Future Launches Political News Aggregator Website, www.BeltwayBlips.com
South San Francisco, Calif. - July 31, 2008 – Future US, the special-interest media company, today announced it has launched www.beltwayblips.com, a political news aggregator and social networking site. BeltwayBlips (www.beltwayblips.com) is the most comprehensive source to follow, comment on or link to breaking mainstream news, video and top blog posts about the race for the White House.
BeltwayBlips.com is powered by the aggregation technology of recently acquired Ballhype Inc., which runs www.ballhype.com, a sports news aggregator and www.showhype.com, an entertainment gossip news aggregator. The proprietary platform aggregates text, video and photo content from a wide array of blogs and news outlets, applies an algorithm that analyzes content linking, user voting and time to determine each story’s significance and credibility. The unique ranking algorithm determines how “hot” a story is, moving it up the “top stories” page to provide an instant view of the hottest breaking political news from both mainstream media and the blogosphere.
“As many recent campaigns have proved, the Internet is an increasingly powerful tool for fundraising, communication and organization,” states Tyson Daugherty, Vice President of Internet Development at Future US, Inc. “Similarly, the Internet has made it possible for a broad array of enthusiasts to shape the political debate, express opinions and connect with like-minded voters. BeltwayBlips will fuel this process.”
“At its core, Future is about passion for media and political bloggers and enthusiasts are a passionate bunch. We are excited about the opportunity to participate as a neutral party in the social media phenomena tied to the 2008 White House race by launching the best political social network available today, exclusively focused on political news,” said Jonathan Simpson-Bint, President at Future US, Inc.
About Future US
Future US is part of Future plc, an international special-interest media group that is listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol FUTR). Founded in 1985 with one magazine, today we have operations in the UK and US creating over 180 publications, websites and events for people who are passionate about their interests. We hold strong market positions in games, film, music, technology, cycling, automotive and crafts. Our biggest-selling magazines include T3, Total Film, Digital Camera, Fast Car, Classic Rock, Guitar World, Official Xbox Magazine, Official Playstation Magazine, Nintendo Power and MacLife. Online, our websites include gamesradar.com, bikeradar.com, techradar.com, and musicradar.com. Future sells over 4 million magazines each month; we attract more than 11 million unique visitors to our websites; and we host 16 annual live events that attract hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts. Internationally, Future is both the UK's largest licensor and the largest exporter of magazines with our content appearing in 90 countries worldwide.
Contact:
Monica Wik
Plugged In PR
650-743-2219
monicawik@gmail.com
Alison McCreery
Future US
650-238-2550
amccreery@futureus.com
