My sense is that the business plan of:

* 1-2 good blogs ->

* Snazzy public interface ->

* Invite only blog network ->

* Status competition for invite ->

* User-generated content magazine

was clever, but didn't pan out, and when the project pivoted to being a Medium alternative, it got crushed; svbtle : medium :: posterous : tumblr.

(I could be wrong about all this and have no inside insight into Svbtle).