Privacy and advertising policies are essential if online reputations are to be defended, according to World Media's Martha Stone.

Addressing the NetMedia 2000 conference for online journalists held in London last July, Ms Stone said that divisions between editorial and advertising content were becoming blurred and this was confusing web users.

A range of speakers at the two-day conference focused on other key issues for online journalists:

• Jakob Nielsen, the man behind the lauded site Useit.com, said usability should be the priority for online producers. Independent research, he said, shows that people using the internet do not 'read' sites, they scan them. He said there were three ways to improve the web user's experience: improve online writing instead of adapting articles from other mediums; speed up page-loading times, and; provide better navigation and search tools.

• A recent prediction that most dotcoms will be out of business by the end of the year is not all bad news for internet journalists, according to executive editor of Cox Interactive Media, Steve Yelvington. He said research also shows that people rate online journalism highly and this is reflected in the growth in new media journalism compared with its decline in other media. Building journalism that is right for the medium is essential, he said, and it is no longer enough simply to recycle good print and broadcast reports.

• Advertising can be tailored according to a web user's behaviour and type of computer, explained marketing director of DoubleClick Andrew Gerrard. 'Ad serving technology' means advertisers can target their client base with more accuracy as today's servers interact with customers and build up detailed customer profiles.

• Co-founder of Isyndicate Inc said that syndication can solve the resource problem for sites that cannot afford a newsgathering team. Syndication companies act as 'infomediaries' which helps sites dependent on 'content' to bring customers back. Syndication is a success story, she said, which will soon extend to specialised content on wireless devices.

• Reuters said it had been working with companies such as NIKE and Orange to understand what makes compelling news for the internet generation. The company reported that this group 'fears being out of touch'. Reuter's Alex Keighley said media organisations had to provide compelling content to entice people back to websites.

More details can be found on the NetMedia website at: www.net-media.co.uk.

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