Remember AOL, the company credited with creating one of the first real social networks, only to see everyone from Earthlink to MySpace steal its thunder? Over the past year, it has quietly amassed a small army of content writers who now power AOL’s dominance in the world of news blogs. The most intriguing part is that this is all being done under the radar–
Visitors to sites like Engadget and FanHouse may not know that those sites emanate from a company that used to confine most of its communication to telling them they’ve got mail. Which is sort of the idea.
Since he arrived in April, Tim Armstrong, chief executive of AOL and the former head of sales at Google, has made it clear that he expects AOL, using its MediaGlow division, to be one of the largest sources of ad-supported content on the planet. He’s a bit more chaste in person.
Mr. Armstrong doesn’t think it’s important that customers of Black Voices, BloggingStocks or Stylelist need to know it was all brought to you by AOL.
Amazon’s initial foray into online shoes similarly hid any mention of the word “Amazon”. It’s a smart strategy. Savvy companies do not stubbornly insist that their brands are the perfect vehicle for all marketing objectives. You pick and choose when to apply the corporate logo, and when to hold back.
The Media Equation – AOL Builds Content as Mainstream Media Falters – NYTimes.com.
