Media News South Africa

Reuters buys into blog and feeds

You know you're making your mark when a media stalwart like Reuters pays millions of dollars for a share in a blog distribution start up. Social media could ask for no better endorsement.

Reuters has invested US$7 million in Pluck, the world's biggest blog syndication network, called BlogBurst. BlogBurst connects newspapers and other media sites to 2800 selected blogs, helping traditional media supplement their journalism with blog viewpoints, says the official announcement.

Web logs, or blogs, have become a major source of commentary and reader feedback on the Internet. Traditional media have increasingly turned to blogs for insight and analysis, says Reuters.

If you're still wondering whether a blog could be a good media relations and PR tool, perhaps this is the final push you need.

Of course, Reuters won't be indexing just any blog. "Selected blogs" is the key phrase here. Technorati indexes millions of blogs and the number doubles every six months.

Pluck syndicates 2800.

In real, estate the mantra is location, location, location. You need to think content, content, content.

They want blogs that offer insight and analysis - interesting content their readers will want to consume. Keep in mind the eMarketer findings on why people read blogs - the number one reason is "to get news and information I can't find elsewhere".

Provide that in your blog and you'll have a good chance of making the cut.

About Sally Falkow

Sally Falkow APR is president and co-developer of PRESSfeed (www.press-feed.com), the social media news hub. Originally from South Africa, Falkow now lives in Pasadena, California. She is an adjunct professor for social media strategy and content for public relations at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC in Los Angeles, California. She blogs at www.proactivereport.com and you can follow her on Twitter at @sallyfalkow.
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