By Carlos Miller
In another sign that the mainstream media is beginning to look at the blogosphere as a legitimate source of content, The Miami Herald not only plans to unveil a page that will aggregate content from more than 200 blogs throughout South Florida.
It invited a handful of bloggers to its newsroom Monday evening to announce the new feature.
The new page will officially launch next Monday, but check it out here.
Besides myself, other bloggers that attended the meeting at 1 Herald Plaza were Mango and Lime, Bark Bark Woof Woof, 305 Misadventures, Brickell Life, Sex and the Beach and Dayngrous Discourse.
Instant News Editor Shelley Acoca and Multimedia Editor Rick Hirsch explained that it took more than a year to get this page launched. The page will also include blogs from other corporate media companies, including the New Times and the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
There will also be a way where readers can rate each blog post. (I just rated this post a 10, making it the highest rated blog post so far. We’ll see how long that lasts.)
And blogs will be placed in different categories that are listed on the left side of the page. For example, my blog is listed under “media”.
Any South Florida blogger whose blog is not getting aggregated can send them a request here.
The Herald also created a widget that would allow bloggers to embed a feed of all or a portion of the South Florida blogs directly into their own blog.
I’ve already implemented that into my left sidebar, and I just might use this to replace the South Florida Blogroll altogether.
(Update: It appears that the widget is incorrectly coded because I set it to “all”, meaning it should feed all the South Florida blogs, but I am actually getting blogs from all over the country. Hopefully, they will address that issue.)
(Update II: It appears to be working properly now)
A few months ago, the Sun Sentinel launched a blog initiative where it features a South Florida blog every few days or so instead of aggregating all the blogs.
Unlike the Sentinel, the Herald’s blog page will be maintained by an outside company, Blog Net News.
Last April, Random Pixels shared an email he received from David Mastios, who is editor of Blog Net News, about the Herald’s plan to launch this feature.
Not sure why RP did not attend the meeting tonight but it might have something to do with this.
(Update III: RP says he was invited but had another engagement to tend to. So much for conspiracy theories.)
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9 responses so far ↓
1 Christopher Martin // Jun 8, 2009 at 10:14 PM
Damn. A YEAR? For that?!!!
I need to get back into consulting, I guess.
2 Dayngr // Jun 9, 2009 at 10:35 AM
That was fast! I had a feeling you might be the 1st to blog this event so I surfed on over. Told ya ya I was a fan. =) Great photo too. I was mesmerized by the view during the meeting. No wonder all the staff writers’ desks are facing in the other direction in the center of the room.
Great job! You really summed it up nicely.
3 bill // Jun 9, 2009 at 1:55 PM
“Not sure why RP did not attend the meeting tonight but it might have something to do with this. ”
You couldn’t be more wrong Carlos.
I was invited and even had a phone conversation with Shelley about this on Friday. But a client called me yesterday and wanted a meeting on short notice so I couldn’t attend.
4 Carlos Miller // Jun 9, 2009 at 5:33 PM
Bill,
I just added an update to clarify my conspiracy theory.
5 Gail // Jun 9, 2009 at 7:22 PM
So I go to the page to check it out and see to my surprise that my blog is listed. I guess it’ll get me more pageviews, but how was the current list compiled?
6 Brickell Life // Jun 10, 2009 at 11:44 AM
Carlos – great post and nice running into you at the Herald mtg. You summed it up perfectly. Perhaps we can set up some time one week to grab a couple cold Aguilas and a picada over at Al Carbon.
7 Carlos Miller // Jun 10, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Gail,
They just gathered as many blogs as they could find that are based in South Florida.
BL,
The picada is great at Al Carbon. And it’s right down the street from me, so let me know when.
8 jim wilson // Jun 11, 2009 at 9:09 PM
Total problem solved! THIS, yes, THIS will single-handedly SAVE the Miami Herald!!!
As if.. good idea, but increasingly it’s waaaaaay too little too late.
Wrong people in charge who know nothing.
9 goLIVEmiami.com // Jun 17, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Hi! I found about the Herald Aggregator last night at the tweetup. I googled it today and this post was the first hit on google. Woohoo! I submitted http://goLIVEmiami.com to them….
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