• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 13, 2007

USA Today's community-centric makeover last month appears to be paying off in dividends. Indeed, the site has seen a dramatic 380% increase in registrations since the re-launch, while its unique visitor rates have grown 21% from February, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

Targeting today's interaction-hungry readers, the Gannett-owned paper last month relaunched its Web site in the guise of a social network laden with video, blogs, dynamic content-sharing and recommendation tools.

As such, the new USAToday.com includes expanded user-profile and social-network capabilities, and public comment and content contribution tools across the site. In March, nearly 40,000 user comments were posted on the site.

Of utmost importance, the new site was designed to create a community around the news--one that connects readers to reporting and each other, according to Jeff Webber, the site's senior vice president and publisher.

"Our readers are always looking for new ways to engage more directly in discussions," Webber said.

Sections seeing particularly strong traffic gains include Sports, Money, Travel and Tech, according to Gannett's internal measurements.

To achieve the site's new look and feel, USA Today enlisted the proprietary social media services of Pluck Corp. Pluck SiteLife, for example, makes possible reader blogs, photo sharing, content ratings, reader comments, and forums, while Pluck BlogBurst is a blog syndication network with some 3,400 blogs serving up content to major news outlets, magazines and broadcast networks worldwide.

"Our relationship with Pluck has enabled us to integrate social media tools throughout the site, creating a powerful combination of content and community to engage and inform our readers," said Webber.

A privately held company based in Austin, Texas, Pluck's other clients include Hearst, Meredith and The Washington Post. With the relaunch, USA Today joined a stampede of publishing that is racing to compete in an increasingly Web 2.0 world.

The New York Times, for example, has been busy augmenting its Web presence.

In the most recent example, the paper is revising its online political coverage in anticipation of the 2008 presidential election.