The Guardian is working on a project to monitor user interaction with their website more closely.
This ‘attention data’ will then be reflected in content and community areas of the site, Tom Turcan, general manager and head of digital media development at the Guardian, told Journalism.co.uk.
Turcan would not be drawn on specifics of the plan, but said the project would involve social media firm Pluck – whose SiteLife technology is to be introduced to the community areas of Guardian.co.uk later this year.
“The principle of tracking how people use things and then reflecting it back on the site is a way to build community,” he said.
Most recommended/most e-mailed lists are basic examples of how the analysis may be used, said Turcan, but emphasis will be placed on representing ‘crowd wisdom’ in a ‘bespoke’ form.
Turcan was speaking on a panel discussing news on social networks, during which he announced the following figures for Guardian.co.uk (they are all per month):
- 2 million podcasts downloaded
- 0.5 – 1 million videos viewed
- 2 million RSS clicks
- 50,000 blog posts