HTML5 is really cool. It’s going to make a whole lot of things a whole lot easier for developers, and it should lead to higher quality user experiences on the internet, no matter what device we use for access. While I’m excited about all the geeky details of the specification, which is still very much a work in progress, I thought it might be worthwhile to take a look at HTML5 from a news industry standpoint. For both big publishers or independent bloggers, some of the new features are likely to have a direct impact on the ways they present content going forward.
All Posts Tagged ‘Publishers’
For the last couple of years, much of the focus regarding the evolution of the web has centered on the concept of the social graph. The social graph, or the digital collective set of personal connections established by users on social networking sites, has laid the foundation for deeper engagement with others online. We update our personal networks on everything from the mundane eating of a sandwich to marriage proposals, separations and births. Simply, our social lives are now hosted online for our worlds to see.
As the web has evolved, and we have evolved with it, we have started to see that “one size fits all” doesn’t apply to graphing our personal connections online, and more particularly it does not apply when hosting different types of user behaviors. This is why we manage and engage with our business connections on Linkedin and not typically on Facebook, to give one example. Considering that social media is still a very young medium, it is safe to expect that more platforms will emerge hosting different connection types and user behaviors.
Last February, The New York Times announced they’d be opening up their archives via an API. I was pumped. It was a really cool development that didn’t quite get the attention it deserved, and it made me believe that the Times “gets it,” something I often say about that institution when the newspaper industry comes up in conversation (if that doesn’t happen to you, well, just pretend – the point is that I stick up for the Times).