Online Magazine Blogcritics.org Unveils Redesign, New Features

Online magazine Blogcritics.org unveiled a new front page design and several exciting new features this week.

More than 50,000 daily visitors rely upon Blogcritics.org, the famously "sinister cabal" of more than 1,100 bloggers, for the latest news, opinions, and reviews on music, books, film, popular culture, technology, and politics. Blogcritics.org is a filtered microcosm of the blogosphere and a full service news and reviews source, covering all aspects of contemporary culture and society.

Every week, more than 400 stories add to an archive of 37,000 pieces dating back to 2002. Published articles on Blogcritics.org begin the conversation, after which commenters chime in to create an ongoing dialogue. Overall comments to Blogcritics.org total more than 240,000.

Blogcritics.org is a new kind of online magazine, an interactive community in which writers and readers from around the globe talk about stories, issues, and products. If it's happening in the world – from global political issues to obscure rock bands, from the latest best selling novel to the TV shows that aired last night – Blogcritics.org has it covered.

Among the announced site enhancements:

• New front page design and navigation allows readers to easily access and comment upon more than 60 new stories everyday. A new streamlined interface features stories that are published horizontally, allowing readers to find the latest news, opinions, and reviews around the clock.

• Politics column In the Middle features two writers from opposite ends of the political spectrum who attempt to shove aside partisanship and civilly hash out important issues of the day. This week, Phillip Winn and Eric Berlin take on the ongoing struggle in Iraq and muse about the future of war in the Media Age.

• Recurring Features collect the columns of Blogcritic.org’s more prolific contributors. Highlights from recent editions of more than forty regular features include:

* Mark Saleski’s latest Friday Morning Listen recalls the era of vinyl records and nostalgic spins of R.E.M.'s Murmur.
* Books Editor DrPat’s New Books unfurls a lost Truman Capote novel and dishes out encyclopedic literary references along the way.
* Space Program Notes, by Bennett Dawson, looks at the Space Shuttle debate and the future of the International Space Station.

• Blogcritics Radio Podcast covers the best audio content of the week from Blogcritic.org’s crack team of podcasters. Podcasting Blogcritics include Northern Ireland native Duke De Mondo’s popular Mondo Radio show and DJRadiohead’s DJRadiohead Experience.

• New content sections are in the works that will nearly double the current offering of Music, Books, Video, Culture, and Politics. They include:

* Sports – From baseball in Cleveland to Premier League English football in Manchester, Blogcritics.org will have an opinion.
* SciTech – Innovations and developments in science and technology will see expanded coverage.
* Gaming – Video games, computer games, and online gamers will have a new and favorite home.

Bloggers publish their stories at Blogcritics.org because of the immense value and benefits that are offered. Blogcritics.org writers gain an exponentially higher level of visibility than they could ever achieve through their home blog or website alone. That increased exposure often leads to increased traffic and enhanced search rank. Further, Blogcritics.org editors work with member bloggers to improve writing skills and reach “the next level.”

An increased readership and heightened reputation, however, is matched by participation in an intensely committed and passionate online community. Other benefits that Blogcritics.org members enjoy include access to a vast array of review materials, including books, CDs, DVDs, film screenings, and concert tickets.

Blogcritics.org was founded by Eric Olsen, who has enjoyed a 25-year career in writing and broadcasting on a vast array of topics including politics, music, and media. Co-owner Phillip Winn built Blogcritics.org, nearly from scratch, and continues to manage the technical and design elements of the site.

Working with Olsen and Winn is a team of over twenty editors dedicated to making Blogcritics.org the premiere Web destination for interactive news, commentary, and reviews.

Blogcritics.org is an official Google News and My Yahoo! source, syndicates content to online editions of newspapers around the United States via the Advance family of websites, and has won numerous awards, including a Bloggie, Forbes.com's Best Media Blogs, and was recently showcased on the prestigious AlwaysOn and Technorati "Open Media 100" list.

For press inquiries, requests for interviews, sales and advertising information, or to opt out of future mailings, please contact:

Eric Berlin
Blogcritics.org Executive Producer
626.372.0778
dumpsterbust@gmail.com

Eric Olsen
Blogcritics.org Publisher
330.562.4692
ecolsen2003@cs.com

Craig Lyndall
Blogcritics.org Sales and Advertising
440.666.1087
clyndall@filteringcraig.com