[sis-l] E-Mail Your Audience Anything They Want

[Shirl Kennedy]

Reading a print newspaper is an all or nothing experience. You get the whole
paper. There's no selectively buying the sports section, or just the auto
classifieds.

Most news Web sites aren't much different. Content is aggregated into a
single site which is visited by a Web user. Some sites break free of this a
bit, by offering e-mail delivery of selected content (e.g., front page
headlines) or perhaps a limited set of personalized content (e.g.,
individualized stock quotes, local weather, etc.).

What's not possible in print, and is not currently in practice from news Web
sites, is making it possible for a news consumer to have any little bit of a
news organization's content delivered. I'm talking about total, complete
choice by the consumer of what he/she receives.

Why not do it?

Frankly, I've thought this was a good idea for a long time. From a selfish
perspective, wouldn't it be great to not have to buy a print edition of my
local newspaper, and not have to remember to visit its Web site. Instead,
I'd be pleased as punch to have the ability to select which parts of the
newspaper I wanted to receive daily, and have them turn up in my e-mail
inbox.

So far, no newspaper Web site (or other news organization's Web site, for
that matter) has offered that kind of granular control to its users. But the
Web site of the St. Petersburg Times (Florida) is embarking on an experiment
that will lead to exactly that kind of service.

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http://www.editorandpublisher.com/ephome/news/newshtm/stop/st020701.htm


Shirl Kennedy
Web Guide Manager
eCompany Now
http://www.ecompany.com