UserLand To Distribute Headlines From NYTimes.com

Posted on April 12, 2002

NYTimes.com announced that it has reached an agreement with UserLand Software to distribute content from NYTimes.com to the network of Radio UserLand 8.0 desktop content management users. This new feature allows New York Times links to flow, with reader annotation, through the growing network of weblog sites published with Radio 8.

Weblogs are continuously updated websites usually about a specific topic or individual. Some weblogs are published by experts in a specific subject, while others are published by individuals simply interested in a certain topic. There are also personal journals published by individuals about their lives. This content deal is significant for weblogs because it shows that a leading media company (The New York Times) values the amount of traffic a community of weblogs can provide.

This new form of publishing, also known as "microcontent," relies on Web services technology such as XML. Some of the microcontent technologies pioneered by UserLand include RSS, XML-RPC, and SOAP. Other companies such as Pyra Labs also provide software for developing weblogs. Pyra Labs provides the popular Blogger software. Some companies also create software in-house to produce weblogs.

"Weblogs are a new form of journalism, practiced by hundreds of thousands of individuals for small audiences, sometimes as small as a classroom or a corporate workgroup," said Dave Winer, CEO of UserLand Software. "The New York Times is a trusted source for news and analysis, and partnering with them will help our network to grow beyond early adopters and technology aficionados."

"We are pleased to offer Weblog creators the ability to post headlines from NYTimes.com with UserLand's software," said Martin Nisenholtz, CEO of New York Times Digital. "Weblogs are an increasingly popular form of self-publishing within a highly influential community, and are therefore an important distribution channel for our high-quality content."

UserLand Software develops personal and workgroup content management software including Manila and Radio UserLand. UserLand is also active in the standards processes relating to distributed computing and XML with Microsoft, IBM, and Netscape. UserLand is a privately held company based in Millbrae, CA.