SPH Chinese flagship news site Zaobao.com revamps look and content

Fresh easy-to-use design and more exclusives.

Zaobao.com, the online portal of Lianhe Zaobao, the Chinese flagship newspaper of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), is getting a new look starting 27 May 2013, the company announced in a release.

The latest revamp of at zaobao.com.sg strives to enhance the reading experience of Zaobao.com users with a new homepage that comes with an easy to use navigation bar which has 14 subject headings such as News, Real-time, Finance, Opinion, South East Asia, Lifestyle, Consumer, Media and more.

One of the site's new features is News Focus, a new section on the homepage which carries the hottest news topics and provides breaking news. Readers can access in-depth coverage of the latest news in this section.

Other new sections in the revamped news portal include Zaobao Online Exclusives, Sino-Singapore Exchanges, Focus on South East Asia and a bilingual section called Bilingual Think Tank.

"Zaobao Online Exclusives are original articles contributed to Zaobao.com or written by Lianhe Zaobao's online editors. Sino-Singapore Exchanges touch on stories related to the cultural, economic and educational issues between China and Singapore. Focus on South East Asia zooms in on issues concerning our neighbouring countries such as the closely watched "island disputes". Bilingual Think Tank is a column contributed by scholars who are experts in different fields," SPH said.

Apart from new content, readers will enjoy an enhanced multimedia experience with the new Zaobao.com offering more photos, cartoons and videos. The homepage carries more news photos displayed in a panoramic format showcasing the best news photos of the day selected by the various online editors at Zaobao.com.

In addition, the site also comes with added features to encourage more interaction with readers. Features such as Letters from Readers, Online Polls and Comment allow readers to provide feedback. There are also different smiley icons under each news story for readers to give their feedback after reading the story. The revamped site also provides a search function to help readers find articles published in Zaobao.com.

Readers can also make use of social media sites such as Facebook to share Zaobao.com's articles. Those who subscribe to social media apps such as Weibo and WeChat can also access news content provided by Zaobao.com.

Mr Goh Sin Teck, Editor of Lianhe Zaobao, said: "Since its last revamp in 2007, Zaobao.com has managed to attract more readers over the years. With more online readers accessing digital news, it is necessary for Zaobao.com to continue to enhance its content and features to cater to the changing needs of our readers, and at the same time, strengthen its position as a leading Chinese news portal."

Dr Zhou Zhao Cheng, Editor of Zaobao.com, said: "For the past six months, the team at Zaobao.com has been planning and preparing for this revamp. Our objective is to engage readers in the Chinese community with the latest news and encourage them to share information and provide feedback. With the revamp, we hope to further extend the influence of Zaobao.com in the various new media platforms."

Currently, Zaobao.com is enjoying 4 million page views daily, with monthly unique visitors of 10 million.