I came across several articles about BLOGBUS and FEEDSKY:
1. FEEDSKY negotiates with advertising companies for a potential sale.
2. What makes them public relations firms?
3. Some doubts about online word-of-mouth marketing.
Beicheng mentioned that both BLOGBUS and FEEDSKY have become public relations firms. Regardless of whether this is considered a decline, FEEDSKY and BLOGBUS are not comparable; one is a FEED service provider, the other is a Blog Service Provider (BSP). FEEDSKY only has users but no content, whereas BLOGBUS has both. This determines that their future paths are not necessarily as public relations firms.
FEEDSKY is an excellent FEED service provider with outstanding technology and frequent innovations in business model exploration, from topic marketing to page advertising. However, the results have never been prominent. I agree with Beicheng's view that FEEDSKY’s topic marketing often involves self-deception; page advertising does not gain recognition from brand advertisers, so it cannot achieve significant scale. Even if FEEDSKY can extract high-quality blogs to improve marketing efficiency, the market capacity may not be able to support it. Therefore, given the current situation, FEEDSKY's profit model focused on blog marketing is quite limited, and its effectiveness is also limited. Without a better solution, transforming into a dedicated PR company might be a good choice. Doing PR is different from doing marketing. FEEDSKY holds many self-media resources, and while marketing may not always work, PR offers a natural advantage. In fact, some cases done by FEEDSKY can be seen as PR works. Since they are doing PR, being acquired by a wealthy advertising company might help them leverage more resource advantages. This is obviously a pretty good option.
BLOGBUS stands out uniquely in the professional BSP field, offering top-notch services with a large user base. In terms of business models, VIP and BUS small stores were industry firsts, but their contributions should be small. Public relations and blog marketing businesses are currently the main forces. Yelling City claims to focus on strong word-of-mouth marketing but still relies heavily on the banner of blog marketing. The upcoming offline magazine might also be a supporting point for profitability. Both FEEDSKY and BLOGBUS hold a large number of users, differing in that one is indirect and the other direct. However, I believe the decisive factor for the current different situations of these two is "content." FEEDSKY lacks content, making blog marketing difficult, but BLOGBUS is different. BLOGBUS' blog marketing is supported by content, which makes it relatively smooth. In the Web 2.0 era, we see the opportunities brought by information fragmentation and have been pursuing socialized marketing based on fragmented information, but few people realize the return of centralized influence after fragmented dissemination. FEEDSKY can fragment marketing information to allow more scattered users across the network to encounter the information for the first time, but due to the lack of centralized content return, there are fewer second or third encounters or even more chances for influence, nor is there an interactive effect brought by scale influence. This is FEEDSKY's fatal flaw and BLOGBUS's advantage. We can see that all marketing activities conducted by BLOGBUS are based on the return to centralization after decentralization.
In essence, regardless of whether it's socialized marketing, simple online marketing, or traditional marketing, the attention economy still holds its authority. From the perspective of enterprises, the goal is to gain attention, and from the perspective of marketing platforms, it is to sell attention. Of course, this does not mean we ignore the behavioral economy and social network benefits, which are more efficient and deeper within socialized marketing networks. BSP will inevitably become outdated, so BSP is not the way forward for BLOGBUS. Simply being a PR company with users and content seems like underutilizing resources. BSP will develop towards interactivity, and marketing must be based on the socialized marketing of blogs. Offline magazines may be a great marketing integration resource. Based on these factors, I believe more that BLOGBUS will become an excellent online integrated marketing communication agency. And it tends to operate independently rather than being acquired.
Whether it's FEEDSKY or BLOGBUS, both can be considered relatively successful pioneers in China's Web 2.0 landscape, with capable leaders and good teams. They are both moving forward, but how their prospects and financial outlooks turn out isn't something you or I can decide. It's better to carefully observe.