Pajamas Media Blog Network Will Be Ending On April 1st
Instapundit announced it a few days ago. I got the email just before then. I didn’t post about it because, well, there’s nothing more dull I think than blogging about blogging. I doubt that many of you care what ads I have on the site, or where the revenue to keep this website running comes from, as long as neither significantly interferes with your experience here. So I refrained.
But now some in the blogosphere are making a big stink about it (Pajamas Media was a pioneering effort in the blogosphere, and so everyone who blogs seems to have a passionate opinion about the company) I guess I’ll weigh in:
How do I, as a charter member of Pajamas Media, feel about the end of the blog network portion of the company? I’m ambivalent about it, at best. The PJ ads were never the most lucrative to me. After my initial contract term with PJ Media was up I opted out of their exclusive package so I could bring on other ad revenue streams in addition to their ads. And just last year I attempted to end my contract with them as I felt then that I could be making more money with someone else, but they were adamant about fulfilling the terms of the agreement.
I had always felt that PJ Media was supposed to be about more than just an ad network. I had thought it was going to be about organizing talented, serious-minded bloggers into a media force to be reckoned with. But ultimately it never really seemed to develop into anything more than a convenient vehicle for hyping the projects of some of the higher-ups. And by the time PJ Media was sending Joe the Plumber off to Gaza as a reporter I’d had about enough.
Certainly, the success of this blog has never been tied to that of Pajamas Media. In fact, as I’ve already pointed out, if anything PJ Media was holding this blog back. Since I first joined with Pajamas Media this site has grown exponentially in terms of web traffic and readership, all with little impact from Pajamas Media itself.
I’m glad the network is ending. My affiliation with them would have ended by my own choice come April anyway. Let’s hope that something better springs up in its place. Because blogging, as a genre, certainly isn’t going anywhere. At worst, the demise of Pajamas has more to do with the company simply not being strong enough to survive the inevitable post-Presidential election decline in political blogging.
