On Friday, Gawker Media, which runs 12 blogs, announced it was laying off 19 staffers. The New York Times called the layoffs "an early indicator" of a Web advertising slowdown. In a memo to employees, Gawker founder Nick Denton (pictured in a photo montage at right) said that 2009 was going to be "exceptionally difficult" as advertising declines, and said "we have to prepare for the worst, now, rather than when the worst comes upon us (Los Angeles Times)."

This is no time for Shadenfreud.  Times are tough, and we need to be thinking about the future.  I wondered what would happen to the oversized blogs on the net who have forgotten how to be blogs and thought they were magazines with an infinite pool of advertisers.  The answer was inevitable.  They started firing people.

Now is the moment for mid- and small-sized blogs to shine.  We have managed on a low overhead tight budget workflow for quite some time.  Whie the big boys have noticed there access to advertisers dropping off, we have not so far.  This is probably because we have never relied on Sponcerships.

Readers will be the ones to layout the future of the web over the next few months.  We will have to decide which sites we want to support, and how we can support them best.  For example, Cali Lewis gets credit every time I register a domain... which is far too often, but that is not the point.

Many blogs like ours rely on Affiliate deals like this to survive.  Using the Fandango, Netflix, Gamefly, and Amazon links that you find on these sites is a way to give money directly to the site, while only spending the money you would have and no more.

I think it is also incumbunt on sites like ours to help you all stay entertained in a way that will not break the bank.  An the flow of money gets tighter, we have to work together to help each other out.