New York Times Still Tweaking Homepage Aggregation Strategy
In September 2014, The New York Times set out to create, in the words of newsroom strategy editor Tyson Evans, “the smartest Twitter feed you’ve ever seen.”
The newspaper placed the feed in a widget on the right side of its homepage and called it “Watching.” Staffed by a dedicated team, the widget was to include a mix of relevant, multiplatform content from Times journalists (links to articles, tweets, etc.) as well as links to, and summaries of, stories from other news sites.
That the Times would highlight stories from rival news sites, and in such a prime location, made “Watching” feel like a significant step in the company’s digital evolution. It also raised some eyebrows. “In the beginning, it was kind of controversial with our readers,” then-deputy executive editor Ian Fisher said for a six-month check-in on the feature.
