Trends in Blogging

Found this snippet from Taylor Owen over at OxBlog to be worthwhile.

"Magazines increasingly drive mainstream political blogging. A venture capitalist friend tells me that ads are not the future of professional blogging. Maybe so, but one model that is clearly emerging is the magazine hosted hub. Sullivan's move first to Time and now to the Atlantic is a prime example. The magic combination seems to be a couple of full time big name bloggers, a few staff journalists with stand alone blogs, and a group blog with approximately 10 regular contributors. The NRO, The New Republic and Macleans in Canada are all good examples of this model. As a big Atlantic fan, I look forward to seeing where they go with their new online push. With Fallows writing regular posts, and Sullivan moving tomorrow, look for an Atlantic group blog in the near future)."

Owen's VC friend may be right. Then again, maybe not. Every meeting I sit in with major advertisers, someone (who generally has nothing else of merit to say) will ask "Yeah, but what about blogs? How can we make money there? What should we be doing to leverage the space?"

It's true that the magazine-sponsorship model is currently en vogue. Name bloggers like Sullivan have established not only a blog "brand," but they also have credibility in academic circles and as talking heads on the pundit shows. But whither the rest of us? Strikes me that the subsidized model may be aspirational, but sooner or later a paradigm that includes paid search, multimedia, heightened interactivity, etc. will emerge. There's simply too many bloggers out there coupled with too many advertisers wanting to leverage their medium and content.

Stay tuned.