The Austin-American Statesman has been one of the most enthusiastic early adopters of multimedia, social networking and citizen journalism, and its Web site offers an example many other newspapers could take a lesson from.
The overall design seems template-based (the Statesman is owned by Cox), but they have managed to cram quite a bit onto the homepage while keeping a clean, organized look and feel. A horizontal nav bar across the top is complemented by tabs that offer access to Classifieds, Cars, Jobs, Homes and Shopping, and a separate tab at the left offers access to the Statesman’s sister site, Austin 360, which hosts the paper’s entertainment section under a separate masthead.
The site makes considerable use not only of audio and video, which is well-labeled and prominently featured, but also of ‘Interactives,’ which include interactive maps and online quizzes.
One of the things that sets the Statesman apart the most is its embrace of Twitter. Individual articles and blogs on the site include prominent calls to follow the authors on Twitter, and the homepage offers visitors a Twitter directory. In a word, brilliant.
Of course, all of this interactivity is dependent on a motivated, engaged online readership, and the city Austin seems to deliver just that, with among the highest percentage of Internet users in the United States.
