Alt Misses the Web

About two years ago, I advised a chain of weekly newspapers in southern New York and northern New Jersey about putting together a web site. As part of that process, I scoured web sites from different stripes of newspapers and other media outlets such as radio and television.

It quickly became apparent that newspaper web sites were achingly dull. Their presentation was horrific; the content limp. There were a few web sites here and there that offered some nice surprises. But the good stuff was found outside of mainstream media's domain. Where was the interactivity? Where was the feature that kept me hitting reload every hour? The alternate papers were the worse about it. A feeling of be happy we put the content out there pervades these web efforts.

Few industries are more market oriented than media especially print journalism. Why then are blogs and home grown web sites the places to go? I am not talking about content, but interactivity. When companies - newspapers, television stations, magazines included - launch a web site, it neglects what it is really doing. A web site launch should be treated like a new product launch.

We will discus new product launch on Monday, July 19. But you should be familiar with the steps of creating a new product, the various types of new product, and the diffusion process. When a company launches a web site, what type of a new product is it?

By not treating a web site for what it is, a new product, explains why so many horrible web sites exist in this world.