Aside from Sarah and Paul’s strange Bieber-based attempts at SEO, I haven’t noticed many changes around here since some AOL people and then Arianna Huffington became my uber bosses. I mean I still get paid to work and everything which is cool so + 1!
But really my AOL hat really isn’t enough to keep me from absolutely loving what Stephen Colbert just did in an acutely searing critique of The Huffington Post’s controversial content practices.
On his show tonight Colbert, frustrated with all the free content Arianna Huffington has been glomming off “The Colbert Report” and others, announced that he would build his own site and call it “The Colbuffington Re-Post.” The Colbuffington Re-Post has “everything you love about the Huffington Post because it is the Huffington Post with a new border around it that says the Colbuffington Re-Post.”
Har har indeed, except that when you actually visit TheColbuffingtonRepost.com, it truly serves up an exact copy of The Huffington Post with Stephen Colbert’s Colbuffington Re-Post logo. a) I’m not sure this is even legal. b) Just wait ’til Arianna gets a load of this.
And sure The Huffington Post might just repost this story and somehow find a way to monetize it all and true we’re getting traffic of this too (Thank you for the free content Stephen) … But aside from what this means in terms of eCPM or whatever the business model is these days, we as consumers and producers of media must sit back and appreciate the sheer ingenuity of The Colbuffington Re-Post, at least for a moment. You win Colbert.
Notable quotes from the above clip:
“I’m a big fan of the Internet, it can answer any question from ‘Where can I get a pair of pants?’ to ‘Where is the porn?’ to ‘Woo boy where can I get another pair of pants?’”
“Huffpo is famous for its extensive comprehensive coverage of things other people produced and put on the Internet.”
“Hopefully HuffPo will be a new source of revenue for AOL, whose income currently depends on 82 year old Delaware resident Claire Meyers and the $10 an hour she still pays for dial up service.”
“You have acheived the impossible, you have made me feel angry while looking at pictures of myself. “
“Where’s my money Arianna? Don’t make me put on my rings”
“And I am proud to announce that the Colbuffington Re-Post is for sale for $316 million. Arianna if I find a buyer, I promise to give you the same cut you give me.”
Ouch.
AOL is a global advertising-supported Web company, with display advertising network in the U.S., a substantial worldwide audience, and a suite of popular Web brands and products. The company’s strategy focuses on increasing the scale and sophistication of its advertising platform and growing the size and engagement of its global online audience through leading products and programming. History of Aol: AOL was founded in the early 1980’s as Control Video Corp, with an online service, Gameline, for the Atari 2600 console. ...
The Huffington Post is a leading online news source founded by Arianna Huffington, Ken Lerer, and Jonah Peretti. Contributors include more than 3,000 bloggers—from politicians and celebrities to academics and policy experts—who contribute in real-time on a wide-range of topics. The site started as a politics blog, but now covers more than 20 categories, including media, business, entertainment, living, style, sustainable “green” living, world news, technology, nonprofits, college life, and comedy. It began launching local versions in 2008,...
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