The Huffington Post has proven time and time again to be a fun and entertaining website to get a news in almost every category you can dream of! Interaction, however, is not included. The Huffington Post doesn’t feel the need to engage their viewers when it comes to polls, maps, etc. This clearly is not working, at least for readers who want to play a part in the news and the opinions being portrayed on this page.
My first question is why not bring in a poll? Polls are a great way to engage the reader and make them want to come back to the site to see a final outcome. In this story about the Tea Partiers being turned against the GOP http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/16/wall-street-reform-obama_n_540453.html, it would benefit Huff to maybe a put a poll on the side to see what sort of blogs they should write in regards to their politics, or if they should take something out. Polls are fun for the readers, but they are also educational for the site as a whole because they give you an exact estimate of what people want… a percentage for every single answer available. why wouldn’t you include one?
I take my next issue with maps. Come on, why no maps?? There is a volcano eruption in Iceland; MAP IT! Here is the story Huff put up in regards to this phenomenon: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/16/iceland-volcano-experts-d_n_540889.html. While the pictures are compelling and the blog is interesting, it would have been significantly better if they gave readers and idea of what exactly was happening and where. If they had added something along the lines of this:
View Larger Map
The website might have had a better chance of engaging the viewer.
Interaction is a key to successful journalism. It always has been the easiest way to involve readers and get them to want to come back and continue reading. As the Huffington Post is not doing the best job at this, I would suggest an online news source step up their game in the involvement aspect, otherwise interest will be lost and viewings will go down. Huff’s best bet is to jump on the interaction bandwagon so to speak and put polls and maps throughout the site, its fun and it makes everyone happy!
