VoxEU.org is a policy portal that serves between 150,000 and 250,000 distinct users per month (according to Google Analytics). The readers are quite diverse in terms of their economics training and sector of employment, but they are all bound by a common interest in “research-based policy analysis and commentary by leading economists.”
In essence, Vox readers – and the over 5,000 economists who have published on the site – form what can be thought of as a virtual community.
Today Vox is launching a new feature that will be the first step towards making this community less virtual.
The key innovation is the creation of “VoxAccounts” (i.e. user accounts). These will allow readers and authors to customise their interactions with Vox. It will also allow us here at Vox to interact more direct with the Vox community.
Specifically, we ask each reader to create a “VoxAccount” – even those that have old-style user accounts.
- VoxAccounts are free to create;
- All content on Vox will remain free of charge; but
- Some Vox content – such as eBooks and reports – will require readers to be logged in to their VoxAccount.
- Vox columns will be accessible to all, even readers without a VoxAccount.
We are starting gradually. Indeed, most readers won’t notice any difference until they go to download an eBook. But as we develop new features, VoxAccounts will allow us to give readers more options, such as opting into receiving weekly emails summarising content related to their chosen fields of specialisation, or posting notices of events directly on VoxEU.org.