Engaging and empowering news audiences online: a feature analysis of nine Asian news websites

The Web features hypertexts, interactivity and multimedia. Innovative use of Web features has brought about new features such as Blog, Podcast, Vodcast, Wiki, Flash, RSS, and Instant Messenger in designing and delivering news online. Web features are designed to allow greater Web user participation, user-generated content, and Web-user-friendly online environments. In short, Web features can engage and empower Web users. This paper presents the results of a comparative feature analysis of nine news websites in Asia in measuring engagement and empowerment efforts taken by these news websites.