Susan Lyne Earns Media Maven Stripes for Improving AOL's Content

One of the issues AOL has been wrestling with during its prolonged transition to digital media company from dial-up internet provider is that people are increasingly coming to its sites through search and social networks rather than the AOL home page. Susan Lyne's charge is to offer more compelling content that make AOL and its sites places readers want to be -- regardless of how they got there. "It is no longer a browser-based universe where people open up the internet to a favorite home page…. That does not mean that there aren't brand destinations," said the 63-year-old Ms. Lyne, who had been chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She joined AOL in February as CEO of the company's Brand Group to oversee content properties like AOL.com and TechCrunch. Ms. Lyne's attention is shifting toward those brands' mobile-app destinations. New AOL.com and AOL Mail apps will launch in September, she said. But don't expect an omnibus app that would be the equivalent of a portal's home page. "You will never see an app that pulls together all of our brands, because most of our users are coming in because they're passionate about a brand," Ms. Lyne said. "They're not even always cognizant of the fact that AOL owns their favorite brand." If you were stranded on a desert island, which magazines would you want most? New York magazine, World of Interiors, Harpers Bazaar, Wired, The New Yorker, Architectural Digest, Elle Decor. Who are your favorite follows on Twitter? Jacob Weisberg and Henry Blodget. Describe your daily media consumption. Three newspapers, Jason Hirschhorn's Media REDEF, AOL.com, Pinterest, Business Insider, All Things D, TechCrunch, HuffPo. What device are you least like to drop into the tracks in front of an oncoming train? My iPad. My favorite medium, bar none, is: TV. ~ ~ ~CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Ms. Lyne oversees The Huffington Post.

Susan Lyne Earns Media Maven Stripes for Improving AOL's Content

Featured Stories