Advertising Hasn't Killed Blogs Yet
Writing in E-Media Tidbits this week, Steve Outing writes about advertising in blogs and says: "It was inevitable, and here it comes."

Outing says advertising is about to come to the blogosphere and refers to separate projects in the works by Moreover founder Nick Denton, and Henry Copeland at the European-based Pressflex. More on that in a moment.

But first, let me take issue with the "here it comes" part of Outing's statement. Amazon.com says it started its "associates" program in 1996. The associates program is responsible for those ubiquitous little ads all over the Web that direct buyers to Amazon's pages. In turn, the page that ran the Amazon ad gets a cut of any eventual purchase. Amazon claims more than 600,000 associates in this program. If I had way too much time on my hands, I'd sift through their SEC filings to find out how much money they pay out and how much income is derived from the program.

Also, we shouldn't forget Matt Drudge, who some would argue is the original blogger. Drudge started using banner ads on his site some time ago.

Late last year, we started seeing the proliferation of blog tip jars from Amazon and PayPal. How about direct merchandising? Already you can buy InstaPundit T-shirts, mugs, hats and totes, books written by bloggers Ken Layne and Virginia Postrel or a rock opera CD from blogger Greg McIlvaine.

So I don't think it's much of a leap that some blogs will start carrying classified ads or banner ads that are targeted specifically to blog readers.

Back to Denton and Copeland. Denton's project is a bit mysterious at this point. And even though I actually had lunch with him and we talked about things of the blog world I don't know exactly on what his project will focus. Copeland's Pressflex venture, on the other hand, is nearly ready to launch. Copeland makes his case on his company blog, though you have to read to the end to get the classified ad lowdown.

I've actually volunteered to be one of Henry's beta guinea pigs with the classified ad strips. Albeit, I'm probably the most technologically challenged, design-ambivalent rodent he'll drop in the maze, but that's part of the test, right?

I'm anxious to see how Denton and Copeland's projects will change the world of bloggers. Undoubtedly, there will be a group who complain it was only cool way back in the early days (you know who you are) and will pretend to hate change for the sake of change. But I fail to see how sticking some ads on a blog page is even in the ball park of say, changing the name of your stadium to "3-Com Park" or heaven forbid, making your professional baseball team's jerseys bear the sponsor's name as if they were Little Leaguers.

In a semi-related vein, the latest thing to give blogging a new shape is this NYC Bloggers site, which allows New York City bloggers to list their sites by subway stop. When I got an e-mail invite to join this Tuesday, there were four people signed up. Right now there are 448. The site information says there's "no rings to join, no code to put on your page" but one suspects that if they don't see their site as a foundation for a great business idea, I'm sure someone else will.
- posted by Amy @ 5/31/2002 02:05:00 PM

 

Things We Like
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is going after a marketing company that has spammed consumers with e-mail it claims they've opted-in for although they didn't. Spitzer, by the way, is the one who just went after Merrill Lynch and its superstar tech analyst Henry "Amazon's going to $400" Blodgett for hyping stocks the company knew were dogs.

And speaking of spam, I've received yet another Nigerian scam e-mail. This time the offer is from Mrs. M. Sese Seko. Oh, I'm so honored.
- posted by Amy @ 5/29/2002 08:30:00 AM

 

Tuesday Afternoon in Battery Park
I went for a run along the West Side Highway late this afternoon and was surprised to find my regular route - down to the World Financial Center - had re-opened. The link in the jogging path had been closed because it was used by WTC trucks unloading debris onto barges on the river.

I had a real funny feeling about going ahead but figured I had to do it sometime, so today was as good as any.

The asphalt on the jogging path was gouged out in spots, possibly from the heavy equipment they brought in to do the work. I kept jogging and turned out toward the park along the river and was surprised by what I found. The park was completely filled - almost as if it was a weekend. (This specific green expanse is actually called the Nelson A. Rockefeller Park.) There were kids playing soccer, all the basketball courts were packed with guys playing pick-up games, there was a drumming circle of a dozen people, joggers, a very busy playground of young kids, other kids with their parents planting a garden and some other folks heading home after the markets had just closed. These were people getting on with their lives. It was an amazing feeling.
- posted by Amy @ 5/28/2002 10:32:00 PM

 

Cry of the Baby Boom
Well here you go: AP says there is a post-Sept. 11 baby boom in the works, though the evidence is mostly anecdotal at this point.
- posted by Amy @ 5/28/2002 03:15:00 PM

 

Putting New York Bloggers on the Map
Check this out. I got an e-mail from someone who has set up this intricate map based on the subway system to locate New York bloggers. The NYC Blogger Map has only four entries so far, but I suspect it will get sticky very soon. You can put yourself on the map here.
- posted by Amy @ 5/28/2002 12:51:00 PM

 

NY Baby Boom
I started noticing last week that there are loads and loads of really pregnant women walking around Manhattan these days. I'm guessing it's no coincidence that it's almost nine months since Sept. 11.
- posted by Amy @ 5/28/2002 12:20:00 PM

 

Home Again
Back from a long weekend at Montauk, which for you non-New Yorkers, is at the very tip of Long Island sticking out into the Atlantic. We stopped by the Montauk Lighthouse and I was tickled by the title of a book there on erosion control: "How to Hold Up a Bank."
- posted by Amy @ 5/28/2002 10:06:00 AM