I was driving home from work the other day (last week?) listening to NPR.

They were talking about some experimental (for lack of a better word on my part) newpapers. Basically, some metropolitan newspapers are experimenting with free, “lite” newspapers (news snippets, entertainment news) to hand out to commuters.

This is an effort to gain readers in the age bracket that traditional newspapers just don’t have a foothold – the young, but professional, crowd.

I’m really not certain what the target of this effort is – it could be to keep spooling out the free papers that are supported by ads (to an age group coveted by advertisers). Hence the OSN title of this post.

Or it could be an effort by the traditional papers to try to gradually get these folks hooked on papers, so they convert to the paying version.

Or a little of both. Whatever.

My point is this: This NPR report talked to some wanker professor at some well-known college who basically dissed the whole concept, trash talking the whole snippet concept of the newspapers blah blah…you’ve heard it before.

But it made me think. What’s about the most common intellectual/non-fluff newspaper out there consumed by professionals? Uh, The Wall Street Journal maybe?

What’s on its front page? SNIPPETS – with [hard-copy] links to the details. But you can peruse the top page and “be informed.” A fairly recent addition is color, and the color coding helps the, uh, non-newspaperish reader.

The WSJ. Stooping to OSN tactics.

Take that Professor Wanker.