According to Om Malik, it's rising again, and Boing Boing, a star of the FM network, is valued at $34 million. My take on this is here....

Though it's not quite a broad view, it's a start. From the piece:

What is most valuable about nontraditional media like blogs, Mr. Deaver said, is their ability to "actively engage the consumer" compared with "passive TV spots" and other traditional choices.

Amen to that, brother.

Dick does some thinking aloud, it's thinking we all need to do to get to the next level in using and benefiting from RSS. The B2 blog has a good conclusion:

That means that publishers need to find ways to track each piece of micro-content and deliver ads to it no matter where it may roam.

Update: Jarvis posts on this issue, and it seems that Fred's suggestion - threads that allow a publisher to track where his/her content goes - would be a solution here.

Jarvis on Sullivan going to Time Inc.:

Time Inc. announced that Andrew Sullivan is moving his blog to Time.com. Good for Andrew. But they got it backwards. They should have left Sullivan right where we was and sold advertising there. That would have extended their reach to a new audience. They’re thinking the old way: trying to draw people to their site and brand and buying content to do it.

We need a salesperson asap, and we'd love to hear from you or someone you know. Here's the job spec, as written by Chas:

Job: Account Executive

Federated Media, a network that pulls together leading independent blog sites, is looking for a well-connected, high-energy account executive with at least 3 years of online advertising sales experience. The perfect candidate has existing relationships with media buyers and advertising clients. Required skills include fluency with media-buying terminology (eg, CPM v. CPA, reach v. frequency, GIF v. Flash), familiarity with online ad-serving platforms (eg, Doubleclick's Mediavisor), proficiency with Excel and Powerpoint. Must be a clear and concise communicator. The position will report to FM's VP of sales & market development.

We've settled on this logo:

Why? Well, many of you liked it, or parts of it, and we did too. We like the phrase "Author Driven" and we like it's retro/forward feel. So soon that's what you'll see on our upcoming platform, on on these pages as well....