Late Friday, the Chicago Tribune launched their site redesign, to cater to how users are interacting with the web and their site specifically. The changes surround both streamlined advertising methodology and user tools.

Now, readers can navigate easily and cater their view of the Chicago Tribune’s online news. With access to video ads, increased search capability and interaction tools promoting conversation with the dailies staff, users are definite part of the news they read, promoting the very essence of the ‘Citizen Marketer’.

Along with the site redesign, comes a marketing campaign entitled ‘ChicagoTribune.com revolves around you’.

According to the newspaper, it was time the changes took place, as the previous major site uplift occurred approximately seven years ago -and let’s face it, a lot has happened to the web and with the way users interact with online entities since then. “The redesign underscores our commitment to adapting to meet our users’ needs in the constantly evolving online environment”, said Allison Scholly, Chicago Tribune Vice President and general manager of Chicago Tribune Interactive.

With the news now being updated 24/7, as relevancy dictates, the site is one step closer to reaching the user engagement and retention levels it desires.

The changes are similar to what the Gannett has mandated their American newspapers to undergo and I assume we’ll only see more publishers come on board, with what I like to call ‘ the publishing and media 2.0′ mainstream.

written by Beverly Crandon