Here's a thing to discover just before you go to bed: Six Apart, the company that produces the blog software that's at the heart of much of my day job, is about to be sold. In its new incarnation as part of Say Media, it appears focused on advertising sales and engagement as much (if not more so) than on blogging.
Clearly, this matters to me: we publish hundreds of blogs on Movable Type, have an enterprise support arrangement with Six Apart, and will be watching what happens in coming days very closely. [Update: Typepad bloggers have been officially informed]
That said, I think there's plenty of reasons to be hopeful, and I would suggest that the Mashable piece that questions the future of Movable Type overlooks one key advantage to Say Media keeping both Typepad and Movable Type going, and developing them aggressively. Without them, Say Media is just another ad network, and the world is not short of ad networks. With the blog platforms, they're a full-service publishing support business.
In essence, they can say: "You worry about the content, we'll worry about monetising it and hosting it":
- Just want to blog? Use Typepad + and their ad support services.
- Want to build and monetise a community? Typepad Motion + ad support
- Want something more bespoke? Use Movable Type + Say Media Services development + Typepad Hosted services.
Obviously, we'll know more when the formal announcements are made later today. And, as I said above, I'll be watching developments very carefully. But I'm a way away from pulling the (long-prepared, admittedly) MT-escape lever...
