Associated Content Served Yahoo! Style

Mar 312015

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On May 18, 2010 Yahoo! titled its official press release: Yahoo! to Acquire Associated Content.

Luke Beatty the Co-Founder and President of Associated Content proclaimed Exciting-News on the Associated Content on the official Associated Content Company Blog.

The Associated Press, via Yahoo! reported the announcement of Yahoo! acquiring Associated Content this way. Yahoo buys freelance news site Associated Content.

This development is intriguing from a multitude of angles. However, all interested parties should refer to the last line of the Associated Press article. It pertains to Yahoo!’s supposed plans for Associated Content’s website after this deal is complete. This line is notably absent from Yahoo!’s official press release. Additionally, Luke Beatty makes no reference to this particular subject in his official blog post.

As Associated Content Contributors utilize Associated Content’s publishing platform they must make important decisions. First, they need to determine what rights they are going to assign Associated Content for each piece of content. Second, they need to decide if they want their content to be eligible for distribution with Associated Content Partners. Now there are some exceptions to these rules. Among the exceptions are poetry and prose. These types of content are only allowed to be published as Display Only. Display Only content is not eligible for Distribution to Associated Content Partners. All of this determines if a piece of content is eligible for an upfront payment in addition to the Associated Content page view bonus system. Therefore, Associated Content Contributors would seem to have a vested interest in this matter.

It an important fact that there is no mention in either Yahoo!’s official press release or Luke Beatty’s official blog post about the Associated Press article reference to the Yahoo!’s supposed future plans for Associated Content website. This is important, because this inconsistency clouds the decision making process for Associated Content contributors as they determine how to utilize Associated Content’s publishing platform until this acquisition is complete.

This article is written not to express an opinion on whether this acquisition is good or bad for any of the involved parties. However, it is necessary to bring to light this observation that has not escaped the attention of others.

It seems imperative that the Associated Press substantiate or retract this statement. Also, it appears that some type of clarification from Yahoo! and Associated Content officials would be appropriate.

Originally published on Associated Content / Yahoo Contributor Network (YCN) on May 19, 2010

Note: Edited to consistently use the ! in Yahoo!’s official name, unless referencing a source that does not use that punctuation mark.

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