In a milestone moment for both the news media and the mixing of the digital and print worlds, Microsoft Tags are headed to the print pages of the USA Today, a leading US newspaper.
Microsoft is enthused about the partnership, as it brings big potential market share to their Tag system. “We’re excited that USA TODAY is using Tag to engage with readers in a more interactive way. Microsoft Tag makes the world around you clickable, and now with the scan of Tag, customers will get a richer, more enhanced experience from the pages of the newspaper,” said the director of Tag, Bill McQuain.
Why would the USA Today team up with Microsoft? According to their president and publisher Dave Hunke: “This initiative is part of our goal to bring together our digital and print platforms to provide our readers easier access to special features from the newspaper.”
The Tags will provide USA Today’s readers with direct access to features such as daily photo galleries, financial news, video content, sports scores and the like. They are, more or less, the physical hotlink to other content.
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The following image, via WinRumors, shows off what the new Tag integration will look like on a day to day basis:
Of course, an application is needed for a phone to actually read the tags. If you don’t have it, you can snag it at (as the USA Today will direct readers) gettag.mobi. It runs on nearly every piece of mobile hardware that you can imagine.
While you might not share our interest in the matter, seeing a company of the size of Microsoft manage to get new technology into such a massive non-tech publication is always a feat to enjoy. Do you use Tags?
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