I think PJM will fail due to lack of a well-defined business model (and one that keeps changing), including poor management of the blogger channel. To date, their website continues to provide no information for media buyers.

I outlined several reasons in my blog (search on “Pajamas Media” as I have several articles and look for articles dated in August and later — after I got over the initial buzz they generated).

For an insider’s look into PJM’s weaknesses, from a former insider, check out http://dennisthepeasant.typepad.com and scroll through this week. Dennis has a number of recent articles dated from 10/20 – 10/24. He’s got a case of sour grapes, but once you get beyond that, I agree with his analysis of weaknesses.

The prime question asked by Dennis, and one relevant to bloggers, is just what is PJM’s business model? Is it advertising or journalism?

Basically, they want to “1) remarket your creative and journalistic works in the form of text, audio, and video to newspapers, radio stations, and television stations and networks as well as through a central Internet portal, and 2) provide advertising to be used on your website.” (their words)

I believe the bulk of the money of the operation is a private syndication system for mainstream media. The NYTimes would go through Pajamas Media to be able to syndicate a blogger’s column in their newspaper. Or a magazine would buy reprint rights for a Glenn Reynolds post.

Pajamas Media as the middle man between mainstream media buy blogger’s content for reproduction. They’ve also got some interesting technology brewing to measure blog readership demographics to better target advertising.

We did not want to have our hands tied by a group that could control our destiny. I trule believe that blogging, and profitable blogging, one needs to be as fluid as possible to successfully get in and out of opportunities as quickly as possible.

And I may be completely wrong. :) I figured that even though the people creating Pajama Media were well respected bloggers, they had not been business people. I tend to stick with the business people.

We did not want to have our hands tied by a group that could control our destiny. I trule believe that blogging, and profitable blogging, one needs to be as fluid as possible to successfully get in and out of opportunities as quickly as possible.

And I may be completely wrong. :) I figured that even though the people creating Pajama Media were well respected bloggers, they had not been business people. I tend to stick with the business people.

I’m a tad disappointed I wasn’t invited. :(

In the political blogging world, you are measured not only by your content, but who links to you. My work was taken much more seriously once I got a permanent link on the DemocraticUnderground website. It’s not that your traffic increases by that much, but B-list blogs are far more likely to link to you if you are on one of those lists.

Perhaps Pajama will be a more equitable bench-mark for political bloggers to aim for? Maybe in the near future, bloggers will compete to post on Pajama the way print reporters try to get their work syndicated.

A political version of Slashdot or Fark, if you will.

So this is basically a high profile link exchange?

No.

http://pajamasmedia.com/index.php?p=2005/10/manolos_shoe_blog_the_manolo.php

Pajamas Media is like one of those celebrity marriages, they get married just so they can get some attention.

But, with the names behind it they’ll undoubtedly “succeed” – just not in a way that’ll help average bloggers whatsoever.

I suppose since I’m more along the lines of an “average blogger” rather than a Captain Ed or a Charles Johnson or a Glenn Reynolds, I could be hoodwinked, but from what I have seen, they are going out of their way (and above and beyond the call of duty) to make sure that the little blogger can get a chunk of the advertising pie.

But, with the names behind it they’ll undoubtedly “succeed” – just not in a way that’ll help average bloggers whatsoever.

So I would say the prospects are very good. One thing I’ve mentioned on my Blogging as Business blog is the need for better blog searching technology. Technorati and Google have started the process, but think they are not quite there yet. There needs to be a better filter to find “good” content- this may be one means to that end. And I realize that “good” can be subjective.

My understanding of the model is similar to Jim, a big, aggregated page + I understand that they also get resale rights to content to non-blogging channels and they offer advertising on member blogs as well. For memory this is in addition to any other ads people might be running, that sort of thing,

But who knows?

As opposed to building from the ground up, they went out and networked highly trafficed sites — good move.

But I’ve found very little information of substance about what they’re actually trying to do. Are they just going to be a ‘Blogads’ for the political blogosphere? Or do they plan on building something like Gawker or WIN, but for politics? Or a hybrid ad/blog network?

Whatever it is, they’ve got some heavy hitters behind the project.