Weblogs, Inc.

Weblogs, Inc.
Subsidiary of AOL
Industry Internet
Founded September 2003 (2003-09)
Founders Brian Alvey
Jason Calacanis
Products enterprise blogging
Number of employees
 150 worldwide (estimated)
Parent AOL
Website www.weblogsinc.com

Weblogs, Inc. is a blog network of about 90 blogs, covering a variety of subjects, from computers and gaming to the likes of food and independent film. Roughly half of these blogs are regularly updated and maintained. Weblogs, Inc. was founded in September 2003 and has been owned by AOL since October 2005.

History

Weblogs, Inc. was founded by Brian Alvey and Jason Calacanis[1] with an investment from Mark Cuban. The company was founded in the wake of Calacanis' Silicon Alley Reporter magazine.

By early 2004, Weblogs, Inc. and Gawker Media were establishing the two most important templates for networked blog empires. At that time, Weblogs, Inc. consisted of a few dozen blogs designed for professional readership, all residing as subdomains of weblogsinc.com. The exception was Engadget, a stand-alone site covering new technology in blog format. Engadget was co-founded by Peter Rojas, the former editor of Gizmodo in the Gawker Media network. At the start of 2006, 26 stand-alone sites populated the network, and over 50 subdomain blogs were in operation. A few of the company principals maintain personal blogs in the blogroll, and the home page is maintained in blog format. Entrepreneur Mark Cuban, an early investor in the company, keeps his personal weblog on the Weblogs, Inc. network.

At the start of 2006, the company structure consisted of an executive and administrative team of eight individuals, including the aforementioned Calacanis, Alvey, and Rojas. Thirty-two "lead" bloggers edited content channels or stand-alone sites, and managed topic-specific staffs of bloggers.

The network sells an inventory of display advertising space supplemented by Google AdSense. Revenue from AdSense alone was claimed to be approaching US$1,000,000 per year.[2]

Weblogs, Inc. was purchased in October 2005 by AOL[3] for a reported $25 million.[4] While details were sketchy, it was reported in "Blogebrity: The Blog" that the bloggers would maintain all their rights, and would even come out of the deal in better condition. Headlines from blogs would begin to appear in AIM and at AOL.com, new contracts would be signed allowing bloggers to use their content offline, and AOL would be moving to an ad format that would match Weblogs, Inc. Weblogs, Inc. would be operated as an independent AOL-owned company.

Blogs

Engadget

Launched in March 2004, Engadget is updated multiple times a day with articles on gadgets and consumer electronics. Although Engadget appears to be a weblog, it is really a webzine.[5] It has been nominated for numerous awards, including a 2004 Bloggie for Best Technology Weblog, and 2005 Bloggies for Best Computers or Technology Weblog and Best Group Weblog; Engadget won Best Tech Blog in the 2004 and 2005 Weblog Awards.

Joystiq

Joystiq was a popular weblog covering video games and video game culture. It was shut down on February 3, 2015 and its links redirect to Engadget.

Hack a Day

Founded in September 2004, Hack a Day (also known as HackADay) is a weblog covering hacks, mods, and projects popular among computer enthusiasts. It was not included in the sale of Weblogs, Inc to AOL,[6][7] but remained a separate entity until it was sold to SupplyFrame in 2013.[8]

TV Squad

TV Squad is a television weblog founded on March 10, 2005. By 2006, it was one of the most popular on the internet.[9] TV Squad was originally conceptualized to allow any Weblogs, Inc. blogger to write about the television shows they watch. Eventually, a core group of bloggers for the site was realized, with several other Weblogs, Inc. bloggers contributing on an irregular basis. TV Squad had about 20 regularly contributing bloggers. Writers include Adam Finley, Keith McDuffee, Bob Sassone, Jay Black, Wil Wheaton and Paul Goebel, and the site's main television critic is former Chicago Tribune critic Maureen Ryan, who came to the site in 2010. During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, while some industry blogs stopped or wrote articles in support of the strike, TV Squad continued to publish material normally.[10]

TV Squad operated as separate, independent site until 2011, when AOL merged TV Squad with AOL. This meant all of the old TV Squad content can now be found on AOL TV. Originally, if a person went to TVSquad.com, it automatically redirected them to AOLTV.com.[11] Currently, TVSquad.com redirects to www.huffingtonpost.com/tv.

Autoblog

Autoblog is a weblog and podcast about automobiles and the automotive industry.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

TUAW covers tips, reviews, news, analysis, and opinion on everything Apple. Founded in 2004 and one of the most successful blogs from Weblogs, Inc., TUAW was shut down February 3, 2015.[12]

Download Squad

Download Squad was a popular blog following web-based and downloadable software and news for desktop and mobile platforms. Consistently cited among popular software blogs, it was named among Computerworld's list of the ten best-written blogs on the Internet in 2008.[13] Download Squad, along with sister blog Switched, was shut down on April 12, 2011, by parent company AOL.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Weblogs, Inc.". Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  2. ↑ "$1M a year in Google Adsense (or why 2,739 is my favorite number)". Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  3. ↑ Graham, Nicholas (2005-10-06). "America Online Acquires Weblogs, Inc.". Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  4. ↑ Arrington, Michael (2005-10-05). "AOL Acquires Weblogs, Inc.". Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  5. ↑ Till, Francis (May 8, 2005). "Bill Gates and the alternative future of news". National Business Review. Retrieved 2008-07-15.
  6. ↑ Calacanis, John (2005-10-11). "HackADay stays indie!". Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  7. ↑ Ali, Rafat (2005-10-11). "AOL-Weblogs Inc Deal: Some Futher [sic] Details". Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  8. ↑ Bradic, Aleksandar (2013-07-25). "Hello from SupplyFrame – your new evil overlords !". Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  9. ↑ Berr, Jonathan (2006-03-16). "Netscape Is Back". The Street.
  10. ↑ Ingram, Matthew (November 14, 2007). "TV blogs go dark in support of writers". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
  11. ↑ Faith Merino, AOL relaunches AOL TV, TV Squad is no more, Vactor News, (May 26, 2011)
  12. ↑ Sande, Steven (2015-02-03). "So long, and thanks for all the fish". TUAW. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
  13. ↑ Brandon, John (October 17, 2008). "The top 10 best-written blogs". Computerworld. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  14. ↑ Houston, Thomas (April 12, 2011). "Farewell, Internet". Download Squad. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
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