• All things D, Monday, August 17, 2009 1:34 PM

In what can only spell more trouble for news publishers already drowning in a sea of à la carte aggregators and connected content sharers, the Huffington Post has tapped Facebook Connect to make news consumption that much more modifiable.

"HuffPost Social News," so-called, lets readers create a highly-customized and community-connected news pages on Huffington Post itself. Users of the new service have their choice between a dedicated page on which to play editor, and a module positioned on every HuffPo page showing what their Facebook friends are posting on their own HuffPost Social News page.

Such a souped-up social news service will no doubt benefit the Huffington Post by better connecting it with readers on their own terms, and offering them a platform to express themselves. However, it might also lead to less of a connection between readers and the publications that produce news. (The Huffington Post does itself produce news, but not nearly as much as most of the publications it sources.)

In recent years, established publications like The New York Times and USA Today have invested a great deal in social features similarly designed to further engage readers. But, by partnering directly with the reigning champ of social networking, the Huffington Post threatens to quash such efforts, inspiring publishers to cry foul, and consider serious measures to stave off their encroaching marginalization.

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