8/3/2019 Falling for RSS and Blogs: techs or trend. The use of
Internet by Spains Newspapers
1/1
15%
26%
19%
40%
Techies: RSS/Blog+Video/Bookmarking/Podcas ting
Trendies:RSS/Blog
Bystanders : No RSS, Blogs,Podcast or Bookmarking features
Tipographics: Z ero tools
24
11
3
19
12
0
20
15
1
32
0
17
12
0
27
15
3
9 8
1 2 2 0
37
20
3
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
RS
S
MostPopular
Video
Podcasting
Ch
ats
Re
porterBlogs
CommentArticles
Bookmarking
MessageBoards
Total Top 25 Bottom 25
4
9
2
9
334
6
0
2
3
1
4
9
4
6
21
43
1 1
8 8
0123456789
RSS
RssSection
MostPopula
r
Video
Podcas
ting
Chats
ReporterBlogs
Blogscomment
Blogroll
CommentsA
rtic
le
Bookmarking
Message
Board
Spains Americas
Falling for and Blogs: techs or trend? The Use of Internet by
Spain s Newspapers
Elvira Garca de Torres, PhD.
Visiting Scholar at INMS (UMN). CEU Cardenal Herrera University.
Valencia (Spain)
Introduction
Research regarding online Spanish newspapers shows
that no significant efforts have been made to improveonline
resources in recent years. El Pais, La Vanguardia
y El Mundo as well as Vocentos chain lead an otherwise
slow process of internetization
(Armaanzas et al., 1996; Daz & Meso, 1999; Marcos Recio,
1999;
Cabrera, 200l; Canga and others, 2000; Armentia et al.,
2000;
Estvez, 2002; Sabs, 2003; Almansa and Postigo, 2004;
Salaverra
& Novos Medios Group, 2005; Ramrez, 2005; Garca de Torres et
al.,
2004, 2006).
European newspapers have moved smoothly to the
Internet, but have adopted interactivity, multimediality
and hypertextuality at a slower pace than Americas
newspapers
(Neuberger et al., 1998; Light & Rogers, 1999; Schultz,
1999; The
State of News Media Report, 2005; Schroeder, 2004:
Rosenberry,
2005; Oblak; 2005; O Sullivan, 2005; Fortunati, 2005; Van der
Wurff,
2005; Bivings Group Report, 2006).
Results
Message boards (45,5%) and reporter blogs (31,7%) are
the most widespread features in Spanish papers,
followed by RSS (28,2%). Earlier developed tools,especially
comment on articles and chats, are not so
applied (10,5% and 20%, respectively). Videos (23,5%)
and rankings (22,3%) neither keep up with the new
tools.
Technological profile. 41 of the 85 newspapers
examined had none or just one feature (48,2%): RSS (3),
Video (1) and Message Board (6). Of the 35
newspapers offering reporters blogs or RSS, only two
had bookmarking options, thirteen displayed video
and two podcast. The techie group (13 newspapers), is
clearly outnumbered by the papers that fall just for
fashionable tools (22). Bystanders met one to four
criteria and up to 34 or none.
Comparative analysis. According to the Bivings Group
Report, the websites of America s newspapers are
generally further developed. A sample of 20 newspaperswas
created to effectively compare results -average
circulation ten bottom America s newspapers:
111,512,2; Spain s 105,725,6.
Objectives
To assess the degree to which Spanish online
newspapers are embracing Web 2.0 technologies.
To evaluate the Spanish online models of dependence
and adaptation to the new environment, providing
additional data for the ongoing project Media in
Cyberspace. Spanish new digital environment 2003-
2006.
Method
The websites of 85 Spanish newspapers, those whose
circulation figures are provided by OJD (www.ojd.es),
are evaluated based on the following features:
RSS Feeds (full, sections, ads)
Most Popular (most read stories) Videos
Podcasts
Chats
Reporter blogs (comments & blogroll)
Comment on articles
Bookmarking (internal & external)
Message boards
Research was conducted between August 22 and
August 29. Tools examined are in general fixed features,
not affected by the news production process. Video and
comment on articles, associated with news content and
newsworthiness, were checked twice on different dates.
Conclusion
According to present and previous research, Spanish
newspapers in the Internet embrace new tools active in
viral website content dissemination such as RSS and
blogs while increasing the inner value of online news to
attract new users remains as an exceptional strategy
followed only by a few and strongly positioned media or
groups. The adoption of trendy tools such as blogs or
RSS does not indicate itself a major interest in the
technological development of websites. Only if
accompanied by other features such as video or
bookmarking options can we speak of advanced
websites.
Acnowledgements> Funds provided by the Ministry of Science
and Education of Spain ( BSO2003-08535, Cardenal Herrera University
(PRUCH05/01), and Fundacin CEU San Pablo.
Nora Paul (Director of the Institute for New Media Studies,
UMN), Anna Martinson (Retoric Department, UMN) and Jan Nyberg
(Sevareid Library, UMN) for their ideas and support.
Offerings of Spain s Newspapers
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1
2
Technological Profile
3
4
Top 8
New Media Research at UMN Conference University of Minnesota.
14-15 September 2006
