Users can give their opinion on an article by clicking on the Yes or No button. Two blue bars then show the proportion of yes and no votes, i.e. how satisfied readers are with the article in question.
"This innovation is about more than a simple question," says Michael Marti, Head of Digital and member of the Editorial Board of Tages-Anzeiger and SonntagsZeitung, "the feedback function is rather an expression of the conviction that qualitative feedback is decisive in determining journalistic quality."
The results published today by Tages-Anzeiger Online are based on reader reactions to 1,192 online articles published in the last few weeks. The feedback function has been used intensively during this period, with "Tages-Anzeiger online" readers answering the question "Is this article worth reading?" around 500,000 times. This means an average of around 450 responses per article. There are individual articles that have received over 4000 ratings.
Saddam's warnings", a post that 3900 users have rated to date, 99 percent of them as "worth reading").
The analysis of the ratings by department is revealing: The core departments, such as foreign, domestic and business, score well in the readers' opinion, whereas the ratings for Panorama stories are significantly lower.
How will readers benefit from this innovation? In future, the editorial team will be able to recommend the best and most relevant content to its users more precisely. "We currently have a prominent list of the most-read articles on our front page - this must be supplemented as soon as possible with the top ten best-rated articles," says Marti. The rating function, which is now offered on Tages-Anzeiger Online, has been in operation in Tamedia's 12 app since its launch in October 2015. The user ratings, now a large and valuable data set, have shown the 12 app editorial team what readers value and demand in the digital world. These learnings are now also being incorporated into the "Tages-Anzeiger online". And if the system proves successful, it could be rolled out to other Newsnet titles.
