Media on trial

Media launch Heatworld.com

Heatworld.com, the online version of celebrity gossip magazine Heat, has the makings of a 2.0 website: contribution, transparency, feeds, and multimedia - but I think they forgot personalisation.

You can sign up for a newsletter and for VIP access, but I would want to personalise my Heatworld so that I got the celeb news and gossip that I was most interested in first.

Every article offers readers the chance to share their opinion and contribute to the content and help create the content by sending in celeb snaps and gossip direct to the journalists. Most-read articles works well, letting users know at a glance what is hot right now. Alerting people when they get a response to their feed is a great touch and one that is sure to remind people to come back. It is packed with video, images and text, offering that much-desired multimedia experience. It takes feeds from other sites such as YouTube and offers users an RSS feed in return. You can even directly contact the "big cheese", giving it that transparency dynamic.

The content itself seems a little limited and it is definitely bite-sized, so people could just drop in for a quick fix.

I'm not convinced on the usability - web users are harsh critics and you have to earn your place in their world.

The advertising model looks a bit standard with banners and skyscrapers that you hardly notice.

I don't think they have pushed it far enough. I hope there is more to come - there is so much more potential for a brand such as Heat. Review by Joanna Lyall, managing partner, MindShare Interaction.

This article was first published on Media Week