Building a better aggregator

abnormalreturns
April 8th, 2008

The econoblogosphere is abuzz today with yet another Seeking Alpha contributor calling it quits. This time is it is a biggie. Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture is contemplating on pulling the plug on further contributions to Seeking Alpha. (Please note we took this step some time ago.) He notes that the relationship is largely one-sided and dilutive of his valuable “brand.” Commenters agree that continuing to work with Seeking Alpha is not in his (or his reader’s) best interest.

The challenge for less well-established bloggers is that Seeking Alpha can provide a pretty big platform. That “soapbox” is (at the moment) not replicated elsewhere. It is clear to many, like Bill Rempel, that this relationship is slanted in favor of the publisher. The bigger question is there a better way?

Seeking Alpha has built a valuable franchise using input from their “contributors.” In a recent post we noted the need for a better business model for econoblog aggregation. Consider this an invitation to continue this discussion on ways to build a better mousetrap.