Would you be proud to be seen reading The Huffington Post at Starbucks or heaven forbid work?! Or is it something you do in private because although there is some meat there it's also like being caught eating from a can of frosting?
Getting our news online has been a revolutionary use of technology and HuffPo was leading the way with its easy to read format and curation of the best political and breaking stories around the web. I was a fan. But somewhere along the way it went beyond political focus and got into click-bait as its dominant business model. Sad.And the conflicting and annoying thing is there is still some great reading and information there but it is cluttered with crap.
Last month The World Post was launched and it made me wonder: are they in the news business or not? If HuffPo wants to attract world leaders (business leaders, political leaders...) to participate in their forum they need to clean up their pages and focus on being a respectable news source.The day The World Post launched these were the FRONT PAGE right column entries along with that announcement. I am by no means a prude, but this is sleazy filler that they should know better than to feature on the home page, let alone on an important launch day.
If you have to headline a post NSFW (not safe for work)- guess what... it shouldn't be on your FRONT PAGE. Gratuitous nakedness, also not needed there. Anything Kardashian. Anything side-boob or wardrobe-malfunction related. Want to get eyes to the site- have a tab called THE DIRT and put all the tantalizing and National Enquirer-esque stuff there. I'll even read it... when I've caught up on actual news.
I just don't want to be embarrassed to say where I read something worthwhile on a site that is more and more becoming kinda trashy. When Comedy Central's Daily Show shows less crudeness than your FRONT PAGE maybe it's time for a new editorial direction.
Arianna Huffington is starting an important conversation about quality of life with Thrive and her Third Metric work and I sincerely hope she starts looking at her own HOME too because she's better than this and I 100% believe a higher quality site will THRIVE!
