November 18, 2005

OSM/Open Source Media

Roger Simon turned on the OSM/Open Source Media machine Wednesday. From what I've gleened the company's business model reads something like this:

1. Get high traffic weblogs like Instapundit and Little Green Footballs on board
   
2. Use them to steer traffic to a weblog portal;
   
3. Sell ads on portal and associated weblogs;
   
4. Hope and pray;
   
Rinse. Repeat.

About the business model OSMer John Cole writes, "That is of no concern to me other than I hope they figure something out or have something in place that will work." That's not encouraging. Some very trusting investors were willing to give OSM $3.5 million in venture capital. (With Digg getting a similar amount are we entering another internet bubble?)

Earlier this year when OSM/Open Source Media was still Pajama Media (a truly bad name) I was sent a non-disclosure agreement and brief on the company. My accountant/business advisor and I looked through it. She was more optimistic. I was scratching my head. How does OSM/Open Source Media allow me to monetize my weblog better than BlogAds? The brief talked about how the company would get big-name advertisers to buy ads on weblogs. In order to build confidence this could happen I would have liked to know who would be running the business and doing the sales. Roger Simon and Charles Johnson didn't show me any history of running a successful business. Tossing around the names of A-list webloggers didn't build confidence.

The new company already is flubbing their name. Chris Lyndon has an outfit in Massachusetts called Open Source Media, Inc. which produces a public radio show with a sister weblog. Brendan Greeley, one of the show's producers, is covering OSM/Open Source Media's name problem.

• Part I
  
• Part II
  
• Part III (This post is very damning.)
  
• Part IV
  
• Part V
  

Sadly, the big names associated with OSM/Open Source Media aren't talking much about the name problem. "Accidental" CEO (huh?) Roger Simon writes, "we're going to be flopping around for some time, much like a kid learning to ride a bicycle." Trampling on somone else's name is more than a new company flop. He offers no explanation or defense or even his side of the story. Charles Johnson just links to a sarcastic post by fellow OSMer Iowahawk. Michelle Malkin is quiet. She's traveling and hawking her book, but had time to post about the Iraq War vote in the House.

A big fear was Glenn Reynolds would start linking only to the OSM portal and weblogs creating a blogosphere-within-the-blogosphere. He links to OSM wire copy and weblog roundups, but I haven't seen a real OSM bias. That's good.

A good barometer of successful, good media is Jeff Jarvis. The guy has too much experience to take his opinion lightly. If they could have won him over instead of having him scratch his head and wonder what OSM/Open Source Media is I'd say Simon, Johnson, et al had a shot. Jarvis is now "cringing as I await the sound of trains crashing."

After the Huffington Post hype I'm not optimistic about OSM/Open Source Media. Being only two-days old I know I'm not giving it a chance. But OSM doesn't feel organic, alive. Even with cool people like Glenn Reynolds associated with it it doesn't have a personality. On the business side the the company founders may have completely misconstrued how advertising works.

UPDATE: James Joyner collected responses about OSM/Open Source Media. Long-time critic Ann Althouse lays into Roger Simon's Jesus Christ pose.