A group of Filipino bloggers has recently announced the launch of Bayanihan Blog Network (or BBN), the “first Filipino blog network.”

The BBN is your passport to unique, fresh and independent perspectives. Unique because it’s written by Filipinos. Fresh because no other group writers mixes Western influence and Eastern sensibility so well. And independent because we provide an alternative point of view. So sit back, get ready to scroll, and have a fun time scanning reading our posts.

The network is currently composed of 10 blogs, which are mostly team blogs that are already esteablished in the Philippine blogging community. Notable topics/niches are technology, food, urban life, travel, offshoring, comics, sports, weddings, and the expatriate life. The network is looking into adding more sites, though.

The network’s home page contains feeds from the member blogs, much like what other community-type blog networks have.

Duncan Riley writes about a recent issue where 9rules has been criticized of being a “link farm.” He writes that 9rules is more of a blog ring than a blog network. However, he dismisses the accusation that 9rules is acting like a link farm because member blogs don’t necessarily link to all (or even just some) blogs in the network on their blogrolls.

The question then becomes: what is the best way to describe the 9rules model? I’m tempted to suggest blog commune, and given Scriv’s political bent he’d probably half like that, but I thinking blog community is a much better description, after all it’s not just about the links, 9rules has always been big on community and fellowship and the site as a portal is geared towards this. Sure, you could argue for blog directory as well, but directory doesn’t encompass the social aspects: blog community just fits perfectly.

The issue was actually about quantity vs. quality, with 9rules being accused of focusing on how many sites it has in its roll. However, it’s perhaps good to note here that not all blog networks are alike in structure, business model and even in the definition.

It seems BBC is not the only mainstream media outfit launching blog networks. Other traditional media companies–in other countries, too!–are doing the same.

GMA, one of the Philippines’ major television networks, has recently started the GMA Blog Network, where many of its existing news, public affairs, and showbiz personalities are blogging.

The blog also features columns by known journalists (such as investigative journalism body PCIJ, known to be popular bloggers in their own right), and as well as guest bloggers from various fields.

Of course with updates like these, bloggers will be asking about the supposed rift between new media and traditional media, and whether a major media network’s corporate culture will be able to embrace blogging as a viable medium. Another question would be the independence of the individual bloggers that maintain the network’s sites. Would these be able to freely publish as regular bloggers do? Or does the content pass through editorial channels first?

Still, this is a good move. We’d love to see more media networks start blogging.

Nick Denton’s Gawker Media reports a traffic growth rate of more than 100%, based on a comparison of traffic from December 2005 with that of December 2006.

Gawker Media’s a private company, and we don’t give out financial results, but we’ve always been transparent about traffic. So here’s the annual report. According to Comscore, US monthly uniques for Gawker sites combined went from 1.6m in December 2005 to 3.7m visitors in December 2006. Traffic, tracked by Sitemeter, not including content viewed within RSS readers, went from 40.4m pageviews in December 2005 to 90.6m last month. Shown: pageviews by site. The chart doesn’t include sites started during the year, Valleywag and Idolator, nor those closed down, Sploid and Screenhead.

Based on the chart (and our visual guesstimates), Gizmodo leads in terms of raw traffic. However, Kotaku has the largest growth rate. Nick posts screencaps with numeric indicators, as well as a traffic growth graph from since 2002.

60 million monthly page views for 11 sites is not bad! Now we wonder how much Gawker earns from this.

[via 901am]

Blue Fish Network announces the addition of new blogs to its membership.

First up is An American in Sweden by Melanie, who writes about her new life in Sweden.

Next comes JustDan from Daniel, which talks about his life in the Philippines.

Thirdly, Ajay – On the Road Called Life! is Ajay’s personal blog that also discusses a fair bit of technology.

Next we have Sea Kayaking Dot Com, written by Adam, A blog for seakayakers around the world, featuring tips, pointers, and helpful hints.

New site number five is Captain’s Log, John’s blog about technology, video games, and other daily musings.

Number six is Thought Hacker, the creative portfolio of Nick Barrett.

Seventh comes Anyone can blog, few can do it well. It’s written by Allen Oz, which is the pen name of a professional writer early in his career.

In eighth place is Lak TEK, a blog by Lakshan focused on Web 2.0, Web Apps and standard-based design.

And last but not least is Resolute Urgency of Now, by Jules. Anything from humorous happenings to family dramas can be found in it.

Blue Fish Network follows the model of the blog commune, wherein the network does not actually own any (or most) of the blogs, but rather takes in mebmers, who then benefit from the link exchange and the aggregation of content on the Blue Fish frontpage. Aside from linking to the latest updates on the front page, Blue Fish has several channels, under which the niches of the member blogs are organized. The Blue Fish frontpage also selects featured posts among the notable blog entries on member sites.

The new additions to the network brings the active membership to 69 blogs.

Andy Merret reports over at the Blog Herald that Shiny Media has launched TechScape, which is a blog all about Web 2.0, particularly focusing on the UK.

The UK’s largest blog network, Shiny Media, has officially launched its newest technology blog. TechScape will look at everything “Web 2.0″, with a particular focus on what’s happening in the UK, and on the mobile Internet.

Looking good, if I must say–the concept and the design look promising. One question that comes to mind, though, is the local aspect of Web 2.0. Given Web 2.0 is mostly a concept not limited by traditional geographic boundaries, taking only a UK-perspective might be too limiting. Perhaps local-based web apps and communities would be a niche that TechScape would fill in well.

Creative Weblogging has announced the addition of three new German-language blogs in its lineup.

Megapixelig is a blog on digital photography. The topics to be discussed will include hardware (such as cameras, lenses, accessories), software (Photoshop and other post-processing apps), and photography tips.

FeschSamma is a blog about fashion and style, and the term literally means “We’re Posh” in english. How posh is that!?

Worldwide Luxus will talk about luxurious goods. Luxury items are apparently the rage these days, and these range from cars, watches, apparel and even food!

This brings the number of German-language blogs by Creative Weblogging to about 25.

David Krug recently interviewed b5media president Jeremy Wright on 901am.com. Wright talks about the recent deal between b5media and Glam network for the syndication of b5media blog content into the various Glam publications (online). Wright says the primary motivation for the deal was revenue.

The point of this deal for us was revenue. I honestly believe b5 has done a pretty kick-ass job at bringing on great writers who write fantastic content. These days they produce somewhere between 150-300 posts per day. Since we launched a year and a bit ago, we really have focused on creating valuable content – and effectively figuring that if you have enough traffic it’s hard not to make money with it.

Wright states that the relationship is a simple one, in that Glam benefits by getting exposure from b5media, and b5media benefits by its bloggers likewise gaining exposire via Glam’s own network. Glam apparently “sell[s] ads really well,” and b5media gets Glam “more revenue by virtue of having a greater reach.”

So it’s a win-win situation. In these cases, relationships between blog networks can be beneficial rather than adversarial.

Here’s another feather on b5media’s cap. b5media Inc. has recently entered an agreement with fashion and lifestyle network Glam Media. The agreement is for Glam Media’s syndication of relevant content from the various b5media blogs, according to the press release.

NEW YORK and TORONTO– January 9, 2006 – Glam Media and b5media Inc. announced a partnership today to bring content from b5media to Glam, the largest fashion and style network on the Web. Select b5media blogs will join the Glam Network of over 250 affiliates, including Cosmopolitan, Dwell¸ Marie Claire and Nylon magazines, and dozens of leading indie fashion and lifestyle blogs and sites.

New media publishers like the b5media contribute to Glam’s interactive channels and features, offering brand advertisers a targeted way to reach the engaged and passionate audience of the blogs in their network. Glam Media reaches more than 8.6 million global unique visitors a month, and is a top 10 women’s property, according to comScore Media Metrix.

Marketing-wise, we do think b5media has hit a great demographic, with its being part of the Glam network. Fashion and style are high-profile niches, and the target demographic are usually upscale individuals with high disposable income. It’s always great to reach an audience whom advertisers would love to pitch products to.

A well rounded blog network should be able to cater to everyone’s interests. Well, of course it won’t be practical to talk about everything. But it would be a good idea to at least cater those whose tastes are more or less in the mainstream.

Take for instance science. Science is a part of our lives, whether you like it or not. The food you eat, the air you breathe, even the ground you walk on–everything has some concepts related to science. Look up the sky at night, and hopefully you’ll see the billions of stars (that is, if your city or locale is not too polluted yet).

b5media understands that people dig astronomy, and has recently launched a new astronomy blog to its rolls: astronomybuff.com.

It’s about time! The b5media Science and Health Channel has an astronomy blog – Astronomy Buff. I don’t know how we could have called ourselves a proper science and health channel without one.

Tony Darnell, pilot and Riverdance lover, will lead us all into space and, for once, we’re not just talking about cyberspace. Whether you’ve been fascinated by astronomy since childhood or are new to the way astronomers view the universe, Astronomy Buff will amaze you. Tony is unique, off the wall, and just plain likeable.

Astronomy Buff articles range from practical advice on astronomy-related gadgets and observation best practices (like how to ask your neighbor to turn of his skyline-polluting lights), and news about astronomy.