David Weir: ‘Is AOL on a mission to save journalism?’

“AOL now has 1,500 people writing content across its scores of content sub-brands,” TechCrunch reported earlier this week.

Bnet’s David Weir takes a fresh look at AOL: is it on a mission to save journalism?

Full story at this link…

Similar posts:

• Journalism Daily: Press freedom, the Guardian’s Joseph Harker and MyReporter.com
• Update on Emap Inform: it was already free online!
• LostRemote: ‘Five things newspaper employees can do to help save their company’
• TechCrunch: Ustream’s Watershed allows websites to broadcast own live streams
• Radio4Today: Would Orwell have been a blogger?

Media Release: AOL and Bauer partner for UK parenting site

Launch of ParentDish.co.uk follows US version set up in May last year and will make use of Bauer’s existing askamum.co.uk brand.

Full release at this link…

Similar posts:

• NME to produce a free online version of its magazine
• Website changes for PA on its 140th anniversary
• Media Release: BBC opens up editorial guidelines to public
• Online mag Monkey expands into mobile TV
• Fairfax Media to launch political and national affairs journalism site

Real-time job cuts with a live Yhoo from Silicon Alley Insider

Silicon Alley Insider, who admit they could be included in a downsize, have this handy feature for tracking the Yahoo job cuts as they happen.

It’s a live y’hoo to Yahoo employees, as more announcments are made. It brings together blog posts, Tweets and memos in the same way they covered the AOL layoffs last year.

Similar posts:

• CNN takes control of CNNbrk Twitter account with nearly 1m followers
• The Business Insider: Is the party over for MediaBistro?
• Business Insider: Chart of the Day – 24% of US newspapers don’t use digital delivery platforms
• Gannett Blog: ‘Why I’m shutting down this blog’
• US elections: the best of the rest on the web

AOL launches horoscope channel with Russell Grant

AOL has launched a new horoscope channel under its life and style portal, Sinead Scanlon writes.

The site will offer daily video horoscopes delivered by Russell Grant and forecasts for all star signs. Users will also be able to email a psychic with specific questions as part of the channel, a press release from the company said.

The launch is the latest in a series of additions made by AOL this year including sports video from ESPN.com and fashion content from IPC Media on it’s UK portal.

Similar posts:

• AOL to showcase fashion content from IPC Media
• BBC to launch online ‘ethical fashion’ magazine
• YouTube round-up: BBC Russian and Davos videos
• ESPN in video content deal with AOL.com
• A week of innovation from Al Jazeera ends with launch of mobile sites

New look for IPC’s Look magazine

IPC Media has launched a website for its fashion title Look – its first magazine site designed out of house.

The new site, launched last week, offers fashion and beauty news alongside an online shopping facility.

The design will aim to capitalise on the 77 per cent of the magazine’s readers, which research suggested, access the web every day, a press release from the publisher said.

The site will be headed by online editor Jayne Cherrington-Cook, who has previously worked with Yahoo and AOL.

Similar posts:

• Yahoo! and CNET enter partnership to reach new audiences
• Instyle.co.uk gets a makeover with new ad formats
• Break Media launches MadeMan.com
• Yahoo! announces details of targeted advertising service Amp!
• Bush gives first online interview to Yahoo

Spleak apps deliver politics and sport news to social networks

Spleak Media Network has launched two new applications for delivering short-form sport and political news to social networks.

SportSpleak and VoteSpleak will serve up news headlines and gossip to users on social networks and instant messaging services, who can then comment on the updates to their friends.

Both will function along the same lines as CelebSpleak, which offers ‘tattles’ or short snippets of celebrity news to users including content from Hearst’s digital titles.

Content deals for SportSpleak and VoteSpleak, which have been launched in time for the forthcoming Olympics and US presidential election, will be announced shortly, the company said in a press release.

Spleak’s applications, which currently have over 100,000 active daily users, are available on AOL’s AIM, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, Facebook, MySpace and through SMS alerts.

Similar posts:

• Spleak launches new online communities
• Your chance to vote in the American election without citizenship
• Editor&Publisher: Bitcents – the first micropayment system for publishers?
• Washingtonpost.com: AP controversial in US election content
• LA Times: interactive election map and multimedia tribute to fallen soldiers

Hearst in content deal with social network firm

Hearst Magazines Digital Media division has entered into an agreement with instant messaging and social network firm Spleak, Media Week reports.

The deal will see content from titles including CosmoGirl and Teen distributed through the recently launched CelebSpleak application, which is now available on MySpace, Facebook, and AOL and MSN’s instant messaging services.

The app delivers ‘tattles’ – nuggets of celebrity news – and allows users to respond.

“There’s great value in both UGC [user-generated content] and professional, editorial content. Most of the time the two end up in conflict with one another, but Spleak has found the right way to combine the best of both worlds.” Morrie Eisenberg, CEO of Spleak Media Network, told Media Week.

Similar posts:

• Spleak apps deliver politics and sport news to social networks
• Spleak launches new online communities
• USA Today links up with AOL for instant messaging service
• #aop3c: Reuters’ Project Insider: ‘narrowcasting’ in beta
• Myler on Mosley: ‘I make no apologies for publishing that story as editor’

USA Today links up with AOL for instant messaging service

USA Today is hoping to tap into users of AOL’s instant messaging service AIM with the launch of a real-time news alert system for the service this week.

Users will also be able to search current and archived USA Today headlines through the feature, while the keyword alert service will supply a headline, article summary and link back to the complete story in an instant message.

Another means of distribution for the paper’s content and method of reaching new audiences, says USA Today’s publisher Jeff Webber in a press release.

Similar posts:

• Independent and USA Today launch headline apps
• Daily Mail tries to lure users with free international texts
• Evening Star breaks Steve Wright trial verdict on new SMS service
• TechCrunch: @BreakingNewsOn expands Twitter service to online news wire
• MSN UK signs up with PressDisplay to add newspaper e-editions to site

Top US news sites for February

Top 50 US news sites for February 2008, according to Nielsen Online.

(Also, have a look at: February Worries Boost News Traffic)

Brand Uniques  (000) Time Per Person (hh:mm:ss)
All Events & Global News 101,336 127:01

CNN Digital Network 37,181 0:40:11
Yahoo! News 35,274 0:23:10
MSNBC Digital Network 34,013 0:29:50
AOL News 21,119 0:36:14
NYTimes.com 18,975 0:33:29
Tribune Newspapers 14,716 0:10:09
Gannett Newspapers 13,998 0:21:28
ABCNEWS Digital Network 12,324 0:09:54
Google News 12,050 0:10:14
WorldNow 10,588 0:13:16
USATODAY.com 10,571 0:14:16
Washingtonpost.com 10,441 0:17:30
Fox News Digital Network 10,177 0:41:10
CBS News Digital Network 9,970 0:09:09
Hearst Newspapers Digital 8,349 0:17:38
McClatchy Network 8,343 0:11:41
IB Websites 7,565 0:11:00
Advance Internet 6,791 0:13:08
BBC News 6,437 0:10:42
Slate 6,261 0:07:29
Gannett Broadcasting 6,174 0:09:18
Topix 6,121 0:06:30
MediaNews Group 5,850 0:12:41
Associated Press 5,353 0:07:03
Cox Newspapers 5,197 0:20:08
Boston.com 4,904 0:07:47
Belo Television 4,827 0:05:58
Fox Television Stations 4,758 0:06:06
New York Post Holdings 4,605 0:09:12
NewsMax.com 4,054 0:10:35
TheHuffingtonPost.com 3,749 0:08:04
Freedom Interactive 3,613 0:07:51
Daily News Online Edition 3,563 0:06:46
Belo Newspapers 3,476 0:05:52
Drudgereport.com 3,445 0:59:49
Guardian.co.uk 3,391 0:02:49
Daily Mail 3,364 0:09:11
Telegraph 2,990 0:03:39
Times Online 2,852 0:06:37
Community News Network 2,846 0:10:40
Swift Newspapers 2,750 0:05:42
Scripps News Group 2,713 0:18:00
Netscape 2,709 0:11:03
Breitbart.com 2,674 0:09:20
Int Herald Tribune 2,598 0:02:02
Fisher Interactive Network 2,526 0:05:08
Seattle Times Network 2,245 0:11:03
Philly.com 2,204 0:04:52
Chicago Sun-Times 2,203 0:08:29
Star Tribune 2,108 0:25:08

Similar posts:

• US-based Tribune files for bankruptcy but continues operating
• Editors Weblog: ‘What will happen to the Boston Globe?’
• Editor and Publisher: Top US News sites beat Google News for traffic
• Boston Globe enhances local search with MetaCarta
• Seeking Alpha: Why you should invest in newspaper stocks

AOL Buying Bebo For $850 Million

AOL has announced that it’s buying social network Bebo for $850 million in cash.

Similar posts:

• Attention news groups – Bebo is now open for widget development
• Allvoices.com offers $10,000 reward for citizen journalists
• CNN wins battle of online inauguration broadcasters, according to Omniture stats
• Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – build your own social network
• Monday Note: Why paid news on mobile could work