Website roundup
By Adnews Staff
News website Canada.com has introduced a series of "Topics Pages" intended to allow visitors to view headlines, photographs and videos related to specific topics, drawn from 1,000 news sources. In addition, each topic page is integrated with social media postings from Facebook, Twitter and various blogs. According to the company, the pages offer advertisers access to a professionally managed social environment. "In a more social way, topic pages give us the opportunity to engage with different audiences on specific subject matters that are important to them," said Ray Philipose, vice-president of strategy and product development at Canwest Digital Media. "By selecting topics based on what we see is important to Canadians, we are able to create more relevant and focused conversations making Canada.com a more interesting destination for visitors. Advertisers will be able to access more social advertising opportunities with the confidence that they are reaching target audiences and generating return on investment."
Toronto-based music retailer HMV Canada has launched a new digital music store at <http://www.hmvdigital.ca>. The store sells music files in MP3 format without digital rights management restrictions. The site currently offers approximately five million songs for sale. The site also offers a download manager that can synchronize the contents of a user's media directory with their purchased music. Customers also receive loyalty points for making purchases. "As expectations for an HMV digital offering were high, we wanted to allow ourselves time to enhance the service by evaluating consumer interest and wants," said Humphrey Kadaner, president of HMV Canada. "Thanks to the extensive testing and consumer feedback we've received to date, we are confident that hmvdigital.ca is a digital offering that will impress consumers and, ultimately, bring them closer to the music they love."