Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Read all about it…on WSJ Social

By: Angela Raleigh, Account Executive, Leonard & Finco Public Relations, Inc.

The world of social media continues to evolve and this time the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) launched “WSJ Social.” The app allows users to access WSJ content within a platform on Facebook without requiring users to visit the newspaper's website.

It makes sense. With an increasing number of people spending more time on social networking sites, they have less time to spend on news websites. And with social networks being a primary source for information, why not have news available where people are already obtaining a good amount of information.

You may be asking yourself, how is this any different than an online newspaper? Well, after granting the app permission to access your Facebook information, you have the ability to read and subscribe to streams of content. The app helps create news that is personalized to each user and provides an easy way to read and share news with friends.

The downside is that with all new things there are limitations. Users of “WSJ Social” are not able to search for specific news stories. Instead you can read stories that are featured on the pages you’ve subscribed to or if someone you’ve subscribed to “likes” a story, it will appear on your page. So if you are looking for a specific news story, you might have more luck going directly to the newspaper’s website. Ultimately this could help increase WSJ website traffic, which I am sure was a thought of the team who created the platform.

It’s not surprising that newspapers are starting to extend their services and offer news via social networks to increase engagement with subscribers. “WSJ Social” is just another easy way to share and get news from others. Do you think this platform will be a success? Will you be one to try out “WSJ Social”? Thoughts or reactions about the new news platform?

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