Blogging Days May Be Waning at AOL's Weblogs, Inc.
A source close to AOL has informed ReadWriteWeb that it will be shutting down and relaunching the Weblogs Inc. "Lifestyle Blogs" as online magazines. These blogs make up roughly 1/4 of what remains of the Weblogs Inc. network that AOL acquired four years ago. From the heady days of carrying the flag of the blog revolution in 2003 and 2004, to a high profile buy-out by AOL in 2005, the near-term future of Weblogs Inc. raises interesting questions about the ballyhooed medium of blogging itself.
This news comes just after major staffing cuts at AOL were unearthed earlier today. Lead bloggers at the "lifestyle blogs", sites like ParentDish and SlashFood, have been told that they will be terminated in February but have apparently been told not to tell their staffs yet.
These shuttered sites will be relaunched "magazine style," highly edited, presumably long-form and no longer written by the rag-tag bunch of aspiring journalists that Weblogs has long paid dollars per article.
Update: AOL's Stephanie Dolgins has responded to our request for comment, saying that "There is absolutely no truth to this rumor. In fact, it's quite the opposite...We are so enthusiastic about the growth potential of our Living blogs that we need people to spend MORE time on them, and we are asking for more of a commitment from our lead bloggers than has been needed in the past so that we can provide consumers with more engaging and interactive experiences across our sites..." Take that for what it's worth, for now we believe our original source on this.
Six months ago AOL told an angry mob of Weblogs writers that despite cutbacks and work slowdown orders, everything was actually better than ever for the network. Several requests for comments on this story haven't been responded to yet.
Weblogs Inc. has long been a great place for new bloggers to find part time work writing on topics they love for between $5 and $15 per post. This author started there, for example, before getting a job at TechCrunch and then here at ReadWriteWeb.
There used to be a strong sense of camaraderie at Weblogs. In the early days every blog in the then sprawling network would put up one post each week linking out to the most popular posts on other blogs, as if the differences in content were less important than the blogging format readers were believed to love.
The egalitarian ethos suffered some turbulence with the rise of electronics blog Engadget as one of the very strongest blogs on the entire internet and presumably worth far more than the estimated $25 million that AOL paid for the entire network in 2005. There have been a handful of other standouts, but the majority of the Weblogs blogs have failed to deliver like AOL would have liked. Why, no one may ever know. Travel blog Gadling, for example, has only had 4 stories hit the front page of major traffic driver Digg in the past year, despite frequent pleas for promotion on its internal email list and an affinity for "boobs around the world" schlock content. If that formula doesn't work then maybe nothing will. Update: AOL wrote again to tell us that Gadling is no longer considered a Life Style blog. Lucky them.
Over the years, tensions never got resolved between the more corporate AOL and the scrappy Webloggers. Network co-founders left after their contractual requirements were up, Jason Calacanis now runs human search and Q&A site Mahalo and Brian Alvey runs another blog network called Crowd Fusion, focused on particularly high quality content and sophisticated publishing technology. Meanwhile the market for remainder content has grown more crowded by the expansion of Canada's B5 Media and MySpace co-founder Brad Greenspan's acquisition-happy web of crap called LiveUniverse.
What's AOL to do with Weblogs Inc.? Maybe turn it into what AOL knows and trusts more than blogs, a collection of mainstream-feeling magazine sites run by more traditional journalists.
The web won't be better for it. The loss of opportunities for aspiring pro-writers is a real tragedy. The failure of this landmark network of blogs calls the financial viability of blogging in general into question. We and others believe that an "anyone can do it" media economy is emerging, but if only a handful of blogs are truly able to effectively monetize then one has to wonder.
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I just do NOT get the whole idea of lying to your people.
:-(
No comment.
"There used to be a strong sense of camaraderie at Weblogs" says a lot.
Just a slight correction: although we definitely owe our roots to blogging, Crowd Fusion is more than just a blogging network; in addition to the news coverage in our verticals, all of our sites have a growing database of profile pages for products, people, and companies, and useful web applications like our comparators.
Cheers,
C.K.
There still is a strong sense of cameraderie at Weblogs, although perhaps it's not as visible from the outside.
AOL, transparent much? great post, thanks!
P.S. Isn't angry mob redundant? ;)
This story is total BS. I know for a fact that AOL Living/Lifestyle is one of the busiest (if not the busiest) groups developing new products. You will be seeing these revealed shortly...please post a pic with your foot in your mouth at that time.
Thanks
I thought they'd shut all the AOL blogs down...
Posted by: Ian May
|
January 28, 2009 5:11 PM
I did not even realize AOL was still around. Huh, the more you know, right?
this article is just for traffic and is pure linkbait. Puhhhh-leez. You don't even back up your source, and when you get a response you instantly call it a lie. Do you even really know anything?
Nope, we've talked to multiple people now and feel pretty confident about this one.
For the knuckleheads that haven't paid attention to the industry...mainly the Big 4 net companies...AOL is focusing on producing content and the ISP is what it is...some still use it.
So, the content is under Bill Wilson who just set up MediaGlow...and will be launching 30+ blogs in 2009. Google MediaGlow news if you need to refresh.
Sure, some of the old blogs could be mothballed, but there are 30+ in the works...and I know for a fact that AOL Living has a big chunk of those in the works.
This story is weak!
Story is not weak. In fact the lifestyle properties were moved out of the Weblogs division some time ago. Would not be at all surprised to hear of AOL shuttering them in favor of some more schlock-filled, highly-produced lifestyle "blogs" by people who will toe the party line (boobs around the world and other lowest-common-denominator trash) instead of the wild and woolly organic bloggers' honest authenticity.
Bald-faced duplicity to their own employees is what characterizes AOL these days, so heartfelt ebullience from insider management means nothing. In fact the more they claim to love WIN lifestyle, the louder the death knell should sound.
Meanwhile platform-A can't get their sh*t together two years in. There are actually some decent properties at AOL but the ad sales business is such a clusterf*ck that it doesn't matter. If nothing else it's amusing to sit back and watch the ship sink under its own bloated, self-important weight.
i find it hilarious that you can't seem to get "4" even when you are handed both "2"'s on a silver platter. Stephanie Dolgins owns the lifestyle blogs you refer to, she is uniquely positioned to give you the straight dope regarding them. I happen to know that what she and MediaGlow above said are absolutely true. You will see soon enough. You aren't doing much to cultivate future responses from businesses by asking them for the truth and then in effect calling them liars when they give it to you.
I thought AOL was part of TimeWarner so how could that be dead? AOL is a brand name. I'd say the problem is not the product with anything AOL... the problem is that it is associated with 56k modems and RoadRunner is associated with second rate cable connections. I'd say if I were a blog or content product it would be detrimental to carry the brand name burden. no Chic / Cache. it is possible to relaunch these things... but it isn't worth it... easier to start something new. AOL made the decision to be the pipeline and that will never be cool. they missed the social networking boat... and maybe they lucked out... but there is no doubt that it would be stupid to call a blog that.... btw... I have no idea what I am talking about... and there is a huge problem. why is it that I don't even know about this thing. the death rattle is the first I've heard of this.
I thought AOL was part of TimeWarner so how could that be dead? AOL is a brand name. I'd say the problem is not the product with anything AOL... the problem is that it is associated with 56k modems and RoadRunner is associated with second rate cable connections. I'd say if I were a blog or content product it would be detrimental to carry the brand name burden. no Chic / Cache. it is possible to relaunch these things... but it isn't worth it... easier to start something new. AOL made the decision to be the pipeline and that will never be cool. they missed the social networking boat... and maybe they lucked out... but there is no doubt that it would be stupid to call a blog that.... btw... I have no idea what I am talking about... and there is a huge problem. why is it that I don't even know about this thing. the death rattle is the first I've heard of this.