The New York Times Extra. Another great step of nytimes.com and not tactic, but strategic

Again talking on New York Times.

Their extra, added today in beta, is just a great step forward to becoming an agreggation axis.  Combining the power of automatic and manual aggregation with an editorial line, from my point of view, is the future of Internet because we simply got too much information and the problem is not of volume but of quality information.
I am every day more convinced that New York Times is right in combining their brand with their future.
The key to contents online is not reading, watching, enjoying contents but searching. If media gets to the core of finding information, they will go back to being central in communications, and this is why this is not tactical but strategic.
This tool is just easy to use and it does not need installation. It offers a different navigation for a different user profile and if you prefer the traditional mode, you may just switch back to the “old” nytimes.com. This is offering more features to those who want more while keeping a “traditional experience” for those who prefer it.
I am really happy to see them clearly leading the way because I feel they are a mirror for many other media. Hopefully, they will speed all media so much and we should all be grateful to what they are doing.
When you are a brand like The New York Times, taking riks to innovate and progress is much more exposed to criticism. Great job again and hopefully they will continue offering ways to access not just “any” available content online, but any quality content. I think that difference  is huge because our time is gold and we got no time to waste so much in finding and selecting sources all the time on our own.
I think today is going to be a new beginning. I know many people may think I am over-reacting to this, but I think this tool just confirmed what I think about The New York Times, they know what they are doing and they are being brave to innovate.
If you also think that aggregation tools used by humans can be key for the future of communication, then go to reading this post:  new journalists for new information flows