Factiva adds widgets
Jinfo Blog

3rd June 2008

Item

We are all getting used to using 'widgets' on our web pages to get quick access to games and weather services. Now Dow Jones Factiva http://www.factiva.com has introduced the same technology to provide news distribution and sharing tools. Users can post business news onto portals, intranets and other shared sites: so that 'businesses can now "point, click and publish" their way to company wide awareness with information from leading news sources' http://digbig.com/4xafh. This facility will allow the average Factiva user, who does not have (or want to have) the IT skills to build systems, to provide the kind of news distribution capability that, previously, would need the expertise of an IT professional. The new service is available within Factiva.com, Factiva Search 2.0 and Factiva iWorks and lets up to 20 alerts be created. Once the widget is posted anyone with Factiva 'credentials' can read the full text of the articles. The system updates every 15 minutes. Not only can the widget be used on corporate sites: personal pages such as iGoogle, Netvibes, Blogger and Pageflakes will accept the postings taking the service outside the company environment and into a wider number of places where Factiva users work. This has all the makings of a useful tool for information professionals. Too often their desire to spread relevant or 'hot topic' news around the organisation has been frustrated by lack of access to the technical skills or technical budget. With this tool in their own hands they will surely be able to develop and maintain the distribution of pertinent, business relevant news and information. As yet I have no knowledge of how usage of the 'widget-delivered' news is tracked. It's going to be excellent to have an easier way to get the news out there: the important management challenge for information directors is to make sure that the right news is being read by the right people in support of key business activities.

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