Following up on its spring announcement, the Huffington Post has crossed the pond.

Huffpo UK (or HuffingtonPost.co.uk, for those looking to access the site) was launched today. Arianna Huffington's news website has grown rapidly in the US, and the new branch is the next step in the brand's expansion under AOL.

Paid Content noted the timely launch, as the News of the World is currently under intense scrutiny for allegedly hacking into mobile phones of celebrities and crime victims to find stories. Some have speculated that other newspapers could be embroiled in the controversy, and HuffPo has an advantage with its clean slate and reputation for quickly updating online stories.

Indeed, the News of the World story was the headliner on HuffPo's new UK website. Not far from it was Arianna Huffington's welcoming message, in which she detailed her personal attachment to the UK (she studied at Cambridge and had a 7 year long relationship with British journalist Bernard Levin) and praised the UK's "thriving, innovative media culture".

The new editor-in-chief of HuffPo UK, Carla Buzasi, confirmed that the site will use 300 unpaid bloggers. The Huffington Post has drawn a lot of criticism for its use of unpaid contributors (especially in light of the $315 million dollar buyout from AOL). It is currently being sued by a group of past contributors for $105 million dollars. The Newspaper Guild called for all unpaid writers at the Huffington Post to go on strike last March, although Arianne Huffington dismissed the strike.

The website is not entirely composed of UK-geared content. It is linked to the US version, but has a UK specific politics section and entertainment section. The celebrity section is linked to AOL UK celebrity, and most content is supplemented by articles from the US's edition of the Huffington Post.

HuffPo is not the first to expand across the Atlantic. The Guardian tried it first, attempting to start an American branch in light of its 5.9 million American readers in July 2007. The Guardian America never quite materialized, and began redirecting readers to the British site's US section in 2009.

According to The Observer, one of the site's mistakes was not redirecting Americans accessing the Guardian's site to the Guardian America. The Huffington Post does this for UK readers, although they can still access the American version if they prefer.

The Guardian is relaunching an American website this fall, but with a better understanding of what American readers were looking for to begin with. Readers never wanted another American perspective - and now The Guardian is marketing itself as an "internationalist", in the same way that The Economist does in the US.

The Huffington Post is betting that going British will appeal to English readers. With plans to launch a French edition, Huffpo better hope it does not go the way of Guardian America - otherwise the merger with AOL may not have been Arianne Huffington's golden opportunity to expand internationally.

Sources: Paid Content, The Huffington Post, Galley Cat, The Guardian, The Observer