What is the blogging world's answer to hackathons? It's a blogathon sponsored by ViralHeat, which will be held on August 1st in San Francisco.

Why Should Hackers Have All the Fun?

ViralHeat wants bloggers, community managers, social media managers, and marketers to come together for four hours of learning and friendly competition just like programmers and tech gurus do at San Fransisco's popular hackathons.You can attend the blogathon as a guest, or you can participate as a blogger by signing up on the ViralHeat Blogathon website and attending the blogathon in San Francisco. You'll need to write a blog post on a pre-determined topic during the blogathon. A team of judges from Google, LinkedIn, and VentureBeat will review the submitted blog posts and choose a winner whose post will be published in VentureBeat, a popular and well-trafficked technology news and insights website that is sure to give the winning blogger great exposure.As a guest at the ViralHeat Blogathon, you'll hear from a diverse group of speakers from Google, VentureBeat, Marketo, San Francisco State University, and more. You'll also have opportunities to network, eat, and drink. It's free to attend the blogathon which will be held on August 1st from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. PDT at Shared, a Creative Work-Space, which is located at 739 Bryant Street in San Francisco, California.

Using Blogathons for Crowdsourced Content Marketing

The upcoming blogathon is a clever way to crowdsource content as part of a broader content marketing plan for ViralHeat. Partnering with VentureBeat is a smart move, that has already attracted a large number of bloggers to the blogathon.Blogger and social media meetups, conferences, and networking events are popular, and branding the ViralHeat event as a blogathon is another great marketing strategy. Not only does ViralHeat have a great tool for content publishers and online marketers, the company also has a smart marketing team. Think about how you could integrate crowdsourced content into your own content marketing plan. The possibilities are vast if you're willing to get creative.What do you think about the blogathon concept? Would you attend a blogathon to learn, network, and have a chance to win an article placement on a well-trafficked site? Leave a comment and share your thoughts below.Image: Matias Matias