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Instablogs launches Club for bloggers

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Instablogs is opening its blog network membership by launching the Instablogs Club. By opening its network, external blogs can now apply to become members of Instablogs Club and enjoy the benefits that its blog network members have been enjoying.

“We decided to open our network to external bloggers so that they can also enjoy some of our network benefits, including but not limited to traffic, ad sales, technology, and networking with our great members,” Ankit Maheshwari, CEO of Instablogs, said.

“The Instablogs Club consists of those who host and maintain independent blogs and would like to avail our platform and showcase their content to millions of Instablogs readers each month. Our aim is to showcase the best blogs on a variety of topics and help bloggers get more exposure,” he added.

The Club is looking for bloggers who are passionate about their blog– one that provides compelling content, consistent in his or her frequency of posting, and is willing to share their knowledge and expertise to other members of the Club.

Club members stand to benefit from Instablogs traffic, revenues, and a vibrant community of blog network members.

Launched in 2005, Instablogs Blog Network enjoys more than 2.5 million pageviews per month. The Club will work to drive traffic to each member and benefit from this attention.

The Club is currently accepting applications and will be announcing its first batch of members next month.

Originally posted on August 25, 2008 @ 7:00 am

AOL trimming up for sale– paidContent

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paidContent is reporting that AOL is trimming up for sale, and is also doing some belt-tightening just like everyone else.

Part of its trimming is “asking some its bloggers, who get paid by the post, to stop blogging until July 31 to save on costs.”

The affected blogs are: Diylife.com, The Unofficial Apple Weblog, and DownloadSquad.

Originally posted on July 25, 2008 @ 10:01 am

Propeller Launches a New Design

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You pick the news. At least that’s what Propeller wants you to do. Netscape’s Digg clone slash phoenix rising from the ashes has undergone a redesign.

Gone is the traditional up/down voting system. Present is a brand new mascot who looks like Mr. Belvedere and Ask Jeeves’ love child with a George Jetson twist.

The site will still rely on a team of editors and feature a limited number of categories. Personally, I’ve never experienced the Propeller-effect, which by all accounts is much smaller than the Digg-effect. Perhaps this will change as AOL continues to raise the profile of the destination.

The good news is, currently, all stories are entering with a 10.0 rating – so get your butt over there and submit – and you might land on the homepage!

Originally posted on July 22, 2008 @ 11:43 am

World’s Oldest Blogger Dies

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Several weeks ago I wrote about Randall Butisingh, one of the worlds’ oldest bloggers at 95 years old.

At the time, I didn’t realize what a spring chicken Randall was.

We now pay our respects to Olive Riley, born 1899. The 108-year-old Australian woman passed away over the weekend.

From recounting life through two world wars to sharing her thoughts on Washing Day…

You 21st century people live a different life than the one I lived as a youngster in the early 1900s. Take Washing Day, for instance. These days you just toss your dirty clothes into a washing machine, press a few switches, and it’s done.

I remember scratching around to find a few pieces of wood to fire the copper for Mum. Sometimes I’d find a broken wooden fruit box that I’d split with a tommyhawk. Sometimes I’d gather some twigs and dead branches, and use them for firewood.

When the water in the copper began to boil, Mum would add a cupful of soap chips, and throw in a cube of Reckitt’s Blue wrapped in a muslin bag to whiten the clothes. Then she put in all the dirty clothes, first rubbing out the stains with a bar of Sunlight soap. She used a corrugated washing board for that.

Olive will be missed.

Originally posted on July 17, 2008 @ 10:08 am

BlogCatalog launches Political Channel

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BlogCatalog has launched its Political Channel to take part in what it calls as the most participatory presidential election in history.

“As we approach the Democratic and Republican conventions, BlogCatalog’s Political Channel will serve as a benchmark of what is on the minds of mainstream political bloggers across America,” stated Tony Berkman, BlogCatalog CEO. “With almost 5,000 political bloggers and 114,000 non-political bloggers already part of the BlogCatalog conversational ecosystem, BlogCatalog is the Internet’s leading destination for mainstream political bloggers to have their political voices heard, engage in the political debate, increase their blog’s exposure, and participate in lively discussion.”

If they are successful in creating conversation with all the bloggers within BlogCatalog, this new channel can be a good breeding ground of political opinion.

Originally posted on July 21, 2008 @ 12:00 pm