Yahoo has continued its integration of content producer Associated Content (AC) with a name change to the Yahoo Contributor Network.

The change of name will also see further integration of Associated Content’s algorithm based content production into Yahoo’s growing stable of content sites. Along with the SEO chasing AC is renowned for, Yahoo site editors will also use the service to supplement Yahoo’s team of full time and part time professional writers.

Associated Content co-founder Luke Beatty told PaidContent that freelancers are not intended as replacements for the professional staff of journalists that Yahoo employs. “If there’s a sports story, we can get someone to write about how it looks from their community,” Beatty said. “Or if there’s a news story about the mortgage crisis, one of the contributors can discuss how they’ve avoided those pitfalls. It will augment the content we already have on the site with a more personal touch.”

Yahoo acquired Associated Content for $100 million in May 2010.

Associated Content Is Now Yahoo Contributor Network is a post from: The Inquisitr

There’s drinks all round today in content mill land with news that Yahoo has acquired Associated Content for a very sweet $100 million.

Associated Content (AC) launched in 2007 and took $21 million in funding over three rounds from Softbank Capital, Cannaan Partners, and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong.

AC is one of a generation of startups, including Demand Media, dubbed “content mills” by the mainstream media. The companies took the old blog network model then turned it upside down, creating mega sites with a lot of content (think Huffington Post, but much broader.)

AC’s exit to Yahoo offers Yahoo a cost effective content base as the former search giant seeks to reposition itself as a stronger content provider against AOL.

For the content producing market, it offers the first serious exit in the space since the end of the global financial crisis.

Yahoo Acquires Associated Content For $100 Million is a post from: The Inquisitr

This time last week, our own Steven Hodson wrote a post describing Demand Media as “the Myspace of online content.” Despite rumors to the contrary by some against this site, we do open editorial, and sometimes that means that things are written that I as editor don’t agree with.

Sometimes it works the other way, where our team argues with what I’ve written in a post, and as far as I’m concerned it makes for a better read, and I’d have it no other way.

I don’t agree with Steven’s assessment, which was based on a Robert X Cringely’ post, a guy who I deeply respect, but in this case, doesn’t really know the market that well.

We’ve touched on this space previously, the most recent post being one I wrote about Examiner.com, the leading site in this post blog network space. I say post blog network with the context that it’s hard to label the space the likes of Demand Media, Huliq, Examiner.com, Associated Content and others operate in. They are at their core founded on the idea of a blog network, but they don’t necessarily reflect the same model that “blog networks” came to be qualified by back in the days of Weblogs Inc, b5media and others.

Personally I remain heavily impressed by what Examiner.com in particular is doing. Not one day goes by where we don’t compete with their content, because they are creating so much content, we often conflict.

Since I left b5media, I’ve been monitoring “writers” forums on a semi-regular basis (maybe once a week) to keep abreast of what writers think of various sites. In that time I’ve seen the rise of the post-blog network sites, and watched what writes think: call me old fashioned, but I’ve always believed that a good ship is one where your writing team is happy. Watching that, here’s what I know about Demand Media: in that space, they pay about the best in the business, and their writers are mostly happy.

Steven notes in his post that Demand Media has a dubious background. I don’t care about the background for the company; many people have skeletons in their closet, and failure in the past shouldn’t be a bad thing if you use that failure to get it right the next time.

He writes that they pay $20 a post: let me say straight up that $20 a post in that market is damn fine money, and most of their writers agree.

Steven notes on Cringely that paying $20 a post may kill professionals, but that’s wrong on two fronts. First, professionals are often providing the content because $20 a post is market high. Second, there’s absolutely nothing wrong in terms of economics in paying a rate that is above your competitors, even when you believe that the rate offered undermines old media. $20 a post won’t kill old media, they’re doing that themselves irrespective of what Demand Media is doing.

I respect what the likes of Demand Media, Examiner.com and others are doing to the point that I should have jumped on the ship myself at some stage. I’m not about to sell this site, and we’re not changing our model, but I none the less respect what they are all doing because it’s a good model that is mostly empowering writers to earn online. That it’s less than what a professional journalists are paid isn’t my concern, because it comes down to market economics. If the market will provide at that price, why not take advantage of it? If old media can’t compete, that’s their problem.

Why Demand Media is Good is a post from: The Inquisitr

Adding Diversity

The idea behind Allvoices is to add diversity to the standard news mix. Its creators aren’t aiming to replace traditional news media for any given audience, but rather to enrich it with often overlooked alternative viewpoints.

“Allvoices gives everyone a voice and uses these various forms of content to create multiple perspectives in order to stimulate global discussions,” Allvoices CEO Amra Tareen told The Inquisitr. “Our site is free from traditional editorial oversight and censorship characteristic of global media organizations,” she said.

Once registered, anyone can submit coverage through the Web interface, via e-mail, or over mobile messaging. The service has dedicated numbers set up to receive SMS and MMS content. Much like the meme concept, the site links related stories together to provide broader perspective into widely covered topics. Readers then validate content both from users and from traditional news sources to determine its placement on the site.

“We use our technology to elevate and leverage the individual voice,” Tareen said.

No Human Touch

While Allvoices does have a filter to catch any obscene submissions, it prides itself on being completely unedited by humans — a concept that sets it apart from competitors such as Associated Content and Global Voices, and one that’s close to its founder’s heart.

It was during a trip to her Pakistan that Tareen — who grew up both there and in Australia — was first struck with the inspiration for a community-driven, democratic news source. She saw the effects of the devastating earthquake that claimed nearly 80,000 lives and destroyed millions of homes — and realized there was no centralized global venue for people to report on their experiences. Instead, a small sampling of professional reporters controlled what most of the world saw.

Business Building

With a business and computer-oriented background — she studied engineering and computer science at Australia’s University of New South Wales, got her MBA from Harvard, then went on to work at Silicon Valley firms such as Sevin Rosen Funds and Ascend Communications — Tareen decided to give the idea a go. She secured $4.5 million in funding, recruited a team of industry experts, and set out to build an organization that — by its very nature — could not be biased.

“We want the emotions of our contributors to come through unfiltered,” she told The Inquisitr. “If somebody has a different perspective on a news event, they are free to post their own story next to other accounts of that same event. That allows readers to be exposed to different perspectives and opinions.”

Tough Topics

Allvoices doesn’t shy away from tough topics, either. The front page rivals any news networks’, jam-packed with content ranging from political issues to financial news and global conflict to medical developments. It all plays into Tareen’s goal of becoming a powerhouse for balanced information worldwide.

“Our model of merging user-generated content and professional news sources into one community will create the first true people’s media,” she predicted.

Only time — and, fittingly enough, the people themselves — will tell.

Allvoices Aims To Become “People’s Media” is a post from: The Inquisitr