Folksonomy has an interview with John Battelle, the founder of Federated Media. As you may know, Federated Media was one of the first companies to figure out how to monetize the blogosphere. Here is how Battelle describes it:

It struck me that the economics of the media business were changing very dramatically, and allowing writers, artists, and content producers to access audiences in ways that allowed them to create true publications. However, there was a commercial element missing. They didn't have a steady revenue stream that would have supported their life: their mortgage, their kids, whatever. They couldn't make enough money just through Google Adsense. It struck me that high quality advertisers would like to be involved in these high quality conversations, and the way to do it was to bring high quality sites together in a federation, so that advertisers could access them easily, so that was the genesis of Federated media.

What are the most popular areas for advertisers?

The most popular is technology, followed by business & marketing and parenting, media entertainment, then some of our newer ones like automobiles. I wouldn't say we're mature enough yet as a business to know whether or not one or the other is more popular.

Federated and others like it represent the evolution of news media. We see that as a disruptive technology blogs are undercutting the power of print media.

The founder of Gagglescape.com, Forum Bureau, was an early mover in this area because, like Battelle, it could see the seismic shift underway. This blog is one of a number by Forum Bureau representing key demographic sectors. In a way, it is much like a newspaper that collects numerous topics of interest, except instead of turning pages the reader shifts to a different site.

Read the full interview with Battelle. (...read more...)