The Washington Post Partners With Technorati to Provide Blog Links
I received a press release today from The Washington Post which announces that the newspaper has partnered with Technorati to provide links to blogs covering its stories. WaPo articles will now be accompanied by small boxes with the header “Who’s Blogging?” Each box will highlight selected blogs and will link to the article’s full link cosmos on Technorati.
Here is the WaPo press release:
The service will search millions of blogs for postings and feature links to the most blogged about articles and the liveliest web discussions on washingtonpost.com content.
“This partnership is part of our ongoing initiative to embrace and respond to the many dynamic ways that users consume and participate in news and information over the Internet,” said Caroline Little, publisher and CEO of washingtonpost.com.
washingtonpost.com executive editor, Jim Brady, said. “News is not static. With the help of the web, interesting stories immediately become part of a broader national conversation. This partnership with Technorati lets the users in on that conversation by delivering the most interesting and lively discussions about washingtonpost.com content from some of the best and most popular blogs on the web.”
David L. Sifry, founder and CEO of Technorati, said “ We’re pleased to be working with washingtonpost.com in leading the way toward expanding the interaction between the public and those who make and report the news. We salute them for recognizing the potential of blogs as a valuable contribution to the public discourse.”
Here is an example of how the box looks (from this article):
In an email exchange with Eric Easter, Senior Manager of Communications at washingtonpost.com, I asked whether The Washington Post had reservations about linking so prominently to blogs that — given the fact that many blogs critique the MSM — might criticize the newspaper’s articles. Eric responded:
Great answer. I’m very happy to see that the WaPo gets it. In contrast to The New York Times, which is pushing some its best content behind a subscriber wall with its new TimesSelect service, WaPo is engaging the blog community and steering traffic to the blogs that steer so much traffic to it.
I also asked Eric about how the links in the “Who’s Blogging?” box are to be chosen. He responded that those decisions will be made by Technorati, and that the links will change frequently.
