Typepad enters the arena of blog connecting services

Bloggingpro reports that Six Apart has launched a beta version of Typepad Connect: a service that blends in services which are separately provided by MyBLogLog, CoComment, Disqus, Gravatar and a couple of others. Its main goal: connecting bloggers and firming the position of the blog as a platform for your online social activity.

The latter seems to be the trend the last couple of months. First signaled in December 2007 by Chris Messina, who thinks of WordPress as the next social network, and recently reaffirmed by Chris Brogan – who mentions the blog as the starting point for anyone who wants to build an online presence.

This whole blog-as-a-platform approach creates some challenges. For example, how do you connect with your friends? By using a spiced up blogroll?

No wonder that many services try to become THE standard for interactivity between blogs. All the big players are working on initiatives that might look very different, but have the same goal in the end.

AutoMattic works on BuddyPress. Yahoo! tries to boost MyBlogLog. CoComment partners up with Retaggr. Zemanta recently added a social layer. Google attacked MyBlogLog with a similar service in September.

And now there’s Typepad. Of course. I’d do the same if I were a big blogger player. Its mother company Six Apart describes Typepad Connect as follows: makes community management easier for bloggers with the ability to track, moderate and respond to comments across multiple sites and blogs from one dashboard or via email.” Oh and here’s the interesting bit: the well-designed service is available for all of the major blog platforms.

Welcome in the arena, Typepad.