The MediaPost site is hosted by MediaPost Communications. The about section indicates that it “is an integrated publishing and content company whose mission is to provide an array of resources to super‐serve media planners and buyers”. The site is laid out like Yahoo!, with a very clean interface that makes it simply to navigate and use. There is a clearly marked search box where a user can enter terms to find articles related to their topic of interest. In addition to the search engine, the site provides an index of specific media topics, such as planning and buying, research, associations and information. Both of these options make it easy to find materials of interest.
The main page has a banner at the top to display advertisements. Each page within the site has some type of advertisement set up as an image. In most cases the images are constantly changing, which makes it fairly distracting. In some instances the images are not sized appropriately, so there is obvious white space around them. In other cases the images are setup as mouse‐overs. These are very distracting as users are trying to move the mouse to a specific element and images are changing around them.
MediaPost has no indication of when the information was created or updated. While the site provides names and contact information for the board at MediaPost Communications, it does not provide the credentials for the individual or individuals selecting the sites that are indexed here.
The major problem with this site is the registration requirement. In order to use it you must register. Although registration is free, most users will not want to register, and remember their username and passwords. However, if you do take the time to register, you can opt to receive the Online Media Daily publication through e‐mail. You will also receive access to the back issues of MediaPost Communication's publications.
The site provides good information and links to worthwhile sites, but due to the registration requirement and the advertisements, I would not recommend it to schools, public libraries, schoolteachers, or school children. I would, however, recommend the site for those working in the media arena. Those working in higher education institutions with strong education programmes would also find it extremely useful.
