Mulling the Media Management Center’s “How to Become ‘Easy to Use’ Online” study (it’s a quick read and available to download here). The key point seems obvious in retrospect but well worth stating by the study’s authors and repeating here: whether a site is “easy to use” is going to going to vary depending on the needs and abilities of the user. A deeply experienced, knowledgeable user who identifies with the site topic will likely want a vast amount of more complex information, arranged in much more granular categories. This is a user who will be disappointed by too little information. On the other side of the coin is the casual user – for whom too many choices is actually a drawback. This user wants editors to have done some of the work for him by narrowing choices and only showing them the newest, most relevant information. This study came out back in January, but comes to mind again as the discussions over paid content, and specifically what sort of content (or more likely content-delivery services) would people would pay for, grow as newspapers continue to search for new revenue sources. I wonder if in the analysis of these two types of users, and types of sites, there’s some sort of hint in here as to where the line between free content and paid content delivery services might exist…
Tags: newspapers, paid content, usability
Related Posts
- November 14, 2009 -- The future of New Hampshire newspapers
- November 14, 2009 -- A recent The Office reference to newspaper Web site strategy – the paywall
- June 22, 2009 -- Should newspapers “Go Galt”? And what would that mean?
Ernesto — Glad you liked our “Easy to Use” study. Thought you’d be interested to know we’ve taken it one step further with a new research report, “Teens Know What They Want From Online News: Do You?” (available from the site of our partner in this research, the Newspaper Association of America Foundation, at http://www.naafoundation.org/u.....know/teens know report.pdf.) In this research, we developed and tested prototypes with teens of sites that are more geared to their needs. We think teens are part of a large underserved market of light news users — when you add up young adults, people who feel time-starved and people who are only somewhat interested in the news but want to keep up. The opportunity comes when you realize that, looked at through the eyes of teenagers (and other light users), most news Web sites look like they’re made for “news junkies.” They — and lots of other people — need something more geared to their needs. Would love to hear your thoughts on the new study!
Vivian Vahlberg, Managing Director, Media Management Center
Vivian, I agree with that – in an ideal situation we’d provide very different kinds of sites for light users. I’ll definitely check out the new study and touch base with you afterward!