adage.com -- You need to read this Forbes.com post if you haven't already: "Huffpo and Patch Recruiting Bloggers as Young as 13." It perhaps fell under the radar a bit because of when it was published -- Friday afternoon during the lunch hour for many North American readers -- so I'm calling attention to it here. In it, Forbes reporter/blogger Jeff Bercovici notes that AOL's Huffington Post Media Group (HPMG) is prepping the launch of a vertical called HuffPost High School, which will be edited by a (paid) 17-year-old staffer, but which will apparently solicit unpaid blog contributions from teenagers.That may not bother you so much -- maybe some teen journalists can get some class credit or something out of blogging for HuffPo -- but Bercovici goes on to report that Patch, AOL's massive (and highly risky) experiment in creating more than 800 hyperlocal news sites across the country, will also be soliciting unpaid contributions from young'uns. How young? Bercovici posed the question to a Patch spokeswoman, who responded: "Patch is not geared toward users under 13." She basically suggested that AOL is engaging in an act of generosity: "We'll be expanding our sharing platform to teens" is how she put it to Bercovici.

Click here to read full article...

Read more:, , What You Should Know

Got something to say to us? Then send us a letter.

Want us to stick around? Donate to The eXiled.

Twitter twerps can follow us at twitter.com/exiledonline