Blogactiv.eu

The EU is now branching out into blog hosting, apparently. No doubt they will approach the whole thing with their usual level of professionalism, integrity and competence (that is to say, none at all).

It is these "independent and neutral" actors who are now offering the Euro equivalent of Blogger, under the domain name Blogactiv.eu. Through this means, they aim to, "build on EurActiv's readership to become the premier source for opinions, discussions and views on EU affairs."

To attract bloggers, they will provide free hosting to anyone who wants to open up a site (or migrate from an existing host). And, as a carrot, its recruiting leaflet (pictured, top) states:

... popular and noteworthy blogs will receive exposure on Euractiv.com and its CrossLingual Network of sites across Europe, which between them receive 475,000 unique visitors every month.

Technically speaking, moreover, Blogactiv is tailored specifically to European affairs. There are myriads of blogging technologies, add-ins and extensions available to today's bloggers. We have examined them all, and adapted those best suited to discussing Europe.

Similarly, Blogactiv will be multilingual, and will launch with major Sections on the main EU issues of the day, featuring background briefings and relevant news. There will also be technical support, community-building activities, and a very active marketing campaign.

As an added "incentive" Euractiv is also offering free indoctrination training sessions in Brussels, prior to launching its "community of bloggers". Invitations are being focused on:

... people who can contribute to a roundtable discussion on how blogging and similar tools will affect EU affairs in the short and medium (i.e., until the EP elections) term.

Amusingly, EU Referendum were invited!

Anyway, EU Referendum even quote Jon Worth's Euroblog at one point.

More recently, we got another clue on a site run by Jon Worth, former president of the Young European Federalists, who applauded the resumption of blogging by our Europhile foreign secretary, David Miliband, then commenting:

More generally it's good that government departments are making efforts to use the internet in interesting ways, although my main fear is this: who is actually going to believe what's on the FCO blogs any more than they believe anything on any other government website? If we are to manage to start to dispel the myths about the EU pumped out online by EU Referendum and others then some more viral communications methods are going to have to be found.

And, you know, something struck me: we have a new EU blogging organisation that is also running training sessions. And then we have Jon Worth, who announced in August that he would be moving to Brussels. [Emphasis mine.]

I’ve known for a while that I’ll be working as a freelance website designer and EU politics trainer from the autumn of 2007. The main question outstanding was where I would be based. I’m now quite relieved to be able to confirm that Brussels will be my main place of residence from 16th October 2007.

And, more recently...

While in London I’m sorting out all the loose ends in my current job (last day is effectively Tuesday 9th October) and also madly preparing the ground for the freelance website work this autumn, and a fair bit of freelance professional training too.

Hmmm, I wonder if any of that training includes "a roundtable discussion on how blogging and similar tools will affect EU affairs in the short and medium term"...?

Wouldn't that be hilarious...?