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How does Google define a blog though?
Most likely through a list maintained by Blogger.
That's where the "partnership" comes from.
BLOGGER.com will get some publicity (especially with a press release Re: their joint venture) and will widen their brand recognition - most likely resulting in more Bloggers.
GOOGLE will, in turn, gain more control over their index (which should ultimately be one of the main goals of any SE considering the trash that comes with having to process thousands of submissions every day in an efficient manner) and may even find a way to offer it as a co-branded service - widening, not just their recognition, but appeal to users who may be using Yahoo! and search services other than Google.
Blogger is a "go to it" service that makes creating web logs easy. Most non-technical people know of Yahoo! but have NO IDEA what a Google is. :)
This would definitely a great way to broaden their user base in a respectable manner -and without having to spend a cent on advertising.
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And then again it can have nothing to do with a Google/Blogger anything, however, this certainly does look like all the elements are in place for such a thing to be announced by the end of the week.
STEVE
PS: Do I get some kind of brownie points if I'm right? ;P
Blogger started it all of course and is a great product, but the trend is towards tools like greymatter, Radio and MovableType, and most of the high profile blogs are NOT using blogger so i dont think they could index all blogger sites and leave out the rest and call it a blog search engine.
So just what are they up to?
Maybe they are going to offer free hosting for blogs?... nah.. dosent make sense..
OK, iid leave it till it happens!
...and most of the high profile blogs are NOT using blogger so i dont think they could index all blogger sites and leave out the rest...
Most businesses expand through strategic partnerships. Whether they're better services or not, if they've got more exposure - then they will own that market.
It's the old BETA/VHS syndrome. BETA was the higher quality product, but it was not advertised as much as VHS, therefore, as VHS appeal grew, BETA faded.
Blogger may be attempting a major leap towards cornering their market.
"Help is here! We've launched a new help system for Blogger through a partnership with Public Mind."
So it seems the the secret was indeed the "star wars" cinema visit of some googlers.
But anyway, it was a nice thought.