AOL-Huffington Post: How to Achieve World Domination with Free Bloggers

So AOL, Inc. agrees to buy the Huffington Post for $315 million today. Just one question: Was it simply a red herring that AOL's TechCrunch (and friends) have been complaining ad nauseum about Demand Media, content farms, and Google search results for months now, or were they also in the dark, like most Huffington Post fans?

It seems now that content farms are small potatoes -- as Huffington Post will be crammed down our throats instead -- let's turn our attention instead to embracing the New World Media Order.

As to Arianna Huffington's characterization of intent for the AOL- Huffington Post merger, it should offer comfort to some in Silicon Valley and the liberal bloc:

"By combining HuffPost with AOL's network of sites, thriving video initiative, local focus, and international reach, we know we'll be creating a company that can have an enormous impact, reaching a global audience on every imaginable platform."

This global new media domination should only concern centrists, conservatives, people interested in Net neutrality, some non-liberal bloggers and writers, and media bias watchdogs. The Amish are safe, I think.

Note to Republicans: Save your money in election year 2012, and thereafter for that matter. Your views will only be seen by people who agree with you in the first place. Note to Independents, Libertarians and Populists: Just adapt. Besides, given enough time, you will embrace liberal media bias and it will no longer be subtle.

To John and Jane America: Who needs DIY sites like eHow - or newspapers, YouTube, interest groups, political dissent or choice? AOL and Huffington Post will meet all your information needs:

"AOL's just finished building a pair of state-of-the-art video studios in New York and LA, and video views on AOL have gone up 400 percent over the last year. Check. More sections? AutoBlog, Music, AOL Latino, Black Voices, etc, etc, etc. fill gaps in HuffPost's coverage," writes Huffington.

Anyone notice the number of "etceteras" there?

Huffington, as CEO and editor-in-chief, plans to "fill in some of the gaps in what we are offering our readers, including cars, music, games, and underserved minority communities."

In other words, AOL aspires to be a jack-of-all trades and infiltrate most socioeconomic markets via the Huffington Post platform.

This is not inherently evil on the surface -capitalism, that is. But there is a waiting line here: Presently, Yahoo and Microsoft are first in line, companies who are a bit more subtle about their political bias - unless you consider MSNBC, which many don't given their ratings.

Wait, does Keith Olbermann being fired have something to do with this, and does he have a new calling with AOL? Maybe not, but if true, then some schadenfreude is definitely in order.

There is a positive side to having a Big Sister for new media writers -while their content remains search-able.

It is now editorial open season on AOL and Huffington Post, which should provide years of fresh content. Even eHow can capitalize on this one; here's a title suggestion: "How to take advantage of free bloggers and political angst while in pursuit of world media domination?"

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/huffington-post-aol_b_819373.html