Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet today launched a new blog hosting service for its readers, who are welcome to start their own blogs on Aftonbladet.se. The new blog service is a copy of Norwegian daily Verdens Gang and its successful service. Aftonbladet and VG are both part of the Schibsted group. VG are close to hosting 10,000 blogs and they have together published in excess of 50,000 posts so far.
Aftonbladet’s blogs allow trackbacks, a feature that competitor Expressen does not have. Both services are equipped with an “abuse” feature where readers can protest against inappropriate content, which in itself is an irony, in that newspapers normally are proponents of free speech. Aftonbladet also allows anyone to comment on the blogs while Expressen demands that you are a member. Aftonbladet also has a feature with tags that allows you to surf blogs by topic.
All in all, my verdict is: Aftonbladet-Expressen 1-0.
