17 Jul 2007 Microstock Agency Blogs

What should I write about today? Ping! Into my inbox comes a press release from Dreamstime. They’ve got a new blog. Welcome to the party.

Blogs are usually defined as an ongoing source of information on a specific topic or from a specific person or group. Blogs usually allow readers to comment on each post, but not all blogs at the microstock agencies do.   They usually also provide subscription via RSS, which most of these blogs do.

iStockphoto

iStockphoto do not have a site-wide blog, but each of their contributors do. They also have an Articles section where they publish items of interest, but they don’t call it a blog.

The individual contributor blogs at iStockphoto are a real asset. Many contributors keep them updated and it’s a great way to find out about an individual contributor when looking at their profile page. What’s more, it really contributes to the community with many contributors encouraging each other and acknowledging their own achievements and those of fellow contributors.

iStockphoto offer RSS subscription of the individual blogs, but not of the articles section – which is understandable given they never claimed it to be a blog.

Dreamstime

Dreamstime yesterday launched their blog offering. It’s not a site-wide blog, but a mash of individual blogs of their members. Articles can be viewed via the profile page of an individual member or categorised by Useful, Hot and Latest on the blogs mash page.

Dreamstime have also gone to the trouble of including RSS subscription facilities for each individual blog.

http://blog.dreamstime.com

Fotolia

Fotolia have a site-wide blog for each geographical region.   They each present the same content but in different languages. It’s not very active, except when an upgrade goes horribly wrong. Commenters need to be pre-approved by Fotolia the first time they submit a comment. RSS subscription is available.

http://blog.fotolia.com/us

LuckyOliver

LuckyOliver have a blog that I like very much. It’s a site-wide blog and members can add comments to the posts. It’s well integrated into their website and they fill it with relevant and regular content, keeping everybody informed about what they’re doing. RSS subscription is available.

http://www.luckyoliver.com/blog