Drew Benvie linked to this story today. Look how far we have come. A good story but made so much more useful by:
* 7 links to related stories (OK, all BBC but . . . . )
* 5 related links to organisations that you can go to if you want to get more deeply into the subject
* 3 links to other top technology stories (yep, just BBC again, but . . . )
* A comments section with 567 views (at my time of reading) and a ‘call out box’ that takes you to them
* And finally a voting button
In the UK, many of the national newspapers are becomming great at this as are even more in the US and I covered the Die Welt developments in Germany last week. The media brands with the confidence to link to sources beyond themselves and their readers (contributors) and, eventually please note BBC, to other media brands will be the winners on-line. And it changes what we can do for our clients now as well. More on this later.
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[tags] Drew Benvie, BBC, PR [/tags]
sixtysecondview.blog 
I love how the BBC offers links to relevant stories. It’s a bit like how bloggers link to relevant material in their posts. Or how Amazon offers products it thinks you might also like to buy. All makes for a better online experience.
Thanks for the link love David. No offence that you’ve unsubscribed from my Twitter feed 🙂
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Hi David,
I agree with you that offering links to quality content on third party sites delivers significant value to users.
Of course, amongst some at the BBC, a key concern is that by doing so, the question of why we need a Beeb in the first place is further emphasised.
However, when I set up BBC Radio Five Live’s online division many moons ago, my view was that offering links to quality external content – thereby becoming a trusted gateway to the best of the web – was a powerful demonstration of the licence fee delivering value.
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I hope that your colleagues now see the wisdom of your view. It’s interesting to contemplate where brands do the opposite. On some news sites I feel oddly cut-off when I can’t pursue a story beyond the site itself. Are their any plans to insert links ‘blog like’ into the copy of the story or does the BBC think this will take people away too quickly (though my view would be they would be back again).
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It’s all repreented by the entowkred anture of the web nd by extension the chanegs consumers (media or otherwise) expect brands to adapt to.
David Weinberger said sites that link inwards to their content only end up frustrating users and reminding them that the firm doesn’t understand the endlessly networked world/web. Thus, creating a big turn-off.
Smart brands do their consumers a favour by saying “hey, we value your custom so much and believe we are so good that we are willing to help you out by directing you to third party sites/info.”
It’s a different way of thinking, but it is so right.
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