Martin has a post asking (and attempting to answer) the question What is a Blog Network? which might be of interest to some. It includes a very rushed and un-thought through response from yours truly.
I’m not really sure there is a single definition for a Blog Network – if you look at the range of them out there – they certainly come in all shapes and sizes and have a large variety of practices, values, purposes and formats.
But if definitions are you thing – head over and have your say.
Would’nt a blog network be the same as a affiliate network.Descriptions and content to give readers information on products and services.
Networks can also be informal — http://www.retrothing.com is part of an “unofficial” network – we sometimes refer to each other and support each other’s posting ideas, but there are no financial or legal ties.
Heck, we don’t even have a definition of “blog” that everybody can agree on…
I like Scrivs definition the best because it is short and sweet. “A blog network is a group of blogs under the same banner” That should pretty much cover all blog networks.
I wrote something in one of my blogs (www.startingtoblog.blogspot.com) a few days ago exploring this question from my perspective; which is that I am a blogger and I do not have any network affiliations, like Lisa, but I am not sure if I would want to. In fact, I didn’t really know what one was until Darren, et al. launched b5.
I think the definition of a blog is open to wide interpretation. The important question for people to be asking themselves is whether being involved in a blog network is for them or not. And other than the basic description above (It’s a bunch of blogs under one banner) it doesn’t matter how else you define it. It might then matter how each network pays and what other benefits they may offer, but there is no “right” combination of those things. What is “right” will be specific to each individual blogger and they will have to research for themselves what each network offers and how/if they might fit in there.
It’s really a shame that you shut down the network watch site. It could have been a good resource for bloggers considering this topic.
Disclaimer: I also posted this same reply on Martin’s site, but it is awaiting moderation, so it is duplicate content. LOL)
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