October 29th,2005

New Blogs This Week

By Jeremy Wright

It’s been a big week for blogs here at b5media, largely as we’ve started recouperating from our various illnesses and such. In case you missed the announcements, or in case I forgot to post them, here are the new blogs this week (in various degrees of launch giddyness):

  • Office 12 Watch: Written by John Evans who also pens our other Microsoft-oriented blogs (Microsoft Weblog and Windows Vista Weblog), this blog will cover the details surrounding Microsoft’s latest version of Office.
  • Film Gecko: Technically this is a relaunch of the now-defunct (poof, there it is!) Movie Weblog, but we’re also planning to take this blog in a new direction over the coming weeks. Erin Harvey is blogging this one solo, until she starts to heed the begging of some of the other b5 bloggers who also want to blog about movies ;-)
  • Kapped: We love this blog idea. Take screen shots of popular games, TV shows and movies and add funny captions. It’s simple, but the folk writing it (Erin, Ingrid and Jayvee) are crazy enough to make it a success.
  • Lindsay Lohan News: This is part of an expanded range of celebrity blogs we’re trying out. We did an outside-of-b5 demo of them for a few weeks and they performed well. We pitched the idea to some of the other b5′ers and they were really keen. While I can say I personally won’t be reading any of them, the fact that our authors are keen to do some of these is good enough for me. As a note, we’re still looking for more bloggers around popular celebs and TV shows.

Next week should be a major week for b5media. We’ll be launching another handful of blogs, but we’ll also be making a major announcement, which should see us become the largest blogging network (according to number of active blogs) in the world in just a few short weeks.

In addition, I’ll be at AdTech in NYC from the 7-10 of November so we’ll be talking up the potential for advertisers to pitch directly to their niches by working with blogging networks. Also, we’ll be sending out our first payment cheques (of between 1000-1500$) to our bloggers early in November, which is incredibly exciting for us.

Anyways, have a great weekend everyone!

The Conversation

Andy Merrett on October 29th, 2005 at 07:49

Heh, what are you doing, stealing WebLogs blogs? ;)

Andy Merrett on October 29th, 2005 at 07:54

Sorry Jeremy that probably sounded weird. Tongue in cheek, ya know.

I wondered if you were gonna take blogs off other networks so as to become the biggest network in terms of active blogs ;)

No offence meant, good luck with it. I am sure you guys have more exciting stuff in store. Looking forward to hearing it.

Jeremy Wright on October 29th, 2005 at 07:59

Ah, gotcha ;)

We have a few things up our sleeves, both in terms of new and in terms of existing blogs.

I nearly typed more, for which the other b5′ers would have slapped me. I’ll stay quiet for now :D

Andy Merrett on October 29th, 2005 at 08:02

Heheh you lot are soooo bad at keeping secrets ;)

Jeremy Wright on October 29th, 2005 at 08:05

That’s because half the fun of secrets is telling people!!!

John Evans on October 29th, 2005 at 08:17

“… become the largest blogging network (according to number of active blogs) in the world”. You cannot be serious, Jeremy. WIN has around 90. b5 has under 20. So that means picking up another 70+. In one week? ^_^

Jeremy Wright on October 29th, 2005 at 08:30

John: WIN only has 30-odd active blogs. Most of the rest are dead blogs, duplicates, event-specific blogs or simply categories of some of their major blogs :) We’ll pass WIN sometime in the next week or two, yeah.

Andy Merrett on October 29th, 2005 at 08:46

Ahhh - let’s hope those win authors don’t start writing again then ;)

Wow, by that measurement Blue Fish is going on for one-third the size of WIN. LOL.

Tom on October 29th, 2005 at 10:36

Hi Jeremy. Since you’re going to adtech, feel free to use my unofficial adtech calendar (http://www.trumba.com/calendars/adtechny). I work for Trumba so this isn’t purely altruistic :) Nevertheless, the calendar might save you some time if you’re going to adtech.

Tom

Lisa on October 29th, 2005 at 12:28

>>

I’m nosy but since you brought it up…is that per *person?! If so, please wait while my eyes pop out of my head. You HAVE had a great start!

Darren on October 29th, 2005 at 15:15

someone keep Jeremy and his secret telling fetish in line for me while I’m away this weekend ok!?!? :-)

Jeremy Wright on October 29th, 2005 at 15:55

Lisa, no, that’s overall for the first 5 weeks. Which isn’t bad, considering we figured our first 4 weeks would bring in 300$ ;)

Lisa on October 29th, 2005 at 16:02

Hey, that’s not bad *at all* right out of the gate! It’s great to see b5 doing so well

ME Strauss on October 29th, 2005 at 22:40

It’s just fun to watch all of this energy.

Marti on October 30th, 2005 at 06:18

Wow!
(rethinking sending in an application LOL)

I wish you all the best. I have visited many of the other networks, and I like this one the best.

(Not sucking up in case I do send in an app - LOL That is a genuine admiration and appreciaton of this network)

(Much growling and shaking occurs…Now Marti’s evil twin, the cynic, takes over)

But what if the experience (and ad revenue) becomes diluted by having SO many blogs?

Jeremy Wright on October 30th, 2005 at 06:22

Marti, if the experience gets diluted, we aren’t doing our jobs. In many ways b5media is, right now, about as diluted as its going to get.

And, in terms of ad revenue, everything we currently have in place scales: it’s based on the number of blogs and the quality of those blogs, so more blogs doesn’t mean less cash for everyone.

Lisa Hoover on October 30th, 2005 at 06:42

Marti -
That’s a good point you make about diluting revenue. I’ve been researching networks like a fiend for the last six months or so and while I certainly haven’t had access to revenue data, it seems that having a large number of blogs can actually work in a network’s favor. The cross-link potential, as well as just simply having your blog listed on 40 other sidebars offsets whatever revenue dilution may occur from readers becoming desensitized to ads. Does that make sense?

I also think a lot of the generated revenue comes from management’s ability to market the network well and drive lots of traffic to the sites in the first place. Getting readers to come to the blogs is probably half the battle (getting them to come back is the other half). Once readers are there, ad-clicking will follow as a natural consequence. At least I like to think so, LOL.

Another thing that comes to mind is that I guess the income you receive by writing for a network has a lot to do with how the company structures paying their writers. WIN paid their writers flat fees so writers from less popular blogs weren’t penalized while Engadget writers raked in the dough. Other networks simply give writers a portion of their blogs ad revenue. That model, of course, puts a lot of the onus on the writer to make the blog successful and lucrative but it also offers a little more opportunity to make a higher income.

I’m certainly no expert on any of this stuff so this is just my two cents. :-) I guess I’m particularly long winded since I’ve already had too much coffee this morning. Yikes.

Marti on October 30th, 2005 at 06:55

LOL Lisa, I am already pretty caffeinated myself this morning. Thank you for your thoughtful comments.

Jeremy, my evil, cynical twin meant no disrespect, she’s just once bitten twice shy. I have the highest regard for you and this organization. I am a staunch defender of blogs and blogging. (See Darren’s recent comments.)

I appreciate your timely and courteous response.

Jeremy Wright on October 30th, 2005 at 07:01

Marti: Don’t worry, I didn’t take it defensively, I’m just on my way out the door so it was a hurried response. Have a great Sunday all :D

Scrivs on October 31st, 2005 at 07:06

Is it safe to assume you aren’t placing 9rules under the category of “blog networks” then? If so then going from your number to over 90 would be quite a feat, but who knows if that is what you meant. Monday mornings suck by the way.

Marti on October 31st, 2005 at 07:37

(Waves at Scrivs - LOL)

Wishing everyone on my blogroll a boo-tiful day! LOL!
Happy Halloween!

Jeremy Wright on October 31st, 2005 at 07:52

Scrivs, I don’t think most folk consider 9rules to be a blog network in the sense of ownership, content, business model, audience, etc…

So, as such, no we don’t count 9rules. However, in spirit 9rules is very much there, just not when we’re comparing metrics is all :)

Mike Rundle on October 31st, 2005 at 08:43

Hey Jeremy-

We don’t really care if you call yourselves the largest blog network since it comes down to semantics, but I wanted to know just what The 9rules Network actually is if “most folk” don’t consider us to be a weblog network. Is it that most folk don’t actually think of 9rules as a weblog network, or you just said that because we don’t fit your criteria for what one should be, and should therefore be discounted? Our friend Omar at WebbyMedia counts us as a network, so surely his opinion counts?

And why aren’t we one based on business model and audience? We’re both using advertising to generate revenue, and our audience probably overlaps in many ways. I mean I’m not sure if every single one of our 9rules readers reads your blogs, but you’d have to think that a few people overlap, right?

Maybe the same folk who don’t consider 9rules a blog network in the sense of ownership, content, etc, are the same ones who don’t consider Apple to be a computer company in the sense of running Windows, crashing, spyware, etc. Parallel analogies can be drawn both ways ;)

Mike Rundle on October 31st, 2005 at 08:45

I’m not sure if the URL went through, but here’s the site I was referring to that Omar runs:

http://www.blognetworklist.com/

Jeremy Wright on October 31st, 2005 at 10:32

Mike, my comment was meant to exclude you guys. As I tried to say at the end, I consider you part of the “blog network club”, but we simply aren’t competing with 9rules and, as such, it doesnt’ figure into our comparisons.

The reality is that 9rules could go from 90-500 sites in a week if it wanted to - because you aren’t creating, maintaining or managing the sites in the network.

I also don’t consider Federated Media, Pajamas Media (or whatever the new name will be) or About.com blogging networks.

Others are free to count them among the list (and 9rules as well), but most folk who I talk to recognize that the “club” system of 9rules - while it is incredibly valuable, simply isn’t bound to the same rules as other blogging networks.

9rules is more like a webring, with approved membership and joint advertising.

Sorry if it came across as condescending, it wasn’t meant to. You guys are my heroes and you’re doing something incredibly valuable and unique.

It’s a Good Thing. But, when we’re counting blog networks and numbers of blogs, we simply can’t put 9rules in there because you aren’t bound by the same constraints.

Kelley Ritchey on November 1st, 2005 at 00:17

Interesting discussion in the comments-interesting enough to feature on my blog.

Regarding the inclusion/exclusion of 9rules: a case can definitely be made that they are a blog network, even though the economics and business model are different. A network is an interconnected system-so by the broadest of definitions, 9rules is a network.

However, there are distinctions as Jeremy has pointed out. Perhaps in the end, having the biggest network may not be the most important ojective, but rather what the blog network can provide over a bunch of independent blogs.

Christopher Low on November 1st, 2005 at 05:11

I have written a post to try and address the question “what is a blog network?”. I think it could start good discussion.

Thanks,
Chris Low.

http://www.rarevibe.com/ignorethelines/?p=22

Jeremy Wright on November 1st, 2005 at 06:00

Kelley: Agreed. In reality, I’d consider Paul and Mike “friends” in the online sense, and I have nothing but respect for them. They’re both doing great work - work that I’m not in any way discounting.

We’re going to keep our head down, and we’re going to keep producing great blogs. Hopefully that’ll speak for itself in the things that matter :)

BlogNetworkWatch » What’s been happening in the BlogNetworkosphere over the passed 3 or 4 weeks on November 9th, 2005 at 11:40

[…] Things in the BlogNetworkosphere were still kind of slow the last week of October. 9rules announced that it was going to update to version 2 of their website. b5meida added four new blogs to it’s network on Halloween. […]

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