AFTER DEADLINE
Online, printed forms of Advertiser have different strengths
By Anne Harpham
Sometimes readers ask why they can't find something they have seen in the newspaper on The Advertiser's Web site
Or they will ask why the crossword puzzle or some other syndicated feature is not online.
The answer is that honoluluadvertiser.com is not an exact copy of the newspaper.
Not all wire stories, for example, are posted on the site. We do include Associated Press, some Knight-Ridder stories and stories provided by Gannett News Service.
Most syndicated features are not on the site. But the good news for puzzlers is that the online section is exploring ways to offer features including a crossword puzzle and more comics (the site now includes Peanuts and Dilbert).
But the main focus of the site is, and will remain, local news.
The top story on the Web site is almost always local. The exception would be a major national or international story, such as the capture of Saddam Hussein earlier this month or the East Coast blackout in August.
During the first few weeks of the war in Iraq, the online staff modified the design of the home page and dedicated the top half to coverage of the war. While there are some things in the printed version of the paper that are not available online, there are, conversely, many things we can provide online that we do not have space for in the newspaper.
The online staff finds many ways to complement news stories. When the Department of Education released scores for the Hawa'i Content and Performance Standards and the Stanford Achievement Test this fall, the news story online had links to the entire test result documents.
The site is also interactive. Readers can vote in online polls. They can leave comments about stories. And they can participate in ongoing features such as the Kisses and Misses advice column.
The online Advertiser also provides a multitude of links from business stories. If a company mentioned in a story has a Web site, there will usually be a link. In addition, the business section of honoluluadvertiser.com provides links to a number of resources, including government agencies and business organizations.
According to Chris Kanemura, online content manager/Web master, the online Advertiser's traffic is relatively consistent. Weekday traffic is higher than Saturday and Sunday. That tracks with patterns seen by other online newspapers.
Many people check online newspapers at work, and Kanemura notes that honoluluadvertiser .com's traffic peaks on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.
About 40 percent of the site's traffic is from out of state, and includes many Hawai'i expatriates among its loyal readers.
Editors of the printed version of The Advertiser can get some sense of which stories are popular by word of mouth. But online can measure hits directly, and Kanemura knows certain stories will cause traffic to spike.
One such story was the tale of the giant shrimp found in the Ala Wai Canal.
And the site measured large national interest, Kanemura said, in the story about the non-Hawaiian student admitted to Kamehemeha Schools.
To communicate with the online staff, e-mail them at online@honoluluadvertiser.com. Kanemura can be reached at ckanemura @honoluluadvertiser.com.
Anne Harpham is The Advertiser's reader representative. Reach her at aharpham@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8037.
