OPEN

Running a couple of days late with posting the online version of this – but here you go…

The Times looks to US newsstands for more web users

When times are as tumultuous as these in the media, signs of the times are two a penny, but when you see a UK newspaper launching in the US market mainly as a way of increasing its online readership, you know you’re witnessing a major symptom of the shift of media power to the online world.

And that’s exactly what seems to be happening with the launch of the Times in the US. Some industry experts believe that it will cost $2 to produce every copy of the US version of the Thunderer, which will sell for just $1. Madness? Not quite, it all comes down to marketing yourself on the street in the hope that people will log on to your website once they get back to their desk.

According to a senior Times executive quoted by Media Guardian, the American edition of the Times is very much “an online play. There is no better billboard in America than a newsstand.”

Rupert Murdoch is rumoured to be readying his lieutenants for a major online offensive from this summer and the US launch of the Times is seen by many as part of the strategy. Journalism.co.uk reports that News International has been advertising for a small army of online professionals, and the betting is are on that they will be put to work expanding the company’s online empire.

That said, we’ve still not had sight of the MySun version of MySpace, the social networking website that Mr Murdoch bought last year for half a billion dollars.

Guardian sets its sights on global

Meanwhile, down at the Farringdon Road end of cyberspace there’s no resting on the laurels of a well-won lead in the online stakes and cabinet full of awards for the Guardian website.

The Guardian too is measuring itself against US competitors. In an interview last weekend at the Hay Festival, Georgina Henry, the editor of the two month old Comment is Free website said that the paper’s comment-driven website had already outpaced the famous New York site the Huffington Post.

Comment is Free seems is now in the middle of a “Big Blogger” competition among five of the top-rated commenters to join the blog as a contributor.

Daily Telegraph style guide

If you’re thinking of starting your own blog, you could do worse than take a look at the style guide that the Daily Telegraph has written for its own blogging journalists. Based on the experiences of its 14 bloggers, the guide has useful advice on how include links in your copy and even how to keep posting regularly even when you’re low on time or inspiration.

Political pilgrims pay homage at Daily Kos convention

In Las Vegas this week a conference is being held for fans of the Daily Kos website, a liberal community of commentators which commands an audience of about 20 million people a month, rivalling most national newspapers in the US for an audience. Among the visitors will be a small queue of Democratic presidential nomination hopefuls.

Bloggers are taken very seriously indeed in US politics, and some high profile bloggers and communities they are increasingly seen as influential constituencies in their own right.

It will be interesting to see how the role of bloggers and online communities evolves in this country. We don’t have the long run-up to an election that exists in the US, but I wonder how long it can be before we see David Cameron begging to hang out with the UK blogerati to prove his credentials in the online age.

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