The Power of Crowd-Sourced News Aggregators

Posted on March 6, 2008

A Web-based news aggregator is a Web site that pulls and displays news from many different sources, including RSS feeds and blogs. Users can create custom pages that only display news from specific sources or topics of the user’s choosing.

A couple popular Web-based news aggregators are Google Reader and PageFlakes.

A crowd-sourced news aggregator is a Web-based news aggregator that allows its users to determine the popularity of a news story or blog entry through various types of voting or rating systems. Most of these sites also have certain social aspects, allowing users to connect to others with similar interests.

This system gives news-searchers an alternative to what is served up to them by the regular news aggregators. It offers a way for searchers to see how other people rate stories and what they have to say about them.

You have probably heard of the site Digg.com already. Digg is an example of a crowd-sourced news aggregator since it encourages people to “digg” the stories they like, which will in turn bring the “dugg” stories or blog posts closer to the home page of the site. Each news aggregator site has its own unique twist on this concept.

Adding some of your more news-worthy blog posts, Web pages, or online press releases to these crowd-sourced news aggregators can drive a lot of traffic your way. But pay close attention to each site’s submission guidelines, and don’t add information that does not adhere to their guidelines or is not a good fit for the site. When considering whether to add something to one of these sites, ask yourself if it is something you would find news-worthy, and if you would naturally share it with others.

Here are some of our favorite crowd-sourced news aggregators:

Digg: A place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. All content is submitted and “dugg” by users.

Reddit: A source for what’s new and popular online. Votes on links to help decide popularity, or submit your own content.

Mixx: Tailor the content categories, tags, specific users and groups, and Mixx delivers the top-rated content as chosen by you and users who share your interests.

NowPublic: A participatory news network which mobilizes an army of reporters to cover the events that define our world. NowPublic changes the way news is made and distributed.

Hugg: Another version of Digg, Hugg is the source for user-submitted green news.

Propeller: All of the stories on Propeller are submitted and voted on by its members. The most popular stories on Propeller are determined by votes and comments from members.

Fark: A news aggregator and an edited social networking news site.

When adding a post or story to these sites, make sure you have your best keywords ready to use as tags, and a good title and description that will “hook” readers into wanting to know more. You will also want to take the time and add your company information to your profile on the sites that offer this feature, along with your email and URL. This is how others can learn more about you and your business or book.

And remember, the goal is to connect, so keep your message authentic and have fun!