FLYP is the new media

I decided to become a journalist when I was in the 5th grade with the goal of one day becoming a sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune. Seeing as how more and more people prefer getting their news online these days I've re-thought my decision to pursue a master's degree in print journalism at USC Annenberg. The men and women at FLYPmedia also understand the way in which the Internet is playing a big role in people's lives and have taken it upon themselves to develop a news media website that is contemporary and on the cutting-edge all at the same time.

FLYPmedia, as a source for news, does not limit itself in any way. It is a one-stop news shop for its visitors. Information about current events, politics, fashion, music, food, and sports can all be found on FLYP. Upon browsing through FLYP's different news articles I discovered that each story is given the same level of importance and effort as the next. FLYP is fabulously interactive and I was so impressed by the presentation of articles when I looked through the music section.

The layout designers for FLYPmedia understand the sophistication of most Internet users. The style of the website is one major factor, I believe, that sets it apart from other media websites. When people arrive at a website they typically don't appreciate simple pages with extremely bright backgrounds and text that were made by using basic HTML. Internet users will generally like websites such as FLYPmedia because of its clean layout. The site is not cluttered and uses appealing colors, fonts, and graphics. There is a lot of information on the homepage, but information is not lost or jumbled because of the very nicely planned layout.

The Chicago Magazine website is trying to go the same route as FLYPmedia, but I feel that it comes up short. Unlike FLYPmedia, they do not do a good job of keeping their homepage uncluttered. There are so many different departments and I can't help but feel irritated as I try to figure out what is a link and what is just regular text.

Other sites that I feel are on the same level of FLYP are CNN.com and the online version of The New Yorker. All these sites make it easy for their visitors to navigate and find what it is they are looking for. They are not immediately overwhelmed by news content when going to the homepage. Furthermore, all three sites utilize the availability of videos and sound clips to accompany their news items.

At this point, news organizations should not be questioning whether to put their content online. Take the plunge! Take some pointers from FLYPmedia. We are living in a world where a majority of children and teenagers don't know how life was before the Internet. There is no use of staying put and set in one's ways because we will not be going back to the way we were.