Like most newspapers, The New York Times has been struggling to stay profitable. So far, innovative features on its Web site like TimesTopic and various Twitter feeds have helped, but there are plans for more. Marc Frons, The Times‘ Chief Technology Officer for digital operations, told The Insider‘s Dan Frommer about a few of them. They include:
- Syndication: A series of application programming interfaces (API) which will let other sites upload Times
data like restaurant reviews, concert listings, and
recipes. Initally, the APIs will be read-only, but some could be read/write, allowing trusted parties to send information back to The Times, eventually.
- Widgets: This summer, the Times will introduce a tool that allows users to add a custom-built box of Times stories, videos, and photos that you can add to a Web site, blog, Tumblr, etc.
- Aggregation: The Times bought BlogRunner
a few years ago and is now using it to pull technology headlines
from around the Web and display them in a small bar on the Times’ Tech page. Bigger plans are pending.
- Social Overlay: TimesPeople is in its earliest stages, but will eventually be built into The Times’
site with more features.
- Personalization: The Times’ is still trying to figure out the best way to offer users a personalization feature that will not infringe on the editorial staff having control over news judgment and basic
story layout. The current "My Times" offering,
is just a start. The abilty to
customize more areas of the site, including favorite stories, recommendations and stock tickers, is in the future.
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