How will Bloglines handle it?

If the rumours about Ask Jeeves acquiring Bloglines are true, it will be interesting to see how Mark Fletcher and Bloglines handle the response from its users. Fletcher is a very acomplished entrepreneur with a good track record, both on the business side of things, and seeing his creations happily living on (eGroups) under the care of their new owners.

The reason I am wondering is not because of the weekend rumblings from hard core Bloglines users. It is because of the way MSN's Mike Torres handled the feedback after the company launched Spaces in early december. I've many times mentioned that as one of the best examples of employee blogging that I have come across.

Granted, Bloglines' situation is different from that of Spaces, and Torres' (Program Manager) and Fletcher's (CEO) roles within their companies are very different. But they both had, and have, an opportunity to keep both the industry and their users comfortably informed.

For Ask Jeeves, this is a double golden opportunity. They could potentially get a very large, passionate group of people (the Blogline users and the Blogosphere in general) on their side. Secondly, this will elevate Ask in to a new league when it comes to the interest of the industry.

Fletcher's blog wingedpig.com
Ask Jeeves' blog