Kate Worlock (from EPS / Outsell - my UK partner) comments on the Reuters - Pluck Deal:
"Reuters has taken a USD7 million stake in weblog syndicator Pluck. What does this say about the way in which user-generated content is increasingly being perceived by mainstream news organisations? [...]
The Reuters/Pluck deal confirms that integration of user-generated content is likely to be a core element of such services going forward. This is not the first deal of this sort – LexisNexis began delivering blog content from Newstex’s Blogs on Demand service in April 2006.
The deal however also confirms a gradual re-positioning for Reuters over the course of 2006, as this is not the first move that the company has made with regards to social media.
In April Reuters announced an alliance with Global Voices, an international network of bloggers co-ordinated through the Berkman Center at Harvard University, to deliver content to its consumer users, and it has also invested in NewAssignment.net, a non-profit site investigating the possibilities in online open-source journalistic collaboration.
While the disposal of its share in Factiva seemed to mark a move away from news content services for business users, this latest deal suggests that Reuters believes that combining traditional services with social media is the key to addressing the demands of today’s online news consumers [...]"
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Press Release Reuters
Reuters takes stake in Pluck, to syndicate blogs
Statesman.com
Pluck strikes deal with Reuters
