Brandon Hall Researchers Blogging - Implications?

I just saw that several of the Brandon Hall researchers have started blogs:

• Tom Werner - example post - Why Learning Professionals Shouldn’t Just Focus on Learning
• Tim Sosbe - example post - Pop Quiz: What Do Learning Leaders Care About?
• Janet Clarey - example post - Why blended learning is not BS
• Gary Woodill

First, let me say that I applaud this move, but it's a bit of a curious development to me...

1. Does this indicate that that Brandon Hall Network is not going to be the central hub for them to have discussions? I previously predicted that in its currently form the network wouldn't really work. If Brandon Hall or the eLearningGuild had used a distributed hub model, then maybe they would have a chance. But creating a closed model is very hard, especially when you are a paid-research firm.
   
2. How does blogging jive with paid research? Is this going to only be teaser content? Any real meat will need to be paid for? I've gone to several presentations by researchers (not Brandon Hall) and they basically just tell you the same information you can see in their executive summary. It's a tease to get you to buy. It appears that the Brandon Hall folks are diving deeper than that, but it certainly is going to be an issue for them.
   
3. Will these bloggers be full participants? Compare their blog rolls. A couple just list each other. Others list lists similar to mine: Top Ten eLearning Blogs. Again, if they are primarily thinking of this as a marketing exercise, then it's natural to restrict who you will link to and what bloggers you will cite.

Again, I'm happy to see this move and the content so far is quite good and is going to spark some good conversation.