Reuters Partnering With Pluck

In a first-of-its-kind move, news syndication company Reuters will begin syndicating blogs. The partnership will join the news service with social media firm Pluck; along with the partnership, Reuters reportedly will invest in the firm.

by Kristina Knight

The partnership with Pluck, which runs BlogBurst syndiators, will give advertisers more variety, according to Reuters. "Pluck represents the next evolution in finding interesting information sources for our clients," said Reuters President Chris Ahearn (via MediaPost). "The mainstream media can embrace the fact that a variety of blogs out there have compelling information that people can read."

Here are the ingredients of the partnership:

*Reuters will invest $7 million in Pluck
*BlogBurst includes around 2,800 partner blogs. Their topics range from philosophy to style to travel to politics.
*Authors are paid by BlogBurst when the blogs become syndicated.
*The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and the Austin American-Statesman also partner with Pluck.

Why blog syndication? According to Ahearn, "The opportunity to bring together a variety of disparate nanopublishers creates far more interesting advertising opportunities for the marketers we're working with.”

This isn’t a new concept for Reuters. Earlier this year, company began sponsoring the Global Voices program. It syndicates bloggers from developing countries in Africa, India, Asia and Europe. Reuters also has staff blogs on the main website.