First, Google announced that it was launching a search engine focused on indexing blogs. And today, Yahoo! announced it would begin including blogs in its news search engine’s results, right next to traditional media stories.
As Forbes.com reported, approximately 750,000 blogs will be indexed for inclusion in the updated news search tool, which is in beta testing.
Some 750,000 blogs and other user-generated content will soon show up on Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO – news – people ) News search pages, presented right alongside news from mainstream media. But is Yahoo! taking another big step in the blurring of lines between professional media and grassroots journalism?
The company is testing a new search tool that includes results from thousands of mainstream media outlets, and a separate results column for blogs, its new My Web social search and pictures posted to the company’s Flickr photo service.
The article goes on to note that Neil Budde, general manager of Yahoo! News, is clearly aware of the dangers of marring the lines between traditional and so-called citizen journalism:
In a prepared statement, Neil Budde, general manager of Yahoo! News, says the company wants to fuse professional journalism with so-called citizen journalism to provide a fuller spectrum of content to its members. Still, Yahoo! is clearly sensitive to the dangers of blurring the lines between professional and amateur journalism.
Yet, just before that, Joff Redfern, a director at Yahoo! Search noted:
“Traditional media don’t have the time or resources to cover all stories,” says Joff Redfern, a director in Yahoo! Search. “We want to offer an alternative perspective on news outside of what the mainstream media has to offer.”
Is Yahoo! making a bigger play here than just blogs? Is Yahoo!, which relies on partnerships to produce much of its news site, making a play to bypass media companies for hyperlocal and niche content, which is the focus on many blog sites? A search on the term “Chicago” yielded four displayed blog results and more than 3,000 additional blog results.
As always, The Chaser will follow events and report back, but it is clear the Blogosphere just became a little bit more mainstream (which is something that might make bloggers out there go nuts).
