If you’ve been keeping up with the rest of the metroblogging family you’ll already know about the large share of Metroblogging being bought by Yahoo! Seattle, land of the late-risers and Pacific Standard Time is always last to report on the world-wide news of course, but we’re no less thrilled about it. It certainly explains a few things, such as metroblogging and flickr suddenly growing so close, and the new header photos and a sudden bloom in sideline advertisements. Of course, the big excitement-plus is the decision to use that cash to pay bloggers, starting with free dinner for our monthly meet-up! (This is very generous since the readers show up to our meet-up group meetings, so it’s nice that Metroblogging is acknowledging them too) I am such a sucker for a free dinner, I know, but for me that’s where the perks all start.