People

Duncan Riley, a year after joining Michael Arrington’s TechCrunch, is leaving the popular site. Riley, who wrote an article about Yahoo Buzz that went on to be the site’s most-read story, will open his own tech blog, Inquisitr.

Arrington twice said Riley will be “greatly missed” and said the two parted on good terms. A long-known proponent of combining blogs into an unstoppable force, Arrington said he hoped to buy Inquisitr someday and bring Riley back.

TechCrunch has served as a bit of grapefruit league for bloggers, becoming the launchpad of ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick and CNet’s Natalie Del Conte, among others.

Riley told Pro Blogging News that Arrington hired a new blogger, Jason Kincaid a month ago. “He’s young and still a little raw but he has a lot of potential,” he said by e-mail.

Although he was the only full-time TC writer when he began as a contract blogger a year ago, Riley told Pro Blogging News the tech site now has three others.

Before appearing on the pages of TechCrunch, Riley has launched and sold a number of high-profile sites, including Blog Herald (created in 2002, sold in 2006) and Canadian-based blog network B5 Media (which he helped found in 2005 with Darren Rowse and Jeremy Wright.) A year later B5 received $2 million in venture funding.

On his personal blog, Riley gives some oft-quoted reasons for departing the high-stress life of a TechCrunch blogger:

• “I want my weekends back (although it wont happen for sometime, but at least I have control over that aspect.)
• “I’m a little tired (the whole Louis Gray thing being case in point.)
• “I feel that if I’m going to kill myself doing this (blogging) it should be building something I own or have a stake in.”

Riley’s former boss recently told the New York Times the stress of competitive blogging caused him to gain 30 pounds in three months and expects to be hospitalized. Other bloggers have died or been forced to adopt healthier lifestyles. What sort of stress will remaining Tech Crunch bloggers have to endure?

The outgoing tech blogger also mentions the desire to have a “stake in” his writing. The explanation brings up the subject of how Tech Crunch bloggers are paid. Arrington nemesis Nick Denton, who overseas the Gawker empire, has come under fire for his decision to pay bloggers based on how much traffic they generate. Do Tech Crunch bloggers operate under similar sliding scales?

Whatever reason for Riley’s departure from Tech Crunch, who will fill his writing shoes? Currently, the task is split among Arrington and several other bloggers, including Erick Schonfeld, a journalistic pro Arrington hired in 2007 as co-editor.

Despite Arrington’s fond farewell send-off for Riley, financial questions remain:

• Do Tech Crunch bloggers sign a non-compete clause?

Riley has opened Inquisitr, which touches on technology, but at the moment, it includes news broken by other sources. If Riley starts breaking news - and particularly startup-related items - will Arrington become less chummy?

Riley told Pro Blogging News as a contractor he never signed a non-compete clause and wasn’t sure if full-time bloggers were required.

• Will Riley share in the profit from traffic generated by the thousands of posts he wrote while at TC?

If not, TC is a write-for-hire shop, one of the least-desirable arrangements for writers. However, Riley later got back to us, explaining TC hadn’t gone down the Gawker path.

“Not at all. I was always paid a flat rate per month irrespective of the traffic,” he said.

Automattic, the private company behind the blog hosting service WordPress.com, has hired the former director of systems at Vidavee, a company that created a plug-in allowing WordPress.com users to display video on their blogs.

Warwick Poole, on his blog, announced his new job Monday. Poole’s new position at Automattic is as something euphemistically called “Systemologist.”

Cover photo: Flickr

Are you considering directly approaching large advertisers, rather than eeking out pennies from Google or joining an ad network? The secret, according to one insider, is simple: just add more zeros to your price.

“We noticed big companies like big numbers,” former Splashpress Media marketing director Dave Peralty said during a WordPress Weekly podcast. After coming up empty-handed on smaller offers, Peralty said he convinced Splashpress ad chief Dave Jones to resubmit the proposals - this time asking more money.

“When we started slipping in more zeros, we started getting more ‘yes’s,” he said. The reason for the increased success was one of self-confidence.

“They saw value because we placed more value on that advertising space,” he said.

As Peralty walks away from Splashpress and into a blogging outreach position at Israeli-based PicApp, he provided some insight into the core motivation of blog networks: money.

“Blog networks were built up to make money - simple as that,” he said. The most common money-making paths for blog networks is posting a “for sale” sign.

Cashing-out, eventually selling to someone else, is probably the biggest way most of these networks will make money, Peralty said.

Take Splashpress, for instance. After starting 2007 buying Performancing.com, the blog network acquired 901am.com in April, then finished the year grabbing several Bloggy Network sites, including Blogging Pro. Today Bloggy Network is a partner with Splashpress, creating sites for the UK-based company, including FreeWordPress Themes, Premium WordPress Themes, Photo Blogs and Feed Vault.

David Peralty, Splashpress Media’s marketing director and Blogging Pro leader, will head blogger outreach for Israeli-based PicApp. He left after never becoming accustom to the Splashpress environment, Peralty said during a podcast aired Friday evening.

“It’s a big company, and I wasn’t really used to that environment,” Peralty told Jeff Chandler on WordPress Weekly. Although he said the two parted ways amicably, Peralty preferred the startup environment of smaller companies, such as Bloggy Network, his former employer.

In 2007, Peralty became Splashpress Media’s Marketing Director after the U.K.-based blog network purchased Blogging Pro and a number of other sites owned by Bloggy Network.

Friday morning, Splashpress Media Editor-in-Chief J. Angelo Racoma announced Peralty was out and he would be taking his spot as leader at Blogging Pro.

Peralty’s new employer, PicApp is behind a service that lets bloggers use Getty or Corbis images for free. The images include embedded advertising, providing an alternative to bloggers using copyrighted photos without permission.

The former Splashpress marketing head said he was surprised his former employer posted a message announcing his departure.

“I was actually kind of surprised they published that post because it might be detrimental to business,” he said. Often, when a blogger publicly identified with a site leaves, traffic can fall, he said.

Asked by Pro Blogging News why he left without alerting readers, he said he wanted to make a “quiet exit and let the Splashpress team fill the void in any way they saw fit.”

Peralty said he found the PicApp job through Darren Rowse’s job board after first approaching other companies, including several other blog networks.

Photo: Flickr

David Peralty is leaving Splashpress Media’s Blogging Pro site. J. Angelo Racoma, a Splashpress Editor-In-Chief, announced Friday he’ll be taking the reins, along with a Splashpress writer.

Peralty left to “pursue other endeavors (a startup, I hear?),” Racoma wrote. Peralty was hired as Splashpress’ marketing manager in January of 2007 after the U.K. based blogging network purchased Blogging Pro and a number of other Bloggy Network sites.

Update: Peralty e-mailed to say he’ll provide details of his departure Friday at 9 p.m. on the WordPress Weekly podcast.

The announcement is intriguing in two aspects: the news was broken not by Peralty (the company’s marketing chief) but a Splashpress editor. Also, the ouster of Peralty comes after Splashpress replaced Tony Hung as editor at Blog Herald.

Racoma Friday asked readers how Blogging Pro should be reshaped to better fit the Splashpress blogs, suggesting the site continue covering the technical aspects of blogging.

Photo: Flickr

Aaron Brazell, one of the original members of the B5 Media firm, announced Thursday he will leave the company Monday, the blogging company having found his replacement. Brazell said he will become an independent contractor for a number of Internet businesses.

“Currently, I have a verbal agreement with a Web 2.0 company, a pseudo-Web 2.0 company, and a PR firm for work with more in the pipeline,” Brazell told his blog’s readers.

Brazell, who announced in March he would leave his post as technology director at B5, said he’s getting a few calls despite the slumping economy. However, he admitted it wasn’t the wisest move to leave before finding a new job.

“This is scary actually. Not really what I had planned. Not really what I want. But it seems to be the direction life is going.”

B5 is going through a bit of a hiring binge. Last week it hired Rachel Segal as the company’s new marketing manager and is looking for a content manager. Brazell’s replacement is expected to be announced within days.

Photo: Flickr

Michael Arrington, the blogging impresario behind TechCrunch, was named to Time Magazine’s ‘Top 100′ list of “builders and titans” for 2008.

Although placed in the same category as publishing mogul Rupert Murdoch, blogging king-maker Arrington came as a last draft pick, ranked in 100th place, behind the editor of the French Vogue and Cynthia Carroll, CEO of U.K.-based mining giant Anglo American.

In a profile, Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington calls Arrington the quintessential blogger and an “accidental power broker.”

Huffington mentioned Arrington’s “legendary parties.” In April, much was made of talk (which Arrington disputed) that he tossed a rival from a Hollywood shin-dig sponsored by TechCrunch and PopSugar.

Arrington has also made news for his comments in a much-maligned New York Times article that pressure has caused him to gain 30 pounds in three months and wouldn’t be surprised to land in the hospital.

Time isn’t the first public notice of Arrington’s growing power. The blogger is often asked for his thoughts on the blogging industry, including speculation on potential financial deals.

In April, Folio magazine named Arrington to its list of Top 40 influencers for 2008, saying the former attorney turned blogger held sway over the industry “more than anyone covering the business of the Internet.”

However, with all the accolades, Arrington is coming under increasing fire for often reporting a breaking deal or potential agreement, only to come up empty.

Peter Longo to Become CEO of the IDG Technology Network

IDG has hired digital media guru Peter Longo as the first CEO of the IDG Technology Network, effective May 12. Longo was chief sales officer at Inform Technologies, a company that provides capabilities to automatically search, organize, and link content to attract and retain readers for media brands.

Charged with growing the recently announced IDG TechNetwork (www.idgtechnetwork.com) for independent publishers and technology advertisers, Longo’s experience at Inform and prior to that at Zinio Systems will help him develop relationships with third parties interested in IDG’s media and ad network.

Before Inform Technologies, Longo was executive vice-president and president of Zinio from 2003-2006. From 1991-2003, he held several executive positions at Ziff Davis Media. Prior to Ziff Davis, Longo worked at CMP Media, Long Island Monthly, and Sport Magazine.

The heads of Automattic and The Huffington Post are slated to appear Tuesday at next week’s EconSM conference. Both Toni Schneider and Betsy Morgan will participate in panel discussions of the impact of social media on business.

Morgan, who became CEO of The Huffington Post in 2007, will take part in a group speaking about how well politicians understand and use social media. The HuffPo has seen visits and funding skyrocket as politics and social media become intertwined in record ways during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Schnieder, who leads the private company behind the free blog hosting service WordPress.com, will plumb his knowledge as a past and present CEO to take part in the panel entitled “Getting Real: Grown-Up Startups.” Other questions for panelists include what to do after the start-up phase and how does a company determine success.

Both CEOs will appear on the second day of the conference.