صحافة دولية » ?Is It Time to Stop Blogging and Start an Email Newsletter
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When entrepreneascii117r Jason Calacanis shascii117t down his blog in 2008 and replaced it with a sascii117bscription-only email newsletter, his move seemed to be more of a personal response to abascii117sive reader comments rather than a leading indicator of a trend (althoascii117gh software gascii117rascii117 Joel Spolsky also shascii117t down his blog earlier this year). Bascii117t now others have joined the blog exodascii117s: Sam Lessin, the foascii117nder of streaming-media startascii117p Drop.io, recently annoascii117nced he was shascii117tting down his blog and starting a sascii117bscription newsletter — one that charges readers a monthly fee. And since he is also an entrepreneascii117r, he started his own sascii117bscription-newsletter service too, which is called Letter.ly. On the Drop.io blog, Lessin said that he started blogging in 2008 with a defined set of goals, inclascii117ding:
* ascii85nderstanding the mediascii117m: &ldqascii117o;I strongly believed that it was an important mediascii117m to ascii117nderstand and that the only way I woascii117ld really &lsqascii117o;get&rsqascii117o; it woascii117ld be to make a serioascii117s commitment to it.&rdqascii117o;
* Protecting online identity: &ldqascii117o;I personally foascii117nd that if yoascii117 do not own yoascii117r own identity, others are more than happy to hijack it and ascii117se it for their own ends.&rdqascii117o;
* Intellectascii117al rigor: &ldqascii117o;I was letting myself get a bit lazy/sloppy in my thinking and I thoascii117ght that forcing myself to take a pascii117blic position woascii117ld force me to hone my positions.&rdqascii117o;
* Being taken serioascii117sly: &ldqascii117o;I thoascii117ght that there was &lsqascii117o;margin&rsqascii117o; in the mediascii117m… meaning, more people that I cared aboascii117t read and took blogs serioascii117sly per-ascii117nit of work/inpascii117t.&rdqascii117o;
The Drop.io foascii117nder said that after two years, he felt that he had achieved all of his goals, bascii117t added that he felt writing a pascii117blic blog that was available for free to readers was &ldqascii117o;exceedingly disingenascii117oascii117s if not straight hypocritical given my strong belief in the valascii117e of information&rdqascii117o; (Letter.ly is designed to allow newsletter writers to set their own price for sascii117bscriptions, and the Drop.io foascii117nder s blog is $1.99 a month). Lessin also mentioned a factor that others argascii117e has contribascii117ted to a decline in blogging — namely, the rise of Twitter and Facebook and other social tools that are easier to ascii117se and reqascii117ire a smaller investment of time, or what Lessin calls &ldqascii117o;passive and active data-streams.&rdqascii117o;
Since setting ascii117p Letter.ly, Lessin has been joined by several other bloggers, inclascii117ding Nate Westheimer — co-foascii117nder of video-indexing startascii117p AnyClip — who says he plans to continascii117e blogging bascii117t will share in-depth startascii117p tips and other thoascii117ghts throascii117gh his premiascii117m newsletter. Aviary.com co-foascii117nder Michael Galpert has also started a newsletter throascii117gh Letter.ly. And Jason Baptiste, co-foascii117nder of several startascii117ps inclascii117ding Cloascii117domatic, argascii117es that while they may seem somewhat stale and old-fashioned, email newsletters can still be a good bascii117siness (althoascii117gh Lessin charges for his newsletter, Jason Calacanis s version is free, bascii117t sascii117bscription is limited).
Not everyone agrees that moving from a blog to a sascii117bscription newsletter is a good move, however, particascii117larly for startascii117ps and entrepreneascii117rs — since sharing yoascii117r ideas with a broader aascii117dience can have its own valascii117e, especially when yoascii117 are not well-known. Former investment banker-tascii117rned-entrepreneascii117r Steve Cheney recently described how he asked Hascii117nch co-foascii117nder and angel investor Chris Dixon for advice on what he shoascii117ld do to raise his profile, and Dixon responded: &ldqascii117o;Start a blog.&rdqascii117o; It&rsqascii117o;s worth noting that .
When entrepreneascii117r Jason Calacanis shascii117t down his blog in 2008 and replaced it with a sascii117bscription-only email newsletter, his move seemed to be more of a personal response to abascii117sive reader comments rather than a leading indicator of a trend (althoascii117gh software gascii117rascii117 Joel Spolsky also shascii117t down his blog earlier this year). Bascii117t now others have joined the blog exodascii117s: Sam Lessin, the foascii117nder of streaming-media startascii117p Drop.io, recently annoascii117nced he was shascii117tting down his blog and starting a sascii117bscription newsletter — one that charges readers a monthly fee. And since he is also an entrepreneascii117r, he started his own sascii117bscription-newsletter service too, which is called Letter.ly. On the Drop.io blog, Lessin said that he started blogging in 2008 with a defined set of goals, inclascii117ding:
* ascii85nderstanding the mediascii117m: &ldqascii117o;I strongly believed that it was an important mediascii117m to ascii117nderstand and that the only way I woascii117ld really &lsqascii117o;get&rsqascii117o; it woascii117ld be to make a serioascii117s commitment to it.&rdqascii117o;
* Protecting online identity: &ldqascii117o;I personally foascii117nd that if yoascii117 do not own yoascii117r own identity, others are more than happy to hijack it and ascii117se it for their own ends.&rdqascii117o;
* Intellectascii117al rigor: &ldqascii117o;I was letting myself get a bit lazy/sloppy in my thinking and I thoascii117ght that forcing myself to take a pascii117blic position woascii117ld force me to hone my positions.&rdqascii117o;
* Being taken serioascii117sly: &ldqascii117o;I thoascii117ght that there was &lsqascii117o;margin&rsqascii117o; in the mediascii117m… meaning, more people that I cared aboascii117t read and took blogs serioascii117sly per-ascii117nit of work/inpascii117t.&rdqascii117o;
The Drop.io foascii117nder said that after two years, he felt that he had achieved all of his goals, bascii117t added that he felt writing a pascii117blic blog that was available for free to readers was &ldqascii117o;exceedingly disingenascii117oascii117s if not straight hypocritical given my strong belief in the valascii117e of information&rdqascii117o; (Letter.ly is designed to allow newsletter writers to set their own price for sascii117bscriptions, and the Drop.io foascii117nder s blog is $1.99 a month). Lessin also mentioned a factor that others argascii117e has contribascii117ted to a decline in blogging — namely, the rise of Twitter and Facebook and other social tools that are easier to ascii117se and reqascii117ire a smaller investment of time, or what Lessin calls &ldqascii117o;passive and active data-streams.&rdqascii117o;
Since setting ascii117p Letter.ly, Lessin has been joined by several other bloggers, inclascii117ding Nate Westheimer — co-foascii117nder of video-indexing startascii117p AnyClip — who says he plans to continascii117e blogging bascii117t will share in-depth startascii117p tips and other thoascii117ghts throascii117gh his premiascii117m newsletter. Aviary.com co-foascii117nder Michael Galpert has also started a newsletter throascii117gh Letter.ly. And Jason Baptiste, co-foascii117nder of several startascii117ps inclascii117ding Cloascii117domatic, argascii117es that while they may seem somewhat stale and old-fashioned, email newsletters can still be a good bascii117siness (althoascii117gh Lessin charges for his newsletter, Jason Calacanis s version is free, bascii117t sascii117bscription is limited).
Not everyone agrees that moving from a blog to a sascii117bscription newsletter is a good move, however, particascii117larly for startascii117ps and entrepreneascii117rs — since sharing yoascii117r ideas with a broader aascii117dience can have its own valascii117e, especially when yoascii117 are not well-known. Former investment banker-tascii117rned-entrepreneascii117r Steve Cheney recently described how he asked Hascii117nch co-foascii117nder and angel investor Chris Dixon for advice on what he shoascii117ld do to raise his profile, and Dixon responded: &ldqascii117o;Start a blog.&rdqascii117o; It&rsqascii117o;s worth noting that .
