Social media services company Pluck and the Sun-Times News Group on Wednesday are expected to announce a partnership, which will provide readers with several tools, such as discussion forums, blogs and community across its digital properties, including SunTimes.com, PioneerLocal.com, SuburbanChicagoNews.com, SouthtownStar.com, and Post-Trib.com, Media Post reported.

Some of the Pluck features will be deployed for the first-time by the news group on its sites, with features such as reader recommendations, comments on articles and contextually related blog posts from its syndication network.

“By adding new capabilities to our site, such as reader comments, photos and blogs, we are significantly expanding interactivity with our readers,” Catherine Lanucha, director of content for the Sun-Times News Group told to Media Post.

Besides offering white-label social networking tools for business clients, Pluck also runs BlogBurst, a blog syndication network connecting newspapers and other media sites to a network of more than 5,500 selected blogs, Media Post reported.

“We're providing publishers with the tools to bring online conversations into their own networks, where they can best monetise it,” according to Dave Panos, CEO of Pluck and EVP of Demand Media. Pluck just acquired Pluck earlier this year.

Pluck currently offers social media services to over 300 top brand, media and retail sites, including Circuit City, Condé Nast, The Guardian, USA Today, and now the Sun-Times Media Group. It serves more than 2.5 billion interactions in total each month, according to Media Post.

Panos said “publishers are becoming better at creating and monetizing content environments that are almost entirely user-generated.”

“By engaging consumers with open platforms, publishers get the added bonus of consumers creating much of the content,” he added.