disclosed that Oliver. - steve

[Loconut - Perth News]

Do journalists want to become an active part of the community, and discuss their stories with readers?

[Brian]

Could VOIS.com become another Facebook?

Since the advent of social networking sites in 1997, the phenomenon has taken the world by storm. Once called a passing fad social networking is now a thriving business, in 2006, alone it garnered over $6.5 billion in revenue, while the three biggest players, connected over 280 million subscribers in a way never known before to society. This form of connection has drawn the globe closer together than anyone ever predicted.

Just a few years ago, MySpace.com, solely dominated the social networking site market with almost 80% of the social networking site market but now websites like Facebook entered the social networking site race becoming the 8th most viewed website in the U.S. according to web measuring traffic site Alexa.com. Facebook.com which originally started at Harvard University , later extended to Boston area schools and beyond has mystified many naysayer's with its explosive growth over the last three years and an astounding asking price of $10-$15 billion dollars for the company. But who will be next?

Who will carry the torch into the future?

With the rapid growth of the likes of MySpace and Facebook the burning question on everyone's tongue is who is next? As with any burgeoning field many newcomers will and go but only the strong and unique will survive. Already many in the field have stumbled, as indicated by their traffic rankings, including heavily funded Eons.com with its former Monster.com founder at the helm, Hooverspot.com and Boomj.com with its ridiculous Web 3.0 slogan. There are many possibilities but it is a dark horse coming fast into view and taking hold in the social networking site market at the global level that has us interested the website - Vois.com. Less than a year ago, this newest contender directed at 25 to 50 years olds graced the absolute bottom of the list with its website ranked at a dismal 5,000,000. With not so much as a squeak this rising star has come from the depths of anonymity growing an eye-popping 10,000% in less than one year to make itself known worldwide now sporting a recent web traffic ranking in the 5,000 range.

Understanding the Market

When people in the United States hear about Facebook and other services such as MySpace the widely held belief is that these websites are globally used and are as synonymous as Google or Yahoo in regards to having a global market presence. This idea is completely misguided. Now it is true that both of these social networking giants are geared to service the western industrialized cultures but when it comes to the markets of the future, the emerging markets, they have virtually no presence. The sites themselves are heavily Anglicized, and Facebook in particular has an extremely complicated web interface that eludes even those familiar with the language, making them virtually inaccessible in other parts of the world even where English is the main language.

Our interest in Vois is global and geopolitical. Simply, Vois understands this lack of market service and is building its provision model on a global research concept developed by Goldman Sachs a few years ago. The concept is basically predicated on the belief that beginning now using current economic models and continuing those models over the next few decades will lead to a major paradigm shift in the world regarding nations who are current economic leaders like those being the USA and the other members of the G-7 and those who will become dominant in the world economy mainly the BRICs. In the Goldman research report Goldman highlights the fastest growing nations and has dubbed them with the two acronyms BRIC's and N-11. BRIC standing for ( Brazil, R ussia, India and China) representing the fastest growing economies and N-11 or what are being called the Next-11 representing the next 11 countries to emerge as future important economies such as Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam. This approach has already been implemented with some success with companies like Orkut, who has over 80% of the market share in Brazil and large holdings in India and Eastern Europe . Other providers such as Hi5 have the world as their focus and are making great strides in global market share while Facebook builds itself into a niche provider wholly unready to take on the world.

A Growing Presence

As Vois breaks new ground in the world market pursuing previously ignored demographics, they afford themselves the opportunity of tremendous growth unfettered by the giants such as Facebook and MySpace. While cultivating this new user base, Vois will also be able to monopolize on their business revenue strategies, creating an area of commerce that will make their site increasingly attractive to business and users the world over. This concept, dubbed sCommerce, allows the subscriber to promote themselves in both personal and a professional fashion while giving them the option of setting up shop on the site. This approach will allow business owners to target their market in a way never before allowing them to focus on interested groups of individuals while providing follow-up without having to commit to wasteful blanket campaigns that are typically the order of the day. This newfound border will allow Vois to explore new revenue models while provide a tremendous service for both their regular subscribers and business subscribers alike. With all this going on, rapid traffic growth to the site, we pose the question - is Vois the next Facebook, it sure looks like it but only time will tell….