The Associated Press has formed two key partnerships this week that will change the way the AP works with local AP member newspapers and with the blogosphere.

The first is a fifteen month arrangement with Topix.net designed to send more readers to newspaper sites that break stories later picked up by the web. According to the piece, the AP will "identify the stories that local papers contribute to the news cooperative so Topix's search engine can do a better job displaying links to the original source material." The intention: to create more revenue for AP members by directing readers to their websites, as well as boosting Topix profile as a news search source.

The second, a collaboration between AP and Technorati, mirrors collaborations between the blog search tool and the Washington Post, Newsweek and Der Spiegel. A module on AP member web sites that use AP Hosted Custom News will direct readers to the "Top Five Most Blogged About" AP Stories. Another module embedded on the side of the AP story will display "Who's Blogging About" that story with corresponding blog links. Technorati's Peter Hirshberg: "Several months ago we and The Associated Press began to talk about about how citizen-generated media could enhance the AP in their mission to be 'the essential global news network.' Increasingly, what the blogosphere says about a news story becomes part of a more complete story, lending diverse perspectives and often expert commentary. The AP believed it was increasingly important to deliver the living blogosphere as a compliment to their their core professional news product."