Swiss blog networks

There are two new collective entities in the Swiss blogosphere.

A couple of months ago my friends Peter Hogenkamp and Andreas Göldi launched Blogwerk, a micropublisher that operates so far three blogs, all in German: Neuerdings (on gadgets), Medienlese (on media) and Anschaulich (on online videos). The model is clearly inspired by the US' Weblogs Inc. (now owned by AOL) or Gawker Media and is about launching, managing, marketing and possibly turning into commercial successes a range of themeblogs in vertical and well-defined niches. It has not been easy for them so far, to say the least, but the blogs are gaining traction and I'm rooting for them.

Yesterday a network of independent blogs of a different nature was launched. Called Swissblogpress, or SBP, it links 13 independent blogs (superstition is not big in this country) that plan to share knowledge and experiences, as well as technical, legal and commercial expertise, "to increase the quality and the credibility of blogs" in the country as well as public awareness about the Swiss blogosphere. As part of the exercise in credibility (and in attracting advertising, of course: that is the main aim of the association), they also plan to let their audiences be transparently measured. They claim collectively about 10'000 readers per day, according to one of them, and they are inspired by another US model: Federated Media. The 13 founding members of SBP, also all in German, are a mix of themeblogs (technology, media and communication), political blogs, lifestyle and personal diaries: Berner Gazette, Blogwiese, Blogging Tom, CH Internet Szene, eDemokratie, Finanzblog, Infamy, Leumund, Medienspiegel, Pendlerblog, Polis, Politik Forum and Starfrosch.

Good luck to all!

Comments

[Peter Hogenkamp]

Thanks!