Photo: ul_Marga

WSJ.com runs on a subscription service, but it’s entirely possible to read the paper online for free.

The site appears to be employing Google’s First Click Free feature which allow the paper to be indexed by Google, and allows people visiting the site coming from a Google News link to view the linked to full article. I’d understood that this configuration would present a reader with the article that they’d gotten to via Google News, but any subsequent clicks on the Wall Street Journal site would prompt the reader to login. This isn’t exactly how it’s working here because after getting into the site via Google News, all other articles were displayed in full.

To access the site, I’d seen the headline, Car Makers Take Case to the Web and followed the link to the article. Using that link, I was given the first 100 words of the article. I then searched “Car Makers Take Case to the Web” on Google News. Not only did the link I found there take me to the full Wall Street Journal article, the rest of the site was open for browsing without restriction.

While we’re talking about WSJ.com, I’ve gotta ask, “why can’t the site link outside itself?” The article above is about the strategies, and the utilization of social media, that the big three are using online to build their case for the bailout. The article discussed many websites that the companies have employed, but none of those sites were hotlinked. GMFactsandFiction.com is so much more useful than GMFactsandFiction.com. Come on now.

[edit] The link to the Google News result no longer works. Here’s a link to the unlocked article.