Blogcatalog is a social networking site of bloggers with more than <1>80,000 members</1>. <2>Founded in mid 2004</2> Blogcatalog has become a prime competitor of Yahoos MyBloglog. There are many online <3><4><6>comparisons</6></4></3> between the two services and online reviewers claims the developers of each attempt to differentiate there platforms.

Features

Blogcatalog allows users to list their blog(s) according to genre. Every blog entered into the directory is physically approved by a live person. Blog owners receive a profile page that list whatever the blogger wishes to say, owners blogs, friends, comments posted by others, recent viewers, neighborhoods, e-communities, BC groups, shout box, reviews, and recent discussions. Blogcatalog allows you to choose friends from the community.

Neighborhoods allow members to easily follow other member’s blog post by displaying selected blogs within their profile. The Neighborhood feature also lets profile visitors see whose add the member s blog in their own neighborhoods. Members can also display what internet communities they belong to such as MySpace, Flickr, Facebook, Digg, del.icio.us, Twitter, and others. The shout box lets members post messages to your profile and can be private or public. Members can also rate other member’s blogs and write a review on the profile page featuring that particular blog.
Other notable Blogcatalog features are the Groups which allow members to form their own groups based on interest. Every group has a discussion board and there is also a general discussion board were members engage in live dialogue on any number of topics. The Message shoutbox and discussion boards all have spam guard and quick report button.

Blogcatalog also has its own internal blog <5>ranking algorithm</5>. The higher a blog ranks, the higher it is placed within the directory.

History

<2>Blogcatalog was developed in April of 2004 by Fortymedia.com and was owned by the Bloggy Network until purchased by Siteproplus.com in January of 2007</2>. <7>Blogcatalog was originally created as a blog directory but developed into an online community early into 2007 with added social networking features.</7> <8>On February 17th 2007 Blogcatalog announced upgrades in its ranking algorithm and also its directory search.</8> The evolution of Blogcatalog as a directory to a social networking site has occurred under the ownership of Sitproplus.com. The current CEO of Blogcatalog is Angela Da Vinci whose Blogcatalog member name is AngeldaVinci. User Siteproplus (representative of the parent company) is often found interacting with members on the discussion boards.

References

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