Web Publishing Roll-Up: Year 2009 in Review

As we head into the final weeks of 2009, let’s look back at the year in web publishing. See how some trends emerge and others merely fade away.

January

GlobalPost shook things up when it partnered with Mochila to launch a new website. As world news bureaus closed, GlobalPost was able to deliver world news on location thanks to 60 freelance correspondents in more than 40 countries.

Other notables: Self-publishing gains writers, newspapers gained more online readers, but will it translate into more revenue?

February

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism launched the New Media Index, which tracks over 100 million blogs and 250 million social media outlets. Will blogs ever be mainstream?

Other notables: The W3C released a report on the future of social networking, which said that opportunity abounds when closed communities open up. The New York Times released an API that opens up access to every article the paper has written since 1981 — all 2.8 million of them. The move was an indication of things to come for the changing face of online newspapers.

March

The New York Times launched The Local, a citizen journalism site focused on local communities. Tim Armstrong replaced Randy Falco as chairman and CEO of AOL.

April

The Associated Press announced it would police the Web, track down content that is being used illegally and threaten lawsuits if others — namely Google — don’t stop using their content.

May

The 2009 Women in Social Media Study reported that women are nearly twice as likely to use blogs than social networking sites.

Other notables: Klatcher.com launched v2.0, which allows authors to self-publish anything online from words to a rich media publication and start selling their best content.

June

The New York Times goes into free fall, says cutbacks and layoffs are imminent. Rupert Murdoch says the future of newspapers is digital. New York Times hires a Social Media Editor.

July

The New York Times makes Kindle readers pay for content, while iPhone users read it for free. According to a Pew Internet & American Life Project poll, more Americans go online for their political news than ever before.

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Tags: bing, google, new york times, newspapers, online advertisers, roll ups, web publishing, wsj

As we head into the final weeks of 2009, let’s look back at the year in web publishing. See how some trends emerge and others merely fade away.