News Websites Don’t Understand The Web

Written on November 17, 2008 – 12:17 pm | by oldschool

Is it just me or does anyone else have a problem with the news sites that make you register to read an article? How in the world are you supposed to send links to people and expect them to read it? I know when I get a link that requires me to register, I just think “I am sure it was a good story, but who has time for that”.

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4 Responses to “News Websites Don’t Understand The Web”
By Glenn on Nov 18, 2008 | Reply

I think newspaper sites are entitled to some compensation for their work. Registering doesn’t seem too high a price for the consumer, especially when getting something like the New York Times, which charges $180 a quarter for its print edition nationally. Registered users can email stories to others, usually. But, yeah, it’s a pain. I think one way newspapers continue to be clueless about the web is the lack of true useful outgoing links — most just point to other in-house content. They need to learn from the news and trade blogs that do this so well.
By oldschool on Nov 19, 2008 | Reply

@Glenn – Thanks for your input. I understand some charge such as WSJ.com, but I am not even talking about the ones that charge. I just think it shows that they don’t get how information is shared. They would rather have my email address than have me share the link with hundreds or thousands of people through Social Media and that seems to be backwards.

I don’t care as much if they link out or not, especially if I can’t get to the content
By Joe Cheray on Nov 21, 2008 | Reply

I have had a few experiences like that where I get this great excerpt that leads into what I am hoping is a great article and then once I go to that papers site I am told I need to register to read the rest of the article or to access the article. It is a pain yes and I suppose they do it for a reason, however just like the actual hard copy print version of their publications people do find a way around having to go through a process to access their information.

Personally, I don’t go back to those sites that require you to register before you can access their information. It is just me I don’t want to read this really great article and then not be able to give it the social networking juice that I am sure it would deserve. I would feel weird about sending someone a link to another opt in type link just to gain information. Unless I had an incentive from the publication such as becoming an affiliate for them or something then I would consider it. Then to it would depend on the publication and if it matched my niche.
By oldschool on Nov 21, 2008 | Reply

@ Joe – I was in a hurry when I posted that, but I didn’t even touch the fact that they don’t get how Social Media works. I guess some do now that they are using Twitter, but many aren’t plugged in yet. I guess they just need to buy my new book?