The word “blog” has lost all meaning. From it’s humble beginnings as something jobless people in pajamas did, it has fractured into a million pieces before finally being co-opted by mainstream media companies. Now, more and more, a blog is a website and a website a blog.
Point in case, AOL News and other AOL sites this week were turned into blog-like sites that display short news stories — some as short as a single sentence — accompanied by video clips, photographs or interactive polls intended to engage readers.
According to The Washington Post, inspiration for the move came from TMZ.com, the entertainment blog co-owned by AOL and Warner Bros.
The success of TMZ.com, which has become a magnet for those more interested in Paris Hilton than in President Bush, has taught the executives at AOL a few things about the habits of Web surfers, notably that online readers aren’t afraid to scroll through several screens. And the more time users spend on a site, the more money AOL collects from advertisers.
“TMZ.com is a very long page, sometimes 10 or 12 posts or more,” said Lewis D’Vorkin, senior vice president of AOL news and sports and an architect of TMZ.com. “One of the most clicked-on links on that page is at the bottom, the ‘go to next page’ link. If you give them what they want, people will scroll.”
Does anyone even still have a website? (Aside from major brands of course who don’t know what blogs are.)
;-p
I definitely prefer to scroll than click. I think the days of keeping everything above the fold are gone. There certainly has been a shift in internet users’ preferences since blogging has become a way of life. I think it will take some time though for most people to make the design shift from click-through to scrolling.