The San Diego nonprofit went through an earlier redesign that “didn’t go as well as hoped” and has put attention in this new design on creating the right flow from newcomer to member (and donor). Some of this involves making the homepage mostly a “poster to get people to sign up for our morning report [a newsletter],“ said Editor-in-Chiefand CEO Scott Lewis. The newsletter product has led hundreds of subscribers to later convert into paid members. “At the heart of [all our changes] is to get more people to engage with us with their information so we can get them into the pipeline for potential membership,” Lewis said.

+ The biggest publishers on Facebook in January 2015 according to NewsWhip: PlayBuzz remains on top in most shares followed by Huffington Post and BuzzFeed, newly-acquired Elite Daily drops (NewsWhip); A Facebook finding abroad: Millions of Facebook users have no idea they’re using the internet — many think Facebook is the internet (Quartz)

+ Jewish magazine Tablet’s new approach to improving comment quality: charge to post: “We are asking people who’d like to post comments on the site to pay a nominal fee—less a paywall than a gesture of your own commitment to the cause of great conversation” (Capital New York)