NY Bloggers Event

May 4, 2004

Ahhh, another blogger event brought together by Jake from Gothamist. I went to the Photobloggers event a few months back and it was interesting, but I wasn't blown away. This was a lot more interesting. I sat up front, stroking my chin and sometimes guffawing, alongside Matt and Jeff.

First you had Jason Calcanis duking it out with Nick Denton. This was the publishers panel. The two men were debating the best model for professional blogging. Jason favors an ownership share, where the publisher and writer split ad revenue 50/50, and Nick favors giving the writer a flat paycheck every month. I think both models can work, but I think that Jason was a bit overzealous. I appreciate his enthusiasm, but he has that typical salesman-style pitch that is a real turn off for me. On top of that, I prefer the model of fewer high quality blogs (Gawker Media) to numerous blogs that can be hit or miss (Weblogs Inc.) So, Nick won in my mind.

We also had the technology and editor panels, which were interesting but there were less fireworks. I was quite interested in what Meg Hourihan had to say about technology and the future of blogs in general. After the event, at MercBar, she pointed out that blogging is a very personal experience and the real excitement won't lie in the battle between professional bloggers -- it will lie in people finding an easy way to communicate with those they care about while learning about computers and writing. After a month-long hiatus, she's pondering bringing the educational powers of blogs to an after school program. I'd love to see this happen.

I really appreciate what Jake is doing and I look forward to more of these. My only suggestion is budgeting some time for dinner between the event and drinks. A blogger's gotta eat.

More:
Photos at Bluejake
Liza is cool
Jeff Jarvis seems cool (we didn't get to talk)

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