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Yahoo is opening the door to more citizen journalism on its Web site.
A new Yahoo initiative on Monday encourages users to submit their first-person news reports, advice and gossipy items for publication on the Web portal. The is intended to add a more personal touch to the existing articles in Yahoo's news, finance and entertainment areas.
The network is an offshoot of , the earlier this year. Yahoo is giving the network a much bigger platform by soliciting Yahoo's millions of users to participate and exposing their writing to a far bigger audience.
Yahoo editors will choose what to publish. In some cases, editors will ask for articles about particular topics, like first-hand accounts from the scene of a big political rally or shooting.
Users whose work is published will be paid based on the amount of traffic their articles generate, although the rates are generally lower than what professional journalists make by writing for more traditional publications. The model is similar to another company that solicits so-called crowd-sourced news.
Articles from Associated Content have already appeared on Yahoo about a variety topics, including one about the five men Kim Kardashian should date and another listing the top 10 quotes from the television show "Two and a Half Men."
Luke Beatty, vice president and general manager for Yahoo, said the amount of content from the contributor network that appeared on Yahoo would vary. But he said, in general, it will not make up the majority of the articles.
Mr. Beatty gave the example of the shooting. Getting first-hand accounts from students on campus that day, he said, would have made a lot of sense.
Mr. Beatty also said that tapping into Yahoo's vast network of users would provide broader news coverage and access to stories that are not necessarily newsy like doctors writing about medical topics or farmers writing about rural life.
"We're interested in covering some things that we haven't been able to cover, like high school sports," he said.
