Tri-City Herald website logs 20 years
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Tri-City Herald’s Internet debut.
We launched tricityherald.com on May 30, 1996, after a months-long effort.
No one expected our little Internet project to become such a popular method of consuming Tri-City news and information.
But the world has changed greatly in two decades, with more people consuming local news on their phones, tablets and computers.
Twenty years ago we were a newspaper that launched a website. Now we’re a digital news and marketing organization that also happens to print a newspaper.
Publisher Gregg McConnell
That’s a stark contrast to 1996, when barely 10 percent of the nation’s households had computers, modems and Internet accounts allowing them to tap into the World Wide Web, according to our 1996 story.
Two years after we launched it, we hit more than 7.5 million page views.
Last year, we topped more than 45 million page views.
“Twenty years ago we were a newspaper that launched a website. Now we’re a digital news and marketing organization that also happens to print a newspaper,” said Publisher Gregg McConnell.
The Herald’s website is viewed by more than 500,000 people a month, both locally and around the world.
“Paper has served the mission of journalism well for centuries, but it’s apparent the Internet and digital engagement will be the lifeblood of journalism in the future. The transition is challenging but the future is bright,” McConnell said.
It’s the journalism we produce, not the wood pulp on which it is delivered, that knits our community together.
Publisher Gregg McConnell
Videos weren’t even possible when the site launched.
“The digital age, and our willingness to rapidly evolve as technology does, allows us to engage with more people, more often and more dynamically than ever before. A significant portion of our advertising revenue and our readership is now digital and those segments are growing rapidly,” McConnell said.
Our web homepage features the best of our “now” content at the top and our deeper, more analytical stories and commentary, including videos, in the middle. Videos also are better integrated into the stories.
The website is responsive, automatically adapting to your screen size, no matter what device you’re using.
No one has a crystal ball to see what’s in store for the next 20 years, but McConnell said one thing is certain: “It’s the journalism we produce, not the wood pulp on which it is delivered, that knits our community together.”
Kristina Lord: 509-582-1481, @KLord
Take a look at how the website used to look
Click this link: https://web.archive.org/web/19970104232214/http://tri-cityherald.com/
This story was originally published May 29, 2016 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Tri-City Herald website logs 20 years."