Last week, celebrating its 150th birthday, The Birmingham Post launched a new website and moved into a Web-first strategy. The Post is currently leading bold blogging and citizen journalism initiatives.

The site now carries the paper's live breaking news, as well as comment and analysis from the paper's correspondents.

Most interestingly though, the Post has recruited an army of external bloggers to provide content about arts, industry and sports. The site has developed industry-specific channels that cover particular areas such as banking and the automotive industry. Dedicated bloggers will cover those areas.

"Just one of the many developments I am particularly proud of is our panel of expert bloggers who will be commenting on a diverse array of subjects," said Post editor Marc Reeves.

"Without doubt this stands as a highbrow development in terms of user-generated content and user-interaction.

The Birmingham Post successfully established ties with its readers, by soliciting the local online blogging community from the very start of the website construction process.

At the end of January, other Trinity Mirror title Birmingham Mail also relaunched its site with emphasis on user content. This is part of a Trinity-wide strategy to develop community newspaper sites.

Source: Press Gazette through IFRA Executive News Service