Blogs Are Bursting Out All Over
The other day I received an email from a man named Eric Roach who is editor of Pluck.com. Some of you may know where I am going with this but for the rest of you, please read on.
Pluck has started a pet project of sorts called BlogBurst. I figured why should I bother trying to paraphrase what it's all about when I can just call in my good friends, cut and paste:
Pluck has just launched a project which involves a news wire service and syndication network for blogs called BlogBurst. The site is live and we're recruiting bloggers on an invite-only basis to join the system. At its core, BlogBurst is a news service bringing quality blogs onto highly-trafficked, high-brand mainstream publisher sites like the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle and San Antonio-Express News.
Here is a live example from the San Francisco Chronicle.
I believe your blog is great, and would like to invite you to join our network. Below is an invitation, and I would be happy to answer any questions/address any concerns you may have.
When I first read the email I went through the five stages every blogger does when they receive promising solicitations via email:
1. Disbelief- Wow? These people want to do what with my blog?!
2. Belief- AOGB rocks! Damn right you're plucking ME from obscurity!
3. Skepticism- Wait. I'm just a little blogger in a school of blogs. How did you find ME?
4. Realism- How many other people have been "found"?
5. Pessimism- See "Too Good To Be True".
As any educated blogger knows, the final stage usually doesn't set in until your off to see the wizard, also known as Google. If you type in Google: "blogburst", "Pluck.com" or any combination of the sort, you get a slew of differing news stories and opinions, so much that it made me wonder how I could never have heard about it before. In fact, I thought about linking to some of these articles, but I felt like Kirk Cameron trying to answer fan mail circa 1987. Where to begin?
So here are the facts. BlogBurst's service went live on May 2nd, 2006. Since then a number of blogs have both signed up and been "recruited" for the service. I don't have any statistics, but I have heard of at least a few cases where people have been applied and have been turned down. Overwhelmingly though, I think it's easier to get in than to not get in, not unlike I'd imagine, the religion of Scientology.
Which brings me to the million dollar question, if most people get in, how can you, as The Jeffersons once did, finally get your piece of the pie?
The good news is that BlogBurst has gotten some good press...about good press. I mean they ARE in bed with reputable papers newspapers and by hanging out with Pluck, you are one step closer to sitting with the cool kids in the cafeteria.
On the other hand, hanging out with the cool kids, as we all know, doesn't necessarily make you cool. If you don't believe me, just watch the eighties classic, Can't Buy Me Love.
So let's say, hypothetically the Houston Chronicle links to a post you wrote about shoes. I know, I know. Shoes? Just pretend it was a slow week.
Ok, so they link to your post, or repost your post and give you a byline credit, but they don't give you what every blogger wannabe writer wants C-O-M-P-E-N-S-A-T-I-O-N. Find out what it means to me. It doesn't have the same ring to it, but I'll bet you're picking up what I'm putting down.
Now Pluck and BlogBurst say that they are working on a compensation model, but right now BlogBurst is a beta Baby (Say THAT ten times fast!). So compensation, they say, is in their master plan. Of course this could mean anywhere from six months to six years and six cents to six hundred dollars.
In their defense, Blogburst seems like a very straightforward idea. They are telling you upfront what they are all about and leaving it up to you whether or not you want to join. There's no initation, no streaking through the quad and the first rule about BlogBurst is you are actually allowed to talk about BlogBurst. This is what I am doing right now, and will no doubt, end up being Googled one day by some meandering soul who wants to know what it's all about, like me.
Bottom line is I will probably join and see what it brings my way, but I still want to hear what you guys think about it. So if any of you have been recruited for the program or just know someone who has, I'd be interested in hearing what you think. I'd particularly like to hear from the people who have been with them for awhile and if they see a difference in the traffic they receive.
Since I can't get through to Jesus on this one, I'm asking what you would do.
Pluck has started a pet project of sorts called BlogBurst. I figured why should I bother trying to paraphrase what it's all about when I can just call in my good friends, cut and paste:
Pluck has just launched a project which involves a news wire service and syndication network for blogs called BlogBurst. The site is live and we're recruiting bloggers on an invite-only basis to join the system. At its core, BlogBurst is a news service bringing quality blogs onto highly-trafficked, high-brand mainstream publisher sites like the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle and San Antonio-Express News.
Here is a live example from the San Francisco Chronicle.
I believe your blog is great, and would like to invite you to join our network. Below is an invitation, and I would be happy to answer any questions/address any concerns you may have.
When I first read the email I went through the five stages every blogger does when they receive promising solicitations via email:
1. Disbelief- Wow? These people want to do what with my blog?!
2. Belief- AOGB rocks! Damn right you're plucking ME from obscurity!
3. Skepticism- Wait. I'm just a little blogger in a school of blogs. How did you find ME?
4. Realism- How many other people have been "found"?
5. Pessimism- See "Too Good To Be True".
As any educated blogger knows, the final stage usually doesn't set in until your off to see the wizard, also known as Google. If you type in Google: "blogburst", "Pluck.com" or any combination of the sort, you get a slew of differing news stories and opinions, so much that it made me wonder how I could never have heard about it before. In fact, I thought about linking to some of these articles, but I felt like Kirk Cameron trying to answer fan mail circa 1987. Where to begin?
So here are the facts. BlogBurst's service went live on May 2nd, 2006. Since then a number of blogs have both signed up and been "recruited" for the service. I don't have any statistics, but I have heard of at least a few cases where people have been applied and have been turned down. Overwhelmingly though, I think it's easier to get in than to not get in, not unlike I'd imagine, the religion of Scientology.
Which brings me to the million dollar question, if most people get in, how can you, as The Jeffersons once did, finally get your piece of the pie?
The good news is that BlogBurst has gotten some good press...about good press. I mean they ARE in bed with reputable papers newspapers and by hanging out with Pluck, you are one step closer to sitting with the cool kids in the cafeteria.
On the other hand, hanging out with the cool kids, as we all know, doesn't necessarily make you cool. If you don't believe me, just watch the eighties classic, Can't Buy Me Love.
So let's say, hypothetically the Houston Chronicle links to a post you wrote about shoes. I know, I know. Shoes? Just pretend it was a slow week.
Ok, so they link to your post, or repost your post and give you a byline credit, but they don't give you what every blogger wannabe writer wants C-O-M-P-E-N-S-A-T-I-O-N. Find out what it means to me. It doesn't have the same ring to it, but I'll bet you're picking up what I'm putting down.
Now Pluck and BlogBurst say that they are working on a compensation model, but right now BlogBurst is a beta Baby (Say THAT ten times fast!). So compensation, they say, is in their master plan. Of course this could mean anywhere from six months to six years and six cents to six hundred dollars.
In their defense, Blogburst seems like a very straightforward idea. They are telling you upfront what they are all about and leaving it up to you whether or not you want to join. There's no initation, no streaking through the quad and the first rule about BlogBurst is you are actually allowed to talk about BlogBurst. This is what I am doing right now, and will no doubt, end up being Googled one day by some meandering soul who wants to know what it's all about, like me.
Bottom line is I will probably join and see what it brings my way, but I still want to hear what you guys think about it. So if any of you have been recruited for the program or just know someone who has, I'd be interested in hearing what you think. I'd particularly like to hear from the people who have been with them for awhile and if they see a difference in the traffic they receive.
Since I can't get through to Jesus on this one, I'm asking what you would do.
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