There is a lot going on at the Office 2.0 Conference this week, and we point to Rafe Needleman’s blog overview. He has blogged the main points, and describes the companies that are worthy of mention.
We moderated a panel, and may have more. But we want to call attention to one notable addition, which comes from Techdirt. Techdirt is a Belmont news site that runs popular blog Techdirt. We mentioned it in February, because it is doing well. It makes money by serving Fortune 500 companies with a recommended diet of reading (articles from blogs and other publications), so that their employees stay better informed.
Michael Masnick, chief executive (pictured here), keeps building out the news service with new features — and this week launched a way for his Fortune 500 clients to reach out to a stable of expert bloggers for advice.
The service is called Insight Community. Techdirt contracts with an ad-hoc group of analysts, and pays them for providing their private opinions, feedback, strategy tips, or whatever. This advice goes to the companies that request it. Techdirt makes both sides “blind,” in that the company and the analyst don’t know each other’s identity. This protects them from getting too cozy with each other, and keeps the integrity of the analysis intact. TechDirt is the broker between them, taking a cut — and will allow both sides to graduate, if they choose, to direct communication.
Below is a chart describing how it works:
It has already signed up SAP and Verisign as customers. Here is Verisign’s testimony, which describes how Techdirt’s analysts helped the company better understand the complex issue of network neutrality.
3 Comments
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paul said:
Most of us blogging have a contact email form that’s juat a click away.
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Salon Consultant said:
Thanks for the article. I found it rather informative and it made me think of some things differently. Thanks again. :)
7 Trackbacks
12:34 pm
Venture Beat Contributors » The best of Office 2.0 said:
[...] The last company I want to highlight is one that I am very familiar with because I used to be a customer when I was with SAP, and more importantly, I have known Mike Masnick for a long time now and think very highly of what he has accomplished with Techdirt. Techdirt is more than just a great blog, as Matt at VentureBeat noted last night. [...]
3:19 pm
Blogrolle.net : Unternehmen und Blogger finden zusammen said:
[...] Dort können erfahrene Blogger diskret um Rat gefragt werden, bevor kritische Projekte auf den Weg gebracht werden. [...]
6:58 am
Basic Thinking Blog » Blogger beraten Analysten said:
[...] so dreht sich also auch das langsam: Analysten beraten Anleger, Blogger beraten Analysten und andere Interessenten im Business. Siehe dazu auf Venturebeat: Techdirt lets companies contact expert bloggers — discreetly — for advice. Könnte man wohl eher als Brückenbauer und Übersetzer der neuen Netzwelt verstehen, schätze ich mal. [...]
8:40 am
Anne 2.0 » Blog Archive » Analysis Marketplaces: It’s Not About Cheaper said:
[...] The announcement of TechDirt’s Insight Community shows the possibilities for eBay-like technology analysis marketplaces. TechDirt’s offering gathers together a group of curated bloggers who offer anonymous responses to companies that want feedback on specific issues. The companies as well remain anonymous, in a double blind setup that protects competitive intelligence and the blogger’s reputation at the same time. [...]
11:27 am
links for 2007-01-09 | VentureFiles said:
[...] VentureBeat » Techdirt lets companies contact expert bloggers — discreetly — for advice (tags: techdirt venturebeat appsolve+research blogging) [...]
3:56 am
BlogForward : Money » Roundup: YouTube pays, Truemors, Techdirt, Kokua, Boo.com and more said:
[...] Expo this week, Techdirt showed off the testing version of its new service, just launched. We mentioned it last year here. It solicits the input of expert bloggers in niche fields to inform a corporate client in areas in [...]
11:34 pm
VentureBeat » PlugandPlay40: More startups on display said:
[...] of the well-known companies presenting tomorrow will include Lending Club (coverage), TechDirt (coverage), Vator.tv (coverage) and [...]