ReadWriteWeb posts today about the new "Member Marketplace" being rolled out by the Associated Press and observes how it resembles RSS readers that the web-savvy have been using for a while to get their news. This tool, however, is geared towards the media:

Launched April 10, the Marketplace is built into AP’s innovative AP Exchange browser. It allows editors to search for AP stories, syndicated content and, now, content contributed by members.

Sharing regionally relevant and topical news is an area of great interest for many newspapers in many states, and the AP Member Marketplace is the fastest and most efficient way to make it possible. New production capabilities go into effect Oct. 1, enhancing a very flexible exchange where members can set their own exchange preferences and parameters. (AP Press Release)

It sounds like the AP is taking some cues from social media in distributing its syndicated content. There’s personalization, sharing, and dynamic updates. While these are all probably steps in the right direction, its clear that these larger media institutions are following a trail already blazed by early adopters of RSS and utilities like Google Reader.

It’s not surprising that this is the sequence of things, but the idea that the people writing the newspapers are the last to understand how the material they create is most efficiently being processed is an interesting reversal: it’s the curious people on the outside of the media who are first in the know in this case, and the insiders who are catching up.