Is BlogBurst the New eBay?

My column for MediaPost's Online Publishing Insider today is entitled, "Is BlogBurst the New eBay?"

The answer is No, but you I don't really say so until the end of the article, as that would ruin the surprise. (There's no room for surprises here in the blogosphere's transparency, however, so I can't help spoiling it for you now.)

Here's the gist:
- Syndicating blog content into mainstream pubs is good for some bloggers - particularly those who want to increase their sphere of influence. Many others feel like newspapers are taking advantage of them or not compensating well enough, or whatever. In truth, it doesn't matter much to the newspapers at this stage: the supply of excellent bloggers far exceeds the newspapers' demand for them, and more than enough will step up in order to determine the viability of this initiative.
- So the real boon is to the publishers, who get rich content at little risk.
- The 4 who are participating in the BlogBurst pilot are WPNI, San Francisco Chronicle, The Houston Chronicle, and the San Antonio News-Express. Kudos to them for getting ahead of the learning curve.
- But if they're as smart as I think (hope) they are, they won't choose content to syndicate solely based on its contextual fit with their publishers. They'll realize the influence bloggers wield, and recognize that when they syndicate a bloggers' content, they're syndicating a blogger.
- They have the potential to make allies out of would-be competitors.
- And they can tap the networks of these folks as an audience development initaitive (which they need, and right quick).

Here's an excerpt:

What happens, for example, when the B-list or C-list blogger whose review of "Midwives" at the Roundhouse Theatre in Bethesda ends up on Washingtonpost.com? 1) She does another post on her site announcing her fame to her loyal readers; 2) She emails, IMs and Skypes her (similarly influential) friends with the news as well. Maybe through these two efforts she reaches 20 people; maybe 2000. Chances are some of them don't read The Washington Post, and chances are that they'll at least click through. The Post will not just find new readers in the blogosphere; it will find new fans.

(My fiancee and I saw 'Midwives' at the Round House theatre in Bethesda last night. It was suspenseful, engaging and rewarding.)

Comments

[Gregory Narain]

Mike,

You will definitely want to check out our new service, xposted.com. We're similar in nature to them but make a better value proposition to the blogger.

More importantly, we're also in the event/meetings business and we're developing hooks specifically for events.

If you'd like to take a look when it's launched.. shoot me a message.

[Alan C. Baird]

Excellent article, Mike! The Desert Quidnunc was invited yesterday, and we're curious to see how things will shake out when BlogBurst goes into beta testing.

Alan
TDQ:
http://www.palmspringslife.com/blogs/index.php?blogId=2

[Pradeep Aggarwal]

Excellent Blog. Very informative. And very well organized.

Online Auctions are really looking up with more and more people interested in buying and selling product online.

Keep it up. We need more such blogs which provide quality information.

Thank you

[Jason Leach]

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