The Huffington Post launched its first international edition last May in Canada, but today AOL has taken its biggest media property across the pond, unveiling a UK version of the Huffington Post. Like its North American counterparts, the site features its own blend of original content, articles aggregated from other sources, and user-generated content—and, of course, forums were engaged users can engage in all manner of debate.
“We are arriving here in the midst of a rich and thriving media culture marked by great innovation,” said Arianna Huffington, in a statement. “We look forward to adding HuffPost UK to the mix, and to our real-time ‘digital water cooler’—which embraces the best of the new (immediacy, transparency, interactivity) and the best of the old (fact-checking, accuracy, fairness, and an emphasis on storytelling)—becoming the spark for many interesting conversations.”
For the time being, the UK version of the Huffington Post is headed up by AOL’s editor-in-chief for Europe Carla Buzasi, along with a ten-person editorial team in the UK who previous managed AOL’s UK sites The group will also receive support from the HuffPo organization in the United States, and aims to provide “hundreds” of British bloggers an opportunity to reach millions of global readers.
AOL acquired the Huffington Post early this year for some $315 million. At the time, founder Arianna Huffington indicated one of the more appealing aspects of the acquisition for her was the ability to launch the Huffington Post into international markets. AOL is also working on a French edition of the site.
In the wake of the Huffington Post acquisition, AOL laid off some 900 employees worldwide.
