AOL Launches New Network of Financial Blogs

can i write for these blogs. If yes let me know how. I write for technology blogs.

"Different media outlets have different policies."
Regardless of policies, plan on keeping very detailed records if you do something like this. Layers of complexity and regulation (Sarbanes-Oxley) are involved. It might look simple, but it isn't. AOL may be out of it's area of expertise with this plan. We'll see what happens.

This is very expensive: Preserving regulated data on non-rewritable, nonerasable formats (an important provision of the SEC regulations).

"Finance, pharmaceutical, healthcare, telecommunications and government-related firms must observe strict electronic document retention requirements. Regulations aren't strict for nothing: Email retrieval was key to the government's case in the Enron scandal (Andersen's shredding party notwithstanding). For instance, the SEC insists that American securities firms retain their electronic documents for five years--and be sure they can search and restore specific messages and threads in a short turnaround."

"Iron Mountain noted that nearly 10,000 brokerage firms must keep all correspondence regarding a stock trade for six years, while email related to general business issues must be kept three years."

Source: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BRZ/is_1_23/ai_99811009/pg_4

I think I'm seeing a pattern in AOL's behavior now. Between their walled garden service, the development of "AIMspace", the scary internet commercials, some of what they *haven't* done, and now this, it looks more and more to me like AOL is chasing after a mature/baby boomer audience.

I have a client, a small engineering R&D business whose owner is an AOL user. And while he uses highend CAD, he doesn't even have an FTP client and never FTP's files (always an overnight CD). His age, the gaps in technology adoption, and his hesitance ... oh, and his substantial annual income ... make him a perfect AOL customer. And he's more wired than many people his age (late 40's). Financial blogs are exactly the sort of thing he might be interested in reading as he begins thinking more about retirement.

Only thing is, assuming I'm correct, this is somewhat short-term as the more wired generations who have grown up with computers won't necessarily see advantages in AOL's network . Of course, AOL has a pretty good audience for maybe 30 or 40 years.

I'll be looking to see which service they add next. They might also target the pre-teen crowd. A MySpace backlash might have baby boomers with kids worried and wanting more controls. And that demographic is increasingly calling the monetary shots in America's post-nuclear disfunctional families.

Csven,

Very provacative insight. I think the idea of pinpointing and playing to the market where they think they, because of their background as a wall-space, training wheels kind of place makes sense. Even the new video service that has reruns of shows from the 70s fits this notion....

About the subjects they planned to create blogs around next, they would only say what they think didn't make sense because there were too many blogs covering it already: hard news, entertainment and gossip, sports.

A agreee with cseven, but would add that AOL is going after every market that aligns with its family-friendly, pan-demographic brand.

AIMSpace is a great example. That service doesn't have to dethrone MySpace immediately. They simply have to provide an alternative to that network's perceived rowdiness. And, what's more, AOL's Ted Leonsis said AIMSpace will have a developer community aspect. That program will help AOL play catch-up with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, eBay and Amazon, each of which has established 3rd-party developer communities. (I have a column on this here: http://www.publish.com/article2/0,1895,1952583,00.asp.)

As for blogginstocks.com, sounds like a great idea aimed at an affluent niche. This has Calacanis' fingerprints all over it.

Heather, I love your blog entries and articles. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
Steve Bryant
ed., publish.com

Steve, agree with the family-friendly focus, but I'm being a bit more granular. For example, I don't see AOL going after just any family. Winning over a 20-something couple with babies doesn't make sense to me. Generally, that market is probably more adventurous (and casual) in their surfing. They're likely to be former Napster users and mostly part of what I consider the entitlement crowd (I've forgotten the tags: Gen-Y, gold-collar, whatever; need to brush up). However, AOL might target a conservative 20-something couple - usually associated with religious communities The growth in that market could be lucrative and provide a better long-term option. But right now, that young couple doesn't have the money to burn like the boomers (I know a couple of "gold-collar" 20-somethings and they're starting to feel the pinch - especially with gas prices soaring). Anyway, that might be a tougher nail to hit than what I'm thinking they're focused on at the moment Boomers are the broad side of the barn. In any event, it'll be worth watching.

I would like ask if M&T Bank is good enough for long term Thank You Davidamher@AOl.com

I would like to follow up on the subject.
Seems to be that the one idea of a manipulated market would be of course benificial for the company, but in the long run what is the outcome vs. short term revenues from purchased stocks?

Look forward to more on this.

Maker Money

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These commentary on stock market is interesting , it shows portfolio getting effected by market tools .