Topix has grown to be a top-twenty news site. The platform facilitates interactivity in the form of comments, mostly around localized news. You simply type in your zip code and comment on local news. The company is generating content for its site and is a solution provider to number of newspapers in the Tribune chain and other publishers.
There is concern from some mainstream media that news aggregators like Topix exploit original content from newspapers, taking away the revenue associated with that content. In today’s Guardian, Roy Greenslade wonders if aggregators like Topix will "kill off American newspapers." In a related opinion, The Los Angeles Times says that Google’s latest efforts in adding comments to Google News is "not journalism" and major threat.
We’ll see how this plays out and who benefits. Here at Beet.TV we look forward to seeing community generated video "comments" surrounding local news. It’s going to happen, for sure. I bet we see more of this later this year.
Here is my second interview with Topix newly-named CEO Chris Tolles. I caught up with him in Palo Alto a couple weeks back.
— Andy Plesser
Grab the embed code of my interview with Chris.
