User Registration Need Not Be Inevitable

Steve Outing has written a great article on trying to capture user data more carefully, ways around asking users to register and yet be able to capture enough data.

The whole point: Might there not be other ways to target advertising and simultaneously create a pleasant user experience? Meta-data tagging is an under-explored option for news sites, Outing suggests. He explores how it might work, and how it could enable publishers to compete against new threats such as Google Local.

On a related note, If I were an online publishing exec, I would give a tooth and an arm to go to this Clik Conference organized by the Lawrence Journal-World people. Alas, it is sold out.

So why the heck is this small newspaper chain in some part of Kansas doing these great thing with online newspapers? At the cost of sounding ageist, it is young operation run by young people…if you want to attract the younger generation to your sites, let young talent run it. Get it?

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