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Lijit Launches Content Networks After Feedburner Closes Theirs
Blog publisher search engine Lijit announced yesterday the launch of Lijit Content Networks. Lijit evangelist Micah Baldwin tells me that Feedburner has recently shut down their content networks program. This was news to me and a bit disappointing. The idea of the content networks program, both on the former Feedburner and now with Lijit, is to combine multiple RSS feeds around a topic. If I remember, CN was a part of 2 or 3 content networks that FB ran.
With Lijit’s version, they have added some additional functionality. In a blog post Lijit explains, "Lijit will host the main site, aggregate all the RSS feeds from the individual bloggers, and allow your readers to search through the entire network of experts. Additionally, we give you the ability to monetize your network through display and search advertising." You can also grab a widget that highlights the latest content from the network on your site or blog.
So I could take the feeds for RWW, Mash, Drama 2.0, WinExtra, GigaOm and StartupMeme and then slap ads around the combined feed that I profit from while the actual content creators get nothing? I sure hope that isn’t the case otherwise the S word might appear.
I liked the content networks on Feedburner and it looks like the content networks on Lijit will be even more powerful. Check out Louis Gray’s recap from a trip to the Lijit HQ last week.
Allen, thanks for the nice write up. We should have done a better job of explaining the mechanics of the content network. Given that we are providing the underlying technology, we are giving the manager of the network as much control as possible to approve or disapprove blogs that would be part of the network.
Spam/scraper networks is a major concern of ours, and as the program grows, we will continue to improve and refine our ability to ensure that each network is of high value to the publishers within it, and the readers of the aggregated feed/network site.
Because we are really excited at the potential value of these networks, we are taking the approval of the manager quite seriously. Both Alan (Security Bloggers Network) and Brad (VC Bloggers Network) managed large Feedburner networks, and were great people to launch this concept with.
It would be great to see CenterNetworks be part of (or manage) a network one of these days, let me know if you are interested! :)
Thanks again, Allen, I always enjoy reading your take on technology and startups.