Sugar Inc, owner of the popular Sugar blog network that includes PopSugar, is launching a free blogging platform called OnSugar. The Drupal-powered OnSugar platform is designed to be as simple as possible while still remaining versatile, and already has a proven track record - the Sugar blog network is written using the same technology. Users will be given tools to create special features that have become mainstays on the blogs, including photo galleries and polls, and will also have access to a large repository of free images from Getty.
Bloggers will be able to monetize their sites through standard ad networks like AdSense or Glam, and will also be able to include ShopStyle widgets (though they won’t be available until the final launch in 90 days). ShopStyle, which was acquired by Sugar last fall, allows bloggers to create visual spreads of real-world products. Bloggers will get a cut of any sales that result from the widgets.
The platform is a smart move for Sugar on two fronts: For one, it gives existing Sugar readers a chance to express their opinions to the public without having to leave the network, allowing Sugar to increase its retention rates for current users. Its streamlined interface will also appeal to prospective bloggers who may not care for Sugar’s blogs in the first place, allowing Sugar to reach an entirely new audience.
We had previously speculated that Sugar was gearing up to take on rival Glam Media with its own ad network, but CEO Brian Sugar says that while Sugar had considered building one, it decided to shelve the idea for the time being. However, he acknowledged that an ad network could easily be layered into the new blogs should Sugar ever change its mind.
You can check out a sample blog at TechCrunch.OnSugar.com.
looks sweet. pun intended.
Hahaha John stole my comment!!!
It’s good to see another blog platform open up, it would be nice if they go after a more mainstream audience so that blogging can expand beyond its more ‘geekier’ people stereotype that still exists in Australia.
Sugar is basically the opposite of “geeky” - this should be pretty mainstream.
How about a rimjob?
One more blog platform?
Is any thing going to become a wordpress killer?
Existing blogs can be imported from Blogger, Wordpress, or Typepad. this is interesting
The problem with Sugar is always execution. They build things and they go into a wasteland. It’s like the future Yahoo! of the women’s category.
Interesting. Their new blog network with Shopstyle widgets looks like a combination of Polyvore and Chictopia, with added user monetization capability.
The serif font in their logo tells me they’re serious.
They actually have a good logo and a smart branding strategy. It’s an indirect knock off of C&H Sugar both in font style and color scheme which allows their small brand with no history to piggyback on a brand that has achieved icon status. Instant credibility.
man does their execution suck. techcrunch investment in sugar is well known and posts like these prove blind reporting rules.
It’s just customized Drupal. How can they call it their own blogging platform? At least Automattic developed Wordpress. I think Acquia has a better shot at building a drupal-based blogging platform, since they are more heavily involved in the development of drupal.
Forgot to suggest that techcrunch start a wordpress-powered blogging platform and call it oncrunch or something like that.
Lay off the Haterade, yo!
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Whatever people have to say about the Sugar Network, they’ve done a great job of scaling from one site into a network.
Funding: $15M
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they got list of sugar, sure will use for http://www.hiadults.com and tell our members to use it.
perhaps it may do for drupal what wordpress.com did for wp .org - but in this case, the admin interface is killer, and i’d love to see it turned into an install profile for the larger drupal community…
for those familiar with drupal, the entire interface is simply custom content type names all generated as nodes with unique icons in the interface - others could do this as well, but onsugar has made it far less intimidating for regular people considering how nerdy drupal can get with nodes and taxonomy….
Yeah - i admit that this drupal-hackery is pretty slick! much better than wordpress.com (which i use)
onsugar really looks spot on! i DO WISH that someone would make a Drupal Installation Profile that looks like this! *drooool
Sugar people were requested to give code back to Drupal community, and although they did share some wisdom on how their work they claimed code to be too specific to their site. And after all the funding and all I doubt even more that they would share their “product”.
For those who are interested in implementing such a setup, I am thinking that this below may be a first start (plus a lot of content types as suggested).
http://drupal.org/project/og_sites
Sugar is a joke. Look at their compete.com stats vs. 10x bigger competitors iVillage and Glam
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
500K unique visitors a month and 15M in funding — that is preposterous.
Will Sugar be around in 5 years — no.
I made a mistake popsugar is only one of their sites. They have over 8 million unique visitors in 2 years
No, no mistake, whoever is pretending to be me. Sugar is still a joke.
It’s a collection of 16 ridiculously small sites (average traffic of 150K uniques per dinky little site) that add up to 2.4M uniques — not 8M — just check the Compete links below.
So what would you rather have to monetize — 5M uniques like Glam and iVillage on one site or 2.4M spread across 16 silly little sites that have Sugar in the URL?
Here’s all the public Compete data for anyone paying attention and would like to know Sugar is all hype — no users.
1. PopSugar has only 500K uniques vs Glam and iVillage who have 10x more —
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
2. BuzzSugar, FabSugar, BellaSugar are good for combined another 300K uniques per month combined: http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
3. CasaSugar, YumSugar, FitSugar are good for 250K uniques combined:
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
4. GeekSugar, GiggleSugar, DearSugar are good for another 250K uniques combined:
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
5. PetSugar, LilSugar, SavvySugar are good for 130K uniques combined:
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
6. CitizenSugar, TeamSugar, CelebStyle are good for 1M uniques combined
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
No mistake, whoever is pretending to be me. Sugar is still a joke.
It’s a collection of 16 ridiculously small sites (average traffic of 150K uniques per dinky little site) that add up to 2.4M uniques — not 8M — just check the Compete links below.
So what would you rather have to monetize — 5M uniques like Glam and iVillage on one site or 2.4M spread across 16 silly little sites that have Sugar in the URL?
Here’s all the public Compete data for anyone paying attention and would like to know Sugar is all hype — no users.
1. PopSugar has only 500K uniques vs Glam and iVillage who have 10x more —
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
2. BuzzSugar, FabSugar, BellaSugar are good for combined another 300K uniques per month combined: http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
3. CasaSugar, YumSugar, FitSugar are good for 250K uniques combined:
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
4. GeekSugar, GiggleSugar, DearSugar are good for another 250K uniques combined:
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
5. PetSugar, LilSugar, SavvySugar are good for 130K uniques combined:
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
6. CitizenSugar, TeamSugar, CelebStyle are good for 1M uniques combined
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
“So what would you rather have to monetize — 5M uniques like Glam and iVillage on one site or 2.4M spread across 16 silly little sites that have Sugar in the URL?”
What do you have to say about Google’s Adsense Network -of millions of silly little sites?
No, no mistake, whoever is pretending to be me. Sugar is still a joke.
It’s a collection of 16 ridiculously small sites (average traffic of 150K uniques per dinky little site) that add up to 2.4M uniques — not 8M — just check the Compete links below.
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
I made a mistake again. Silly Compete is so Alexa 2.0
I just checked Quantcast and they are in fact at 8 million uniques. Wow, I stand corrected again. Sorry about arguing with myself.
http://www.quantcast.com/p-36POJYHTosuxU
Interesting play for Sugar, its more Tumblr than Wordpress, although it misses on the interface and interaction. Honestly I think they should focus on the core of why people go there and not try to be all things to all women. They do fashion and celebrity well.
I made a mistake again. Silly compete is Alexa 2.0
I just checked Quantcast and they are in fact at 8 million uniques. Wow, I stand corrected again. Sorry about arguing with myself.
http://www.quantcast.com/p-36POJYHTosuxU
I am not sure if this is right place but i need your ideas. Can i set up a blog network using drupal under different domains? Users must be able to login and write posts all domain with one account. is this possible? I asked this question here because onsugar uses drupal too. I need your knowledge. Thanks.
The short answer is, Yes. You may get started reading here:
http://bookmarks.honewatson.co.....user-base/
I see from the linked blog that you are not a coder as myself. I was able to teach myself to build a social network using Drupal, but it took 3 months of reading documentation, tutorials, the Pro Drupal book and hours and hours of webcasts.
It is worth it if you can’t hire a coder though.
Kolay gelsin