"Over the last few years we at USATODAY.com have been listening to feedback, watching users engage with our site and analyzing usage patterns," said Jeff Webber, publisher of USA TODAY.com.
Way to go USA Today! you listened and made changes based on what the audiences wanted to see.
Although many companies develop research and analysis about the needs of its clients, only a few really take the challenge to bring those ideas to reality.
What's interesting is that since 2007, USATODAY.com launched the concept of network journalism, becoming the first major newspaper website to allow user commenting and community engagement.
The new design of the online version includes some interesting features, starting with the new interactive, video and photo section just bellow the headlines.
It seems that the company is saying: "We know you read the headlines and then you want to see the interactive version of the text". That is why, USA Today not only brings the written version of the news, but deploys photo archive, video and interactive files as well. And it is easy to browse.
Further down, content is grouped by print and online-only sections to include: News, Money, Life, Sports, Better Life, Weather, Tech, Travel and Opinion. The right side of the page offers a "Community Buzz" area, highlighting recent posts from our award-winning blogs; "You Said It," which points out recent user comments; plus daily polls and more.
But w
hat really caught my attention is the number of comments that each article received (each article has got a number between brackets which shows how many comments that article's got). This helps a lot when identifying what people found interesting and helps communicators find trends in the news.A video tour of the newly designed home page can be seen at: redesign.usatoday.com.