Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Did you think it was free?

In Norway, two newspapers are competing to attract the writings of Norwegian bloggers. These are Dagbladet and Verdens Gang, VG - "the daily paper" and "how the world moves" is an approximate translation. The many derogatory rip-offs of their names are untranslatable.

One of these papers is a little more openly commercial than the other. After heavy marketing for weblogs, free areas to make the blog in, lots of small print that signs the content of your weblog over to the newspaper for ever, and subsequent free content for the net edition of their paper, they have now found a new angle on making money off weblogs. You may pay for your blog. If you want one that looks a little different from the others, you can pick a blogskin, and have a "pro" blog. So, for about 9 US$ a month, you may donate your content to VG in a somewhat more stylish wrapping.

I don't know if I want to thank Thomas for the link, it was too depressing.

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