Tamedia turns Facts.ch into a community portal
The Zurich-based publishing house Tamedia plans to transform the website of the now-defunct news magazine Facts into a community portal. The platform will allow users to link to and comment on news stories from various media outlets. Advertising will be permitted on the discussion network, and the organizers intend to experiment with various options, such as large-format ads.
Zurich-based publisher Tamedia plans to transform the website of the discontinued news magazine Facts into a community portal. The forum and individual service elements of the site continue to meet with interest among users. Now it is to become a discussion network. The initiative for this comes from the two Tamedia people Chris Lüscher and Cyrill Treptow, as was learned from well-informed sources. Lüscher is managing director of the dating site Partnerwinner.ch, Treptow sales manager of Tages-Anzeiger.ch. The two have in mind to turn Facts.ch into a social network with a focus on news, as Lüscher confirmed to Werbewoche. A first version is to go online at the end of August. The idea of turning Facts.ch into a discussion platform practically came about at the coffee table, he said. "It's also an experimental field for us - we have to be much more open to the Internet," Lüscher said. The fact that the Internet address of the discontinued Facts magazine is being used should not amount to a rising from the dead: "I would rather call it a reinvention," Lüscher said. The intention is to use the high profile of the Facts brand to experiment in the online sector. The budget for the new platform is rather small, so the initiators Treptow and Lüscher want to rely on the well-known Facts brand. People who are interested in the project can register at
into an information list. On the platform, users will be able to link to and comment on news from various media. "The discussions should revolve around the topics of politics, business, society and sports - the classic news topics," explained Lüscher. Tamedia does not provide editorial content, but users can link to any medium or blog. The platform is managed by a moderator, but the aim is to give users as much freedom as possible.
"What's special about our platform is that the consumption of news is linked to a network," says Lüscher. Users can track who reads which entry or leaves a comment. "This gives us an opportunity to reflect on which news is really being used - perhaps it turns out that some articles that were given a big build-up in the media are not even perceived as important here."
Advertising will be possible on the new platform. The goal is for the platform to be self-financing in the medium term: "However, we don't want to be too aggressive about advertising at the beginning. First of all, we have to see how the platform develops," explained the Partnerwinner boss. In addition to target-group-optimized advertising, unconventional options are conceivable, and the company wants to experiment with large formats: "A large area, perhaps the size of half a screen, is more beneficial to customers and to us than many small ones," Lüscher emphasized. Large formats are a good way to do classic branding on the web, too.
With the discussion network under Facts.ch, Tamedia can thus gain further Internet experience. But the portal has nothing to do with a possible relaunch of Tages-Anzeiger Online, Tamedia spokesman Christoph Zimmer emphasized when asked: "These are different projects. According to rumors, Tamedia is planning to turn Tagi.ch into a national news network and hire about 30 new people for this purpose. However, an official confirmation from Werdstrasse is pending.
Carole Scheidegger
into an information list. On the platform, users will be able to link to and comment on news from various media. "The discussions should revolve around the topics of politics, business, society and sports - the classic news topics," explained Lüscher. Tamedia does not provide editorial content, but users can link to any medium or blog. The platform is managed by a moderator, but the aim is to give users as much freedom as possible.
"What's special about our platform is that the consumption of news is linked to a network," says Lüscher. Users can track who reads which entry or leaves a comment. "This gives us an opportunity to reflect on which news is really being used - perhaps it turns out that some articles that were given a big build-up in the media are not even perceived as important here."
Advertising will be possible on the new platform. The goal is for the platform to be self-financing in the medium term: "However, we don't want to be too aggressive about advertising at the beginning. First of all, we have to see how the platform develops," explained the Partnerwinner boss. In addition to target-group-optimized advertising, unconventional options are conceivable, and the company wants to experiment with large formats: "A large area, perhaps the size of half a screen, is more beneficial to customers and to us than many small ones," Lüscher emphasized. Large formats are a good way to do classic branding on the web, too.
With the discussion network under Facts.ch, Tamedia can thus gain further Internet experience. But the portal has nothing to do with a possible relaunch of Tages-Anzeiger Online, Tamedia spokesman Christoph Zimmer emphasized when asked: "These are different projects. According to rumors, Tamedia is planning to turn Tagi.ch into a national news network and hire about 30 new people for this purpose. However, an official confirmation from Werdstrasse is pending.
Carole Scheidegger
