Commercial blog network research

GAWKER BLOGS: Lifehacker
The blog is about finding cheats to everyday technological and domestic problems. It is aimed at people who want to be more efficient. It is updated daily and it is updated 15-25 posts on average a day. It covers such dilemmas such as 'Turn Yoghurt Containers Into Sippy Cups' and 'How Do You Do Your Taxes'. The style of the posts are quite friendly and instructive, and are written by a team of writers. The only social interactions with the reader than I could see was the comments page and the Digg mark on one of the posts. Plenty of pictures and links are used. The design, whilst ok, is the best of a bad bunch of Gawker blogs, which in general are just wrong. I don't think the blog makes money.


WEBLOG BLOGS: DS Fanboy
This blog is all about the Nintendo DS. It is aimed at people who own one or are heavily into gaming. Or just nerds. DS Fanboy is yet another heavily updated blog, with lots of posts daily. It covers DS news, DS news that isn't neccessarily to do with the console or games and features. The style of the posts is quite subject-specific, adding to the feel that it is a hardcore site. The blog does use plenty of links and a wide variety of tools including embedded video, pictures and Digg buttons. The design is pretty decent, even if in places it looks somewhat cluttered. I don't think the blog makes money.

The tagline is also made of wrong.

FEDERATED BLOGS: Uncrated
This blog is all about looking at things that are aimed primarily for men to buy - a bit like Stuff Magazine. It is aimed mainly for the adult man and they would want to read it to see what items are available that are interesting, quirky etc. The site does not actually tell anyone the dates of post uploads but I wouldn't be surprised if it was like the two blogs mentioned above. It covers items such as Bacon cookbooks, cars, clothing and a wide variety of other things. The posts are almost very persuasive, in that they're giving them all a gleaming review and are recommended easily. There are links to buy the items but apart from that, there are no other stand out interaction features. The design is excellent - very slick, good choice of colours and properly organised. I reckon there is a deal struck with advertisers as a source of revenue.

What planet is Arsene Wenger on?

Just when you thought there would be a landslide in the opposition against the Premier League's doomed plan to take the competition abroad, someone decides to stick their neck out and side with them.

That person just happens to be Arsene Wenger.

To be fair to the Arsenal manager, he is not just defending the FA for the sake of defending the FA. Instead he's tried to base some sort of argument for the idea of expansion. He's basing this said argument on his experience as a manager in Japan in 1995 (which came as news to me - the things you learn every day!) He likes it for two reasons:

1. It shows a desire to innovate.
2. It is good for the fans of the Premier League abroad.

Adding further to his point about his time in Japan, he says that at the time he was managing, they had to play 20% of their games on a neutral ground to promote the game. Whilst he initally laughed off the idea, he came round to it after going through with the idea. In general, he also keeps on re-iterating that people are being too critical and dismissive far too quickly.

The interview clip is up on BBC Sport but he also talks about other things in the same clip, so I recorded the part where he talks about the expansion and I've uploaded it as a streamable mp3 rather than RealPlayer/Windows only.

Click here to listen to 'Arsene-Wenger-talking-about-the-Premier-League-expansion'

The problem with his point about it working in Japan is the timeframe. This was a plan that was in action in 1995. This, however, is 2008. And the neutral grounds idea is now dead in the water. What's more, the vice-president of the Japanese Football Association, Junji Ogura, has already voiced his disapproval, telling BBC Sport:

"In Japan, we don't allow anyone to play a match that involves only foreign clubs and no Japanese teams."

Not only do the presidents, vice-presidents and so forth of these international league organisations think that the idea is a problematic one, but they also do not want their own leagues underminded. This is especially the case in Asia, where football has boomed in popularity since the exploits of the 2002 World Cup hosts, South Korea and Japan. It's also exactly the same in Australia and in North America.

Regarding Wenger's point about this plan being good for fans abroad, I personally feel that countries such as the USA and Asia get a good fix of the Premier League anyway with the several pre-season tours made by the bigger clubs. Last summer, Manchester United embarked on a heavily-promoted pre-season tour of Asia and Chelsea also embarked on a tour with at least equal amounts of promotion to the USA. I believe that alone is giving the fans of the competition enough of a chance to see the teams they follow each week.

Nice try Arsene, but you haven't convinced me to even think about supporting the idea.

FURTHER READING: The best article I read about the whole saga is this one on BBC Sport. Well worth a read just so that you can gather the complete international reaction.