Six Apart, the company behind the Movable Type and TypePad blogging software, has launched an initiative to move the company into the realms of social networking.  The company’s new CEO, Chris Alden, has big plans for the company to bring into the era of Web 2.0.

According to InformationWeek, Alden’s main concern is the evolution of Six Apart from a pioneering blog tool into a more diverse ecosystem.  The goal for the company is to become a force within the social networking marketplace as it did within the self-publishing arena.  “At first, we were a tool that helped average people blog,” Alden said.  “We were really disruptive in the way we helped change how people got their messages outside of the mainstream media outlets.”

Movable Type and TypePad have definitely left their marks on the blogging world, with many of today’s best media outlets and blog properties using one or the other to deliver its content to millions of people per day.  To move beyond this into a “Web 2.0” environment shouldn’t be hard for a company with such deep roots in new media technology.

Six Apart wants to do with social networking, what it did with blogging in the beginning.  By melding the two together, the company could move into a very desirable position within the blogging community.  Social networking and blogging usually go hand in hand, so it’s a smart move to make.

“We want to make our products easier for people to interact with other platforms and perform common tasks right out of the box with less hard coding and more interacting with the various communities,” Alden said.

Six Apart’s approach would develop a so-called activity syndication on what Alden referred to as a “Blog Grid.”

“Whether you’re on or off the grid, everything follows your interconnections, whether you are commenting on a blog or reading a blog or tracking back a blog,” he said. “It allows user profiles and their identities more flexibility to follow them around.”

The TypePad UI is being re-written to make use of the “Blog Grid” theory, and should be out early next year.  It’s an interesting initiative by Six Apart, and one that should pay off greatly in the end.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 11:55 pm under Blogosphere.

Read more entries by Justin Montgomery.
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