News Sites More Open To Linking Outside The Garden

from the it's-a-web-wide-world-out-there... dept

Slowly, but surely, online news sites are realizing that the web is all about linking - and they're increasingly willing to let reporters and in-house bloggers link to other publications. For years, many news sources would pretend that no other websites existed and all news would start and end on their own domain. However, over time, people are realizing that just because you link off-site, it doesn't mean that the people will leave and never come back. In fact, some have found the opposite reaction. People pay more attention to sites that link around, because they feel they're getting a wider spectrum of coverage - and not just the one publication's point of view. It's the basic "filter" argument. Many people don't want to surf around the entire web, but prefer to have a single source filter it for them. Open minded publications are realizing this, while others still insist that they can pretend to be the only publication online.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Zonker, 17 Sep 2003 @ 5:59am

    It's about time

    I used to write for a publication that refused to allow offsite links. It was a royal pain, and one of the reasons I stopped writing for that publication.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.