Without Jason, Weblogs Inc Will Lose Its Edge

I was saddened to hear about Jason Calacanis' recent departure from AOL. I don't blame him for leaving. It looks like he felt there wouldn't be any support for his initiatives under their new CEO. So what now?

Companies are about more than just one individual. As much as we would like to think that Jason Calacanis or even Steve Jobs for that matter are indispensable, they're not. It takes a village.

Still, a charismatic leader sets the direction and the tone. And there's no doubt that once such a person leaves an organization, there are changes. Post Calacanis, the rest of the  Weblogs Inc team including co-founder Brian Alvey and its key bloggers like Peter Rojas and crew continue to remain on board. But I would expect changes. Weblogs Inc will become even more sanitized.

It's tempting to look into a crystal ball and predict what will happen. There are usually signposts to guide you. In this case, it's edginess. Since AOL bought Weblogs Inc I feel it has started to lose that editorial bite it once had. The posts on blogs like TUAW and others have been very informative, but extremely safe. Jason's blog and Engadget are the key standouts. (Note, this is not about singling out anyone blog but looking at the tone of the network as a whole.)

Meanwhile, Gawker Media, Weblogs Inc's chief rival, has been pushing the edge - which is what I look to a blog media company to do. After all, if they don't they're simply using blog technology to replicate traditional media. It's the editorial sizzle here that makes the blog steak sell.

Consider Valleywag, for example. The tech gossip blog, operated by Gawker Media, has been on fire since it launched. It could never have come out of AOL. It's too edgy for them and therefore too risky because it could alienate deep-pocketed tech advertisers. Even though some of that has been toned down a bit now that blogger Nick Douglas has moved on, it still has bite.

Weblogs Inc once had a similar editorial tone across all of its blogs. It feels more sanitized under AOL. In the end, the greatest value AOL will get from Weblogs Inc purchase is the Blogsmith publishing platform. The blogs are just too corporate and safe now and I suspect many of the bloggers will leave once they can now that Calacanis is gone.

This is now Gawker Media's game to lose.

:: Later - Reactions from Calacanis, Denton, their bloggers and more

Comments

[Scott McNulty]

I can't speak (or type) for anyone else about this, but as the Lead Blogger at TUAW I'm not going anywhere.

As for being edgy, TUAW was never as edgy as Valleywag and it never will be for a simple reason: our readers don't want us to be. We have a slight edge and people seem to like that just fine, since it is all about the Apple news and not about who can be the snarkiest. Right?

[paul]

Gossip is pushing the edge now…...?

P.T. Barnum must be your role model as well.

[Nick Douglas]

While Nick Denton and I both appreciate being called edgy (totally gets us laid), it's hardly fair to compare Gawker to Weblogs Inc. One is the cute but pretentious corner cafe; the other is Burger King. No matter how clever that cafe is, it's not gonna serve billions and billions.

[Brian Lam]

If Engadget's heads ever left, Gizmodo would have no one left to play with. And lucky for us, I can't imagine them every bowing out while we're all having so much fun. Cheers,

Brian Lam, Gizmodo

[Ted]

The AOL deal did not include the Blogsmith software. Jason still owns it. Unsure about licensing deal, if AOL gets the license in perpetuity or what... but Blogsmith is not owned by AOL.

[Jason]

This is silly... but you got the reaction, so kudos for that.

1. WIN blogs have not changed at all since being acquired by AOL. In fact, our bloggers have become more indie/cutting edge since we became part of AOL.

2. I've told everyone at AOL to never, ever edit bloggers and they have agreed to that many times in public. I've also told all of my blogger since day one to quit if they are asked to tone it down--and I lived by that myself.

3. I have no idea what Nick Douglas is trying to say in his comment, but Weblogs Inc crushed Gawker Media in the three categories we competed in SINCE DAY ONE (autos, gadgets and video games).

4. Gawker and Defamer are bothing being crushed ay AOL's TMZ--powered by Blogsmith (and powered by WIN's best practices).

5. AOL bought Blogsmith last month.

In short.... I was NEVER the edge at Weblogs, Inc--the bloggers were.

All I did was serve my blogger tea and make sure the checks got cut on time--that's it. Brian and I created the platform for the bloggers to go for it--I would never take any credit for what our amazing bloggers did with that platform.

WIN is gonna be around for a long, long time. We are probably the fastest growing and most profitable content units in all of AOL--and only getting better.

Thanks for trying to make a big deal out of me, but I get far to much credit for the success of WIN. The real players are all still there: Brian, Peter, Judith, Brad, Barb, Steve, John, etc.

[Steve Rubel]

Good discussion.

Fact is, though, when blogs go corporate they can lose their edginess. I have had readers tell me that my blog isn't as edgy since I joined a big firm. They're right. There's more at stake. I can't take as many chances and on some levels neither can WIN - though this isn't an entirely fair comparison.

Gawker's tone is anti-corporate so I can't see Nick selling out to a media company. It would kill the vibe. Perhaps that's why the partnership with Yahoo was a non-starter.

I don't doubt WIN's longevity or the dedication of the bloggers. I do, suspect - and it is purely unsubstantiated - that WIN will be come more AOLized over time and AOL less WINized.

[Nick Denton]

Jason, Jason: WIN is doing well enough, so you don't need to exaggerate. I make the score 2-2 in the categories in which Gawker and WIN compete head-to-head. WIN's still leading comfortably in autos, by a diminishing margin in gadgets: your bloggers have done a great job in those categories. But, in the personal productivity category, Download Squad is dwarfed by Lifehacker. And, you may not have noticed, but in videogames, Joystiq just lost its lead over Kotaku, if you look at the Comscore, Alexa or Sitemeter numbers.
http://www.alexaholic.com/kotaku.com+joystiq.com

[Luca Cremonini]

Well, Steve Jobs is indispensable...

Happy Thanksgiving Day to you! (from Italy)

[AM Putra]

But he still remaining his sweet memories for Weblogs, Inc. by referring it in the first two of what he should do next. Check his blog at calacanis.com, even I recommend him to starting a new career in Hollywood.

[Honest Abe]

Um, he's a guy who was in the right place at the right time. His departure will not make one bit of difference. He even admits that the bloggers were the difference at Weblogs, Inc., not him.

[Pramit Singh]

I agree with Jason - "Iwas not the edge...the bloggers were."

[Ted]

Gawker.com seems more like a trojan horse for Gawker media. The real money is in cars, gadgets, travel, games. But Gawker means that the manhattan Ad buyers know who Gawker media is.

[Brad Hill]

Steve, I'm taking your suggestion (that WIN has lost its edge in AOL) seriously, but I don't see it. I've been with Weblogs, Inc. since early 2004, and have been an AOL employee on the WIN staff all this year. I've worked this thing from every angle for nearly three years.

Our editorial mandate is the same now as it was in the early days: Post meaningful and influential blog entries. Since we publish well over 10,000 posts a month, obviously some will be more meaningful than others [g]. But, amazingly, we live and die by the same principles that we worked out at the start: good research, engaging tone, freshness of content.

[Russell Page]

seems like a post that is trying to get some conversation going.

[Conrad]

I second a lot of what Scott, Jason, and Brad have said already. AOL has literally no influence over what WIN bloggers write.

In the 18+ months that I've been writing for Joystiq, Engadget, and briefly for TUAW, I have never discussed editorial issues with anyone at AOL. Editorial issue are kept entirely in-house within each blog, and a lot of the time I've made these decisions myself without any discussion at all. AOL understands that blogging is an open medium, and they've certainly stayed true to their original word of not interfering.

[Wil]

I've been writing for WIN for about a year at Card Squad, (hired by Jason, pre-AOL) and recently started an infrequent gig at TV Squad (Hired by Brad, post-AOL.)

I can honestly say that nothing has changed, and though I can only speak for myself, I don't think anything ever will. Jason did a great job of bringing together talented writers with strong opinions and voices, pointing us in the right direction, and then staying out of our way. When Brad hired me, he did exactly the same thing. Jason may have left, but Brad and the rest of the editorial team is still here so presumably there will be editorial continuity.

Jason's legacy is creating a company and a philosophy that's bigger than just one person, so I'm going to have to disagree for the block, and go to Jim Backus for the win, Peter.