eMarketer reports on data from Pew observing that “the largest jump in adoption of Internet usage [from 2005 to 2008] was by users ages 70 and older. Internet penetration among people ages 70 to 74 increased by 19 percentage points.”
“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’ ”
—Robin Williams
My wife wants to visit someone in the hospital today. So she goes to the hospital Web site to check the visiting hours.
Today’s challenge: Click that link above and try to find visiting hours anywhere. I dare you.
This is one of the worst Web site usability issues I’ve seen in a long time. I have to think that among the phone calls a hospital receives in any given day, “What are your visiting hours?” has to be among the top questions operators deal with.
Why isn’t there a link to “visiting hours” on the home page? Why aren’t visiting hours listed on the contact or directions pages? Why doesn’t a site search for “visiting hours” return a relevant page with this sort of basic information?
It’s a great example of a site that’s about the entity creating the site, not about the people using the site.
Takeaway for marketers: If you’re working on a Web site, think like your site user and anticipate their needs. Then fulfill them. Duh.
I’m not sure why Moonlighting isn’t being rerun on one of my 900-plus cable channels. It was a highlight of 1980s teevee: witty, culturally savvy and often busting through the proverbial fourth wall like it’s November 1989 in Berlin. Sure, the show’s tone changed when the writers finally threw David and Maddie into each other’s arms, but at its worst it was better than almost anything out there. Here’s the season five opening number.
Today we mourn the death of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The United States was 87 years old when the paper published its first edition; today it publishes its last. Editor & Publisher and the E&P Pub are good places to go for coverage.
There’s good news in the story, though. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, newspapers need to radically rethink their business models for the digital age. They have to stop being in the paper business and focus on being in the news business.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is doing this. The physical paper is folding, but the digital paper will continue.
The months ahead, maybe the years ahead, will be filled with turmoil. The Post-Intelligencer is taking point position for exploring new territory. There are snipers in the weeds and countless dangers that can never be anticipated.
May they reach a safe haven relatively unscathed and healthy.
