NEW YORK (Business 2.0) - It can't be said anymore that blogging isn't a business. The problem now may be that blogging has too many business models to choose from.
Andrew Sullivan kicked things off by announcing he would soon decamp with his proto-blog to Time.com. That was followed in short order by the launch of Open Source Media, then the confusion over whether Gawker Media had finally sold out, in this case to Yahoo!, or had merely licensed some of its best known bloggers in exchange for a healthy dose of traffic.
Selling out to and joining mainstream media. This is what Andrew Sullivan did. Although "selling out" in this instance means handing over the technical headaches of operating his site to Time.com while retaining editorial control and accepting a regular paycheck.
"Andrew Sullivan," the brand is subsumed into Time.com's, bolstering the latter.
"I like to think of it as a moment when the blogosphere and the (mainstream media) made touchdown," Sullivan told PaidContent.
Selling out while staying independent. Calacanis has managed to do this with Weblogs Inc. since selling his company to AOL last month for a reported $25 million.
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