Interactivity is what is advancing technology as we move forward. Now, more than ever, consumer interaction is being viewed as something that can take companies from being good to great. You look at innovative companies, Nike, for example... and you can see why they are the dominant force in sporting apparel. On nikestore.com the user can view products from all angles as if they were actually in the store. You can even design your own shoes by interacting with their NIKEID shoe maker. This is what media richness is all about, something you can't get from a magazine advertisement or something in the local paper. We want to be able to get up close and personal with what we want to buy instead of simply looking at all of the product's specifications.
Many sites have begun overhauling their web designs because of the increased demand for interactivity. Twitter, for example, has made a lot of changes trying to simplify their layout while enabling users to share content as much as possible. A downfall of this is confusing people with multiple designs and consistent changes, something I feel like is a detriment to overambitious organizations such as Twitter.
I look at freep.com/sports which is a Detroit newspaper that has largely improved their web interface. It now looks the part of a new-generation news outlet. I compare that to theoaklandpress.com/sports, whose website is no where near as visually appealing to audiences.. and this is what grab's the user's attention. People looking to build their audiences need to understand the importance of user interactivity in order to attract a larger following.
This article details the importance of this concept, and how companies can use information more effeciently with interactive designs. Media interactivity is the next step to news media outlets, and is something all outlets should be trying to improve.
http://news.psu.edu/story/397542/2016/03/15/research/companies-are-interactive-informative-can-be-more-influential
