Imperial's award-winning news site celebrates a year of success

Imperial College London's unique online news service celebrates its first birthday this week.

The site, which was specially designed by an in-house team, provides staff, students, alumni and the wider public with a daily dose of the best stories from around the College.

It remains unique among UK universities and has already picked up an award for its innovative design.

Launched in March 2013, Imperial News was modelled closely on established news websites such as the BBC.

The site has an adaptable layout, with a variety of column designs and lead story layouts that gives it the flexibility for the editorial team to respond to daily news. It allows readers to browse a series of themed sections on science, engineering, health, business, and college and campus, and to comment on stories.

Over the last year, the site has attracted more than 1.3 million visits. This figure is two and half times greater than the old news pages received in the previous 12 months. 

A total of 577 stories were published on the news site in its first year. Some of the most popular were about research on particle physics and the effects of illegal drugs.

Knowing which stories attract the most readers is helping to guide other activities at the College, for example by feeding through into the programming of public events. The science behind many of the most popular articles will feature at this year’s Imperial Festival.

Another feature of the site is that it is responsive. This means that the pages are easy to read on a variety of platforms including smartphones and tablets. As a result the site has enjoyed a 150 per cent increase in the number of people accessing it via mobile phones and a 390 per cent increase in the number of tablet users.

Imperial news pages have always been popular with readers throughout the UK but since the new site launched, it has grown in popularity in a number of other countries. For example, its readership in the USA has quadrupled with more than 234,000 visits in the last year.

Imperial’s news editor, Kerry Noble said: “I am over the moon at the success Imperial News had enjoyed over the last year. It is testament to the talent and hard work of the staff who designed and created the site, and those who produce and edit stories on a daily basis. I look forward to seeing even greater achievements over the next year and beyond.”

What do you think about Imperial's news pages? Take part in a survey and give us your views.