May I be alerted when a story is updated?

As I was checking out this story from recordonline.com this afternoon (received via HVMG's Twitter profile... thanks, HVMG!), it occurred to me that there was no way -- short of revisiting the Web site or keeping the page open so I could refresh it periodically -- to stay updated on the story in an automated, user-friendly way.

Thinking out loud (well, virtually out loud) here, but as a user I'd love to opt into an alert when an ongoing story I've caught in midstream is updated. Ideally I could choose from either e-mail, IM or text alert options, and maybe even an RSS feed specific to that story that I could quickly subscribe to it in my Google Reader.

It would function in much the same way as when you receive e-mail when your blog posts have received comments, or when your posts on forums have received follow-up comments.

I've not seen this functionality anywhere. Have you?

Breaking news alerts: What NOT to do

Check out the washingtonpost.com e-mail I just received, appended below. I am mystified at how even major news organizations don't seem to get breaking news e-mail alerts right.

What's the news conference about? Why should I care? More importantly, why should I drop everything I am trying to get done before my holiday vacation to pay attention to what is happening on washingtonpost.com? Is it breaking news simply because Bush IS holding a press conference? Maybe so, but how am I supposed to know that from what I've been sent? If that's the news hook, tell me! Give me something more than the president is going to hold a news conference. So what?

I am not clicking through to find out more. I have not been made to care enough to pay attention. I am almost tempted to unsubscribe....

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From: washingtonpost.com [mailto:newsletter@letters.washingtonpost.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 9:46 AM
To: Polay, Sean
Subject: News Alert: VIDEO: President Bush to Hold News Conference

If you have any difficulty viewing this newsletter click here Feedback
	News Alert 8:20 a.m. ET Thursday, December 20, 2007 VIDEO: President Bush to Hold News Conference President Bush plans to hold a White House news conference at 10:00 a.m. ET. To view live streaming video of this event on the Web, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/postlive1. For more information, visit washingtonpost.com
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Let It Snow

Nice stormy weather landing page from Erik Gliedman and crew.

Pocono also had a nice tactic in their Morning Update to point to some of their existing landing pages:

If you're stuck at home it's a good day to explore this site, which has a lot more on it than just the breaking news. For information about where you live, we've got an entire section. We've also got some exhaustively detailed special reports on everything from gangs in the Poconos to the legacy of Tocks Island Dam to political protection for questionable mortgage practices in the Poconos that will take your breath away.

Cape Cod and Pocono also had a couple of good road condition text alerts, while Southcoast kicked off their school closings text alerts. I'd show them to you, but I'm still struggling with how to get the screenshots that my nifty new Treo program takes for me out of the bleepin' Treo.... Take my word for it for now.