By: Carl Sullivan Advance Publications has become the latest newspaper chain to implement user registration on its Web sites. Three sites run by Advance Internet recently turned on a simple three-question registration form.
Users at Cleveland.com, nola.com, and mLive.com are asked for their ZIP code, year of birth, and gender before being allowed to proceed to news pages. The sites are affiliated with
The Plain Dealer, The Times-Picayune, and several newspapers in Michigan owned by Advance Publications Inc. of Staten Island, N.Y.
"The strategy is to get a better understanding of our audience in aggregate," said Eliza Wing, president and CEO of Cleveland.com. "It's going to help us serve our users better and also our advertising clients."
Wing said other Advance sites will roll out the registration form later this year.
The first site implementing registration was mLive.com on April 2, followed by nola.com June 10, and Cleveland.com June 17.
A similar three-question registration form is being used by
USA Today and
The Washington Post. Other papers, such as those owned by Tribune Co. and Belo Corp., require users to provide greater amounts of personal information.
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