A smart move for the New York Times is to get involved with blogs. I don't mean hiring bloggers, I mean purchasing part of a company making blogging software. It just seems logical as a brand extension to go from reporting to helping others report and build a sense of community.

According to this Wall Street Journal article the NYT is now involved.

The exact details are as follows:

• Automattic Inc. the company behind WordPress blog software raised $29 million
• The New York Times was one of the investors in this round
• Automattic has 18 employees
• The company will use the money for acquisitions and other activities

Currently there are about 2.2 million blogs utilizing WordPress as a hosting/software platform.

I think there are absolutely wonderful synergies here but one wonders if the New York Times will be able to fully leverage the community potential of the blogosphere. Moreover, It will be interesting to see if the Times decides to invest in more tech companies going forward or will only stick to companies which are in the media field.