You might have read today already about the launch of blognation, a new blog network created by Sam Sethi to cover the Web 2.0 ecosystems in different countries around the world with country specific blogs. To cut a long story short, I am going to be leaving GizBuzz and Oratos to become a UK editor of blognation, along with Ivan Pope, Ewan Spence and David Terrar. Over the next few days and weeks, a number of country blogs will be launched, each written by an editor who is an expert in his or her respective country, in English.

You may remember Sam from an interview I conducted with him late last year after he fell out with Michael Arrington. He’s very eminent within the UK and European web startup scene, and blognation gives me an exciting new platform to take blogging and podcasting further.

This obviously leaves the big question of what happens with GizBuzz and Oratos. I cannot continue to blog on GizBuzz, since it is obviously in a fairly similar niche to blognation. Whilst I am fairly keen that it should not die, we haven’t found an editor to run the site, and so it looks as though it will be dormant for the moment. It will certainly stay online, however. The future for Oratos is looking more rosy; FOSSwire, the blog we launched late last year, is doing phenomenally well. YouMakeMedia is also growing nicely.

So, if you want to keep up to date with my writings in the future, I encourage you to subscribe to blognation. Since I won’t be writing about US startups at blognation, I might post the occasional thought on what is happening in Silicon Valley at my personal blog.

Finally, it just remains to thank all those who have contributed to GizBuzz, commented and read, as well as all those who have helped us along the way, whether by giving us an interview or tipping us off to news. Two people in particular stand out; Peter, who has written a huge quantity of fantastic content for GizBuzz for well over a year, as well as helping out with the podcasts, and Chris who designed the site for nothing, without being asked, and has written and podcasted on numerous occasions. When I started the site in January 2006 I had no idea that GizBuzz would become what it has, and I will always be grateful to those who helped make that happen through their incredible generosity of time and spirit. Thank you.

Update: As you may have read, blognation failed as a result of Sam Sethi’s dishonesty in public and to his employees about the funding status of blognation, and his consequent inability to pay anyone involved. Gory details abound on the internet, but suffice to say that this is a sad failure, both because it was utterly preventable, and because the concept had so much scope for success. The silver lining is the number of fantastic people I met through my involvement with blognation, both internally and in the wider UK startup community. At present there are no plans to restart GizBuzz, although this may change in the future. In the meantime, you can read my blognation content here.