Business 2.0 journalist/blogger Om Malik is reportedly quitting Business 2.0 and going solo.
According to Technorati, Om’s Gigom blog is the 85th largest in the world. You know this is becoming a trend when ABC News asks “Should you quit your day job to blog?”
Om has used his blog over the past several years to break some stories that were huge for the blogosphere, but not quite big enough for the mainstream press at the time. Now he is doing something (going solo) that many journalists dream about, but with a couple of major caveats.
First, he’s staying on as a contributing editor, writing a monthly column for Business 2.0 that will start in September. Second, he’s taken seed funding, according to Valleywag. This means he can’t just be the run of the mill freelancer/lone gun.
If I were Om, I would try to leverage his great brand he has built by turning it into a micro media franchise that includes international sites, events and proprietary research. It’s the model that Alan Meckler perfected during the 1990s and TechCrunch continues today. TechCrunch may not sell research now, but watch for them to do so. It’s the path many media companies take. Now, however, the investment required is minimal.
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Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.
He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.
