How news sites are boosting 'stickiness' with personalisation

Journalism.co.uk reporting:
For some time now, news sites have been trying out different ways to offer personalised experiences across platforms, placing the reader and their interests at the heart of the content in question.
Personalisation, in its more usual forms, might be determined by a reader's geographical location, their reading history, chosen areas of interest or even their social network. And news services may include personalised homepages, personalised areas in a mobile or tablet app, or completely personalised social reader apps. Another form of personalisation can be found in the interactive content being increasingly produced by digital news outlets.
But for those offering such features, what does personalisation bring to the table for reader and news outlet? And what lessons can others take away from this experience about the value of such offerings?
Growth in the 'demand for relevance'
In the online world, we are faced with an abundance of information. As a result, "demand for relevant content is increasing", digital strategist Nic Newman told Journalism.co.uk, suggesting there is a positive environment within which personalisation could blossom.
People may already come to news sites for specific reasons, perhaps the outlet covers a particular location or subject they are most interested in, or they just value the brand. Either way, personalisation can help a local or niche site to further appeal to the reader, or by larger news sites.
"People feel overwhelmed so they really feel they need tools to help filter out the noise," Newman said, adding that today "personalisation is easier to do, cheaper to scale and deliver".
"It was hard to do personalisation in the past at scale. That's the other reason we're seeing more of it."
He added that the provision of a "personal addressable device for the first time" in the form of mobile phones, as well as the growth in site registration, are increasing the opportunities for personalisation, or simply the delivery of "more relevant content".
The balancing act for news outlets
But personalisation requires a balancing act on the part of news outlets, with many adopting a combined approach, mixing in some personalisation, but with a significant role still played by the news outlet in sharing content which editors believe the reader should see, regardless of their location, reading history, interests or social network connections...
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