Tag: blogs

Blogs are Advertising in BC?

Darren Barefoot reports that Elections BC has decided that blogs are simply campaign advertising:

“Under the Election Act, it will fall within the definition of election advertising, and we would ask them to register,” says Jennifer Miller, of Elections B.C.

Miller says the volume of sites is overwhelming, and doesn’t rule out asking for a change to the Election Act. “If we feel certain parts of the act can be amended to make it more effective and efficient, we will definitely make that recommendation,” she says.

I tend to agree with Darren – “Where does editorial become advertorial?” I think the decision to require blogs to be registered as advertising is unwise. Who’s to say that a newspaper editorial is not actually advertising in disguise? I hope this doesn’t set any sort of precedent.

Read: Darren Barefoot

Ethics, bloggers, and mainstream media

In the last couple of days CNET has come under fire for stealing a story that was scooped by popular gadget blog Engadget. As Jason Calacanis explains:

So CNET’s Gamespot and News.com finally gave credit to Engadget after
stealing their big scoop about the XBOX 360. CNET lifted the photos
from our site (we have technical proof) and didn’t even bother to ask
or give credit. That’s low.

Of course, CNET not putting this up earlier today cost us hundreds of
thousands of page views which results in a loss of hundreds-if not
thousands-of dollars. Not to mention the fact that CNET takes credit
for the story with their readers.

While CNET did give credit to Engadget, they did not print a
correction. I think that’s rather unfortunate, and it has even prompted
some in the blogosphere to say that a boycott of CNET should take place.
I’m of the opinion that bloggers should not boycott CNET, but rather,
they should continue to call out MSM when they fail to properly credit
sources. That’s how the blogosphere built such a reputation (remember
Rather anyone?), so why change now?

In a somewhat related story, Wired News yesterday released their Source Review:

MIT Technology Review Online on March 21 retracted two stories written
in whole or in part by Michelle Delio, citing the publication’s
inability to confirm a source. On April 4, InfoWorld edited four
articles by Delio to remove anonymous quotes.

Wired News has published more than 700 news stories written by
Delio (under the names Michelle Delio and Michelle Finley) since 2000.
In April, we assigned journalism professor and Wired News columnist
Adam Penenberg to review recent articles written by Delio for Wired
News.

The article goes on to ask for help with the articles Delio wrote
for which sources are still questionable. I think that’s great. If
Wired can launch an investigation into one of their writers, clearly
CNET could have printed a correction.

Read: Engadget

Huffington Post

Arianna Huffington launched today the Huffington Post, which is a 300 person group blog. The tagline of the new site reads “Delivering news and opinion since May 9th, 2005.” Who’s opinion you ask? Arianna has signed up quite the list of contributors:

Her marquee names — Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Geffen, Rob Reiner, Albert Brooks, Bill Maher, Larry David — aren’t exactly hurting for ways to get their message out.

Huffington’s Hollywood pals — who also include such writers and producers as David Mamet, Norman Lear, Mike Nichols and Aaron Sorkin — are just the neon attractions. She is also touting Walter Cronkite, Gary Hart, Arthur Schlesinger, Mort Zuckerman, Vernon Jordan and Bobby Kennedy Jr.And while the blog is heavy on left-wingers, she has reached out to the right, luring the likes of John Fund of the Wall Street Journal, Tony Blankley of the Washington Times and National Review’s David Frum.

To my knowledge, this is a pretty unique experiment for the blogosphere, and one which I am sure will be watched very closely. The site has some investors, but the point of the Post does not seem to be making money.

She envisions the blog as a big dinner party, with chatter “about politics and books and art and music and food and sex.” Huffington insists her effort isn’t just about the boldface names; she’s lined up some college kids and a friend’s 11-year-old daughter. “My dream is that we’ll create new blogging stars,” she says.

I hope it’s worth reading. I’ve subscribed for now!

Read: Washington Post

A definition of blogs

So often when someone attempts to explain blogging, they end up making it more complex than it actually is. I know I have been guilty of this. So it’s refreshing to see such a succinct definition from Jeff Jarvis:

Blogs are the voices of citizens in conversation.

I love it! It really is all about the conversation, so this definition is spot on. That’s why blogs are so powerful – they are extremely conducive to having a conversation.

Read: BuzzMachine

Information Overload

The world around us is increasingly wired, and as a result, we
consume more information at a faster pace than ever before. It’s kind
of interesting to think that I could read something about a news story
today online, from media outlets all over the world, and from
individuals via blogs. Fifty years ago, that amount of information
simply would not have been readily available. It would have been almost
impossible.

Email, instant messaging, blogs, websites – they all add to
something called “information overload.” I think you’ll start hearing
the expression more and more in the next couple years, or at least
until the tools that help us deal with it improve. Basically, we take
in more information than we can deal with at one time. One of the major
negative side effects of information overload, at least to some people,
is that human interaction is lost:

“The amount of information that goes into a young person’s head today
is incredible,” says David H. Landers, director of the student resource
center at Saint Michael’s College, in Colchester, Vt. His main concern
is that students have replaced face-to-face contact with instant
messaging and e-mail. “They’re not going to have the same quality of
interpersonal relations that will help them in a work environment,” he
argues.

I see two major flaws with this argument. First and foremost, if
everyone else is using email and instant messaging and other
technologies, then the interpersonal skills required for a work
environment have changed, haven’t they? I think it’s only a problem if
the level of technology use and knowledge is not somewhat similar
between all team members. So it follows that in five to ten years, it
won’t be a problem at all, as the older generation who snubs technology
retires.

The second flaw is that I don’t think information overload
necessarily degrades communication. I can keep in touch with more
people more often thanks to instant messaging and other technologies.
And moving forward, these technologies will be improved with audio and
video, in effect reintroducing the human element.

Information overload is an interesting topic, but I wouldn’t call it
a problem. A challenge yes, but one that will be overcome. In the big
picture, we’ve gone and created a bunch of tools for easily creating
content. Now we have to go and create tools to manage and consume it.
This is reflected on the small scale quite well with things like blogs,
podcasts, or even email. There are a number of ways to create a blog,
but only two ways to consume it (the web and an aggregator), and very
rudimentary ways to organize it (folders or keyword search). Podcasts are very similar.
And even email, the oldest of them all, doesn’t deal with information
overload very well. The idea of an inbox just doesn’t make sense when
you get 100 emails a day, and yet we still deal with that metaphor.

More importantly, too much information is a better problem to have than not enough, don’t you think?

Read: Knowing When to Log Off

A Newspaper Revolution

Earlier today I wrote a somewhat comical entry about how young people are no longer interested in the six o’clock news. Well, there was some seriousness there too – young people really are having an effect on news outlets of all types, from television to newspapers. So I thought it was especially appropriate that I’d come across a post from Jeff Jarvis where he talks about Rupert Murdoch’s speech today to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington. For those of you that don’t know, Rupert Murdoch is top dog at News Corp.

According to Jarvis, the speech included lots of props to the Internet and specifically, to blogs. From what I read, Murdoch seems to have done a great job in providing some background to what he’s talking about, explaining how newspapers enjoyed a virtual monopoly until the radio was invented. Now, the time for newspapers to change has come – “The trends are against us,” Murdoch says. He’s not saying that news is dead however, just that it needs to be delivered differently:

The challenge, however, is to deliver that news in ways consumers want to receive it. Before we can apply our competitive advantages, we have to free our minds of our prejudices and predispositions, and start thinking like our newest consumers. In short, we have to answer this fundamental question: What do we – a bunch of digital immigrants — need to do to be relevant to the digital natives?

Talk about hitting the nail on the head. They are indeed “digital immigrants”, what an excellent way to describe the average newspaper editor. If there is anyone who could give a “call-to-arms” speech to the newspaper industry and have it be heard, I can’t think of a better man than Rupert Murdoch. He is so important, and so highly regarded. Let’s hope the editors listened.

I hate almost everything about newspapers. I don’t like the size of the paper. I don’t like the way it makes everything black. I don’t like that every page has to be jammed full of stuff. I don’t like that the pages are not full color. I don’t like that once I find something interesting, I can’t do anything with it (like send it to a friend, or blog about it with a link, etc). Please newspaper editors, hear Murdoch’s call, and bring the newspaper into the digital age!

Read: BuzzMachine

BlogPulse Upgraded

One of my favorite tools for looking at blog conversations is BlogPulse. They announced today that they just finished an upgrade, and the new version has “faster, cooler features and more than 9.3 million blogs identified.” That’s a lot of information to track! BlogPulse is faster too – “in the last 24 hours, it analyzed data from 301,320 blog posts. In that same time frame, BlogPulse discovered 38,817 new blogs.”

Some of the new features include 6 months of data instead of 60 days (shown in the above graph), easier access to data visualization, and improved link searching. Their Conversation Tracker is a nifty little tool too. Check it out!

Why the NHL should be blogging

I was thinking recently about the NHL and the problem it faces as a result of cancelling the 2004-2005 hockey season. People have stated that the league’s failure to come to an agreement with the players is just the beginning of the end for professional hockey. Hockey as a product will struggle even more if it returns next season than it has already. And it fascinates me to read about the countless hours both sides waste in their negotiating. Most recently, the NHL made two offers to the players who promptly responded that they were not impressed. How long has this been going on now? Do you even remember what hockey is? How can we get both sides to come to an agreement? And how can the NHL save hockey?

The NHL should start a blog. And I don’t mean marketing crap in the form of a blog, but an actual blog with posts written by people involved in the running of the league and in the negotiations with the NHLPA. The league has in the past been anything but open and transparent. Closed door meetings, “no comment” answers, secret phone calls, the works. As a result, their customers (that’s you, the fan) have grown to ignore and ridicule the league almost as much as the greedy players. And if their lack of transparency keeps up, their customers will only become more indifferent. How can you re-launch a product when your customers just don’t give a damn about it?

If the NHL were blogging, I think they’d see a number of benefits:

  • Communication with their customers!
    What’s the best way to keep your customers interested as you try to improve your product and prepare it for consumption? Find out what your customers think. Involve them in the process, and let them guide you. And not just customers, but partners too!

  • An improved public image!
    Who would look more like the bad guy after a round of negotiations goes nowhere? The NHLPA who is closed, private, and bureaucratic, or the NHL who carries on an open dialogue on their blog? Clearly, the respect and admiration the NHL would gain from blogging would give them the upper hand in negotiations with the players. Not only that, but the NHL would be seen as a forward thinking organization, cutting edge even.

  • Education and understanding
    Just as going into the locker room between periods gives you greater insight into how a team is feeling and thinking, an NHL blog would give fans better insight into the stresses the league apparently faces. Another example is Microsoft’s Channel9 – readers have the ability to learn why Microsoft makes certain decisions and what’s coming down the pipe. The NHL currently lacks such educational capabilities.

  • Eye opening experience
    Perhaps by starting their own blog, the NHL would be interested in reading other blogs and would start keeping track of what is being said about hockey and the league by the fans. The big thing here is learning to listen. Hockey is a product that does not change to reflect customer wants and desires, and there is no reason for that. Want to impress your customers with a re-launch? Find out what they want first.

I am sure there are many more benefits as well, but those listed above came immediately to mind. The cost of getting involved in blogging is almost zero, and the return on investment is incredible. I think everyone would benefit if the NHL started blogging – the league itself, the players, and most importantly, the fans.

If I were the NHL, I’d be franticly looking for ways to “save hockey” and make it a viable product again. So if you’re reading this NHL, start a blog!

Blogging Beyond the Men's Club

Here’s more on the “not enough women bloggers” topic:

The perks of alpha bloggers—voluminous traffic, links from other bigfeet, conference invitations, White House press passes—are, in theory, bequeathed by a market-driven merit system. The idea is that the smartest, the wittiest and the most industrious in finding good stuff will simply rise to the top, by virtue of a self-organizing selection process.

As I said before, I don’t think there is a “problem”. If anything, I’d say its more of an early adopter syndrome. And before you argue that with 8 million blogs we’re past that stage, let me remind you that there are hundreds of millions of instant messaging users and even more email users. Saying that “there are not enough women bloggers” is probably akin to saying “there are not enough women emailing” when only 8 million email addresses existed. Absurd.

Read: Newsweek