Yahoo News Search, Now with Blogs

While Web logs and podcasts have yet to cross over from fad to mainstream, that hasn't stopped Web leaders from embracing the new mediums in order to avoid missing the next big thing. To that end, Yahoo has expanded its news search to include what it calls "grassroots journalism" from blogs and Flickr.

Yahoo says the move is designed to "augment professional journalism" and enables users to search only blog results alongside Flickr photo thumbnails and Yahoo My Web links. The idea is to expose consumers to opinions, analysis and commentary on various topics that may not be covered by mainstream media.

The My Web feature is Yahoo's new social search engine that collects links from the Web and relates them to current events.

"The experiences and opinions published on blogs make a great addition to the mainstream news people read everyday. And major world events are further fueling the growth of blogs as platforms for anyone who wants to have a public voice," said Brian Stolte, Yahoo! Search product manager. "At times, even everyday bloggers beat the mainstream media to a story."

The current news search index being beta tested includes only a subset of the blogs Yahoo expects to include. For a final launch, the company plans to index over 20 million blogs that exist as part of the blo.gs ping service.

Google launched its own blog search last month, which picks up content via RSS feeds. The service is also integrated with the company's Blogger publishing tool.