BlogBurst Can Save Big (print) Media
Michael Arrington
47 comments »
Pluck demo’d a new product called BlogBurst at our party last night. The service is live but Pluck has not pushed it out for publicity yet.
BlogBurst is a service that takes topical content from pre-approved blogs and provides it to publishers (online newspapers, etc.) for republication. Blogs that apply and are accepted are categorized (TechCrunch would be “science and technology”. BlogBurst editors choose great content from those blogs for republication. For more information on how BlogBurst works with publishers, see this page. Bloggers must provide a full text RSS feed to participate, with no included ads in the feed.
Participating publishers have “workbench” tools to map content to specific areas of their site. Integration is “via simple JavaScript calls or robust SOAP or XML APIs“.
BlogBurst charges publishers for this service. They do not share revenue with bloggers, although each post has a byline and attribution/link back to the blog. For most bloggers, this extra traffic and attention will be very welcome.
BlogBurst already has a number of top publishers signed up, including the SF Chronicle, Washington Post, Houston Chronicle and San Antonia Express-News.
Disclaimer: I am an unpaid advisor to BlogBurst, and have done paid consulting work for Pluck in the past.
I for one can’t wait to sign up and give my written material to major newspaper groups for free.
Oh no, wait - they are paying for it? It’s just the cheapskate middleman screwing me?
Better still. Count me in.
Anybody else read the “Blogs to Riches” article in the New York Magazine this week? It talks about how there are A-list bloggers who get most of their story tips from B-list bloggers and the latter dream of nothing more than getting a “thank-you link” from the likes of Gawker.
These guys seem to want to build the same kind of world order except it will be big newspapers who will reap the benefits, not Nick Denton.
Sounds similar in effect to Technorati’s deal with the Washington Post. ( http://marshallk.com/washingto.....ates-blogs )
So be it, as Rubel says - most bloggers will blog for the love of their topic, not to be full time paid bloggers. (”disclosure” - as a full time blogger, I can totally imagine a time when the medium drives me nuts and I would rather write for love of the subject and welcome unpaid resyndication!)
Hey, how about some links to the parts of WaPo, SF Cron, etc. where BB is on display? What does the product ultimately look like?
Just wanted to weigh in with an important clarification.
We will provide a blogger compensation model after we get through the beta period. We simply need time to discover usage patterns and land on the right monetization model with publishers and bloggers.
The Houston Chronicle has already taken it to the next level:
chron.com/news/blogs
Oddly enough, some of those topics would seem to be ones that would trigger high-value ads. Could there be a link? Are their bloggers getting a cut?
And, if I’m approved for BlogBurst will the WaPo print articles where I point out exactly how much they lie?
“BlogBurst charges publishers for this service. They do not share revenue with bloggers, although each post has a byline and attribution/link back to the blog. For most bloggers, this extra traffic and attention will be very welcome.”
In that case, BlogBurst can go to hell.
I sort of understand the trepidation people feel about this, especially with the (current) absence of any revenue sharing model. But the fact that you’re getting your content republished in high traffic places, and the traffic gets driven (hopefully) to your own site as a consequence, is quite appealing for those of us seemingly stuck firmly on the C-list.
Pre-approved??
Editors choose content??
Isn’t this what’s wrong with newspapers in the first place?
I want someone to enable me to autoprint out a newspaper in the morning built off of my OPML file. A VC, the Daily News Mets RSS feed, jobs from Indeed, and HorsePigCow on the front page. I don’t want anyone picking my content for me.
I will give it a shot. Considering that I never intend to try earn money from my content anyway.
Quick Update: I applied but they said my blog was not a good fit at the moment. So I didn’t get accepted anyway.
My blog was accepted. Haven’t got publishe d by the Washington post yet.
Just got accepted and waiting to see the impact if any.