---
title: "Poll: Should a newspaper be a social network?"
date: 2007-03-04
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2007"
    url: "/tag/2007.md"
---

# Poll: Should a newspaper be a social network?

The title of this week’s poll is taken straight from [Matthew Ingram’s post](https://web.archive.org/web/20091126173145/http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2007/03/04/can-a-newspaper-be-a-social-network/) about [USA Today’s re-design](https://web.archive.org/web/20091126173145/http://www.usatoday.com/news/community-features.htm). The new-look USA Today incorporates many of the social networking features that have become popular over the last year or so. Or as [ the editor of USA Today put it](https://web.archive.org/web/20091126173145/http://www.usatoday.com/news/2007-03-02-editors-note_N.htm): “the real change is in the approach, not the appearance.” And the approach, in a nutshell, is to merge traditional journalistic reporting with social software. The changes, as summarized by USA Today, enable their readers to:

‘¢ Scan other news sources directly on USATODAY.com; ‘¢ See how readers are reacting to stories; ‘¢ Recommend stories and comments to other readers; ‘¢ Comment directly on stories; ‘¢ Participate in discussion forums; ‘¢ Write reviews (of movies, music and more); ‘¢ Contribute photos; ‘¢ Better communicate with USA TODAY staff.

The USA Today re-design has predictably caused a massive [weekend scrum](https://web.archive.org/web/20091126173145/http://www.techmeme.com/070304/p13#a070304p13) at Techmeme, with many bloggers excited about the changes. But as Don Dodge [precisely points out](https://web.archive.org/web/20091126173145/http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2007/03/usa_today_socia.html), 92% of USA Today’s  *own readers* dislike the changes. This is reminiscent of the [Netscape re-design](https://web.archive.org/web/20091126173145/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/new_netscape_op.php) last year, when the portal Netscape changed overnight into a Digg clone – causing [howls of outrage](https://web.archive.org/web/20091126173145/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/netscape_commun.php) from Netscape’s traditional user base.

So to the poll. We’re interested in the high level trend here. Are newspapers going to morph into social networks over time, a place where people not only read the news but socialize with other readers (and journalists)? Or is this [more evidence](https://web.archive.org/web/20091126173145/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/technology/03social.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin) that the MySpace craze has gone too far…

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/poll_newspapers_social_networks.php))*