Home
Archive
Newsletters
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Advertisement
Advertisement

MySpace to enter news business

Posted by Heather Gehlert at 11:14 AM on April 20, 2007.


Heather Gehlert: A Google-Digg hybrid ...
blogstory
blogimage

Share and save this post:

      

      

Share on Facebook       

AlterNet Social Networks:
follow us on twitter
find us on Facebook

Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form

Get PEEK in your
mailbox!

 

Without further commentary, here's the AP story from Internet Writer Anick Jesdanun:

The popular online hangout MySpace is entering the news business with a feature that lets its users determine what items other members see.

MySpace News brings to a much larger audience the user-recommendation capabilities already available through Digg and Time Warner Inc.'s Netscape. It also marks the site's further inroads into becoming an Internet portal akin to Yahoo Inc. and others.

Unlike Digg and Netscape, which rely heavily on user submissions, MySpace will also scan thousands of Web journals and news sites and group results by categories such as sports and politics. MySpace will go further than Google Inc.'s news offering by letting users vote on items, helping to determine what makes the front or section pages.

As part of the service, MySpace will pull and display headlines from the outside news sites, a practice that contributed to legal challenges against Google. The search engine leader recently reached a settlement with Agence France-Presse and earlier with The Associated Press, although no lawsuit had been filed by the AP.

MySpace, like Google, would let publishers exclude their items from the site, said Dan Strauss, whose group helped develop the news service. He also said MySpace would be helping to drive traffic to the news sites, bringing MySpace readers who might not otherwise be visiting.

The feature, which was expected to debut Thursday as a "beta" test, uses technology developed by Newroo, which MySpace parent News Corp. bought last year. Strauss said items from News Corp., which owns the Fox network and other media outlets, won't get special treatment.

Digg!

Tagged as: news, myspace

Heather Gehlert is a managing editor at AlterNet.


Copenhagen Is On; Obama to Lead U.S. Delegation
Patience, people, patience.
Post by Jeff McMahon. November 26, 2009.
Quiz: Which African Country Just Proposed Legislation Making Being Gay a Crime Punishable By Up to Life in Prison?
Here's a great letter-writing opportunity.
Post by CaitieCat. November 26, 2009.
White House Releases Turkey Pardon Spoof Then Does The Real Thing
Someone in the White House has a sense of humor.
Post by Daniel Kessler. November 25, 2009.
Advertisement
You've chosen to turn comments off for the entire site. Would you like to turn them back on?