Rumor is that the Huffington Post might buy Outside.in from founder Steven Johnson. Outside.in is a self-described "hyperlocal news and information service" tracking news and information in small, specific locations.

When the Huffington Post received $25 million last year from the California based venture capital firm Oak to invest in technology and the growth of the company, founder Arianna Huffington said that she would use some funds to create local versions of the Post. "This commitment from Oak Investment Partners will allow us to accelerate our growth, with more verticals, more video, more citizen journalism initiatives, more cities for our local editions, and a fund for investigative journalism."

In an article posted today on the Gawker, Ryan Tate says, "No one expected [Huffington] to stick to that plan, particularly given the low-margins of selling advertising on a local level." This comment is perhaps unfounded as the Huffington Post has already begun local expansion with the creation of HuffPost Chicago in 2008 and plans for a San Francisco edition are underway.

Tate also criticizes the purchase, asserting that it would be cheaper for Huffington to draw on her database of free writers to break into the local media rather than buy "a curious Web application that hasn't exactly set the world on fire." However, Outside.in has already established a large comprehensive network that claims to already track "news, views, and conversations in 11,860 towns and neighborhoods" and even includes the news from specific locations such as universities, hospitals, and businesses.

This pre-existing comprehensive network combined with the Huffington Post's popularity and success, considerable funds, and large team of unpaid "citizen journalists" could have an interesting impact on the reporting and sharing of local news.

Source: Brand Republic, The Gawker