HuffPost shuts down popular unpaid contributor blog

HuffPost, the left-leaning website that skyrocketed to success as "The Huffington Post" under the George W. Bush administration, announced Thursday that it's shutting down its popular 2005 Opinion Bloggers program that featured over 100,000 contributors.

Why it matters: The original opinion-blogging program was an instrumental part of HuffPost's growth, but is now outdated in the age of social media. In a blog post announcing the change, Editor in Chief Lydia Polgreen noted that too many open platforms can lead to more noise and false information.

Polgreen says the site will replace the bloggers program with "HuffPost Opinion" and "HuffPost Personal," which will be more carefully curated to help guide audiences through the avalanche of news, opinion and information living across the web.

• "HuffPost Opinion" will feature "a mix of regular columnists and one-off guest writers, commissioned by our Opinion editors to produce smart, authentic, timely and rigorous op-eds."
• "HuffPost Personal" will feature "commissioned first-person essays by guest writers, as well as person-first content ― including features, Q&As and interviews written by HuffPost reporters ― exploring the experiences and lives of celebrities, newsmakers and 'everyday' individuals."