HotNews.ro, a major news portal in Romania, has one box that always gets my attention: a section with th “most read” / “most commented” / “recommended” news on the web site for the previous 24 hours (or so).
Why do I like each section?
- “most read” – I get to know what’s news for Romanians; at least one in the top 5 news is of interest to me, and I can quickly have a glimpse on what happened in the past 24 hours that is very important;
- “most commented” – These got a lot of (mostly) visceral reaction, people want to say something, it’s usually something outrageous (rather than something the user actually contributed to); people are revolted, and feel something must be said; quite interesting;
- “recommended” – These are news recommended (I think) by the editorial team; after looking at popular news (which may also be the goals of a derby football match from the previous night), or the most commented ones (sometimes frivolous), I also look at “elite” news; the editorial team usually picks high profile news, sometimes not very popular, but, still, useful to know;
Why do I like the whole box?
- By reading just 15 news titles, I can have an idea of what happened in Romania; quick;
- I get to know better people’s psychology (and I’m especially fond of the community on HotNews.ro, and of the skill for moderating the comments by the web site admin);
- It’s constantly and automatically (except for the “recommended” part) updated.
So, go read! :)