Huffington Post hits 1 Billion page views, acquires discussion platform Localocracy

AOL’s Huffington Post continues to grow under its new owners, having announced today that it hit 1 Billion page views for the first time in September, with 37 million unique visitors.

Meanwhile, the Huffington Post Media Group has announced that it’s acquiring an online platform for the discussion of local issues called Localocracy. While the news is yet to officially hit the wires, All Things D‘s Kara Swisher has got hold of the press release.

Localocracy describes itself as “an online town common where registered voters using real names can weigh in on local issues.” Aimed at citizens, local governments and journalists alike, the platform’s purpose is to bring local issues to a head in a way that benefits all those groups. The platform, launched in 2009, is currently only available in six Massachusetts, USA towns.

It’s unclear if Localocracy will continue in its current form. The wording of the press release makes the acquisition sound like a talent grab to build similar platforms for Huffington Post Media Group (HPMG), stating that the team “will build on their innovative approach to enhancing local democracy while leveraging HPMG’s powerful online community platform to engage its large and networked audience. Also joining the Group from Localocracy is Jay Boice, who will be instrumental in building new technologies to support enhanced online community interaction.”

Swisher reports that the Localocracy acquisition price is under $1m. Meanwhile the Huffington Post is expanding with four new sections to its sprawling website: Post50 (aimed at baby boomers); HuffPost Gay Voices; HuffPost Weddings and HuffPost High School.

AOL acquired The Huffington Post in March this year, bringing HuffPo founder Arianna Huffington on board as president and editor in chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, a division of AOL which will included The Huffington Post itself, along with AOL’s other content properties such as Engadget and TechCrunch. Since then the Huffington Post itself has undergone rapid expansion, including local site launches in the UK and Canada.