Weblogs, Inc.

Weblogs, Inc. logo.

Weblogs, Inc. logo.

Weblogs, Inc. is a network of around 90 weblogs, covering a variety of subjects, from computers and gaming to the likes of food and independent film. Roughly half of these blogs are regularly updated and maintained (see criticisms). Weblogs, Inc. was founded in September 2003.

History

Weblogs, Inc. was founded by Brian Alvey and Jason Calacanis with an investment from Mark Cuban. The company was founded in the wake of Calacanis' Silicon Alley Reporter magazine.

By early 2004 Weblogs, Inc. and Gawker Media were establishing the two most important templates for networked blog empires. At that time Weblogs, Inc. consisted of a few dozen blogs designed for professional readership, all residing as subdomains of weblogsinc.com. The exception was Engadget, a stand-alone site covering new technology in blog format. Engadget was co-founded by Peter Rojas, the former editor of Gizmodo in the Gawker Media network.

By the end of 2004 and continuing through the start of 2006, Weblogs, Inc. expanded its focus to consumer topics and launched a series of domain-specific sites independent of the weblogsinc.com domain but sharing the same network-wide blogroll. At the start of 2006, 26 stand-alone sites populated the network, and over 50 subdomain blogs were in operation. Retired blogs and event blogs, archived and visible on the network, numbered 19. A few of the company principals maintain personal blogs in the blogroll, and the home page is maintained in blog format. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban, an early investor in the company, keeps his personal weblog on the Weblogs, Inc. network.

At the start of 2006, the company structure consisted of an executive and administrative team of eight individuals, including the aforementioned Calacanis, Alvey, and Rojas. Thirty-two "lead" bloggers edited content channels or stand-alone sites, and managed topic-specific staffs of bloggers. At that time the company contracted about 150 freelance bloggers.

Weblogs, Inc. was (and is) considered the largest-scaled attempt at enterprise blogging. The network sells an inventory of display advertising space supplemented by Google AdSense. Revenue from AdSense alone was claimed to be approaching $1,000,000 USD per year.

Weblogs, Inc. was purchased in October 2005 by AOL for a reported $25 million. While details were sketchy, it was reported in "Blogebrity: The Blog" that the bloggers would maintain all their rights, and would even come out of the deal in better condition. Headlines from blogs would begin to appear in AIM and at AOL.com, new contracts would be signed allowing bloggers to use their content offline, and AOL would be moving to an ad format that would match Weblogs, Inc. Weblogs, Inc. would be operated as an independent AOL-owned company.

Criticisms

One of the major criticisms of Weblogs, Inc. has been the inflation of blog numbers. While in reality there are 91 unique blogs in the network (including various world editions of Engadget and Autoblog as well as personal blogs), not all are updated. A recent post [1] on the blog of a Gawker Media staff member claimed that the network had 31 active blogs (although he noted that "31 is still a lot").

In early 2007, a large number of Blogs were shut down; currently (July 2007), 54 Blogs remain active within the network, with 52 being classified as "inactive/on hiatus."

The inflation of numbers can be attributed to event blogs which go dormant after the event comes to a conclusion, blogs with content in such a small niche that the sources for material are limited, and several incarnations of the more popular blogs like Engadget.

External links

• Weblogs, Inc.

Sample blogs

• Engadget
• Autoblog
• The Unofficial Apple Weblog
• Download Squad
• Joystiq
• DV Guru
• TV Squad
• Cinematical
• Luxist
• Gadling
• PS3 Fanboy
• DIYlife
• That's Fit
• Massively
• Pitt