National Geographic Digital Media And Scienceblogs.Com Form Strategic Partnership

WASHINGTON / NEW YORK - National Geographic Digital Media (NGDM) and ScienceBlogs.com today announced that they have formed a strategic partnership spanning technology, advertising, business and content development.

Through this partnership, Nationalgeographic.com and ScienceBlogs.com will create and exchange content through connected social media features, as well as work together to create new multimedia programming for both sites. ScienceBlogs.com will feature content from National Geographic bloggers and National Geographic explorers. The site also will have access to National Geographic’s news resources and will significantly increase its exposure through NGDM’s worldwide audience. NGDM in turn will feature content from ScienceBlogs.com and renowned SB bloggers on its award-winning site Nationalgeographic.com.

In addition, NGDM will lead advertising sales -- headed by Jim Hoos, VP of Digital Media Sales -- on ScienceBlogs.com, adding a vibrant social media platform to the portfolio and giving advertisers access to an audience of more than 2 million young, educated and digitally savvy readers. Under the terms of the agreement, NGDM will acquire a minority stake in ScienceBlogs, LLC, parent company of ScienceBlogs.com.

"ScienceBlogs.com shares our mission to create a fully comprehensive Web destination that allows users to explore, engage and exchange" said John Caldwell, NGDM president. "This partnership not only allows National Geographic to strengthen its leadership in the science and technology space, but it also allows NG.com to reach an extensive community of young and engaged users who are deeply immersed within it"

"We are thrilled to be teaming up with National Geographic, a brand we greatly admire and an organization that shares the values of the ScienceBlogs community. This partnership highlights SB’s standing in social media and lays the foundation for growth and greater reach and recognition in the future" said Adam Bly, chairman of ScienceBlogs, LLC.

NGDM and ScienceBlogs.com’s initial rollout will feature blog content and applications that highlight green, science and technology subject matter.

About ScienceBlogs
ScienceBlogs.com is the leading social media site in the science and technology category, with more than 130 acclaimed blogs, 11 content channels, a jobs platform and a fast-growing audience of 2.4 million unique visitors a month. ScienceBlogs.de, a German-language edition, launched in 2007 in partnership with Hubert Burda Media, and a Portuguese-language edition, ScienceBlogs.com.br, launched in 2008. ScienceBlogs, LLC, is a privately held company majority-owned by Seed Media Group (www.seedmediagroup.com).

About National Geographic Digital Media
National Geographic Digital Media is the multimedia division of National Geographic Ventures, the wholly owned, taxable subsidiary of the National Geographic Society, one of the world’s largest educational and scientific nonprofit organizations, reaching more than
375 million people worldwide. At the forefront of the digital media revolution, NGDM publishes Nationalgeographic.com, delivering multimedia content to digital consumers. Nationalgeographic.com is the award-winning Web site of the National Geographic Society and attracts 13 million unique visitors a month. Nationalgeographic.com combines National Geographic’s video, photography and maps with in-depth information and interactive features about animals, nature, destinations and cultures. Nationalgeographic.com’s news service, National Geographic News, publishes daily stories about science and discoveries.