It's Official

As of today, it's official! We've signed on all the dotted lines, and become an official part of the Yahoo! family.

This means that opportunities for our Contributors to create content for Yahoo!'s ecosystem are coming soon! Yahooooooo!

Greetings from Matthew

Matthew Idema, Yahoo! Vice President of Local, has published his first article on Associated Content. Check it out:

Welcome to Yahoo!

Matthew and the Yahoo! editorial team are excited to collaborate with the Associated Content community, and looking forward to featuring work by AC Contributors on a bunch of different Yahoo! sites, including Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, OMG!, Shine and Yahoo! Local.

They also want to hear from you, the true experts on the power and potential of this publishing platform. They’re looking for big ideas: What types of content would you love to create for for the Yahoo! network? What could we do to make this an even better place to publish? Check out Matthew’s article, and leave a comment or email your thoughts & suggestions to bigideas@associatedcontent.com. If you’re on Twitter, you can also tweet them @acnews with the hashtag #bigideas!

One Week Remains in our Spring iPad Sweeps

There's only one more week to maximize your chances of winning 1 of 2 32GB, WiFi-enabled Apple iPads in our April Showers Bring May Flowers promotion!

Every time you refer a new Contributor to Associated Content, you get a new entry into the sweepstakes when they submit their first AC article by May 31. In addition to getting a shot at a new iPad, you'll also earn $10 for each recruit who reaches Clout 5 by August 31!

When your recruits publish their first piece by the end of May, they get a chance to win as well! Don't hesitate to remind them. :)

To check up on your recruits so far, log in and visit your Referrals page. You'll be able to see whether or not they've published, and click over to their profile if they need a little encouragement.

You can also invite more people by using the unique link on your Referrals page, or our Invites tool. Just make sure that you send out your invitations ASAP, and that your recruits submit their first piece by Monday, May 31.

Click here for the official rules. Good luck!

TMZ: Read All About It!

As a part of our continuing partnership with TMZ, Associated Content entertainment writers may see some of their articles prominently featured on the celeb-centric website. From sports scandals to celebrity secrets, TMZ’s team covers all the breaking news of the entertainment world and we're excited to add some of our voices to the chorus.

Check out the latest article by Featured A&E Contributor Steven Bryan, “10 Reasons Why This Guy Is Going to See Sex and the City 2,” currently gracing TMZ’s home page:

Click here to read the article

If you have a large library of unique, topical Arts & Entertainment content, be sure to apply for our Featured Contributors program if you haven’t already!

Exciting News

Contributors, partners and friends:

I have incredible news.

Ready?

Okay.

Associated Content is being acquired by Yahoo!.

To our contributors, this means a world of previously unimaginable growth opportunities. As our partnership evolves, a combined Yahoo! and Associated Content will deliver increased distribution (600 million unique visitors monthly, oh my!), better performance, new tools and, more than anything, the opportunity to contribute your premium content to the web’s most powerful media company.

I am so proud of our contributors and the Associated Content staff. This is the perfect next step for all of us. As the web’s first people-powered media company, in early 2005 we set out to change the content landscape by building the best technology platform and the most prolific, talented contributor base on the web. We succeeded. In five years, over 380,000 contributors have published over 2 million articles, videos, slideshows and audio clips that together have collected over 1.75 billion page views. With Yahoo! behind us, we will shatter these records.

We’ve always had our eyes peeled for the next best thing. How can we better our technology? How can we onboard new, diverse contributors? How do we improve the quality of our content for consumers and advertisers? What’s the best way to increase distribution and, deliver higher payments to our contributors? So, when our partners at Yahoo!, THE world’s largest online media company, approached us about becoming a part of their family, our minds were piqued.. We soon realized that we had a common mission: to be the center of people’s online lives.

We’ve been promoted! We all will now be driving social media as a part of the most personally relevant online media company in the world – a media company that reaches half of the global population (yes, we’re going global!). I think we’re up for the challenge and opportunity.

Let’s do this thing!

Congrats to everyone,

Luke Beatty
Founder

PS: For more information, please see the press release and our FAQ. You should also check out the official welcome on Yahoo!'s blog.

Win an Apple iPad in our Spring Sweepstakes

May flowers are starting to bloom, and that means there's less than one month for you to take advantage of Associated Content's April Showers Bring May Flowers sweepstakes!

We're giving away 2 32GB, WiFi-enabled Apple iPads, so make sure you get as many entries into the sweepstakes as possible by May 31.

If you're a new Contributor, you can enter the sweeps by publishing your first Associated Content article by the end of the month -- it's that easy. Click here for the official rules.

All Contributors can enter the sweepstakes by referring new Contributors to Associated Content. Tell your friends about AC using your Invites tool or the unique link on your Referrals page. For each recruit who publishes content by May 31, you'll get an additional sweepstakes entry. Click here for the official rules.

As an added bonus, you'll receive $10 if any of the Contributors you refer by the end of May reach Clout 5 by August 31. So tell all the writers you know about Associated Content, and help them take their first steps on the path to AC greatness. The more people you refer, the more you'll earn and the better your chances of snatching one of those iPads.

Good luck!