Kiss your children tonight

February 28, 2006 | Douglas/Dogs

Dear Elena. I’ve run across this blog a few times in my reading over the past week, and have been almost afraid to read too much, for fear of falling apart. My son is nearly six, about the same age as the girl who died suddenly last week, and whose father has written this most eloquent blog about her, her sister and their family.

My heart goes out to all of them, and I know I am but one of many many people who have been touched by this blog and this family.

Kiss your children tonight.

Peace.

Whew.

Mathom Room, PR, Politics/Policy

Technorati Favorites: Most Favorited

Blogging

Yes, Virginia, there is good news!

February 27, 2006 | Mathom Room

Forget about all the A-list rigamarole and Technorati’s problems with authority.

Start your week off right with this news report about an autistic high school student’s well-deserved moment in the spotlight. From YouTube via TailRank.

UPDATE 2/27 at 11:30 AM:  And then wander over to check out What if Microsoft designed the iPod box? (YouTube video, seen on Scobleizer)

UPDATE March 1: From BoingBoing, CBS "pulled an NBC" on the YouTube video of the autistic basketball player, but you can still download the movie at this mirror. That’s how to raise the ratings, boys, pull the feel-good story of the year off the net, where it is probably getting more exposure for your anchor than he got ALL LAST YEAR.

Roadmaps This and That

February 26, 2006 | Blogging, Humour, Marketing, PR

Fred Wilson: New York Magazine Got It Wrong and Tristan Louis Got It Right

InfoThought: Higher Jumpers Is Not The Same As Lower Barriers, or A-list Change != Rebuttal. While I don’t always agree with everything Seth Finkelstein says, I do think he has a point here. He concludes:

"Having more competitors who can jump over higher barriers is not the same as barriers being low for everyone."

Neville Hobson, Sharing your favourites

Tris Hussey, Technorati adds favourites … the good, the cool, and the darkside

Spam and Porn and BlogHer

February 25, 2006 | BlogHer06, Blogging

So today is apparently not my day. I got a notice from a blog search engine (FINDINGBLOG) that two of the blogs I write were rejected because:

Your submission is not compatible with our listing policy because:

(1) it is not a human-maintained blog, or

(2) it is a product-selling blog or a sign post for another website, or

(3) it contains sexually offensive materials.

Now, last I looked, I WAS a human, I don’t sell anything on my blog, and except for the occasional expletive, you’d rate my blog "G." Now I know how all those sites that were "Blocked by Cyber Patrol"  must have felt. Anyway, I suspect they automatically rejected me because I use RSS Submit, rather than manually doing my submissions. So it goes. Probably not the best policy on their part, but their prerogative.

Then I went and posted some additional information on the BlogHer site about the Room of Your Own that I’ve proposed for BlogHer and apparently I did something wrong there too, because they are holding my comment as "potential spam, to be reviewed by a site admin." I think I forgot to put a subject on the post, cause the content was pretty straightforward. I wanted to let folks know who had committed to attending the session, if we are lucky enough to be one of the final six.

Not to leave you in suspense, the other marketers (in addition to me) who’ve agreed to participate and kick off the session with their stories are Debbie Weil from BlogWrite for CEOs and Toby Bloomberg from Diva Marketing. Plus one or two others who haven’t yet finalized BlogHer plans,but once they do, I’ll let you know. And remember, we are just there to kick off the conversation. If we are selected, my hope is that this collective Room produces a set of tips/best blog practices to help us all be better bloggers for our businesses and our clients.

To be fair, I am sure the post on the BlogHer site will be approved once someone logs on. It was just my day to be blocked I guess.

UPDATE 26 Feb: I heard from the BlogHer folks today. Apparently, there was an issue with a spam filter — which was pretty much what I had figured, having worked for web and email filtering companies for 10 years.

Also heard from the FINDINGBLOG folks. I’ll let the complete email trail speak for itself.

My query:

I’m curious about your criteria. A blog I write (Marketing Roadmaps at getgood.typepad.com) was just rejected for listing with you for the following reasons:

(1) it is not a human-maintained blog, or

(2) it is a product-selling blog or a sign post for another website, or

(3) it contains sexually offensive materials.

None of which are true, which your editors would have seen had anyone actually visited or read the blog.

So, just wondering what the deal is. I plan to blog this and I’d like to have the facts straight.

Thanks

Susan

The reply:

hi,

i’d like to clarify one thing before continuing conversation further:

did you use any automatic submission software to submit your blog?

if you did, what software did you use?

My answer:

Yes I use RSS Submit, so if you automatically reject anyone who uses automatic submission software, that would explain it.

Doesn’t make sense, given that many of us use such tools, but certainly your prerogative.

Regards

Susan

Which apparently they did not receive because I got another email today:

Not having heard from you yet, I assume you did use some sort of automatic

submission tool to submit your blog to us.  Correct me if my assumption is wrong.

Our editors volunteered to help us review each blog submission manually.

If you don’t want to spare your time to submit your blog to our directory on your own, there is no reason we want to spare our precious time to review your automatic submission either.

WOW. I sent a final reply:

I actually did reply right away, and told you that I used RSS Submit, so if you automatically reject any submissions made by automatic tools, that would explain it.

It is certainly your prerogative to make that decision, but you might want to consider telling people that’s the reason. Telling them that they are not human or that their blog contains porn is not so great.

Best regards,

Susan

**********************************************

And that’s all I have to say on the subject.

More on the Changing Nature of Blogs

February 23, 2006 | Blogging, Marketing, Web Marketing

Yesterday, I shared my list of collected posts about the changing nature of blogs. I’ve been thinking quite a lot about this lately as I prepare for a business blogging workshop at the University of Wisconsin next month.

Here’s the definition of blogs that I usually give in this workshop:

In the simplest terms, a blog is nothing more than a website developed using a lightweight content management system like Movable Type, Blogger, or Word Press. The things that most clearly identify a site as a blog are:

• Content presented in reverse chronological order;
• Ability for readers to leave public comments;
• Links in/out from/to other sites and blogs using a ping called a trackback.
• An RSS feed

Now, not all blogs have all of these things, but by and large, most will.

For the most part, this definition is still okay. But more and more blogs are moderating comments, or taking/leaving them off altogether.   And underlying the whole concept of comments is an assumption that the blogger will respond to the comment, but many say this doesn’t scale when a blogger regularly gets lots of comments. Probably true, but what to do….

When is a blog, not a blog? Or is the definition changing?

As Elizabeth Albrycht discussed in her post, is the definition changing as companies adopt blogging as part of the marketing/business plan? And by this I mean a company actively developing and using a blog to advance its business interests, versus the collateral effect that happens when employees blog and add value to the brand. GM is a company actively blogging as part of the business plan. Microsoft is a company that gets benefit from its employee bloggers.

Another underlying assumption about blogs is transparency. But it is guaranteed that NO company can have the same degree of transparency as an individual blogging about her life or his hobbies. They can be honest about the business and clear about their motives, but they cannot, should not, reveal ALL. Is it still a blog?

What about the blog empires of Gawker Media and Weblogs Inc. These are more like magazines than personal journals. How do they REALLY differ from a Web 1.0 site?

One of the fallacies of blogging is that it brings us all closer. Well yeah sort of but not really. We read a blog and feel we know the writer, not unlike the kinship we feel for celebrities because we read about them in People at the hair salon. But we don’t really know these folks, unless we actually engage in conversation with them. Sure, you CAN build robust, lasting friendships in the virtual world, but for the most part, the closest we really are is acquaintances.

So here’s what I think (Ta Duh). The definition of blog that I’ve been using is fine as it is. But the nature of blogs is definitely changing. And the change isn’t driven by whether it is a company blogging versus a person, as much as it is by VOLUME.

In the long tail, where I happily live, volume is low, and I have the luxury of being able to respond to comments, both privately and on the blog. I hazard a guess that the same would be true of a company in a niche market with a very targeted blog. They could still have a two-way conversation on the blog with customers and other stakeholders. 

But when the volumes rise (circulation and inbound comments alike), blogs seem to become more like magazines. Comments disappear. The communication becomes much more uni-directional – blogger out, with little response to comments. If they still have them, comments are more like the Letter to the Editor in the newspaper. The blog may even add multiple authors, versus the “one guy” it started with. The voice of the blog may get a little muddled, whether one author or many, and it is ever harder to find the point of view.

The blog may still look like a blog, but it quacks like a magazine.

None of this is a bad thing, per se. But it is different, and to some degree, challenges some of the underlying expectations we have about blogging.

As I say in the workshop:

• Blogs are conversations, not speeches. Specifically, bloggers write about, and link to, other bloggers’ ideas. And they create space on their blog for readers to participate – to comment on the action.
• Blogs should be authentic and transparent. There are many different interpretations of what these terms mean, and if we delved too deeply into that philosophical debate, we’d never get to the rest of our session. To net it down, some purists want bloggers to be real people, blogging about their experiences, with “everything” out there for the reader to know. Others put a more pragmatic definition on this, as I do, requiring honesty with the reader. Be clear about your intentions, and never lie. But we draw the line at complete transparency as it is actually impossible to achieve, whether you are an individual or a company.
• Blogs are not overtly commercial – This is inherited from the open source nature of the Internet, and is not that difference from the deep sigh that erupted from academia when the Web went commercial after being a bastion of academia and sharing. But blogs do have a point of view. And as more and more companies adopt blogging as part of their marketing strategy, there is an acceptance that blogs can be used to build brands and create interest in products. No one seems to mind, as long as the blog is also providing entertainment, information and value beyond the sale. 

I don’t have an answer… In fact I doubt there is a single “right”  answer to this conundrum: the more popular a blog gets, the less like a blog it may "feel." However, it something we need to be aware of when we consider adding blogs to our marketing mix.

Round-up: Changing nature of blogs

February 22, 2006 | Blogging, Marketing, Media, PR

I’m working on some material about the changing nature of blogs as part of my preparation for a workshop I am leading at the University of Wisconsin next month. Here are some of the posts I’ve collected over the past few weeks that may be used in the session. As always, I’ll post a summary of the session here on the Roadmap.

In no particular order:

Three excellent posts from Newsome.org:  5 steps to good blogging, No comments: old school or playing hooky, and The politics of blogging

Guy Kawasaki’s How to suck up to a blogger

Stowe Boyd, Scoble on tips for joining the A-list

Foghound, Positioning and messaging is not an option

A WSJ article on blog ethics, chiefly around the issue of disclosing financial interest in companies you blog about, found on Media Guerilla, Blogger Disclosure Practices Tested

CorporatePR, When is a blog really a blog?

Web 2.0 malarkey from gaping void

The role of the roll, Shel Holtz

Technorati Favorites, opinions from Media Guerilla, Media Orchard

Micro Persuasion, How and When to Respond to Conversations, a summary of a discussion at the Word of Mouth Marketing conference in January

Cymfony’s new media Knowledge Center (seen on Micro Persuasion)

A post about the A-list "thing" that I missed in my earlier round-up, Why I hate the A-list mentality, Phil Gomes

Worker Bees, Does a blog without comments smell as sweet?

I also plan to talk about Dr. Myra, as an example of what NOT to do.

And Dell will get more than a passing mention, not just for the continuing saga of dis-satisfied customers in Dell Hell, but also for the news item I found on Threadwatch today. Apparently Dell is suing a website designer named Paul Dell for using the domain www.dellwebsites.com. Perhaps there’s more to the story than meets the eye, but it seems to me that Michael Dell can’t be the only Dell on the planet who is allowed to use his name in connection with a business endeavor. Hhmm? Just can’t shake the feeling — Dell is a company that just doesn’t "get it."

Bonus link (not for the workshop and your payback for wading through this post): Cheney’s Got a Gun (tip of the hat to John Wagner for the link)

Testing the Memetrackers

February 21, 2006 | Blogging

If tests of the memetrackers were really necessary, couldn’t they have done something meaningful, like spread the word about a charity? Or told the world about an unsung hero? Something with meaning rather than nonsense words?

Maybe I’m missing something here, but as long as the test used something obscure, wouldn’t it achieve the same result as nonsense words for testing the memetrackers? And then these very popular blogs would be spreading the word about something worthwhile that could probably use the help…

Just wondering…..

BlogHer: More about the Room of Your Own Proposal

BlogHer, BlogHer06, Blogging, Business Management, Marketing

Elisa Camahort has posted the candidates for the Room of Your Own slots at BlogHer this July so I thought I’d give a little more detail about the Business Blogging session I’ve proposed.

We’ve all gone to conferences where much of the audience is just as qualified (sadly sometimes more) as the panel of experts. But very little time is actually given for interaction between the panel and the audience. Usually, there is time for one or two questions, and that’s it. Not very satisfying for anyone really, but especially the audience — at least the panelists get the professional recognition for being on the panel.

The other problem (one that is handsomely addressed by BlogHer) is that all the conferences start to blend together — the same speakers seem to hop from one to the next, presenting pretty much the same material. Interesting the first time perhaps, but not so much the 2d, 3d, 4th time you attend a conference with the same players. And the same topics. Not really worth attending the sessions when you could save the airfare and read the same material on their blog or in their book.

Now, sessions aren’t the only reason for attending conferences — networking is a big part of why we go as well. For my part though, I really need to find value in both the conference program and the networking opportunities. It’s too expensive, both in hard cost and time away from billable work, to attend otherwise.

Hence the idea for a business blogging session that makes the audience members part of the panel. The focus is on "what worked, what didn’t" in your blog projects. What would you do again? What will you NEVER do again? We’ll learn from each other’s experiences to collectively build a set of blogging best practices.

A few folks will be identified in advance to kick off our discussion, however, the only difference between them and the rest of the people in the room is that they will have PROMISED to have something to share. Everyone in the room will have an equal chance to participate.

And that is the key word: Participate. We won’t have presentations or speeches. To the extent we can, we’ll post brief descriptions of the blogs that people want to discuss on the BlogHer site in advance so we don’t have to spend a lot of time bringing everyone up to speed on what a blog was all about. That way, we can focus on the discussion, not a ton of exposition.

I think this will be a lot of fun and look forward to reading your comments, either here or at the BlogHer site.