Chowhound has always been an indispensable chaotic guide to what was good to eat and where to find it in big city America. Run totally by consumer contributions, the good was sorted from the bad by the wisdom of crowds idea, reputation of posters, and constant testing of theories and posts by the range of readership. CNet obviously found that combination appealing. Chowhound's founders never had enough money. Were always asking for donations and short of cash.

The sale shows us that decent sites with a rusted-on community's are being acquired. CNet needed (read all sides comments) to keep extending its reach and to keep adding consumers, visitors and eyeballs. Advertising as the internet mainstay has won. That requires audience. So CNet approached Chowhound. Tells you everything doesn't it?

Chowhound's legions of contributors will notice big change. More professionalism. More ads. Maybe interesting combinations of service; tagged maps of mentioned spots, linked reviews, whatever, all coming as CNet pays for its newest, rawest fun buy and drives towards a new expanded group of visitors. 

This entry was posted on March 30, 2006 at 9:44 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Main Page Strategy by Richard McKinnon No Comments Yet