Deja News Introduces Innovative Discussion Channels; Leverages Internet Discussion Using Professional Editorial Talent To Deliver Unique New Media Programming.

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 1998--Deja News, Inc. (http://www.dejanews.com), the discussion network, today unveiled a unique new media outlet based on the contributions of millions of active Deja News discussion participants.

With a professional editorial staff now in place, Deja News is drawing from those discussion contributions and surfacing the most entertaining and informative. The resulting content is organized around nine newly formed discussion channels on the Deja News Web site.

Deja News provides a free, Web-based service for participating in, reading, and searching more than 50,000 Internet discussion forums, including Usenet newsgroups. The Web's leading destination for discussion, Deja News attracts more than 4.5 million users and generates over 115 million page views per month.

"We are incredibly excited by the promise of our discussion channels, both for our audience and for our advertisers," said Guy Hoffman, CEO and president of Deja News. "Our new discussion channels represent a true break-through in community and new media, and Deja News is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this innovation."

New Media By And For The People

With more than one million articles processed from hundreds of thousands of authors on peak days, Deja News can leverage the knowledge of a vast community to provide in-depth coverage of an incredibly wide variety of topics. The editorial function is used by Deja News to identify and present the best community-generated content in an entertaining and informative manner.

"For Deja News' channels we have crafted a new form of journalism. Because, through Deja News we have access to the words, thoughts and feelings of millions of people around the world, we can tap directly into that rich human vein," said Mike Edelhart, interim executive editor at Deja News.

"We have been able to compile great journalism from human commentary, rather than traditional reporting. It is like nothing ever seen before and it is wonderful."

The user experience delivered by Deja News channels is stimulating, and it deeply engages the community of users who want to share their knowledge and ideas with others.

The user experience for new Internet discussion participants is also significantly enhanced. New users are immediately presented with compelling content, which illustrates the value of Internet discussion, and they are encouraged to join right in.

Channels -- Deja News Style

The nine top-level discussion channels on the Deja News site are: Arts & Entertainment, Business & Investing, Careers & Education, Computers & Science, Geography & Culture, Government & Politics, Health & Fitness, Person to Person and Sports & Recreation.

Discussions and issues within these channels are presented in a number of provocative formats including pro/con debates; hot topics; audience polls; pick of the posts (delivering featured discussions by email); and more. Taken together, these channel components blend education with entertainment to provide the ultimate Internet discussion experience.

While today's Web portals repackage and deliver traditional news and information in their channels, a worldwide community of users produces the programming on Deja News channels. Deja News channels are focused on and built around Internet discussion and community, and naturally complement the traditional channels offered by the portals.

Whereas portals may provide a stock price and a sports score, Deja News delivers the opinion, the debate, and the knowledge behind the stock price and the sports score.

An Advertising Gold Mine

Deja News channels are just as attractive to advertisers as they are to the audience. Savvy marketers want to reach opinion and buying leaders, and Deja News discussion participants fit this profile perfectly.

The Deja News audience is well educated and packs serious purchasing power, including an unusually high rate of Internet purchases. In addition, without passion and knowledge, discussion does not take place. With passion and knowledge comes the influence which generates word of mouth sales, both online and offline.

Deja News channels offer very rich, integrated advertising and marketing sponsorships at varying levels of commitment, with options for exclusivity. Within the channels, the advertiser's message is placed in front of an audience with a high degree of affinity and the greatest possible engagement with the subject matter. And marketing in the channels is not just about impressions and ads.

Deja News channels give the marketer the ability to participate interactively in an ongoing way with the psychographic audience that is in the marketer's sweet spot, using any combination of branding, direct marketing, and research.

About Deja News, Inc.

Deja News, the discussion network, is the Web's leading destination for discussion. Founded in May 1995, Deja News provides an easy and powerful Web interface for participating in entertaining and informative discussions with people of like interests. The company's innovative technology also makes it possible to quickly search the archives of more than 50,000 discussion forums, including Usenet newsgroups.

Deja News provides discussion services to America Online, AT&T WorldNet Service, Bell South, Excite, HotBot, Infoseek, InfoSpace, Lycos, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, The Microsoft Network, Open Text, WebCrawler, Yahoo! and ZD Net. Deja News is free to users and may be found on the Web at http://www.dejanews.com.

Note to Editors: Deja News is a registered trademark of Deja News, Inc. All other names are the trademarks of their respective companies.

    CONTACT:  Deja News, Inc.
               Greg Wise, 512/343-6397 ext. 244
               [e-mail]
               or
               Alexander Communications (for Deja News)
               Dave Faupel, 404/897-2300 ext. 339
               [e-mail]