The Houston Chronicle is the latest local media operation to enter the new exciting world of news aggregation! The site is called HoustonNowNews.com.HoustonNowNews.com is actually a multipronged operation. First it is a Web site with lists of Houston area stories from other newspaper and TV operations. The Chron is pulling the stories from those sites via Twitter. Do you want to participate? Just tag your tweets with #hounews to get the job done.
Since this starts with Twitter...you guessed it. A matching Twitter account exists @houstonnownews.
You might remember how I profiled KIAH 39's (Tribune) entrance via Headlinehouston.com. That is the site that looks like a Houston version of the Drudge Report and makes no mention of the company behind it. The Chron's site is the same way. You have to do a WhoIs and look at the source code to learn Hearst owns the domain and Chron.com is serving the ads.
Now there are two of these sites that I have found, how many more exist in Houston? Are other media outlets creating separate branded Web sites and social media accounts?
I actually had this idea last year for KTRK and even implemented. Turns out the station was not interested. So my Twitter aggregator quietly collects and posts. It has 1,790 followers now. Not bad for a robotic Twitter account. Maybe I will write a post about it and share the account name soon.
Heck, I should rent my robo account out to a media organization to post its stories on. My account almost has 2,000 followers, that work is already done. It's just like when folks buy video game weapons and characters from other players...but the news junkie version.
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