Content Relevancy, Not Just Recency - In addition to wanting to know the top stories of the day, women are very motivated to find news and information about topics of specific and relevant interest. Women want the ability to read more stories about the same topic. According to PEW Internet and American Life: How Women and Men Use the Internet women are more likely….to penetrate deeper into arrays where they have the greatest interest…women tend to treat info gathering online as a more textured and interactive process.” If a woman is researching a health issue she wants all of the articles on breast cancer recovery that she can find. The news value in this case is NOT always about recency but it IS about relevancy to a woman's specific topic. The top story read on the New York Times online this month was an article called “What’s a Modern Woman to Do?” by Maureen Dowd. This article was not a story based on breaking events, but it connected with women on a topic that was highly relevant.
Relevancy Can Change Overnight - Also, the degree of relevancy can literally change overnight. A feature article on how to talk to kids about “how babies are made” was of no interest to me yesterday, but is of extreme interest to me today as my son popped the big question over breakfast. And I really need it now! This is good news for the news industry…it extends the life of news well beyond today’s news. The news industry is so deadline focused with emphasis on being the first to get a story, that they forget that people can see huge value in news and information that goes beyond today’s headlines – news that is “on topic” for me. I am the one who determines when that topic become important to me based on my life needs, and should not be dictated by the news industry.
