Newsweek.com‘s latest iteration is following the newest trend of presenting information as a “river of news,” rather than a flood of unnavigable links. There is still a lead story presented at the top in a (too) big picture. But below that comes the news river (called “Newsweek Now”), and it’s a great start. It’s not quite “Continuous News,” because it still features (as near as I can tell) only finished product news. I’d like to see more entries that are blog-like in length. We have constantly breaking information about the BP leak today. Why not have regular updates? Still, this is the trend. We’re seeing it with some pioneering local sites and now with Newsweek.
Writes Newsweek Digital Editor Mark Miller:
“When you come to our site, we won’t greet you with a dizzying array of a million places to click. We’ll focus on what matters most, right now. We’ll give you new information, a well-informed opinion, or an insightful piece of analysis.”
Sounds like news, doesn’t it? The idea of a news river was roundly criticized at first (“We’re Journalists, dammit! The lead is what I say it is!”) , journalists are starting to see the benefits of timeline-based news.
