Updated: AOL grows again on solid ad sales
AOL continues its surprising turnaround with another quarter of growth in its content and advertising segment. The company is still, however, depending on its legacy business for all its profit. Read more »
In its first Asian launch, Huffington Post expands to Japan
photo: Flickr / Marcus Vegas
The Huffington Post rolled out its first Asian edition in Japan on Tuesday. Read more »
Plagiarism and the link: How the web makes attribution easier — and more complicated
photo: Shutterstock / Zurijeta
The controversy over writer Nate Thayer’s failure to credit his sources, which some alleged amounted to plagiarism, is just part of an ongoing debate over how we use — and give credit for — information in a digital age. Read more »
The new economics of media: If you want free content, there’s an almost infinite supply
Freelance writer Nate Thayer touched off a debate this week about media outlets wanting to publish content for free — but the reality is that the economics of content have changed forever, and the supply of free content is almost infinite. Read more »
Judge allows case over HuffPo ownership to go forward, adds fraud claim
A bitter fight over who started the Huffington Post took a major twist today after a judge not only refused for the second time to dismiss the case, but also expanded it. Read more »
LOL no more: it’s time to take AOL seriously as shares soar again
photo: Rob Hainer via shutterstock
Looking for the turnaround story of 2013? Stop looking at Yahoo — it’s AOL that’s the real deal. The company has quietly put in place a powerful strategy based on media, technology and advertising. And investors like what they see. Read more »
AOL exec is new CEO of HuffPo, will report to Arianna
photo: Photo: Monaco Mediax ©
Huffington Post has a new CEO who will be tasked with building traffic and revenue and continuing the brand’s international expansion. The move comes at a time when parent company AOL appears to have figured out how to manage its media properties. Read more »
Sandy takes out Gawker, Huffpo and other sites
Hurricane Sandy’s impact made itself felt on major media properties including the Huffington Post, Gawker, and Buzzfeed. All of those sites reported outages around 7 p.m. EDT. Read more »
Content farms and the ongoing democratization of journalism
Critics say user-generated networks like Bleacher Report are just SEO-driven content farms that generate “clickbait” posts designed to drive low-quality traffic — but they also provide the opportunity for writers to show their abilities without having to work their way through the traditional media ecosystem. Read more at GigaOM »
The NYT doesn’t need one public editor, it needs a hundred
photo: Flickr user Rosaura Ochoa
The new “public editor” for the New York Times has been getting good reviews for the way she is handling the job of being a go-between for readers and editors. But wouldn’t it be better if every NYT writer and editor did that for themselves? Read more at GigaOM »
HuffPo “Shadow Conventions” aim to be virtual alternative to DNC, RNC
photo: Shutterstock / R.L. Hausdorf
The Huffington Post is holding virtual political conventions during the DNC and RNC in order to promote its new video streaming network and call attention to issues like drugs and poverty. Read more »
Thrillist Media Group raises $13M in first funding round
Men’s lifestyle site Thrillist Media Group, which includes daily email newsletters and group-buying site JackThreads, has raised $13.1 million in Series A funding. The company plans to use the new funding to build out content and expand its presence in mobile and e-commerce. Read more »
Huffington Post launches social streaming video network, HuffPost Live
AOL is hoping that the Huffington Posts’s new streaming video network, HuffPost Live, will set itself apart from competitors because of its focus on user participation, twelve hours of live programming daily from New York and LA, and a varied group of hosts. Read more »
Bleacher Report and the evolution of the content farm
The purchase of the sports-blogging site Bleacher Report by Turner Broadcasting unit fills a content hole for the Time Warner unit, but it is also a validation of the user-generated-content model behind the sports-blogging network, and a sign of the disruptive effects that model can have. Read more at GigaOM »
HuffPo, The Daily and the flawed iPad content model
The Huffington Post has dropped the price of its iPad magazine to zero, and News Corp.’s The Daily has chopped almost a third of its staff — more evidence that the dream many publishers had about the iPad being their savior is still far from reality. Read more at GigaOM »
Is Facebook Stories the next Patch, Flipboard, HuffPo or something else?
Facebook Stories, a new original content site that will focus on a different theme each month, is intended to highlight Facebook users’ stories. But with a former Time magazine reporter overseeing an editorial team, does the company have something bigger in mind for Facebook Stories? Read more »
paidContent turns 10: A brief history of digital media
Remember when Friendster was the hot social network, publishers doubted that ebooks would ever sell, and Netflix thought DVDs in red envelopes was the future? We do — that was that state of digital media when paidContent launched in 2002. Read more »
Aol tells a better earnings story for Q2
Aol has been in turnaround mode for years — this time, it looks like the turns are in the right direction. Advertising up, revenue decline almost flat, subscription churn lowest in a decade, latest re-org underway. Read more »
Zite adds LA Times, Chicago Tribune, others to its publishers program
Personalized reading app Zite is adding additional publishers to its three-month-old publisher program. New additions include The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hearst’s “Harper’s Bazaar,” the International Business Times and others. All will have their own sections within Zite. Read more »
Huffington: Smart experiment, or old-media mistake?
Huffington Post now looks less like a blog network and more like a traditional media entity, having launched its own weekly digital magazine for the iPad — but is launching a subscription app a smart way of branching out, or a sign of old-media thinking? Read more at GigaOM »
Should the mainstream media see Twitter as competition?
photo: Flickr user Abysim
The deal that Twitter announced on Thursday with NASCAR will see an editor employed by the network curating and highlighting tweets and other content, a deal that takes Twitter even further into the realm of being a media entity. Should traditional media players be concerned? Read more at GigaOM »
What happens when a newspaper is just another digital voice?
As more newspapers confront the same reality as the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and have to stop printing and go digital only to cut costs, what happens to the public role that a newspaper plays in a community? Can a digital-only media entity fulfil the same purpose? Read more at GigaOM »
Emails reveal new details about Arianna’s role in HuffPo founding, ‘cover-up’ alleged
photo: AP Images
A series of emails between Arianna Huffington, her partners and the late conservative activist Andrew Breitbart shed new light about the early days of popular liberal news site Huffington Post. Read more »
In a SoHo Lab, HuffPo Mafia rekindles the old magic
Former Huffington Post CTO Paul Berry is leading a HuffPo reunion at SoHo Tech Labs, an incubator that draw support from half a dozen former fellow execs. The team is trying to apply the best practices of the Huffington Post to help create successful start-ups. Read more at GigaOM »
Does AOL need HuffPost more than HuffPost needs AOL?
Arianna Huffington says everything is fine at AOL and she doesn’t mind having her power reduced, but she also admits that private-equity firms have raised the idea of a spin-off of Huffington Post. Could this be the beginning of the end for the faded former portal? Read more at GigaOM »
Ex-HuffPo leaders’ stealth video startup Planet Daily raises $5M
The details are still fuzzy on the new stealth video startup Planet Daily Networks, founded by Huffington Post co-founder Ken Lerer and former CEO Eric Hippeau, but it appears that the company has nabbed $5 million in funding. Read more at GigaOM »
So can we stop talking about bloggers vs. journalists now?
The Pulitzer Prize win by the Huffington Post has been hailed by some as the first win by a “blog,” but the reality is such terms have become increasingly meaningless. All we have now is media, some of which is journalism and some of which isn’t. Read more at GigaOM »
Publishing is no longer a job or an industry — it’s a button
As author Clay Shirky points out, the simple act of publishing something — whether it’s a book or a news article — doesn’t require an industry any more, just a button. So what do the traditional content-publishing industries do now to justify their continued existence? Read more at GigaOM »
Tim Armstrong may have saved AOL, but at what cost?
Just over a year after AOL acquired the Huffington Post, much of the integration between the two is being unwound, and control over key elements of the business are reverting to founder Arianna Huffington. Should AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong be watching his back? Read more at GigaOM »
Instapaper, Readability and monetizing other people’s content
There’s been a lot of criticism of Readability for collecting money from readers who use its ad-stripping service. But its approach is actually better than some others — and that desire on the part of readers is something publishers need to figure out how to accommodate. Read more at GigaOM »
Where Does Arianna Fit Into AOL’s New Patch Plans?
photo: AP Images
AOL (NYSE: AOL) has hired a new Chief Content Officer in its latest attempt to reboot Patch, the network of hundreds of sites that offer “hy… Read more »
Updated: Bonjour! AOL Takes French Le Huffington Post Live
photo: Le Huffington Post
Huffington Post today took one more step in its ongoing march for a wider international reach: it has now officially opened Le Huffington Po… Read more »
El Huffington Post: Arianna Goes To Spain With El Pais Partnership
photo: AP Images
The news aggregating behemoth Huffington Post is continuing its march into new markets: the next stop is Spain, where the site will partner… Read more »
Arianna Huffington’s Colorful Court History
photo: AP Images
Arianna Huffington’s current legal battle over the rights to the idea for the Huffington Post isn’t her first encounter with the court syste… Read more »
Arianna Huffington Loses Ruling In Fight Over HuffPo Ownership
photo: AP Images
Two politicos who sued Arianna Huffington and her partner for stealing their idea for the Huffington Post will get to go forward after a New… Read more »
NYT Says Huffington Post’s Parentlode Is A Load Of…Well, You Know
photo: Huffington Post
This month, Lisa Belkin announced that she was leaving her popular parenting blog at the New York Times, Motherlode, to launch a parenting b… Read more »
Huffington Post Starts Publishing E-Books
photo: AP Images
The AOL (NYSE: AOL) Huffington Post Media Group is the latest news organization to become an e-book publisher. The site will release two tit… Read more »
The Aggravation Of ‘Over-Aggregation’: HuffPo Suspends Writer
photo: Ad Age
If you can’t manage the art of aggregation, stick to the science. Aggregation has been part of our coverage mix at paidContent from the begi… Read more »
Update: HuffPo UK ‘We’re The Only Independent Digital Destination For News’
photo: Robert Andrews
Today, Arianna Huffington’s online news phenomenon The Huffington Post is making its European debut, with the launch of Huffington Post UK,… Read more »
Tasini Adds Four New Plaintiffs, Amends Lawsuit Against HuffPo
photo: Wikimedia / Thomas Good
Jonathan Tasini has added 30 pages of material to his lawsuit against The Huffington Post demanding compensation for unpaid bloggers. But ev… Read more »
