Coming soon: Myspace news

Terry Heaton reports that Myspace is about to launch a news service the with launch due in the middle of the year.

According to inside sources and the company's own sales materials:

• MySpace News takes News to a whole new level by dynamically aggregating real-time news and blogs from top sites around the Web
• Creates focused, topical news pages that users can interact and engage with throughout their day
• MySpace is making the news social, allowing users to: Rate and comment on every news item that comes through the system; Submit stories they think are cool and even author pieces from their MySpace blog
• MySpace users previously had to leave the site to find comprehensive news, gossip, sporting news, etc. With MySpace News, we bring the news to them!

This sounds not dissimilar to Google News. It is very logical for a company like News Corp and will give them real distribution grunt for their existing content. It will rattle a few cages, no doubt, but only with those who already struggle with Google News. For everyone who views Google news as an opportunity - Myspace is about to provide another one.

Thursday links

1. Traditional media companies are beginning to understand that the audience can, and should, become part of the editorial process, but it's early days yet. What's working and what's not? A report from the Center for Citizen Media.
2. Paul Brannan, the Deputy Editor of BBC News Interactive, interviewed on the state of public broadcasting in the UK and the US and the progress of integrated media (podcast).
3. Who's the parasite? Bloggers or reporters, asks Dave Weiner.
4. PBS' Frontline investigation into the Future of News.