Network18 has launched News18.com, its third general news site, based on news covered by the ETV Network in the seven Hindi speaking states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, but it appears the company plans to expand coverage to other states as well. In terms of design and usability, this is probably the best deployment from the Network18 group yet: the site is responsive (we loved the mobile interface), unusually quick, and the ease with which it allows selection of type of content (latest news, videos, local news stream, weather and Cricket), apart from discovery options via tags, and information from specific cities within states, is just brilliant. We particularly liked the inclusion of both the latest news and newsflash on story pages. What's particularly noticeable is that News18 has incorporated both Hindi and English: we haven't seen many news sites that take a multi-lingual approach, although much of the Hindi news on the website is in video format. The Newsflash segment reminds us of Speed News from the Times of India group, though we liked the News18 integration more. The inclusion of hashtags, as well as the maps interface for news stories suggests that News18 is going to take a local news approach, though it isn't clear whether they'll get as granular as hyperlocal news. We're reminded of Localbeat (once Tazzaa) and Rediff's maps based news interface. Frankly, it's unusual to see a news site make discovery and reading so smooth and clutter free. Then…
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