Did you hear the one about the two Aussies, an Irishmen and a couple of Asians? If you try to visit blogger turned MP Jeff Ooi’s blog, you might. His blog’s vanished.
He’s been assimilated by the Borg (in this case, a couple of Aussies, an Irishman, an American and a couple of Asians), as he promised a couple of weeks ago. And from blogging MP, he’s become a political correspondent. Full-fledged journalist, that seems to imply.
Rocky’s got a foot in the door, too, though his blog carries on as usual.
But Jeff’s Screenshots is now part of Asian Correspondent, a news aggregator which launched last Thursday in an alpha version. Jeff had warned of his move on Sept 26.
[2009-10-20:02:00] One day after posting the above, Jeff’s Screenshots is back at its usual URL http://www.jeffooi.com, plus it’s aggregated on Asian Correspondent as well. And the Asian Correspondent site went to beta status overnight.
Come October 15, Jeff Ooi’s Screenshots will embark on another experimental journey on the Internet.
It’s a network of over 50 selected writers from 13 countries, with experienced editors located in Thailand, Australia, India and China… It’s to reach more eyeballs and touch more hearts in places that matter for the near future.
‣ It’s time to move on
Rocky’s Bru also lives on separately as usual
Asian Correspondent is produced by a company called Hybrid News Ltd, who say they produce “unique web publishing platforms” that bring together bloggers, journalists and the AP. Further on in their jargon-filled puffery, they do state that they’re basically aggregating stuff.
But they pay their bloggers well, says Ben Bland, a British freelance based in Singapore who spoke to Asian Correspondent’s boss. “I’ve got a unique business model in the blogosphere – paying all our writers a monthly fee based on the quality of their content, its appropriateness to the site and the number of followers they have.” ‣ More at The Asia File
And Bangkok Dan, who runs the Absolutely Bangkok site, tells why he turned down AC’s offer. “The downside: A blog’s web domain will be forwarded to AC’s platform. Which is why I declined a contract. Writing for Asian Correspondent wouldn’t be subject to direct editorial control or restrictions. Any blogger on board keeps on writing what he or she has been writing all along. But http://www.absolutelyBangkok.com which I started two years ago would have become http://www.AsianCorrespondent.com/absolutelyBangkok.”
Hybrid News (sounds like an orchid-lover’s blog) was founded by 35-year-old James Craven, who last ran a large British-based trade press and events company GDS International. Among their 40 or so publications are such exciting titles as: CIS Oil & Gas, CXO America, EU Infrastructure, HR Management US, MENA Infrastructure, Next Generation Agriculture and other next generation industries.
Curiously, they also publish Intelligence & Warning America, the blurb for which promises all kinds of juicy spy stories. But even curioser, the website address http://www.iwamerica.com leads you to ComplianceExecutive.com presumably for people who comply. (Either my browser got hijacked or somebody’s trying to sell us something. Your luck may vary.)
Hybrid say they’ll be relying on advertising to keep Asian Correspondent going. Their background in business-to-business trade press and event management provides them some solid commercial thinking behind it.
More interesting times ahead in Internet media. And more competition for Asia Times and Asia Sentinel.
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uppercaise 