CNN Invests in Outside.in
by Matt McGee on Dec 7, 2009 in Industry, Promotion
Every bit as important as the recent news that MSNBC had purchased Everyblock.com is today’s news that CNN has bought a stake in Outside.in, the hyperlocal content aggregator that I’ve written about here on HLB countless times.
Today’s news makes this CNN headline from last May borderline prescient:
Indeed, it may be. There’s plenty of evidence: CNN invests in Outside.in … MSNBC buys Everyblock.com … the New York Times has launched its hyperlocal effort called “The Local” … AOL has its hyperlocal project called Patch … the Huffington Post is getting into hyperlocal blogging … the Seattle Times is collaborating with hyperlocal blogs … Fisher launched 43 hyperlocal sites in Seattle and is expanding that model in other areas … the Guardian (UK) is starting a hyperlocal news network … other UK newspapers are also going hyperlocal … and so on and so forth.
What’s It Mean for Hyperlocal Bloggers
Generally speaking: The attention on what you’re doing is only going to grow. Sure, there will always be detractors and some who have no respect for what you’re doing. Ignore them. Now is the best time to start a local blog, or to keep growing what you’ve already started.
More specifically: If CNN is going to feature feeds on its web site from Outside.in, as the WSJ says it will, you better make sure your blog is in Outside.in’s system. You can do that by signing up (for free) for Outside.in’s GeoToolkit.
Go do it!
Update, December 8: The official news release explains how Outside.in content will be integrated with CNN:
“As part of its investment, CNN Worldwide entered into a concurrent multi-year deal to use the Outside.in for Publishers aggregation and curation platform to power hyperlocal news across all of CNN.com and its related properties. The first implementations are expected to be completed in Q1 of 2010.”
(If you’re interested in reading more about the CNN/Outside.in news, there’s discussion on Techmeme.)
Comments
4 Responses to “CNN Invests in Outside.in”
Leave a Reply (please use your real name; company names & other keyword-based names will be deleted)
-
-
Featured Video
[...] into the hyperlocal space, like the Seattle Times, Fisher Media, Huffington Post, and the ones I listed here. Please share [...]
[...] signify that Google may be moving in this direction. Outside.in already appears to be an attractive acquisition target, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they announce a partnership with at least one of the major search [...]
[...] signify that Google may be moving in this direction. Outside.in already appears to be an attractive acquisition target, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they announce a partnership with at least one of the major search [...]
[...] initial integrations of Outside.in’s partnership with CNN, which dates back to December when CNN sank some money into [...]