By Nichole Mrasek
Account Supervisor

Feeling socially overwhelmed online? From Facebook to LinkedIn, there is a social network ready to connect you to friends, old schoolmates, boyfriends/girlfriends and family. A new social networking site, By/Association, unclutters the news feed noise and caters to people with specific networking needs.

The site touts itself as exclusive and inherently important. From the company’s Web site: “By/Association is a community of remarkable individuals, hand-selected to seed inspiring and unexpected introductions.”

The site offers exclusivity by requiring that members join through an application process. And don’t worry about finding a good profile picture. The New York Times reports that the network doesn’t allow searching for people or pictures. This is because the site has one main purpose: networking. Its mission is to offer a place where people can connect and share ideas, philosophies and enrich projects they are working on, and, ultimately, their lives,

“The site covers London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, with plans to expand to Toronto and Chicago by the end of the year,” according to the Times.

The site is definitely off to a clean start. But will it eventually evolve, as other online platforms have, and open its policies to meet the demands that its network will eventually create?

Read the full feature for more details and an interview with the site’s founder, The Anti-Social-Network Social Network.

Posted by staff at 01:16 PM
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May 27, 2009

The Post-Processing Technique

By Lyndsay Hoban

Groundswell author Josh Bernoff gave the keynote speech at the IAB Marketplace: Social Media last Monday, emphasizing the need to look at social media as a long-term trend.

Bernoff outlined the Groundswell P-O-S-T process (People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology) and highlighted successful examples of P-O-S-T in practice, including Tampax’s BeingGirl community and Hershey’s use of Houseparty.com for the launch of the Bliss line of chocolates.

He concluded his address with a focus on measurement, stating that successful use of social media must have meaningful metrics and clear objectives. “When it comes to social media, people really need to hear this,” he said.

Read his measuring sticks and the full article here.

Posted by staff at 01:42 PM
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May 19, 2009

How Celebs Do Facebook

Mashable has put together “5 Lessons Celebrities Can Teach Us About Facebook Pages.” From Vin Diesel to Lenny Kravitz, Britney Spears to Michael Phelps, check out their Facebook tips here.

Posted by staff at 04:33 PM
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May 16, 2009

iPhone’s Appealing, Inexpensive Apps Driving Mobile Ad Growth

By Marian Short

Mobile ad spending could nearly double this year to $200 million, due largely to the iPhone’s runaway success, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Companies are keen to access the iPhone’s desirable owner base: young, well paid, highly engaged with mobile tech and currently over 20 million strong. While numerous advertisers offer streaming video ads to smart phones, an increasing number are creating—or redesigning—downloadable apps to lure in a demographic that is minimally responsive to TV advertising. Not only do iPhone apps tend to be cheap, they also capture higher levels of engagement. For example, a recent and successful hamburger app for California-based CKE Restaurants Inc. cost $12,000, while a Burger King app launched for Valentine’s Day was downloaded by 14 percent of its mobile audience. Compare those with a less-than-one-percent interaction rate for online banner ads.

For more details you can read the full article from the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

Fast Company’s blog also posted on the WSJ article and pointed out that companies have yet to really incorporate other iPhone. Medialets, however, has become the first company to roll out a “shakeable” ad for its Levi’s Dockers campaign, which takes advantage of the motion sensor.

Posted by staff at 04:26 PM
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May 06, 2009

This Could Be Your Big Cyber Break

By Eden Litt

A few years ago, Justin Kan attached a webcam to his hat, recorded his every move and then streamed it live to a Web site. The site, Justin.tv is now one of the largest online networks for users to broadcast and watch live videos.

Looking for your big break? Chris Pirillo, self-proclaimed geek and president of blogging network LockerGnome.com, offers tips to starting your own live stream on CNN.com/technology.

Posted by staff at 04:56 PM
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May 01, 2009

Trouble Finding Work? Join the Blogger Workforce

According to an article in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, nearly 2 million Americans get paid for blogging. About 2 percent of all bloggers are making a living this way, some of them through advertising revenue and others paid directly for posts.

The article, America’s Newest Profession: Bloggers for Hire, details what its author calls “the fifth estate” – bloggers in all fields generating revenue for their opinions, and supplanting journalists on the way.

“It is hard to think of another job category that has grown so quickly and become such a force in society without having any tests, degrees, or regulation of virtually any kind. Courses on blogging are now cropping up, and we can’t be far away from the Columbia School of Bloggerism… Not since eBay opened its doors have so many been able to sit at their computer screens and make some money, or even make a whole living.”

Bloggers now outnumber firefighters, CEOs, computer programmers and even bartenders, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The majority of them are well-educated white males who report above-average incomes. Bloggers with 100,000 unique monthly visitors can generate $75,000 per year in income.

Read the full article for more details on the ups and downs of this burgeoning profession.

Posted by staff at 04:55 PM
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April 24, 2009

The Refreshing TwitZap

The new Twitter client TwitZap helps speed up tweeting, even when Twitter is experiencing slowdowns. TwitZap updates automatically and in real time, at the speed you choose. Read more here.

Posted by staff at 04:01 PM
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April 23, 2009

Facebook Case Studies and Tips for Brand Marketers

Facebook wants to encourage brands to continue to build Facebook pages and, with the current revamp to pages, Facebook has developed its own page for promotion. Facebook Marketing Solutions is complete with case studies from a number of large brands using the tool, tips and how-tos, and discussion with marketers. View the Facebook Marketing Solutions page Posted by staff at 04:12 PM
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April 08, 2009

Best Practices for Facebook Fan Pages

By Alicia Dorset

Mashable has some great tips about what makes a successful Facebook fan page. The five elements cover everything from working with other platforms, such as your other existing Web sites and social media properties, to finding the right fans based on your product’s or company’s demographics. Definitely an important read for anyone interested in creating that first fan page for a client.

Posted by staff at 10:51 AM
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March 31, 2009

Whale Spotted on Twitter

By Eden Litt

It’s on T-shirts. Parties have been thrown in its honor. And now people are getting it permanently tattooed to their bodies.

It’s Twitter’s infamous “fail whale.” You know, the icon you see when the site fails to load. It’s a burly whale being hoisted out of the water by a flock of tweeting birds. Its image is becoming even more popular as the site becomes overloaded by more and more daily users. In fact, Twitter has grown more than 1,300 percent in just the past year. In comparison, Facebook grew only 228 percent during that same time.

While some have grown to love the whale watching, others find it utterly annoying. Read more about the phenomenon and Twitter’s growth here.

Posted by staff at 10:41 AM
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March 23, 2009

Finding a Separation Between Personal and Professional Social Media

Want to join Facebook or Twitter but worried about what colleagues or clients might see? Louis Gray’s has tips for you in his article "How To Cleanly Separate Personal and Work Social Media Personalities." Try creating separate browsers for your work and personal use and remember to take extra precautions before acting on behalf of your client. More advice can be found here.

Posted by staff at 05:20 PM
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March 09, 2009

What You Should Be Learning from Social Media

By Nichole Mrasek

The social media landscape can make or break an individual user - or even a large corporation.
Mashable’s Ben Parr has a list of social media blunders that we should read and remember so as not to repeat others’ mistakes.

Two notable flubs and the lessons learned from them:

* Facebook News Feed: Facebook launched news feed as a complete surprise, throwing off many users. Now Facebook rolls out new features gradually.
* Motrin Moms: Had Motrin done some research, it probably would have anticipated such a backlash. People don’t mess around when you talk about their kids.

Read the full feature here.

Posted by staff at 04:24 PM
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March 03, 2009

Brand Guideline Tips for Social Media

By Nichole Mrasek

The face of your brand is crucial to establishing your identity. Mashable’s Sarah Evans provides a quick list for establishing your brand identity in “Social Media for Business: The Dos & Don’ts of Sharing.”

Tips discussed include:
* Be transparent and authentic. Be human. If you don’t want the worst day of your life to be played over and over, don’t talk, share, Tweet or write about it via social media.
* A profile pic is worth a thousand tweets.
* Make a short list of what you WILL talk about via social media.
* A relatively easy approach on Twitter: use the search function and type in the keywords associated with your brand.

Read more helpful advice here.

Posted by staff at 02:00 PM
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February 28, 2009

Neglecting Your Blog? Just Tweet!

A new plug-in for Wordpress bloggers will automatically import your recent Twitter and FriendFeed activity to your blog and display it in regular post fashion. Ersatz blog posts will even come embellished with Twit pics and YouTube videos. Read more on Wordpress here.

Posted by staff at 12:41 PM
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In These Current Economic Times, Use Coupons

By Nichole Mrasek

Consumers, predominately women, are looking for online sites to help them save. Rather than reaching for scissors to clip, they’re reaching for their mouse, to click.

Additionally, comScore Media Metrix found that “coupon sites were the fastest-growing online category in November 2008, up 32 percent from October to 35.6 million visitors.”

Coupons Inc. CEO reported that their network of users is 72 percent female, college-educated homeowners with kids at home.

Read more from the eMarketer feature “Coupon Sites Grow at a Fast Clip.”

Posted by staff at 12:27 PM
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February 13, 2009

Resources for Selling in Social Media to Cynics & Skeptics

By Nichole Mrasek

Interactive Insights Group has an entire bank of helpful articles to drive points for social media inclusion with brands. From “The Top 10 Reasons Brands Should Listen to Social Media” to “Ten Common Objections to Social Media Adoption and How You Can Respond,” these are important resources to justify social media’s impact and ROI for companies.

Top viewpoints include:

* Social media marketing creates brand ambassadors who market for free
* Note that social media is here to stay—the proven effectiveness of social media and consumer dependence on it indicate it is here to stay, and failure to partake will result in missed opportunities (becoming actively involved in social media will give your company a chance to influence what’s being said about your brand, as well as a chance to listen and respond to the current conversation.)
* Step off your enthusiasm about how “cool” all this stuff is and cut straight to the value
* Provide a different take on ROI for social media, gaining perspective on what the return is when social media is ignored

I encourage you to view the full feature and the resourceful articles here.

Posted by staff at 02:31 AM
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February 12, 2009

The Internet is Amazing

This video of the Internet’s humble beginnings back in 1981 will have many reminiscing. Check out reporter Steve Newman’s story about the early experiments with online news delivery, originally broadcast on KRON San Francisco in 1981. View the video here.

Posted by staff at 09:17 AM
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February 11, 2009

Where are you? Google knows.

By Eden Litt

Curious about where your daughter is? Want to know how far away your husband is from home? Can’t find your study group at the library?

Google Latitude has the answer. This new software allows mobile phone users to share their location with friends and family. For those concerned with privacy, users must register online to activate the service, and have the option to share, set or hide their current location.

This technology opens up a whole new set of doors for location-based advertising. Read more about the product and some of its competitors here.

Posted by staff at 09:41 AM
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February 05, 2009

Year of the Netbook?

With iPhone and BlackBerry dominating the business arena, the Netbook now provides consumers with a lightweight and relatively inexpensive competitive option to smartphones. The Netbook is a laptop designed to excel in Web-based computing performance, and its seven- to 10-inch display is quite portable. If you’re still in the dark about Netbooks check out this great 101 from CNet.

ABI Research has been keeping a pulse on the Netbook trend since its introduction in 2007. Sales have started to rise, as the Netbook represented 12% of all laptop sales in December 2008.

ABI practice director Kevin Burden explains, “Rather than buying a new computer or upgrading to a next-generation smartphone, consumers may opt to find a middle-of-the road solution with a Netbook. While the NPD Group forecasts that Netbook sales will eat into laptop sales, they could also take a bite out of the smartphone market.”

Will this year mark a trend in Netbooks? Read more on what MediaPost has to say on the topic here.

Posted by staff at 12:25 PM
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February 03, 2009

Social Media Affects Customer Loyalty

Marketing Trends had an interesting post last week about how a company’s presence on social media sites can improve customer loyalty and word-of-mouth promotion. Aaron Strout points to Dell, Sears and Ford as top players in the field. Thanks to their efforts on sites like Twitter, forums and branded social networking sites, customer perception of these well-known brands is drastically changing.

Read more about Strout’s thoughts here.

Posted by staff at 12:40 PM
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January 31, 2009

Survey Reveals Media Channel Lines Continue to Blur

Ketchum paired with the University of Southern California’s Anneberg Strategic Public Relations Center to conduct the ‘Media Myths & Realities’ global survey. The survey highlights the differences in media consumption between the general population and influencers. More than 40 media channels - from newspapers to podcasts - were reviewed. “This burgeoning participatory media landscape means media audiences are having just as much influence, if not more, than the content providers themselves.” View the survey’s full findings here.

Posted by staff at 12:37 PM
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January 29, 2009

CNN.com Weekly News Quiz

We all follow different news beats and CNN.com’s weekly current events quiz helps you stay up-to-date with what is happening around the world. Don’t worry if you get a question wrong, CNN prompts the corresponding article for you to find out more. Try out this week’s quiz here.

Posted by staff at 11:48 AM
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January 14, 2009

Online Marketing Linkfest

Techipedia’s Tamar Weinberg compiled a list of “Internet Marketing Best Posts” for the second year running, and it’s a treasure trove of posts on SEO, social media strategy, twittering, Sphinning, Facebooking, Farking…You get the picture.

Delve into your areas of interest and discover some new folk to follow. View the feature.

Posted by staff at 04:46 PM
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January 06, 2009

Google to Insert Ads on third-party sites with Friend Connect and OpenSocial Widgets

By Ann Stofflet

Web sites registered with Google’s Friend Connect will be able to place AdSense-like advertising within their sites and OpenSocial widgets. View the demo here.

Web publishers will receive a percentage of ad revenue within Friend Connect and Open Social widgets. This practice has dubbed Friend Connect with the nickname “FriendSense,” according to a recent TechCrunch post.

Posted by staff at 12:06 PM
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January 05, 2009

TrendsSpotting’s “Influencers On Social Media 2009 Predictions”

Check out an insightful presentation on social media trends for the New Year. You can watch it here.

Posted by staff at 11:43 AM
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December 25, 2008

Data Proves Strong Growth for Mobile Content and Social Networking

Emarketer releases the latest findings on the dominance of the mobile phone content: “The percentage of mobile phone users who said they accessed social networks from their handset jumped 182 percent from September 2007 to October 2008, according to a study conducted by The Kelsey Group and ConStat.” More statistics found here.

Posted by staff at 03:30 AM
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December 15, 2008

Enlightening Look at Social Media Activity of Forty Million Americans

By Nichole Mrasek

Netpop Research is releasing data on the online habits of social networks. The findings cite “76% of all U.S. broadband users actively contribute to social media sites in one form or another, and 29% contribute regularly to social networking sites.” Comparisons are drawn between social networkers and non-social media users. Facebook and MySpace also go head-to-head in the research, with Facebook touting the largest increase in users from 2006 – 2008 (500%).

Another surprising statistic uncovered: “In terms of interests, MySpace users are more interested in NASCAR, astrology, and gardening, while Facebook’s users are predictably more interested in school, science, and investing.” Great information to keep in mind for our clients.

Learn more from the study here.

Posted by staff at 12:40 PM
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December 10, 2008

Did You Know 3.0 Video

A must-watch powerful video on the magnitude of digital and predictions for its growth. You can view the video here.

Posted by staff at 12:33 PM
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December 07, 2008

When Clients Want Viral

Clients ask for their campaigns to “go viral” and AdAge’s “Can You Guess Which Pitch Is a Real Viral Campaign? Apparently, Many Agencies Can’t” serves as a great discussion on viral. AdAge defines viral campaigns as, “content passed from one person to another, including images, videos, links, applications, games, stories, e-mails, documents or virtually any other type of digital content that one person passes to another via e-mail, IM, text messaging, or social network like Twitter, FriendFeed, etc.”

The article quickly debunks the idea that distributing a press release or e-mail will have a high impact on a viral campaign. Blogger outreach with great pitches and blog advertising with the right creative content represent stronger steps in the viral direction.

Check out the feature here to learn more and see examples of successful viral campaigns. In closing, “Remember, social-media gurus, advertising agencies and PR flacks: It ain’t viral ‘til it is.”

Posted by staff at 12:28 PM
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December 01, 2008

Journalists Speak Out on Social Media for PR: How They Use Twitter and Other Social Networks

90-Minute Webcast – December 11 – 1:00 pm ET /10:00 am PT

Twitter.com is the latest rage in online communications—a super quick "micro-blogging" site where users post their brief thoughts and "follow" the "tweets" of others. But it’s not just for wasting time—Twitter has emerged as a valuable business communication tool. The latest group to descend on Twitter: Journalists looking for sources, trends and scoops. There are now hundreds of working journalists using Twitter every day to interact with sources, search for story ideas, and turn "twitpitches" from PR professionals into stories! And they’re not just using Twitter; they’re also actively embracing other forms of social media, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, to troll for sources and stories. This is a trend that every working PR professional needs to understand and leverage today.

To help you master these exciting new communications channels, PR University has assembled an exclusive panel of journalists who actively use Twitter and other social media, who will give you their latest insights into this phenomenon, as well as an inside look at how they and their colleagues are using Twitter and other social media and where they think this new medium is going in the future.

Brian Stelter, Reporter, The New York Times
Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Consumer Technology Reporter, St. Paul Pioneer Press (circ. 252,055); Author, "Twitter Means Business: How Microblogging Can Help or Hurt Your Company"
Ina Fried, Senior Writer, CNET News
Chris O’Brien, Business Columnist, San Jose Mercury News (circ. 241,518)
Dan Patterson, Digital Audio Manager, ABC News

For more information on the Webcast visit here.

Posted by staff at 10:44 AM
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November 01, 2008

Tools to Help PR Professionals Navigate Social Media

By Nichole Mrasek

No profession is more impacted by the growth of digital media than journalism and the public relations business that works in concert with media. So it’s no surprise that communications technologies are quickly adapted into the PR/Journalism mix. Mashable’s “10 of the Best Social Media Tools for PR Professionals and Journalists” provides a glimpse at some of the top sources that help bridge the online-offline gap.

A few highlights include:
Help a Reporter Out (HARO): Online service that e-mails member queries from journalists.
Journalisted: Source for information on journalists; provides updates on their latest articles.
Media People Using Twitter: Site dedicated to journalists on Twitter.

I encourage you to take a deeper look into the sites from this feature, as they will ensure you are keeping a smart eye on the industry trends.

Posted by staff at 12:26 PM
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October 27, 2008

Tumblon Community for Parents

Still in Beta, Tumblon is an interactive service providing a resource for parents during the important early stages of childhood development. Tumblon has tapped respected child doctors, authors and psychologists to develop content for the site. According to Tumblon.com, “The first five years are critical for a child's development, and parents play the most important role in their child's development during this time.”

Tumblon’s resources section provides parents with information on newborn, infant, toddler, preschool and school-age children. The site also gives parents the ability to blog and share photos. Guiding parents with parenting tips, product reviews and community activities, Tumblon hopes to encourage parents to participate more in their child’s critical development period.

Check out Tumblon here.

Posted by staff at 03:43 AM
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October 25, 2008

Social Media Influencers

The New York Times provides insight on the Rubicon Consulting study, “Online Communities and Their Impact on Business.” There is a current assumption among companies that extreme enthusiasts rather than average users dominate online community conversations, and companies feel that this causes a distraction when reaching for the real consumer. Rubicon Consulting warns that this is a dangerous view.

Rubicon agrees that, “about 80 percent of user-generated content is compiled by less than 10 percent of Web users. But despite the low content creation rates, online communities have enormous influence on almost all Web users. Online comments and reviews posted by the enthusiasts are second only to word of mouth as a purchase driver for all Web users.”

Read the New York Times feature on the study to understand the importance of client interaction with consumers via social media networks.

Posted by staff at 10:39 AM
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October 20, 2008

Price-Comparison Sites & Coupons Codes Peak in Popularity During Hard Economic Times

For Internet shopping fans, there are hundreds of Web sites that provide coupon and deal information, helping consumers save money. USA Today highlights the top online sites for price-comparison shopping and provides tips to help consumers find coupons for online and in-store use.

Posted by staff at 04:15 AM
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October 19, 2008

Leveraging Your Linkedin Profile

Keeping your Linkedin profile up-to-date, finding new contacts through your current contacts and participating in meet-ups are just a few ways to make sure you’re fully marketing yourself on the site. You can read more on the “15 Ways to Market Yourself on Linkedin” here.

Posted by staff at 10:40 AM
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October 15, 2008

Social Media Now a Default for Clients

Social media is an obvious area where brands want to increase their participation, and based on recent studies, we encourage clients to keep pursuing these avenues. Mashable’s Tom Smith discusses the recent study conducted by Universal McCann entitled: “When did we start trusting strangers? How the Internet turned us all into influencers.”

The report surveyed over 17,000 Internet users in 29 countries. Smith said, “It conclusively proves that as we thought, social media is now directly impacting the way we buy products and services.” Smith added, “This has huge impacts on the way that advertisers and brands have to think about social media - moving involvement from a ‘nice to have’ to an ’essential to have.’”

Currently, the trend is for consumers to primarily post comments on brands to communicate good experiences, and they do so mostly via e-mail and Instant Messenger.
We encourage you to read additional essential findings on the study here.

Posted by staff at 05:07 AM
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October 08, 2008

The Science of Advergaming

By Ann Stofflet

Ever wonder if placing a branded game on a site produces a measurable impact on the player’s/consumer’s attitude toward your brand?

Well, the researchers at The University of Missouri’s PRIME Lab have studied the effects of advergame themes on consumer attitudes and have discovered that the consumer manifests a strong positive relationship towards a brand when they play advergames with thematic brand connections. “Advergaming” is a term that describes the practice of using video games to advertise a product, organization or viewpoint.

The ‘thematic connection’ is the degree to which the object of the advergame relates to the brand’s product or services. For example, a highly thematic connection would be an online basketball game branded by a sporting equipment company. During the study, participants played two advergames, both with either high or low thematic brand connection.
Kevin Wise, assistant professor of strategic communication at the MU School of Journalism explained,

“While games that related to the brand were not inherently more enjoyable than unrelated games, the transfer of enjoyment from the game to a positive attitude towards the brand was stronger when the game and brand were thematically related. Game enjoyment led to positive attitude toward the brand when a high thematic connection existed between the game and the brand.”
View the full feature here.

Posted by staff at 10:04 AM
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October 03, 2008

Consumers Feel Companies Should Have Social-Media Presence

By Ann Stofflet

Below are some interesting consumer survey responses from the "Business in Social Media" study conducted by Cone:

*93% consumers believe companies should have a social-media presence
*85% consumers feel companies should interact with customers through social media
*60% consumers interact with companies using social media
*56% consumers feel a stronger connection with, and better served by companies when they interact via social media
*41% consumers believe companies should solicit feedback on their products and services via social media

*37% consumers think companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand through social media
*25% consumers feel companies should market to consumers using social media

Note: The survey sampled 1,092 online American consumers (525 men/567 women, 18 and over).

“All of this is great news for marketers,” said Mike Hollywood, director of new media for Cone. "This is really a license to put more energy and resources into this medium and do it effectively.”

Another great resource for clients is a table showing online user expectations of companies’ social media presence. View the information by clicking here.

Full story and additional tables can be found here.

Posted by staff at 11:24 AM
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September 27, 2008

New York Times Launches Green Blog

Green Inc. discusses “energy, the environment and the bottom line.” Energy and environment reporters contribute to the blog and “track the high-stakes pursuit of a greener globe.”

Posted by staff at 09:11 AM
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Evolution of Social Networking

Social networking is booming and with millions of users interacting daily with sites like MySpace and Facebook, consumers are wondering what is the next natural step for networking. Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake said, "There’s a sort of wisdom of crowds and collective knowledge that’s actually the product of sociality, but isn’t directly related to that person being connected to you. So the social systems are much more interesting in many ways, and will be in the future."

Social networking will also venture more into real-world sociability. Companies are already connecting social network users via mobile applications, which alert them when another network member is in their vicinity.

For more information on social networking emerging technologies, visit CNN’s “Face to Facebook: social networks hit the streets.”

Posted by staff at 01:16 AM
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September 25, 2008

Importance of Even the Small Blogs

With clients looking for high traffic and big results, BusinessWeek’s Sarah Lacy discusses the impact that small, but truly dedicated, blogs bring to the blogosphere. Lacy highlights the value that should be placed on smaller blogs and outlines three types of bloggers: professional, amateur and early adopters. Professional bloggers blog for money; amateur bloggers blog for the love of their site; early adopters began blogging because they were fascinated by the platform. Check out “Blogging: In Praise of Small” here.

Posted by staff at 09:09 AM
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September 03, 2008

My Summer Internship: Not What I Expected

By Lindsay Callahan

I’ve been assigned to follow in Mr. Schottelkotte’s “intern footsteps” and write a blog post about my summer as the Digital Intern at MS&L in New York … so here goes.

I’ll start with a brief intro. My name is Lindsay Callahan and I am going to be a senior at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. I’ll be receiving a degree this spring in Information Design and Corporate Communications, with a second major in Global Perspectives (translation of long and fancy degree names = PR and IR).

When I first got the call saying I had received one of MS&L’s coveted intern positions, I was beyond excited. Then I heard I was in the Digital group, and I won’t lie, I was a little disappointed (sorry. guys, it gets better, though). I had spent the previous summer working at a media agency as a Search Marketing Intern. I learned a ton about new media, but I mostly spent my days pulling weekly and monthly campaign reports from the various ad networks. As I drowned in Excel spreadsheets each day, I thought, “I am a PR major! Where’s the creativity?!?!” To say the least, I was dreading spending another summer counting click-through rates and conversions.

However, within just a few hours of starting work at MS&L, I realized that this summer would be nothing like the last. I was part of a team full of smart, hard-working, passionate, and very creative people, who all treated me with a level of respect that not all interns get to experience. I was assigned to meaningful work and allowed to take my own initiatives on projects. For the first time, I wasn’t staring at the clock all day and waiting for 6 p.m. to roll around. Some days were crazy, and sometimes I was really intimidated by the level of responsibility the team entrusted me with, but I loved every minute. So what have I learned from it all?

I learned that, these days, Digital PR is the most efficient and effective form of PR.

The first thing they teach you in any and every PR class is the definition of the profession; “PR is the method by which companies communicate with their publics.” Well, how are you supposed to communicate with someone who has Flo Rida blasting through the iPod ear bud in her left ear, her BFF yapping through the Bluetooth in her right ear, while she’s fast forwarding through commercials on TiVo and stalking people on Facebook?

In a world where everyone is bombarded with messages from all angles, all day long, how do you ensure that your message is heard?

This summer, I learned the answer to this question. You help your client join the conversation the consumers are already having by creating content that speaks WITH them instead of TO them. Consumers are already talking about products and services, so instead of bombarding them with messaging, why not just engage them in a conversation?

Now I am not saying that I think traditional PR is irrelevant, but even with all the research that goes in to choosing the right media outlets, dollars are still wasted on impressions of people who just don’t care. With digital, you are reaching the people who care, making the most of every dollar spent. Sure, the numbers are a lot smaller, but they are the right numbers. Furthermore, any traditional outreach without digital support behind it becomes a lot less valuable, because the people who do care will be going online to find out more.

In my opinion, if PR is all about communicating with a company’s “publics,” Digital PR gets it right because it can target those publics better than any other method. Sure, I might be biased after two summers working with digital media, but I am really surprised by the resistance from both clients and colleagues to acknowledge where the industry has already gone (some people say “where the industry is going,” but let’s face it, we’ve been there for a while).

To wrap up, I just want to say I am extremely grateful to everyone I worked with for all the responsibility I was given. My fears of being locked in a room with Excel for hours on end were dispelled the moment I started here. I’ve learned so much and can truly say that this is the best group of people I have ever worked with.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 11:40 AM
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March 13, 2008

Working with bloggers

By Charlie Kondek

Information Week has a great piece by Boing Boing contributor Cory Doctorow on making it easy for bloggers to write about you. He runs down 17 tips to make your web site or the web-based part of your promotion friendlier to other bloggers, including the judicious use of permalinks and images, and a smart linking policy.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 10:15 AM
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February 06, 2008

What's the diff?

By Charlie Kondek

My friend and former co-worker Clayton Closson invited me to guest blog a post at the blog he manages for Quicken Loans, What's the Diff? The theme of the Diff blog is the difference between average and excellent. Clayton encouraged me to write about something personal and important, not necessarily having to do with business or PR or anything else. So I wrote a heartfelt post about one of my passions that I'm kinda proud of. I admire What's the Diff for its broadness of topic and diversity of perspectives. Doesn't always have a business goal in mind but, rather, shows the company's interests in plain old humanity. I hope you'll check it out.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 12:28 PM
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October 12, 2007

Q&A with Joel Johnson of Boing Boing Gadgets

By Charlie Kondek

In August, Boing Boing, one of the most popular blogs on the net, started a subblog, Boing Boing Gadgets, and placed tech writer and journalist Joel Johnson at its helm. This was a significant development for Boing Boing, which shares the top slots in the blogosphere with rivals Engadget and Gizmodo, although gadgets and technology, an interest of Boing Boing's, has never been its sole focus.

Johnson kindly shared some of his time with us in Q&A format on his new role at Boing Boing. Warning: Joel is an entertaining and honest writer. Some frank language awaits!

Q: First off, congratulations on your new position. You've worked at the prestigious Gizmodo blog and created Dethroner, one of my favorite online men's magazines. How's it feel to be working at Boing Boing? It's probably no secret to you that many people can identify Boing Boing as a top blog even if they don't know much about web-based pubs or blogs. In fact, as a PR person I have run into this quite a bit: a person with only a shallow understanding of blogs asking, "How do we get Brand X on Boing Boing?"

A: It feels great! I know it must sound like some big internerd f***fest every time I say it, but I have always been huge fans of the Boingers and to be welcomed into the fold was a surprise and a huge bump for my ego. And they've been nothing but supportive and encouraging, which is amazing. Best work co-workers I've ever had. Go Team Venture!

As for getting something on Boing Boing, just send it in. We get hundreds of submissions a day, though, so a personal note explaining who you are and why the readers should care about the story goes a long way. I don't chuck out press releases, but my brain secretes a protective anti-dreck emulsion every time I see one show up in my email. But a personal note I'll read and often respond to, even if I don't necessarily think it's a good fit for the site.

Q: You did an interview on Boing Boing Gadgets at Gizmodo, and from that interview and the rhetoric coming out of your posts, it sounds like you're still defining the role of Boing Boing Gadgets. You described it as existing outside "the churn." In other words, if I'm describing it correctly, you don't feel the need to comment on each and every development in the tech/gadget world – Engadget, Gizmodo and several others do that. You only want to write about the subjects that seem interesting to you. Is that correct and is that still your mission?

A: Jason Kottke, who is an inspiration (and who I am currently stalking) recently said this: "If you're wondering what I do all day, the answer is: throwing stuff out. kottke.org is not so much what's on the site as what is not chosen for inclusion."

That remains my mission. Fortunately it runs parallel to my desire to only write about things I find personally interesting. It may not be the most effective method to quickly build pageviews, but I'd rather people read Boing Boing Gadgets and find most of the posts interesting, rather than skimming through a list of the day's releases, quality or not. Like I said to Gizmodo, I think there's a place for that style of comprehensive blogging, but it just doesn't interest me personally. I am blessed to have the luxury of business partners who share the same philosophy.

Q: Let's talk about PR. You're a powerful force in blogging. Every PR/ad/marketing person with a tech or gadget story to pitch would like to talk to you. How do you want to be approached? What advice, cautions or feedback, if any, would you give to people like me and my clients?

A: Let's be frank: I am probably the most powerful person on the internet.

Just be real. Don't be apologetic. I understand that working in PR is slowly sapping your belief in the inherent usefulness of humanity, but if you're apologizing for sending me something boring because it's your job, it's not going to motivate me to post it.

On the other hand, you don't have to be my buddy, either. There are a very small number of PR folks that I am actual friends with and our relationship built over time based on things beside the products they hawk. Frankly, I don't *want* to be your friend, because when you have a shit product that I don't want to pass on to my readers, it makes me feel like a dick for doing my job.

That sounds more prickish than I wish it did, but I've just met too many PR people who think they can trick bloggers and journalists into mistaking them for friends. That may work for some, but most of us can see the covers of your Dale Carnegie books peeking out of your hip new messenger bag.

So be friendly, not slimy, I guess. Be professional. (Even though so many bloggers are not.) And tell me why your product is worth mentioning with real English, not a list of incrementally updated stats, business successes, or lame partnerships with over-the-hill rock bands. If you can't do that, the product may actually suck. Reconsider your clientele!

Also, I almost always prefer talking to an engineer or a developer who actually worked on the project rather than the VP of Marketing, should you want to set up an interview. I've met plenty of marketing folks who knew the technical ins-and-outs of their product, but they were usually once in the trenches themselves. (I once had a great interview with a VP from Sprint who ended up being a 30-year veteran of the Bell system who not only answered my question, but took half-an-hour to explain the history of call echo mitigation technologies on pre-digital telephony switches. Most of it didn't go into my article, but it was invaluable for background that helped my understanding of the subject.)

Finally: Most journalists are suckers for free booze. Sad but true.

Q: Having worked in journalism myself, I can attest to this. But I know for a fact that at least two of the Boingers abstain. Still, if one wants to treat Joel Johnson to a beverage, what's his choice?

A: I'd rather not answer. Sounds too much like I'm fishing for a freebie. :) As far as I know, all the Boingers are teetotalers. I'm the only one willing to do the Lord's work.

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 05:33 PM
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October 11, 2007

What is your privacy setting?

By Nichole Woodcock

At this year’s BlogOrlando, I had the opportunity to participate in an intriguing classroom discussion “Living Online,” lead by our own Alicia Dorset. The class focused on social networking sites and how people are living in the digital world. At an age where social networking sites are targeting everyone from teenagers to Baby Boomers, personal information has more avenues than ever for exposure online.

I joined Facebook when it first launched, that was when you actually had to have a valid college email address to become a member. As we all know, the Facebook of today has opened the door to the masses and is now one of the top social networking sites. With Facebook and other sites such as, MySpace, Twitter, LiveJournal and LinkedIn allowing a wide demographic of people join, debate over privacy and sharing personal information arise.

The definition of my personal privacy setting is, “limiting all online material to things I would not mind my parents or colleagues seeing.” Since I began my professional career, I certainly post different things than a typical college student. At BlogOrlando, I learned that I am actually very conservative compared to the majority of those who participated in the discussion.

Many in the room felt that they had nothing to hide or filter online, even professionals. There were very valid and strong opinions being shared. Some felt that if a company or person had an issue with items placed online via networking sites or blogs, then they ultimately had a conflict of interest with the person.

For example, many people place images of them hanging out with friends and they happen to be drinking alcohol. At a company, if you are over 21, it is almost assumed you drink and people feel that posting images hanging out at a bar is not inappropriate. There have been instances where companies have suspended workers, of drinking age, for posting this material.

One of the most popular instances of companies not approving personal online content took place in Pennsylvania where a teacher in training was denied an education degree from Millersville University. Pictures were found on the teacher’s MySpace page alleging they were “promoting underage drinking.“ Interestingly enough, the teacher was not drinking with minors, taking shots or even doing something obscene. The picture in question was of the teacher at a Halloween party dressed up as a pirate and drinking from a plastic cup, and you could not tell what the teacher was drinking. The caption under the picture read “Drunken Pirate.” That simple phrase has cost the teacher their degree on the very eve of graduation. The teacher is now suing the state of Pennsylvania for the education diploma and personal damages.

This leaves a gray area as to what is appropriate content online. We are ultimately left to police ourselves and the content we are willing to place in our online communities. BlogOrlando “Living Online” leaves me to conclude that no matter how open or filtered a person is online they have an “internal privacy setting” that they adhere to. Limiting profile information or blocking users are just a few of the settings we have to guard our level of comfort online. As social networking sites continue to rise in popularity, information available and accessible online is left in the hands of the profile holder.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 12:36 PM
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October 01, 2007

Kidrobot founder launches blog

File this under "cool blogs to keep an eye on"

Marc Church, one of our designers here at MS&L Digital, sent me this link today. Kidrobot's (home to art toys and fashion apparel) founder Paul Budnitz launched his own blog back in August. Filled with updates from the animation, fashion, and lifestyle industries, this blog is a good one to watch for a laid-back approach to "corporate" blogging.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 05:19 PM
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September 28, 2007

Live from BlogOrlando

I’m at BlogOrlando, which has been a great unconference – a free one-day conference run by Josh Hallett of Hyku. This morning, I talked about how you can and can’t use a blog for crisis communications, as demonstrated on the GM FastLane blog, which MS&L Digital manages.

And right after she and colleague Nichole Woodcock escaped from a large snake, our own Alicia Dorset led a great discussion about keeping your professional and personal lives separate online. Turns out a lot of people have been agonizing over this issue. Some of the dicussion topics:

• a pottymouth blogger who works for the Catholic Church
• a woman who wants to blog about her health problems but is afraid prospective employers will see it
• how personal you can get on Facebook or MySpace profiles that bosses and clients will see
• stalkers – they’re really out there
• a middle school teacher whose kids are desperately trying to find his MySpace profile
• the surprisingly vicious world of scrapbook blogging

Some other highlights: Jake McKee talked about how he worked on damage control for Lego when the company changed the color of three blocks without consulting its huge and dedicated fan base.

Tommy Duncan of the Tampa Bay local blog Sticksoffire.com talked about the demanding and exciting world of hyperlocal blogging.

And I really wanted to go to the search engine optimization session, but SEO was SRO.

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 05:23 PM
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September 26, 2007

Ogilvy PR’s Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics

By Kristin Magnani

My name is Kristin, and I‘m a new member of the MS&L Digital team based in the New York City office.

For someone still learning about blogging, and after viewing Ogilvy PR’s Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics, it was clear to me that monetary compensation is an on-going issue.

Many bloggers provided feedback on the code by posting comments directly to Ogilvy’s post. One blogger, MC Milker, of TheNotQuiteCrunchyParent (and teaches PR at the university level), has her own code of ethics:

“Toss some money my way. If I’m willing to let you buy a simple brand ad on my site, I’m probably going to give you good review.”

There are a few noticeable opinions on this topic from different angles. The agency perspective, from a comment by Jason Linde of Ogilvy, is that his team encourages clients to advertise on certain blogs because it reaches the target audience, not because a good review is assured.

From a blogger perspective, LADaddy’s Tim Clark, puts an interesting spin on this debate saying that he identifies bloggers not just as people but as entertainers. Good reviews, according to LADaddy, are product placements which he views no different than a celebrity drinking a Coca-Cola in a TV commercial.

So my question is, if an agency approaches an influential blogger for a paid review, is that unethical? I would have to answer yes.

I find it unethical based on the fact that paying bloggers may give the appearance of a conflict of interest, which reflects a lack of credibility. I have a feeling that any blogger who knows they are being paid to write a review might be more susceptible to post something positive so that they’re asked to write again for the client. If all reviews are similar to one another, you might start to wonder why there is no originality or variety in the posts, again questioning the credibility.

What are your thoughts on a solution, or is there one?

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 01:35 PM
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August 21, 2007

Table 4 Five: Year One

By Charlie Kondek

When we first met Elizabeth Edwards, the mother of three and the pen behind Table 4 Five , Mom Reviews and a few other side projects (not John Edwards' wife), she had just started out as a blogger. Elizabeth was eager, fascinated and perhaps a little intimidated by the world she had just joined, especially upon attending her first BlogHer conference. That was a little more than a year ago. Elizabeth just returned from her second BlogHer conference one year wiser. We got a chance to catch up with her and ask her what kind of perspective she had on blogging and the mom blogosphere now.

(Note that as you read the exchange, Elizabeth refers to bloggers being paid a stipend for time spent writing product reviews. That is not a practice we do at MS&L.)

Q: How did you get started blogging and why?
A: In the summer of 2005, I was pregnant with my daughter and was put on bedrest. My husband got me a laptop and wired it up so I could use it while reclining on the couch. I was on the Yahoo! home page one day, and I saw a link to the Best of Blogs Awards. I had heard of blogs, but I had never read one. I started clicking links on the B.O.B. site and was excited to find that there were blogs written by Moms! I also couldn't believe that there was a way to leave a comment on what I had read. But in order to leave a comment, I had to have a URL, which meant getting a blog. I logged in to Blogger, created Table for Five, and the rest is history!

Q: What are some of the challenges you've faced in keeping Table for Five going?
A: I haven't really had any problems keeping the blog going. I've been lucky that my family was supportive of my blogging right from the beginning. I've had to take a few short breaks from updating, to focus on family needs, but I haven't had technical problems or problems with readers at all.

Q: What blogs do you read?
A: I don't have a set daily list, although I used to start at the top of my RSS reader and work my way all the way down, every day. What I do now is, when someone leaves me a comment, I click through to see what they are posting about. The two blogs I read the most are Amalah.com, and Dooce.com, both popular mommy blogs, and rightfully so. Occasionally I pick a blog from my reader that I haven't visited in a while and catch up on their last few posts.

Q: What would you say to a new blogger?
A: Commit yourself to a regular posting schedule, and stick to it. It doesn't have to be every day, but it gets you in the habit of writing, and your readers will know when to expect a new post.

Second piece of advice: Visit other bloggers who write about the same topics as you, read their posts, and leave comments that contribute to the discussion. To really attract attention to your blog quickly, submit a post to a Blog Carnival or join a group like Thursday Thirteen. It's great to have readers, and commenters, but it's also great to be part of a community.

Third piece of advice: Use the spell-check on your posts. If English isn't your first language, check your grammar carefully. And for heaven's sakes, please do not write your blog posts as if they were a text message. No one wants to read all-caps, words like "ur", no punctuation, run-on posts. Take the writing seriously.

Fourth piece of advice: If you see something on another blog that you wish you could do with yours, leave a polite comment or send an email and ask the person if they would please tell you how they did whatever that thing is. I learned almost everything I know about blogging from asking other bloggers for help.

Fifth piece of advice: You CANNOT PLEASE EVERYONE. You will eventually get a comment that is snarky, or even mean. You might get nasty emails. Just keep your focus, and remember, it's YOUR blog, in YOUR space, with YOUR words. Unless someone else is paying you, the choice of what to put on your blog is yours.

Q: What would you say to someone new to BlogHer?
A: If you write a blog, and you are interested in meeting other women (and some men) who also blog, you might be interested in both reading the BlogHer web site and joining the BlogHer community, and you might also be interested in coming to an annual BlogHer conference. At a conference, you will be treated to two days of sessions and workshops devoted to all of the many aspects of blogging and of having a presence online. You will be dined, and wined, and given pounds of free goodies from sponsors. Companies will send representatives to the conferences just to meet bloggers like you! It's a great way to meet other bloggers, do some valuable networking, plus you get to take a little vacation at the same time. And it's not just for women, despite being called BlogHER, it is open to men too, if they are interested in working with women bloggers.

Q: What's the deal with bloggers who earn money with their blogs?
A: I could write you paragraphs about monetization. I have lost sleep over this topic since getting back from BlogHer, so this is what I want to say—

1. Marketing companies, public relations companies, and advertising agencies need to understand this: A well-written, high-traffic blog with a good reputation can be a very valuable way to get the word out about your product. Use a blog advertising company like BlogAds, BlogHer Ad Network, Parent Bloggers Network, or PayPerPost Direct, and you will find the perfect site on which to place your campaign. You need to understand that there are bloggers out there who see their blogs as their business. They work very hard on them, spend long hours on content, design, and networking, and placing a campaign on a blog can reach thousands of people a week.

2. The biggest problem that many bloggers have with monetization is that companies do not pay bloggers a "fair wage". What we are doing for you is essentially freelance writing, so pay us what you would pay for a freelance writing job. If it's a product review, send us the product but also a stipend for the time we spend writing.

3. When thinking about which blogs to approach with your campaign, look for blogs written by people of color. I was SHOCKED during a session at BlogHer to find out that African-American, Latino, and Asian-American bloggers NEVER get sent emails about product reviews. Why not? They use the same products as everyone else!

4. And for bloggers reading this, I want to say this— choose your ads carefully. Before accepting a text, image, or flash badge ad, make sure it is for a product that is a good fit for your blog, and is something that you yourself would use. A few well-chosen ads will be more valuable to you than a bunch of different ones that don't make sense on your site.

My last words of advice for bloggers? Be grateful. Appreciate your readers, appreciate the comments they leave, appreciate your advertisers. Say Thank You, a lot, and mean it. Kind words go a long way.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 02:44 PM
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August 09, 2007

Ad Age names Power 150

In case you missed it, make sure to check out Ad Age's "Power 150" list of top media and marketing blogs.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 01:11 PM
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July 15, 2007

Back in Skinny Jeans: A New Look for a Pro Blogger

By Charlie Kondek

Stephanie Quilao is the pen behind Back in Skinny Jeans, a thoughtful, well-written blog about one woman's humorous, observant journey to fitness, to getting back into "the skinny jeans." More than that, it is Quilao's firing range on such topics as fashion, Hollywood, body image, women's issues, food and other happenings in related sectors of the blogosphere.

Quilao has balanced her work in writing and her professional life in business, making some pretty bold choices along the way (including resigning a gig with Microsoft as a brand evangelist, read on). She recently redesigned her site, which has a dedicated following among readers and like bloggers, and repurposed it with a fresh mission statement. We got a chance to catch up with her for a Q&A that gives some insight into the mind of a talented and influential creator.

Q: Tell us about your background and training.

A: I spent my entire 13-year corporate career in technology marketing in various roles ranging from advertising, PR, customer marketing, and online marketing in both enterprise and consumer industries. I’ve worked at companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500. I actually know life working in Silicon Valley before the Internet. Makes me sound real old but really it was only two U.S. Presidents ago.

The last corporate company I worked for was NVIDIA, and I had the fortune of being there before the IPO to help the company grow $1.3 billion in three years. I decided I wanted to have a life, so I left and took a two-year mid-life retirement to enjoy the fruits of my labor, and most importantly get healthy. The need to regain my health got me using the Internet more to find resources and meet others like myself.

During my “off time”, the term “Web 2.0” started to buzz, and I, being one who loves things new and unusual, dove right in and discovered blogging. I thought blogging was the coolest thing in the world because it is about self-expression that is completely uncensored. I read about this guy who bought a house with Google AdSense money by writing all day about things he loves, and thought, “How cool is that?” So I decided that I wanted to become a professional blogger.

Q: Tell us why you started Back in Skinny Jeans. How has the blog developed since you first envisioned it - close to what you originally conceived, or different?

A: When I made the decision to become a “Pro Blogger,” I started with four blogs; three were designed specifically for revenue generation, and the fourth was Back in Skinny Jeans, which was just meant to be a platform for me to rant about our society’s obsession with beauty and thinness. The name was inspired from the fact that every woman has a pair of skinny jeans in her closet because it represents the dream of bliss and perfection your life will have once you can be thin enough to wear those jeans again. Sound silly?

Well, after three months, not only was Back in Skinny Jeans getting more traffic than all the other three blogs put together, it was making more money just from Google AdSense, and some affiliate marketing I did which was more about recommending books and movies I liked. I was quite stunned. All my traditional marketing training was asking, “How is this possible? It’s got to be some kind of fluke.” Quickly, I learned that my success was attributed to the fact that I hit a very strong emotional chord with many women who felt just like me.

People are so inundated with advertising nowadays that they tend to just block it all out or distrust it because it’s coming from the mouth of some large corporation, so now people are looking to their social circles and others like them for referrals and references. With Back in Skinny Jeans, I am merely one woman who speaks her truth about what it’s like trying to feel good as I am and finding balance while living in a world that bombards us women with messages of, “You can’t be thin or beautiful enough.” The topic is also one that I am passionate about so I ditched the other three blogs, and looked to see what I could do with Back in Skinny Jeans.

Q: You recently redesigned the look of the site and made a statement tightening its mission. You also are making it more personal — the site is about women's issued regarding fitness but also your issues, specifically. What lead to that decision?

A: My current challenge is creating a balance of strategies to make money and keep the quality of my message. For example, at one point, I focused more on celebrity news because celebrity names get higher hits thus helping in search engine optimization. Like many bloggers, I got caught up in the SEO game because I wanted to start getting paid advertisers. Most of the banners on my blog are from affiliate programs. The field of celebrity gossip is so over saturated that there was no way I could compete without completely changing what I do at Back in Skinny Jeans. Plus, I didn’t want to be just another news aggregator type blog where you just collect info from around the web and re-report it with your two cents thrown in. I wanted to create more original content that would add value to the lives of my readers.

One of my marketing friends recommended that I read Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath, and from that it inspired me to think about mattering to “someone” rather than trying to be everything to everybody. I had bits of fashion, feminism, weight loss, beauty, celebrity gossip, recipes, and even web product reviews. Covering women’s topics as a whole is too broad for one blog, so I decided to focus on one thing that could make Back in Skinny Jeans “sticky” and that is the topic of weight loss as an expression of self-love. As well, I gained about 25 pounds in the last two years, so it’s an opportunity to talk about my own journey to shed those excess pounds. I’m walking the talk! And lastly, most sites about weight loss are, in my opinion, kind of sterile, too serious, and too medical feeling. I want to add a sense of style and humor to a journey that is commonly seen as “hard, frustrating work.” It’s a chance to stand out.

I made the focus change on June 13, and my traffic has gone up 30 percent in that time. It has been much easier to talk to ad networks and companies about advertising. I added a bookstore, and very soon I will add extension blogs for healthy eating ideas and a store to buy workout, fitness, and healthy living gear.

Q: You recently left a job as an evangelist for Microsoft to concentrate on blogging instead. You blogged about that extensively. Anything you can add to that?

A: It still makes me giggle to say that blogging about getting back into skinny jeans helped me land a job at Microsoft. You never know where blogging can take you. Sometimes I still have days where I kick myself for leaving Microsoft so soon because I had a nice steady paycheck, and some awesome benefits. But, at the end of the day, I can’t work just for a paycheck, and there is something far more fulfilling working for myself on something I REALLY love. I have no doubt that the newly created Enthusiast Evangelist role will have great impact on Microsoft’s success online.

One thing I do admire Microsoft for more than any other corporate company I have seen is Microsoft’s encouragement of their employees to blog. I mean they want you to blog to your heart’s content. Of course there are the “don’t spill un-announced stuff” guidelines and rules, but other than that, the company highly encourages their folks to blog in open and honest ways even if that means being honest about some of the not-so-perfect things about your own company. I don’t know of many huge corporations that have that much trust in their employees to blog in that fashion. Other companies can learn from Microsoft’s example.

Q: What's the future hold for you and blogging at large?

A: The most fulfilling part of my day is getting e-mails from people telling me that something I wrote helped them have a more productive, happy, and inspiring day. I get e-mails from people who thank me for helping them feel less alone, and to feel braver about facing their own issues because they saw me do it. I want to continue to create more content that will help people in their lives.

What I am doing with Back in Skinny jeans makes me feel fulfilled in a way that I never did in my corporate career. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great deal of happy and good learning experiences in my corporate life, but I was never of service to other human beings as I am today. Discovering blogging was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 10:30 AM
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June 27, 2007

Product reviews and contest giveaways

By Nichole Hurley

So what exactly is happening with the new craze of online contests and how did it get started?

Of course, people love contests. Companies have always used contests to promote their products. Contests have also been a part of online life and the blogging community, according to Janice Croze of 5 Minutes For Mom.

Janice and Susan at 5 Minutes for Mom noticed that contests were not being used in product reviews, and large contests appeared only on large sites (Janice and Susan run a unique “mom” social networking site that that is also a shopping resource and entertainment blog). It’s within their blog’s goals to provide reviews and contests for their readers. They noticed that their product reviews got very little attention until they changed them into contests. That’s when they became a “main stage attraction.”

Based on my own observations and outreach efforts, incentivizing promotions that aren’t product review-based have often been necessary in order to get bloggers to be receptive to your pitches. In all obviousness, the idea of receiving “free stuff” is what ultimately appeals to people. And providing them with a small token of appreciation for sharing their opinions is certainly a small price to pay, especially when a high level of influence is involved.

But Janice and Susan, while always looking for new ways to engage their readers, take “incentive” to a whole new level by creating these contest giveaways. They feel this tactic provides their readers with a chance for personal gain, whereas a generic product review only provides them with information. And although there is never a guarantee for everyone to receive swag with a contest put into play, the general idea of having a chance to win something has been seemingly just as appealing as actually getting it.

They have received hundreds to thousands of entries for these contests including bloggers, non-bloggers who are active online in other ways, and participants from both Canada and the U.S. With their readers in mind and their goals and tactics at-large, Janice and Susan are highly regarded in the mom blogging community.

While we at MS&L Digital have had the privilege of working with these fun moms for several campaigns, we have helped to coordinate several giveaways. Some of these items have included household and food-oriented products to high-ticket items such as electronic gadgets and DVD box sets.

So the next question is, how does everyone benefit from this? Take a look at what 5 Minutes for Mom does…

In order to grow their contests, continue building traffic for their site, and help promote the sponsoring company even further, 5 Minutes for Mom asks the participating bloggers to link back to their contest as well as to the company, providing free, top quality, word of mouth advertising!

With the excitement and craze of all these contests, you’ll notice when doing online searches or even navigating through other mom blogs that these ideas have taken off with the mommy blogging community, as other mommy bloggers are adopting these techniques for their own blogs.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 10:57 AM
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June 18, 2007

Road Work

By Charlie Kondek

Mike Sansone over at ConverStations has an interesting post up about finding, and planning, the time to blog.

He compares blogging to running, and suggests bloggers warm-up first, the same way a runner would before a jog.

"So, before I even think about my own post, I invest 15-20 minutes responding to comments on my blog and commenting on other sites. I find this gets me in a blogging rhythm. While commenting — a post formulates that I can bang out in another 20-30 minutes."

This resonated with me because it touched on two of my interests, writing and exercising. It seems to me that what Mike is talking about is the discipline of writing. Lots of people favor different approaches to writing but one thing they share in common is the discipline to write consistently, something Mike addresses here.

Blogging is a specific kind of writing, of course, but whatever your goals are with it, you have to stay consistent and, yes, warming up and regular stretching of the muscles is required.

I'm also tempted to stretch the analogy further, thinking about my own running habits. Should I listen to James Brown on my headphones while I write, or rap music? Should my writing go around and around in a circle, or stretch out into new horizons? Do I have the right outfit for writing? Will I be too warm? What about headgear?

That's the thing about analogies. Like muscles, they can be stretched too far!

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 05:13 PM
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March 07, 2007

Plum: One-Stop Social Networking Shopping

By Melanie Seasons

I wish Plum had been around from the first time I signed up for MySpace.

The industry of social media networking grows every day. We have Photobucket and Flickr for photos, Google Video and You Tube for videos, Last.fm and Mog for music and way too many sites for keeping in touch with friends and family (if you're like me, you have accounts at all of them).

The market has been completely over saturated with social networking programs and web sites. I find myself constantly asking "what else could there be?" only to be provided with an answer on what seems to be a weekly basis.

So what is "the next big thing" in social networking? More importantly, do we even need another social networking site? Maybe.

There's a lot of buzz around a new site called Plum that is designed to organize and collect photos, videos, bookmarks, blog feeds and documents from different sources — Internet or hard drive-based. The site uses tags, sets, and profiles. Once it gets a feel for what the user "likes," it will make suggestions on what to share with other users.

The site features handy shortcut applications that can be attached to your browser toolbar or desktop to make it easier for you to collect files.

What I like about Plum is that it's based on the idea that people are losing their minds having to go from site to site, account to account, to find that video or picture or file. Having everything in one place is an idea whose time has come.

Plum will definitely not be the last "next big thing," but it will certainly make it easier to catalogue the new one when it comes along.

Plum is still in beta, but you can request an account on the Plum homepage.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:41 PM
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March 06, 2007

A good example of moderation

Last fall, I posted about the need for moderating comments in newspaper discussion forums. One of our local newspapers, The Detroit Free Press, doesn’t moderate the comments posted to its stories online, and more often than not the remarks are off-topic and wildly inappropriate, such as recent remarks found on the Tara Grant murder coverage, ranging from gay bashing to swearing up a storm, reflect. The Free Press even admits it doesn't review comments before they are posted, but will remove them if they are deemed "offensive" after the comments have gone live and viewed by the public.

"Public posts to these forums do not represent the views of freep.com or the Detroit Free Press. We do not review comments prior to those posts appearing on the site. If you see an abusive comment that you would like to have reviewed for possible removal, please contact us at..."

However, The Detroit News, the paper’s neighbor and direct competitor, has a much better approach to moderation when allowing readers to share their thoughts.

“The Detroit News Online does not tolerate offensive language in its forums. The News will kill offensive posts. Participants can and will be denied access for violating our acceptable use policy. Notice a problem? Tell us.”

Unlike the Free Press, the News posts a user’s name, city and state when a comment goes live. I took a look at the comment form, and was pleased to see the information (age, phone number, e-mail) I was required to supply to make sure my comment was of the highest integrity. The personal information, as the questionnaire points out, is for follow-up purposes with News staff members.

“Why we ask: We require some information for verification. We do not publish phone numbers or e-mail addresses. Your comments will be considered for the printed edition of The Detroit News only if full name and city are provided.

There was also another reminder of proper commenting etiquette:

“Do: Show courtesy toward other writers. No name-calling, please.
Do not: Copy and paste material from another Web site, other than a brief quote. Letters must be original.”

I applaud the News for having such a thorough set of guidelines for comments. By making it clear what is and isn’t accepted, readers have a clear understanding of what is allowed on the site, and more importantly, why a comment might not have made it into the forum. Too often, commenters aren’t held accountable for their thoughts; with a policy like this, it’s a step in the toward making postings of any kind, whether it’s a blog, a message on a board, or a comment on a news story, more credible.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:59 PM
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February 08, 2007

This Mama Writes: Anne-Marie Nichols

By Charlie Kondek

Anne-Marie Nichols is a writer who has experienced both sides of the communications industry; she was and is a marketing professional AND a blogger whose work combines her interests in parenting, food, new media and other things. Check out this link for a quick snapshot of Nichols' recent work and you'll get what I mean; she writes, coordinates and contributes to 11 blogs, ranging in topic from the professional to the personal to the observational.

We interviewed Nichols to get some of her insights into marketing and communications with new media.

Kondek: First of all, Anne-Marie, how do you keep up with all the blogs?
Nichols: Well, I don’t blog at all of them every day. For example, I post at both Parents Behaving Badly and A Readable Feast around three times a week. At MOTHERS Book Bag, I update the site every two months to go along with an e-newsletter I do for MOTHERSOughtToHaveEqualRights. Other ones I’ve stopped writing at, like Citizen Mom’s Family Journal. Since my contract with StudioOne Networks is over, they’re just rerunning old content. At my personal blogs, like This Mama Cooks! or A Write Spot, I try to blog one to three times a week.

It helped that I dropped a great deal of volunteer work. I was a founding board member of a charter school, which was like having a part-time unpaid job. I also stopped doing their web site (also unpaid), so that freed up a great deal of time. So, yes, I have a ton of work, but I’m organized and a fast writer. Plus having insomnia, a wireless connection in the house, and a laptop in the kitchen helps.

Kondek: You've been on both sides of media relations, both on the marketing side and on the blog side. In fact, when I first got to know you, I only knew you as This Mama Cooks!, not as someone from my own industry. These next two questions address that: as a marketing and communications professional, what are your thoughts on the value and practice of new media relations?
Nichols: The best thing about new media is that it’s cheap, easy and quick to start. I tell small business people I meet that blogs and e-newsletters are extremely affordable ways to reach out and communicate with their customers — no printing, postage, or labels, and a very short lead time. If there’s ever an emergency, like a recall or a scandal, you can get the word out to your clients in a matter of minutes. Blogs are great ways to solicit feedback from your customers, too.

It’s interesting to see all these big companies holding contests for amateurs to create their Super Bowl ads. User-generated content indeed — very cool.

Kondek: And as a blogger?
Nichols: For us “creatives” (writers, musicians, movie directors, singers, etc.) you get rid of the gatekeepers — you no longer have to deal with editors, music companies, or Hollywood to get your stuff out to your audience. It’s that old punk rock DIY thing — anyone can do it! Plus, talk about instant gratification. People love telling you if your video on YouTube is cool or crap.

Personally, blogging has been a great way to start writing again after being home with my kids. In fact, it’s the only writing I can do with them destroying the house, watching Power Rangers with the volume on high, or fighting with each other. Writing a novel would be way too hard in this kind of environment. And I’ve met some wonderful people through my blogs – fellow bloggers, publicists, editors, writers, and readers.

Kondek: How do other mom blogs feel about people like me? Even though it may be repetitive at this point, what pointers can you give about approaching them?
Nichols: I have no idea how other mommy bloggers feel about publicists. Just be honest and open with them. Personally, I like receiving freebies (more booze and chocolate please). It gives me a chance to read books I wouldn’t normally or to try a product I normally wouldn’t buy. Finally, it directs my writing by giving me a topic to write about. It’s not the writing that’s hard but deciding WHAT to write about that’s a challenge.

Kondek: As you know and as our relationship testifies, I believe in sustaining relationships with bloggers and web editors. What advice can you give me and other PR flacks to that end?
Nichols: Just keep in touch, and say please and thank you. The Christmas card was a nice touch, too.

Bottom line though? Don’t treat mommy bloggers like a bunch of dumb housewives and blogging as our “cute little hobby.” Many of us were professional writers and marketers before we stayed home with our kids. We blog because we have a brain and need to reach out to people and share our stories.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:03 PM
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January 25, 2007

For the good of the project

By Melanie Seasons

Last summer, Charlie and I worked on a campaign for The Canary Project, an artistic endeavor by Susannah Saylor and Edward Morris that attempts to document global warming through photography. To date it is one of the most successful projects we’ve ever had. We even won a “Wommie,” WOMMA’s award for “amazing word of mouth campaigns and the fabulous people who create them.”

In the first week of our outreach efforts, traffic at canary-project.org went from around 20 unique visitors a day to 5,000 — an increase of 24,900 percent.

The day-to-day work was pretty much identical from the other projects we’ve worked on.
We used the same methods of researching, pitching and monitoring. The big difference, however, was our fee, which was, nothing. We did the work completely pro bono.

The Canary Project campaign shows that online outreach is not just about dollar signs, it’s about future investments.

Our work not only promoted The Canary Project in the blogosphere, it got our name out there as well — and in a very positive light. Many of the blog posts specifically mentioned Hass MS&L doing the work pro bono; that resonates well with bloggers. We were not seen as the PR stooges that so many bloggers are skeptical of.

It was, and continues to be, an amazing learning experience for us. The more an agency can be positively associated with word-of-mouth marketing, the more potential there is for future business.

Posted by staff at 04:34 PM
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January 24, 2007

Notable bloggers create a space for PR interaction

By Charlie Kondek

We have a number of bloggers in the mom/parenting sphere we admire and with whom we sustain relationships. Several of them have developed interesting side projects.

Companies want the attention of bloggers like these in large part because moms drive so many purchasing decisions. They're also important networkers and, let's face it, some of the most active bloggers there are. Mom bloggers react to overtures from firms like ours in different ways. Many of them have consolidated into groups such as BlogHer and the Parent Bloggers Network. A few, wanting to keep their principal blogs PR-free, have created side blogs dedicated to responding to marketing initiatives or consumer choices.

Here are a few we'd like to bring to your attention. If you know of others, by all means, share them. These blogs provide a valuable face from the blogger to companies seeking their attention.

• Busy Mom Reviews: We've always loved Busy Mom's blog and her motto, "Better parenting through coffee." Now she's got a place where she can talk about “the cool stuff nice people send me to review," an easy way to contact her and an FAQ that explains her stance on this whole thing. Hint: she'd like a diamond necklace!


• Props and Pans: The always witty Izzymom originally set this place up for the same purpose as Busy Mom Reviews, but recently she's been sharing it with other mom bloggers needing a similar outlet. The result has been a very entertaining and informative consumer blog, in which products from clothes to baby food to mobile phone plans are given "props" or "pans."


• WantNot.net: This site grew out of the brilliant prolific Woulda Shoulda blog. As Mir puts it: "WantNot.net is all about 'having it all with less...' It is my hope that this site will become a resource for anyone trying to live a fulfilled life without benefit of endless buckets of money." This frequently involves bringing to readers' attention sales, ways to save or stretch a dollar, and product recommendations.

If you don't know these mom bloggers, you should. We're very grateful to know them and work with them.

Posted by staff at 10:17 AM
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January 22, 2007

When bloggers attack

...And what we took away from it

By Charlie Kondek

Some of us sat in on an audio seminar hosted by Bulldog Reporter last week. The subject was "When Bloggers Attack" and featured a panel of heavy hitters — Robert Scoble, Jenn McClure and Matthew Holt — talking about how blogs fit into companies' crisis communications and story-molding. It was a great seminar, with several take-aways. We found ourselves nodding in agreement with many of the ideas being presented, but we have our own perspectives on them as well.

I'm hoping my colleagues will chime in here, but some of my take-aways include:

• News moves in a matter of hours, not days or weeks, and a company can affect the news cycle and the story by responding quickly to what's being said online. A story can start to break online on Saturday and be above the fold of a major newspaper Monday, leaving the company behind in the dust. "The word of mouth network is hyper-efficient," Scoble said. Companies must monitor what's being said about them and, via their own company blog, acknowledge what's being said about them, even if it's only, "We have just become aware of this and are formulating a response to this at this time." Then the company must follow through and, at an executive level, respond. Scoble again: "The longer time you wait, the more that story is being written without your guidance."
• The panel stressed a need to maintain relationships with the bloggers most likely to talk about your company. This is done by correspondence or through events that include these bloggers. A company blog is one good way of maintaining these relationships; include these bloggers in your blogroll or link to what they are saying to demonstrate that you are listening.
• It's important to include not just A-list bloggers in your relations but also bloggers of all audience sizes. One mistake traditional PR makes is to worry only about those news outlets with large audiences; this won't work with the blogosphere, in which news can grow virally and bleed into mainstream media. McClure said: "A blogger that has a very small audience can have a very large impact."

The panel took questions and offered several actionable ideas and best practices. I'd recommend a Bulldog Reporter seminar to anyone after this. For us, the seminar was a real affirmation.

But we also differed with the panelists on a few points. For one thing, we're normally trying to be proactive, not reactive, in our blog-relations practices, and the logistics are quite different. Want to know more? Give us a call, we'll discuss it. *smiley*

Posted by staff at 04:30 PM
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January 19, 2007

Pew: Study reveals more Americans used the Internet in 2006 elections

By Charlie Kondek

TV is still king as a source for news and information, according to a new study by The Pew Internet & American Life Project, 69 percent of respondents saying they got most of their news there. Newspapers came in at 34 percent and radio 17 percent. But 15 percent said the Internet was their main source for campaign news during the election, up from 7 percent in the election of 2002. Only 2 percent said they got their news from magazines. (The exact question was: "How have you been getting most of your news about the November elections?")

It's also interesting to note that the number of respondents who identified the Internet as their primary source for campaign news was 18 percent in 2004 (78 percent chose TV and 39 percent newspapers), suggesting a heightened interest in the presidential race over Congressional races. The Internet certainly won't be ignored in the coming presidential race. Already it’s being used to distribute campaign information for potential presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, John McCain and others. (Obama's use of online video to speak to voters is particularly interesting.)

Among the study's other interesting findings:

• A growing number of Americans used e-mail to discuss political information.


• Younger broadband users tend to favor the Internet as a source for news over newspapers.


• Web sites are playing an increasing role in dispensing political news, with information portals, issues-oriented web sites, blogs and comedy/satire sites all in the mix.


• It also shows that around 23 percent of those who used the Internet for political purposes created or forwarded online original political commentary or politically related videos, once again demonstrating the place user-created content has in the conversation.

None of this is particularly new to people who have been implementing web-based tactics in their communications initiatives, but it does reinforce those tactics. For people not using web-based tactics in their communications initiatives, it should be one of several wake-up calls.

Posted by staff at 11:27 AM
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November 17, 2006

The need for moderation

When reports that Bo Schembechler, former Universtiy of Michigan head football coach, had been rushed to the hospital this morning, the Detroit Free Press posted the news bulletin along with a forum for readers to comment. Normally this wouldn't have been an issue, but with just one day before the rivalry-fueled Michigan/Ohio State University game (to determine the top college football team in the country), it didn't take long for vocal OSU fans to give their thoughts on Schembechler's condition and then the news of his death.

Another one bites the dust And another one gone, and another one gone Another one bites the dust

Posted with angry "devil" smiley faces, commenter, and OSU fan, Hope&Glory's comment immediately ignited passionate, and uncensored, remarks from fellow bloggers.

Hope & Glory — I hope you don't burn in he** for what you just said. Typical OSU fan - mean-spirited and ignorant.

By 4 p.m., 138 comments had been posted, completely unfiltered. While I applaud allowing both negative and positive comments to be posted on a blog normally, moderation is sometimes necessary when dealing with sensitive subjects, such as the death of a well-known individual. User jmu1016 sums it up best:

How come the moderators on this forum doesn't ban the moron, I posted a comment over at the columbus dispatch and they get read first and any inappropriate behavoir doesn't get posted. Get him off here Free Press. Tressel 5-1 after tomorrow.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:38 PM
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November 03, 2006

Getting the message to the people — online

It’s a tough time for the state of Michigan right now. The economy is hurting, jobs are leaving, and cuts can be felt across the state’s budget. On top of all this, the governor’s job is up for re-election this year, and these challenges have set the tone for many heated, passionate campaign points.

There are just a few days left for voters to decide if they want to re-elect Democratic incumbent Gov. Jennifer Granholm, or allow Republican Dick DeVos, former Amway president, a shot at the job. For those voters still uncertain on how they should vote, turning to the candidates’ blogs can offer different insight from the negative television ads and heated debates. Both candidates have campaign blogs, documenting their cross-state stops.

On at Granholm’s site, her blog not only allows her to speak with a more relaxed, candid tone, it also gives a voice to some of her campaign workers. The comments on the blog range in tone, from praise for a job well done to asking for help in tough times. The blog is filled with current posts, sometimes several a day, and it has archives that date back to January, beginning with her State of the State address.

DeVos’ blog also includes perspectives from the road, but includes photos from recent campaign stops, a nice addition that Granholm’s blog lacks. However, DeVos’ posts tend to attack the governor more than they give new ideas and thoughts on topics.

Messages received by way of television ads, radio commercials and even live debates can be quickly forgotten; campaign goals with a permalink now have an undefined shelf life and a resource for voters to easily refer back to. Not only are blogs effective for candidates, they’re a less-expensive form of “advertising,” when compared to the cost of purchasing on-air time and printing/mailing direct-mail literature.

Campaign blogs aren’t a new marketing tactic. The 2004 presidential election saw candidates Howard Dean and John Edwards, for example, blogging and finding new support online. A CBS News headline from 2004 sums it up best: “Campaign Blogs Outlive Candidates.”

When it comes time to select your votes for this Tuesday’s election, look online. Perhaps your candidates are already blogging their objectives.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:56 PM
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October 17, 2006

Another strike for Wal-Mart media

Wal-Mart may have coined a new term for Web 2.0, according to Online Media Daily, thanks to their latest PR flop: “flog.”

Just last week, Wal-Marting Across America was pulled after being exposed as a fake blog, or flog. The site detailed the journey of Laura and Jim, two people interested in documenting how Wal-Mart really does help the communities its stores reside in, as well as the residents. In reality, the “journey” was really a PR tactic paid for entirely (food, gas, and even the RV the two traveled in) by Working Families for Wal-Mart, an organization created by the chain’s PR firm, Edelman.

Laura and Jim’s identities were revealed as well: Laura St. Claire is a freelance writer and Jim Thresher is a staff photographer for The Washington Post. The end of the travel blog hasn’t been the end of notoriety for the couple: blogs have been buzzing with a pro-Costco review St. Claire recently published, as well as the ethical debate brought up by Thresher working for another publication.

All that’s left of the blog now are two “goodbye” posts.

I think the biggest problem about this blog was the lack of transparency by the authors and the group backing it. From what I’ve seen, one of the quickest ways to open yourself up for attacks in the blogosphere is to lie about your purpose, and even bigger, lie about who you are. I’m not the only one who feels this way.

At first, many in the blogosphere are surprised at this “goof” by Edelman, especially Shel Holtz, who is even more surprised at the lack of a response from the company.

Those smart PR folks working for Edelman are among the members of the PR community who advocate participation in the conversation. Some of them have been brutal when, to their way of thinking, somebody else fails to understand what it means to be engage in the conversation. So where is Edelman in this particular conversation? Missing in action. As dismaying as this latest misstep is, it’s even more dismaying to see Edelman’s high-powered social media experts failing to walk the talk.

Richard Edelman himself finally responded to the issue on his 6 a.m. blog yesterday.

I want to acknowledge our error in failing to be transparent about the identity of the two bloggers from the outset. This is 100% our responsibility and our error; not the client's.

I’m glad to see Richard address the debate finally and note that his colleagues are working toward maintaining the ethics they helped create for not only WOMMA but their own practices, and to respond to the dozens of comments that have come in on his post.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:33 PM
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September 25, 2006

Amanda Congdon meets Jeff Jarvis

Amanda Congdon, former Rocketboom hostess has a new gig: traveling videoblogger.

She's touring the country in a Ford-provided Escape hybrid while meeting bloggers, politicians and environmentalists as part of her new vlog. The five-week project is being sponsored by Environmental Countdown, Ford and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Congdon recently met up with Buzz Machine's Jeff Jarvis in New Jersey along her Amanda Across America tour.

Congdon spoke with Jarvis about the transition he made from old media to new media, and why some might still be scared to make the switch, whether it's on a personal level or a business level. Take a look at her vlog for the video, both Part 1 and Part 2.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 05:07 PM
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August 29, 2006

Losing the blogging steam?

While everyone is talking about the soon-to-launch music blog (Idolator) from Gawker, I decided to check in on one of my favorite bloggers.

One of my top books of 2005 was Julie & Julia, a memoir penned by the blogger-turned-print author Julie Powell. In case you're not familiar with the book, Powell started a blog to document a Julia Child-worthy experiment: try and make all 536 recipes in the infamous cook's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in just one year.

The blog became extremely popular, just like her book would, as Powell discussed how hard it was to not only cook with marrow, but come to the realization that sometimes you just don't know what you want to do with your life.

Powell's posts were very candid and offered an open look on the author who was on the verge of a meltdown just before her 30th birthday.

I visited Powell's new-ish (it's been up since last summer) blog (the Salon edition ended when her experiment was over) to see what she had been up to lately and was somewhat disappointed.

Her blog, over at Blogger, now reads more like a promotional piece than the once-intimate diary she was so well-known for. The posts are infrequent (just a few a month, usually) and tend to revolve around whatever TV show or radio program she's been interviewed for or an award she's hoping to win. I've noticed there aren't as many comments as there were over at Salon, except for a post with a not-meant-to-be racist remark from Powell that stirred 21 comments and an apology post.

I'm sure Powell is busy with the success of her book, but I hope she doesn't forget what a good blogger she is and the voice that she has. The reason why her book deal came to life was because of her online musings, so it's a shame to see the newer blog so bare and a bit lifeless. I'd be curious to see what kind of interaction she has with her readers and if it's anything like the relationships she developed a few years back when her experiment first began. My hope is that her blog won't become an example of a blogger losing steam.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:14 PM
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July 21, 2006

Who's out there in the blogosphere?

Pew Internet & American Life Project released the results of their telephone-based blogger survey this week and Jack Shafer of Slate has an interesting review of the results and his thoughts on what they mean to the bigger picture, or in this case, bigger blogosphere.

According to the report, bloggers are primarily looking to the blogosphere as a way to express themselves as opposed to strictly reporting on news or current events. The report stated:

"A national phone survey of bloggers finds that most are focused on describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology."

Researchers found that 12 million Americans now keep a blog, which represents 8 percent of all Internet users. Compared to that figure, 57 million Americans just read blogs instead of keeping their own, a large increase from fall 2005.

As Shafer believes, most bloggers post because they're looking for a creative outlet. As he sees it, most aren't trying to become Internet reporters or "citizen journalists." Not yet, at least.

"But this study shows that at this early point in the blog era, the great mass of bloggers aren't set on replacing reporters," Shafer said. "The top 100 or top 1,000 may consider themselves 'citizen journalists' of one sort or another, but the survey finds that 65 percent of bloggers don't consider their output journalism at all. They're just expressing themselves in a leisurely fashion, inspired by a personal experience (78 percent, says the survey), and their blogs are a 'hobby' or 'something I do, but not something I spend a lot of time on' (84 percent),"

From a public relations perspective, I find the results very interesting because it appears that, for the most part, the blogosphere is more of a social outlet than anything else for these individuals. Bloggers are talking to one another and encouraging friends and family to see what they've been writing. This word-of-mouth atmosphere is an important one that we'll continue to learn from and see how to successfully work with.

Report PDF
Questionnaire PDF

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 01:42 PM
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June 29, 2006

Plogs help personalize Amazon

I was reading some reviews of blogger-turned-traditional-author Kathryn Finney, A.K.A. The Budget Fashionista, and her first book, How to Be a Budget Fashionista: The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous for Less. Finney has been out promoting her book recently and helping other women across the country "look fabulous for less." Her blog is a great example of how word-of-mouth recommendations spread quickly and lead to bigger and better opportunities.

"The popularity of my blog led to a book (How to Be a Budget Fashionista), which led to television (NBC's Today Show, Fox, CNN, and numerous family movies), which will hopefully lead to a fashionable but debt-free life," Finney says in her bio.

Finney has links set up on her blog to Amazon to purchase her book, which hit the shelves in May of this year. Next to information on Finney is a "plog" button. A what? Here's how Amazon describes it:

Your Amazon.com Plog is a personalized web log that appears on your customer home page. Every person's Plog is different (hence the name) and just like a blog, your Plog is sorted in reverse chronological order. Each post also gives you the opportunity to provide feedback to the sender as to whether you liked the post or not. This feedback loop means your Plog becomes even more relevant and interesting over time. Your Plog will appear if you are logged into our web site and is visible only to you.

Finney's information includes posts, upcoming book tours, reviews and even alerts when she's added more photos to her Flickr account.

I like the idea of plogs because it helps connect customers to one another and make something as huge as Amazon seem slightly smaller and more sociable, and it's a great way to keep updated on favorite authors and products.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:39 PM
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June 23, 2006

NPR benefits from podcasting

National Public Radio gets it.

NPR has seen continuing growth in its new-media categories thanks in large part to podcasting, according to a figure reported by Advertising Age today.

"Revenue from new-media operations accounts for around 10 percent of the total but is likely to grow as a portion of the whole pie," Claire Atkinson reported. " One of NPR's most successful new business models is its podcasts, which launched just nine months ago. Automaker Acura was a founding sponsor of NPR's podcasts and just renewed for another six months."

Recently, NPR launched a new podcasting series called alt.NPR with a younger focus on today's society. Podcasts are geared toward video games, 20-somethings and younger-adult culture. NPR also has programming with Sirius Satellite Radio and is developing other new-media deals for its content, such as providing shows to mobile telephone users.

"The endgame is pretty clear. We do audio very well, and we're going to exploit it to our advantage. We are looking to experiment in multimedia — to round out the offering beyond our core advantages in domestic news — to expand out globally from news to music," Ken Stern, NPR's chief operating officer, told Advertising Age. "It is what public radio does. It creates a meaningful presence in the world."

NPR took home five trophies at the Webby Awards last week, ranging from content in podcasts to original programming and web sites.

For an organization that could have shyed away from podcasting, it's refreshing to see NPR not only use it, but use it sucessfully and creatively to keep listeners and continually add new ones everyday. For fans, who have been the backbone for the past three decades, podcasting is a great way to increase avenues in which they take their information from NPR.

Since its inception 36 years ago, NPR has grown from just 30 employees to 90 charter stations to 700 employees and 800 independent radio stations. Morning Edition, one of NPR's most listened-to programs, is considered one of the leading radio news programs in the country.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:20 PM
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June 20, 2006

Latest social web sites cater to music lovers

Are you a 20-something desperately trying to find other young Neil Diamond lovers in the greater Indianapolis area? Have no fear- Mog is here to help you.

The newly-launched beta site aims to connect music lovers to each other through profiles, playlists and blogs. As the web site says, Mog is where “music junkies hang their hats.”

I see a lot of potential with this site since it seems more people-driven than others. Take for example the artist pages. On Myspace, a band has a profile that serves as free advertising for upcoming releases and news. On Mog, however, the artist pages are created by the fans themselves; they feature comments and information from actual users.

“Our ‘MOG-O-MATIC’ application creates a basic MOG page for you, so your friends can see your music collection and the artists, albums and songs you actually listen to,” the web site says. “As you collect and listen to music, MOG-O-MATIC keeps score for the world to see.”

The Mog-O-Matic is an application that keeps track of what you’re listening to on your computer, much like last.fm.

Profiles, which are free to create, resemble Myspace in that users can list personal facts about themselves, likes/dislikes, who they want to meet and, of course, what kind of music they’re interested in. One feature I like about the profiles is the “sites you should see” list, allowing Moggers to list their favorite blogs and web sites, and the “first concert” listing.

The blogging system on Mog allows for embedded images, like YouTube clips, and MP3s. RSS feeds are available for subscription, too.

Looking for music recommendations? Instead of computer-generated responses, users can find “Mogs like me” and search for others that have similar music and artist interests, making the site much more personal.

Also making a debut in the social music network scene is tourb.us, a site that allows users to find local music in their hometowns. Bands can be tracked through e-mail updates, RSS feeds and even iCal appointments. Users can upload their iTunes libraries of last.fm accounts to create lists of favorite artists, once again allowing them to search for others with similar interests and making the music world a little bit smaller online.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:50 PM
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June 16, 2006

Look to blogs for that special gift for dad this weekend

Not sure what to get dad for Father's Day? Try looking to some of your favorite blogs for inspiration.

As I was reading Make's blog this morning, I found a great post on last-minute gift ideas for dad. The presents featured on the blog are all craft-based, which is a bonus if you ask me. Why? No matter how old you are, parents still love handmade gifts from their kids.

My favorite blog find from this post is the "Who's Your Daddy?" set of shirts, found on the Craftster forum.

And while you're scrambling to find the perfect present for dad, check out this post at Dadspoint to see what dads DON'T want for Father's Day.

Whatever you end up getting your dad, enjoy the day together. Happy Father's Day!

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:55 PM
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June 15, 2006

New browser takes work out of the web

Flock recently launched a public version of their web browser for “you and your friends” in an attempt to simplify the Internet, sharing digital photos, and blogging for everyone.

The browser, that allows you to become a “flockstar,” is easy to download and start using right away. The setup wizard asks a few questions about personalizing the browser (such as what types of news you want to be regularly updated on) and then lets you start just minutes later. It couldn’t be easier.

My favorite feature so far about the browser has to be the photos. Flock features “drag-and-drop” sharing in any text field that supports HTML. Instead of having to load the photo yourself, sometimes a tricky spot for users still new to web publishing, all you have to do is select your favorite photo and Flock writes the HTML code for you and even uploads it into your online photo sharing sites, such as Flickr and Photobucket.

With a feature like this, adding photos to comments on Myspace or a friend’s blog is a cinch.

Making Flock even more personable, you can set up feeds for your favorite sites and blogs, and determine which types of news (sports, technology, entertainment) you wanted regularly updated — all within the convenience of one browser.

Want to blog? Flock has that covered as well. By establishing your blog (Flock works with almost all platforms) with the browser, creating a new blog entry is quick and easy. With the “web snippets” feature, you can start putting together a post as you read your favorite newspaper. By highlighting parts of the text, and dragging them to the snippets bar, the post takes life. Add links and photos, before uploading to your own blog straight from Flock, and you’re set.

Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch has been trying the new browser out and was pleased with the results so far.

“I’ve been running the most recent developer release on my Mac for the last few weeks and it is now my browser of choice,” Arrington said in a recent post.

I have a feeling the browser will become a popular choice with people looking to make the most of the time they spend in front of their computer updating not only themselves on the latest news and events, but friends and families through their blogs, social community accounts, etc.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 03:56 PM
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June 02, 2006

Vox aims to make blogging easier for the masses

Six Apart recently launched a preview version of Vox, a personal blogging service designed to make blogging possible for everyone in the family, no matter the age or “blogging abilities.” Six Apart is currently the owner of Tyepad, Movable Type, and Live Journal blogging platforms.

“Vox is a place for people to record, share, and connect their lives. What you see today is not a finished product,” said Andrew Anker, EVP, Vox general manager. “Not only will there be many improvements over the coming months, but more important, it's the contributions of the people actually using the service that will make Vox great. We believe that people build communities, not engineers.”

The whole idea behind Vox is to make blogging easy and accessible. Each of the platforms Six Apart owns has a distinct purpose: Typepad and Movable Type are some of the preferred services for professionals and business; Live Journal has been popular with teens and 20-somethings for close to seven years. Vox is the bridge between those two groups, a service that can be a public blog or a private journal for family members, or simply your self.

“We hope that families choose to blog,” Jane Anderson of Vox told me. “Initially we expect people to become readers and then eventually become bloggers in this safe environment.”

The goal of Vox is to ease the fears of people interested in blogging, but reluctant to post personal stories, photos or other forms media out to the masses. By learning the basics of making a post just for private use, and realizing just how easy making a blog has become, Six Apart hopes that more and more people will join the blogosphere.

“We also believe that many people still don't blog because they don't want to post private stories and photos and have them viewed by outsiders. One of the most important features of Vox is the ability to make anything -- posts, photos, videos, etc — private and only viewable by the people you care about.”

The service allows users to create text posts, add photos or upload video. Each post can be given a specific security level, whether it’s totally public, available only to subscribers, or completely a private journal viewable only to the creator. Vox is compatible with a variety of other web resources, such as YouTube links. A variety of templates are available for trial, but eventually Six Apart hopes to have more than 150 different choices ready to make each person’s blog unique. The templates can be switched at any time.

“People are really gravitating toward the private aspect,” Anderson told me. “We’ve been working on this for more than a year and it just seemed like a good time. It’s really fun to use.”

I had a chance to try Vox in its preview status. I had a really easy time loading user photos, adding audio clips and even listing books I’ve been reading. Because I have a Flickr account, I could search through my own collection of photos, upload them to my blog, and easily manipulate them. Font colors can be changed, much like formatting text in a Word document. Even picking a blog template was fun; I went with the “martini” option. I have a feeling Vox will be popular with a variety of users, both inexperienced beginners and blogging veterans.

The site is currently available by invitation only for the preview, but Six Apart hopes to have it open for public use by the end of the year.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 01:30 PM
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May 30, 2006

Bloggers and the First Amendment

The California 6th District Court of Appeals ruled unanimously on May 26 that bloggers and web masters are protected by a state law shielding journalists from being forced to reveal their sources. The decision comes at a crucial time for bloggers and “citizen” journalists as they fight to receive the same protection and privileges as traditional journalists, all while trying to gain respect.

Two years ago Apple challenged bloggers who leaked information to the forces behind PowerPage and AppleInsider about Asteroid, a new digital music product in the works. Apple argued that knowing the identities of the bloggers in question was to key to safekeeping company information.

The company claimed the case is about theft and not protection under the First Amendment for journalists. But the court held that electronic “communicators” no different than print reporters.

In his blog covering law issues, Eugene Volokh stated simply, “It seems to me that the court got this absolutely right.”

Kurt Opsahl, a staff attorney for the Electric Frontier Foundation, said on the group’s web site, “Today's decision is a victory for the rights of journalists, whether online or offline, and for the public at large. The court has upheld the strong protections for the free flow of information to the press, and from the press to the public.”

The headline on AXcess News’ web site seemed to sum up the feeling of the blogosphere: “Internet Journalists Everywhere Win Victory in Apple Case.”

Bloggers have faced challenges seeking acceptance and credibility from mainstream media outlets. With the recent Apple ruling, the tables have turned for journalists of all outlets. As the judges themselves wrote, “We can think of no workable test or principle that would distinguish 'legitimate' from 'illegitimate' news. Any attempt by courts to draw such a distinction would imperil a fundamental purpose of the First Amendment, which is to identify the best, most important, and most valuable ideas not by any sociological or economic formula, rule of law, or process of government, but through the rough and tumble competition of the memetic marketplace."

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 05:17 PM
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May 24, 2006

AP embraces bloggers

Technorati and the Associated Press announced a partnership today to bring bloggers to more than 440 member newspapers nationwide though a new service aimed at giving "citizen journalists" a greater voice in the mainstream media.

The move reflects the AP's recognition of the blogosphere's commentary on news and events and how that translates into global conversation. Newspapers that participate in AP's Hosted Custom News product will be able to access the blogger content.

"The new service will bring blogger commentary about AP news stories to communities large and small throughout the USA, giving bloggers a voice in trusted local papers throughout the nation," said Peter Hirshberg in Technorati's blog. "For many news readers, this will be their first exposure to the blogosphere with national, international, business and sports news presented along side links to blogger commentary and perspective."

Papers participating in the service, such as the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine, will feature the "top five most blogged about" stories on their web sites, provided by Technorati. In similar fashion, when a reader finds an AP article, they can click on the "who's blogging about" link and find out what others have to say.

The partnership comes shortly after BlogBurst announced its own blog-to-newspaper service.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:05 PM
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May 23, 2006

Satellite radio, bloggers join forces

When it comes to keeping up on the latest in indie music, subscribers to SIRIUS satellite radio will now benefit from some of the web’s most popular music bloggers.

SIRIUS recently announced the launch of blog radio, a daily program featured on the Left of Center channel. The program will debut Monday, May 29, on the station that “plays the best in college, indie and alternative rock music.”

Scheduled to host the show are the forces behind Gorilla vs Bear, Brooklyn Vegan and Product Shop NYC. According to Gregg Steele, senior director of music programming for SIRIUS, the idea for the program was a result of conversations between programmers.

"I give credit to Left Of Center Programmer Rich McLaughlin for taking the concept and bringing it to our attention, and for our Senior VP of Music Programming Steve Blatter to encourage Rich to develop the concept," Steele said. "Rich knew some influential bloggers from his own circles of new musical discovery and brought to them this idea."

Chris Cantalini, of Gorilla vs Bear, was approached by McLaughlin about doing a show after he had been following the blog and became a fan.

“He came up with the idea of creating a radio show that is more or less an extension of the personality and musical tastes of individual bloggers,” Cantalini told me in a recent interview.

While the promise of new visitors to the blog is a definite plus, Cantalini is looking forward to introducing new readers to new music they might not have heard in traditional mainstream media outlets.

“They've essentially given me complete creative control over programming, so I can play whatever I want,” Cantalini said. “It'll be an amazing opportunity to introduce listeners to artists I love that otherwise may never get any radio play.”

Cantalini’s first show is currently in the works and will feature bands from his home state of Texas.

Dave of Brooklyn Vegan is also excited about introducing new music to the masses.

"New blog readers would be nice, but more importantly I think it's about bringing the music I like to a new audience (the radio audience)," Dave told me. " More than anything it seems like it'll be a fun experience."

Dave's show will feature indie and alternative music, since that is the focus of Left of Center's primary programming.

"I have 100 percent control over what I play (within the law of course), and I'll try to keep it topical to what I wrote about on the blog that week," he said.

I asked Steele what he thought the biggest gain for the bloggers would be.

"We feel the bloggers will benefit by associating with a company like SIRIUS who is as committed to finding and developing artists as they are," Steele said. "Our overall subscribership is over 4 million persons and growing rapidly. Add those that listen to SIRIUS via the Internet and through our relationship with Dish Network, and SIRIUS has a significantly large and ever-expanding audience.

"The ability for us both to have the interest of exposing new music to our combined audiences I think clearly benefits us both: we can turn our listeners onto their blogs, and we turn their blogs onto our growing listenership," Steele said.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:50 PM
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May 18, 2006

Technorati gives you your blog's facts

Have you ever wondered where your blog “ranks” in the blogosphere? Technorati recently launched a tool that not only ranks your blog, but also shows site activity, which operates it and recent posts all in one small report.

Off to the side of the report are graphs that show how many posts are made daily and traffic to the site. Both of these tools are useful in seeing how you can improve your site’s visibility and traffic.

Steve Rubel, of Micro Persuasion, refers to the report as a baseball card, but the results look more like a report card than anything else. Try your blog and see where it ranks.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 05:15 PM
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May 17, 2006

Police blotters become blogs

Last week, the Los Angeles Police Department launched its own blog, reporting on topics ranging from department activities to hard-hitting editorials.

The blog is a response from the department to improve community relations and the communication between officers and the citizens they serve. As Chief William Bratton says in one of the blog’s first posts, “By using this blog, the LAPD hopes to maintain an open dialogue with the communities we serve and those who have an interest in the men and women of this organization. We encourage you to express your opinions about current events through respectful and insightful discussion.”

The LAPD isn’t the only police department realizing the power of blogging. The Boston Police Department has had its own blog since November 2005. The two blogs differ from each other dramatically.

LAPD’s blog is more of a conversational piece, filled with stories on community events and candid reactions to current news. The blog is an attempt to create a better image for the controversial department known more for its scandals and corruption than positive activities. One recent post reported on a case where an off-duty bicycle officer and citizens helped save a man trapped inside of a burning vehicle while another reported on a department investigation involving an officer and a failed integrity test.

The BPD’s blog reads more like a police blotter. It does have community stories, but primarily lists crime statistics and a few police calls per day. There is a page devoted to community news and outreach, but the content is primarily based on facts and figures. An entire media page features news from the department for potential story ideas in the mainstream media.

The listing of specific police calls is of particular interest with the BPD blog. One of the most popular features in community newspapers is the “cop calls” section, listing runs the department responded to during a given period of time. Having the information available online, as well as the blog itself, reflects the department’s realization that their residents utilize the Internet more than ever before, and still want the features they came to rely on in a print publication available to them.

Whether it’s featuring police officers in a new light or releasing important information to the public, police department blogs are a useful communication tool.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 12:02 PM
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May 15, 2006

BackupMyBlog restores peace of mind

For those concerned about losing their blogs at the click of a mouse, BackupMyBlog recently launched a backup service that automatically saves entire blog databases on a daily basis. Doug Martin, a web industry veteran, provides the service. His previous work includes serving as creator for LookLater (an online bookmarking tool), principal engineer for Encyclopedia Britannica online and consultant.

BackupMyBlog’s client is a PHP script that is housed on the blog’s server. As the web site states, security is a top priority. The client installed on a blog’s server can’t change any information about the blog’s database.

Creating an account is currently free during the beta testing. While no official costs are given by BackupMyBlog, Mark Allen of Moustache reports that the service will eventually cost $20 for three months of service.

There are just a few requirements for a blog to be able to use BackupMyBlog:

• The blog needs to be hosted on a public server.
  
• MySQL must be used for database backend.
  
• The blog’s server needs to support PHP version 4.3.0 or later.
  
• The blogger needs to have rights to install a PHP script on his blog server.

Hosted blogs, such as LiveJournal or those offered by MySpace, can’t be backed up the service.

Brian Benzinger of Solution Watch posted his thoughts on BackupMyBlog today after signing up a blog of his own for a trial run. Benzinger said, “Overall, I found BackupMyBlog to be a great service that can definitely help many bloggers out there.”

We asked Steve Moazami, Chief IT guy here, if he, as a blog administrator, would have concerns about using BackupMyBlog. He said:

1. Data is sent clear text: This would be of concern if you have private data in your blog. Do you have some content restricted? Do you often post things ahead of time but not publish them until later? This data will be sent clear text across the Internet when you back up.

2. False sense of security: The database is backed up, but don't forget the files aren't. Should the server your blog is on crash, you'll need both file assets and your database backup to get your blog back up and running. If the database itself crashes, or if you make database changes that you wish to roll back, then just the database backup will suffice.

3. Data rentention policy: This is more for corporate blogs. Does your company have a data rentention policy? Better check BackupMyBlog's retention policy to see if they're compatible.

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:15 PM
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May 11, 2006

Google Trends creates more search possibilities

Google Labs recently released Google Trends, a search engine that allows users to compare topics over time and see how frequently they’ve been searched for, any possible news stories they were featured in, and even in which geographic regions they appeared. The results are displayed in a colorful, interactive graph. Results go back to January 2004.

Trends allows for a unique, customized search. Up to five items may be compared at one time. Comparing pairs of topics is also an option, while creating a search to avoid specific words is also possible. Google provides specific instructions on how to set up the right search for the user’s needs. Take a look at some of these pairings to see what kind of interesting results you can receive.

Apples or oranges? Apples definitely win in this match. Some of the headlines that turned up ranged from a health segment (Comparing Apples To Apples: Which Are Healthiest?), to Apples turns down the iPod volume, an article on Apple software that allows iPod Nano users to adjust sound output.

Michigan State Spartans and Michigan Wolverines: which one’s better? Apparently the Wolverines are. However, the top city is East Lansing, with “Spartanburg” a close second.

On the small screen, it’s a neck-and-neck race when it comes to Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman.

If the topics have appeared in Google News stories, the headlines are displayed on the results page and have a corresponding letter on the graph showing when they were originally published. Currently the site provides English-only headlines in the searches, but Google hopes to add non-English titles soon.

The results of time, location and frequency are useful in analyzing what was going on during a certain period of time and what kind of information people were looking for then. ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse makes an interesting point about comparing headlines to their date of publication on the graph and how that might be able to relate to specific events. Rowse believes the tool will be very useful to bloggers wishing to track buzz on their topics over time.

While no individual personal searching data is divulged through Google Trends (the results are from a large sampling), the new feature shows what people are looking for on the whole, and at what frequencies. With such potential to compare and contrast what people are searching for, Google Trends is poised to be a helpful resource to the public relations community.

However, it’s still unclear how the general public will use the search, as Guardian’s Jack Schofield debated in his technology blog. “This should be useful to search engine optimizers, and people in advertising and marketing, who will be able to compare brands over time. For the rest of us, it's just amusing to compare, say, the iPod with the Xbox, or Blu-ray and HD DVD, or AAC, WMA, and Ogg Vorbis, and so on.”

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:42 PM
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May 09, 2006

Vlogging on the World Wide Web

By Alicia Dorset

As more people become comfortable with the Internet and what it has to offer, more and more are investigating how they can best personalize the World Wide Web. One of those trends happens to be vlogging (rhymes with blogging), or video blogging, a trend catching the attention of everyone from moms to celebrities to corporate executives.

Vlogging is fairly easy to do. References are abundant online, where you can find useful tips for broadcasting and lists of interesting vlogs. Put that together with low-cost equipment, such as web cams, and just about anyone can become a producer.

Next month, San Francisco will play host to “Vloggercon,” a two-day conference devoted entirely to vlogging. The event plans to cover topics ranging from cool tricks when making your own movie to how journalism is getting involved with the medium. As the web site states, “No video blogger will be turned away.”

The mainstream media are paying attention. As reported in the May 8 post from TV Week, television executives are looking for ways to capitalize on the popularity of do-it-yourself videos. Even advertisers are looking to vlogs for commercial inspiration, such as the American Express “15 Second”ads, where hopefuls submitted their own take on the “My Life, My Card” campaign.

Recently, YouTube, a site that allows users to upload video clips, has caught the attention of the media as well. YouTube is a good example of the huge potential of video blogging. As Forbes reported on April 28, Internet video is finally taking off. According to the article, the site had more than 12 million users in March of this year and streams 40 million clips daily.

Rolling Stone noticed the phenomenon in a recent article. In its April 28 issue, Andrew Goldstein looked into the trend and interviewed the creators behind Rocketboom, one of the most well-known vlogs. Wikipedia has a detailed history of the show.

In related news, BitTorrent and Warner Brothers announced today a partnership to release more than 200 WB titles (both films and television shows) through the popular file-sharing application for purchase. This is clearly a good example of how video usage online is becoming more accessible to more people as the technology (faster Internet connections as one example) becomes easier to use.

For more on vlogging, check out the sites listed below.

Vidblogs
Videoblogging info
BlipTV
Mefeedia

Posted by Alicia Dorset at 04:49 PM
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April 26, 2006

Cool tools for your bookmarks

By Chris Poterala

You're searching the blogosphere for posts about a certain subject. Someone sends you a link to great blog, but it's written in French, and the whole noun gender thing stops you cold. What to do?

If you're a Firefox user, install and start using gTranslate, a great extension for the Firefox browser:

"With gTranslate you can translate any text in a webpage just by selecting and right-clicking over it. The extension uses the Google translation services to translate the text."

Very handy.

But now it's a week later, and someone asks you to send them a link to that same great blog, but you're not at your machine at work; you're at home. You're facing the dilemma many of us face: how to manage bookmarks. Exporting and re-importing booksmarks to keep two or more machines in sync is a pain.

What to do? Start by signing up for the new Google Bookmark service.. Like the other services from Google (gmail, calendar, etc.), it's easy to use.

The service is very similar to del.icio.us, letting you assign tags to bookmarks and grouping bookmarks rather than having to explicity group items in folders. It does not yet have the social networking/sharing features of del.icio.us, but I'm sure those will soon be incorporated, allowing people to share bookmarks and to see similarly tagged bookmarks from other people. I find their bookmark service a great way to let me organize and manage my bookmarks AND be able to access them from anywhere.

"But," you say, "I don't want to have to go to Google to see my bookmarks..."

I'm right there with you. I want my bookmarks available in a drop-down menu, in my browser.

The author of the gTranslate service has another great extension available; the Google Bookmarks Button, or GBB.

Install this extension in Firefox and you will then have a very handy drop-down bookmarks menu added to your browser's toolbar, providing ready access to your Google Bookmarks.

Posted by staff at 11:58 AM
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April 20, 2006

Stratospheric numbers endure for the blogosphere

Technorati published its quarterly report this week on the size and state of the blogosphere. Gigantic, in a word. Really, the numbers are mind-boggling:

• Technorati tracks 35.4 million weblogs; the number doubles every six months
  
• A new weblog is created every second
  
• 19.4 million bloggers (55%) are still posting three months after starting their blogs; three months ago, only 50.5% of blogs were active
  
• 3.9 million bloggers (11%) update their blogs at least weekly
  
• Bloggers make 1.2 million posts a day, about 50,000 an hour, with major spikes around big news events such as the London bombings and the U.S. State of the Union address
  
• About 9% of blogs are spam; about 60% of pings are spam pings

Those last numbers seem a bit low to me. Maybe the spam blogs make a bigger impact because they're so annoying. Do a Technorati search on "General Motors" to see how the Allergy News blog is covering GM's earnings statement.

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 10:54 AM
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April 03, 2006

The New NYTimes.com

The New York Times web site’s new design is much cleaner and far less a copy of the front page of their printed paper. Several commentators have called it bloglike.

The headlines are smaller, blue and underlined only in the “hover” state. (Does this mean that we can finally stop underlining links? Have usability standards at last advanced beyond Jakob Nielsen’s design for newbies with dialup connections ?).

The new nytimes.com is designed to a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels, instead of 800 x 600. This is a bit daring. According to recent data from sites we manage, only 49% of Internet visitors have monitors with that resolution, with an additional 11% at 1280 x 1024. So if you’re part of the 15% of the population still stuck with 800 x 600 resolution (or if you haven’t figured out how to change your monitor resolution yet), you won’t see the full homepage.

The designers at Avenue A / Razorfish strove to get the most important elements – the top news story and photo -- within the first 800 pixels. It’s still very nice-looking.

The Times press release about the redesign highlights what is surely the most important reason for the new layout:

For advertisers, the redesign provides new opportunities to reach an even more engaged audience. The new features encourage readers to spend more time exploring and sharing the richness of NYTimes.com. Advertiser benefits include:

* Larger and more dynamic ad positions on the homepage and throughout the site
* Streaming pre-roll video ads within a new video player on the homepage, section fronts and select article pages
* Special advertising opportunities around new sections such as "My Times," "Video" and "Most Popular"

The NYTimes.com remake follows the WSJ.com redesign two weeks ago. The new wsj.com is cleaner and better organized than the old one, but I find the redesign too conservative (what a surprise). While I have great affection for the biggest (and the widest) business newspaper in the country (full disclosure: my spouse works for the WSJ), the dot portraits on the web have got to go! In 1889, when the Journal was founded, halftone reproduction hadn’t been invented and illustrations were engraved on the metal printing plates. Now WSJ artists start with photocopies of photographs and hand-stipple the dots in. The portraits are endearing on the printed page but completely anachronistic on the web.

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 09:31 PM
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March 30, 2006

And Another Thing

By Charlie Kondek

In my last post I wrote about AND. I said bloggers write about one or two subjects AND – as in, "My blog is about guitars, sailing, Web 2.0, plantsmanship, hard-to-find tequilas AND whatever else I can think of."

Usually that "and" means comments on current events or other interesting happenings, but it also means bloggers frequently mix up the personal, sometimes deeply personal, with their other blog categories.

I mention this because here at Hass MS&L we believe not just in reaching out to bloggers on behalf of our clients but in sustaining relationships with bloggers. We know several whom I refer to as "friendly bloggers," people we talk to again and again on a number of projects, and I enjoy the professional relationship I have with them. We don't only talk shop. It's not unheard of to toss an "lol" into the correspondence, or to ask after each other's kids.

But that doesn't mean I know everything about them. In fact, sometimes I miss something important they mentioned on their blog. Part of sustaining these relationships with them means taking time to read their blogs, and to know when it's a good time to back off from a pitch.

After all, how would you like it if you just got finished posting about, say, the death of the family pet, or your divorce, or a medical scare, and then you got an e-mail from me along the lines of: "Hi, Blogger! Long time no talk to. Say, would you like to try Brand X?"

Posted by staff at 03:51 PM
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March 17, 2006

Mapping the Blogosophere, One Segment at a Time

By Charlie Kondek
3/17/06

In attempting to understand the blogosphere and our place within it, I often feel like an explorer at the fringes of an uncharted wilderness. I plunge in and look around and make sketches of what I find, all the while trying to maintain diplomatic relations with the natives. The naturalist's motto is also foremost in my mind: leave it the way you found it. Or, from a PR perspective, enable the conversation, don't disrupt it.

But back to those sketches - what does the blogosphere look like? This comes up all the time when we take a blogger outreach campaign from concept to reality. "We have Product X. We need to communicate it to bloggers. What bloggers would be receptive to X's message?"

While many people think they know the blogosphere, it's more like the parable about the blind men describing the elephant: we all have only part of the picture, the part that we personally intersect with. We casually say we want to reach "mom bloggers" or "dad bloggers," "sports bloggers," "Gen X bloggers," "fashionistas," "gamers," "geeks." And certainly they exist. But we also find blog segments we didn't know existed. Who knew dentists were blogging, for example?

Add to that the fact that most blogs are about such-and-such AND. In other words, "I blog about fashion AND food, world events, my family AND whatever else strikes my fancy," which expands the scope of a blog quite a bit. Still, these classifications are useful, and a look at the blogroll often helps in categorizing the blog. Some blogs will always defy description, but as a starting point, mapping by segment isn't bad.

Posted by staff at 03:55 PM
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January 24, 2006

I want to read Ron Artest's blog

By David Binkowski

For those of you unfamiliar with the NBA and Ron Artest, he's a talented, troubled basketball player for the Sacramento Kings Indiana Pacers. Ron has had problems with officials, other players, teammates and coaches, stemming from his quirky and volatile personality.

Ron needs a blog.

Imagine if, rather than running into the crowd on the night of November 19th, 2004, (a night I vividly remember because I took my son to that game and was leaving when the madness ensued), Ron ran had an outlet to vent his frustrations. Knowing that he could head back to the locker room, grab a Blackberry and compose a blog entry might have, just might have, helped channel that energy into a wonderfully written, passionate post about fan involvement at games getting out of hand.

Or last season, Ron could have blogged about his decision to take time off from playing basketball to promote his rap CD.

Or he could have let us know what he was thinking this past season, when he decided to announce that he'd be better off on another team and was suspended from the Pacers indefinitely (until today, when he was traded to the Kings).

As I said at my "How to Create Great Blogs That Get People Talking" WOMBAT panel, great blogs are an open conversation about great products and fascinating topics, written by a strong author.

People want to know what's going on in Mr. Artest's head, and what better way than a blog for us to find out?

Posted by staff at 04:47 PM
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January 05, 2006

Broaden your blogroll

There isn't an easy way to tell people how to find new blogs. Sure, you can use search engines, but how do you find the good ones? If you have some time to kill, the best place to start is the blogroll of the sites you already read. And if you find a new one, check out that blogroll, too.

John Wagner says to watch the little guys, too:

Open your eyes to the next wave of PR bloggers These bloggers are leading the next wave, with analysis and insight that is unique to their particular backgrounds and experiences. And their content tends to be more applicable and accessible to a wider audience than the heavy tech focus of the first-wave "A-listers."

Yet they are often overlooked.

It's time to widen the circle a bit and give some room to the "next wavers" of PR blogging. They deserve recognition and respect.

And the New Persuasion blog lists the Ten Blogs I Would Pay For.

And here's a new blog to keep your eye on: The Holmes Report blog.

Posted by at 12:33 PM
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November 14, 2005

Movable Type 3.2, banish ye, foul trackbacks

I'm in love. The drugs, the porn, the casinos –- those days are over.

We upgraded the General Motors' blogs about a month ago, and the difference is amazing. With the Movable Type 3.2 upgrade, the trackback spam goes right into a tidy, aptly named "junk" folder. No more cringing in fear each morning to see if *&^% and @#&& made it into trackbacks.

One glitch is that the filtering seems to be hit or miss. Some junk comments still make it through the filter, but that hasn't caused a problem because we moderate the comments. At first we tried a plus two level for spam moderation, which banished all of our comments to junk land. The zero setting seems about right.

Here at BlogWorks, however, we're still at 3.17. Customers first; the BlogWorks upgrade comes next.

Posted by at 01:01 PM
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November 03, 2005

Jobseekers clueless about blogs?

The current poll on monster.com is "Do you ever blog about work?"

Of the roughly 12,000 votes, 58 percent have answered, "What is a blog?" Twenty-nine percent say "never"; 6 percent say "sometimes"; and a mere 5 percent say "yes, I think of it as therapy."

Also looks like the Monster blog has been running for awhile now. It's a group blog by the writers of Monster's career center, and postings are daily, mostly with career advice.

Posted by at 02:57 PM
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October 19, 2005

How do you pitch a blogger? Very carefully

The BlogOn Social Media Summit had a fascinating session yesterday on the question of how to make public relations pitches to bloggers. Representing the pitchers was Jeremy Pepper; representing the pitchees was Andrew Carton of the Treonauts blog. Moderating was Cathy Brooks of the PR agency of Porter Novelli.

Hanging over the session was an angry post on the whole topic the day before by Jeff Jarvis. He was on a panel and noted that other illustrious speakers were planned, but then wrote:

I also see panels such as this: "Pitching to Social Media ... How do you pitch to bloggers when most spurn overt attempts to influence them? It’s a whole new PR ballgame and you need a new playbook to get in the game."

Makes my skin crawl. Businesses think they can exploit blogs. But I want to tell blogs to exploit businesses instead: Get what you want out of them. Get advertising money out of them, if you want. Or attention. Or peace and quiet. If a PR company calls you, tell them to have their ad buyers call instead. This is why I generallly won’t do panels at events for PR people. No offense. But there’s nothing in it for us. They want free publicity from us. They want to piggyback on our trust. Well, then, buy an ad.

Tuesday, Jeremy began by saying he "100% supports pitching bloggers," but noted he’s been on the receiving end of clumsy pitches himself. Although his blog is about public relations, he’s been pitched to blog about music sites, for example. He attributed such clunky attempts to junior PR staff working without oversight.

Andrew doesn't mind being pitched but when he asked a flack why public relations people were approaching him, rather than marketing reps, he was told that because he wasn’t being paid to write about Treos, he fell under the purview of public relations.

That line of demarcation is vanishing. A blogger in the audience said a flack had pitched her a story and simultaneously asked about buying an ad. The blogger needed the ad revenue but didn’t want it to influence her decision whether to write about the product. Her solution is to keep the traditional news publishing model in mind, with its church and state separation of editorial and advertising functions. It’s harder to do of course, when the editor is also the ad salesman.

Andrew, who makes a respectable sum of money from his blog, believes blog readers implicitly understand that bloggers make money from advertising and respect that.

Aside from the ethics, practical tips emerged for pitching bloggers:

• Read the blog before pitching it!
  
• Make the pitch short and low-key
  
• Provide a link & contact information for an expert
  

P.S. Here’s a New York miracle: I got out of the cab at the Copacabana Tuesday, schlepping luggage, laptop, swag bag and purse. I went to the coat check to drop them off. I had left the laptop in the cab! I ran back outside. The doorman spotted the cab, which had turned around! The cabbie stopped! The laptop was rescued! New York is full of nice people.

Technorati tags:

PR
public relations
BlogOn2005

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 10:49 AM
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October 18, 2005

Blogging On

I’m here at the Copacabana Nightclub in New York for the BlogOn 2005 Social Media Summit, where music and passion are always in fashion. It’s definitely an interesting venue. The stage has a black backdrop and strong stage lighting for the live webcasts, while we in the audience get softer lights comes from the red Japanese lanterns. Lunch was in the Carmen Miranda room. As befits a social media conference, several cool tools are available for participants – the webcasts, podcasts, an event blog, and a social networking site.

Some of the highlights from Monday afternoon’s sessions:
· Lisa Poulson of Burson-Marsteller interviewed Gil Schwartz, executive vice president of communications at CBS Television, on “Communicating with your customers in times of crisis.” While the basic lessons of crisis communications still remain (acknowledge the problem, fix the problem, aggressively get the message out), the speed of bad news has increased since the days of the Tylenol crisis. The news cycle, between online editions of mainstream media and blogs, is dramatically shorter now, Schwartz noted, “so now the anxiety is just 24/7.”
“The difference is the time frame and the potential for any story -- no matter how bogus or transitory -- to flip out of control,” Schwartz said. He bemoaned the lack of fact-checking on some blogs, as well as in some mainstream media. On a day when the top news stories on BlogPulse were all of The New York Times reporting on its own problematic reporter, Judith Miller, Schwartz said, “I guess my plea would be to hold yourselves to the same high standards as The New York Times,” to much laughter.

· Steve Rubel moderated a discussion with bloggers Shel Israel, Deborah Schultz of Six Apart and Vicki Warker, who is Sprint’s business blogger, based on the Cluetrain theme “Markets are conversations.” They explored questions arising from corporate blogging, such as how much time to spend on customer service complaints and whether tightly controlled messages are best in some circumstances, such as a new product launch.

BlogOn2005

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 12:25 PM
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October 06, 2005

Survey: Bloggers Warming to Business

Technorati and Edelman have posted the results of their blogging survey, with 821 bloggers weighing in with their answers. And although it looks like public relations agencies still have work to do on gaining the trust of bloggers (4.6 on a 1-10 scale), most are willing to accept contact from an agency or company, and just over 70 percent would like to accept products from a company in order to blog about it.

A few key responses:

• Just under half of bloggers have never been contacted by a company or an agency.
• Only 8 percent said a blog was untrustworthy if it was endorsed and produced by a company.
• Almost 63 percent said they trust other bloggers the most when looking for product information.

Posted by at 10:00 AM
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August 23, 2005

Best slides from the Blog Business Summit

Dutch blogger Frank Janssen couldn't make it to San Francisco for the Blog Business Summit last week, but presents the best slides from each presentation on his blog.

Via Blog Business Summit

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 02:55 PM
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August 22, 2005

Interesting stuff from BBS 05

Now that the Blog Business Summit is over, and the strike by Northwest mechanics did not keep us Detroiters from flying home, here are highlights from the more memorable presentations I saw:

• Rebecca Blood and Matthew Oliphant presented good advice and good resources for those considering corporate blogging guidelines. Basically, since 7% of all U.S. Internet users are blogging, every company should let its employees know what kinds of things they might say on personal and company blogs that would get them fired.

• Anil Dash of Six Apart gave an overview of Movable Type 3.2, which is to be launched soon and offers simplified editing functions and (at last) automatic spam filtering and deletion.
• Janet Johnson of Waggener Edstrom and Robert Scoble of Microsoft talked about blogger relations. Johnson’s client Marqui got lots of negative publicity early this year by paying bloggers to write about it. (Marqui now has its own blog.) Her rules of engagement:
  1. Develop a thick skin
  2. Be absolutely honest
  3. Have a point of view
  4. Do your research
  5. Engage your detractors
  6. Drive to closure (meaning don't let the trolls get the best of you)
  And Scoble gave advice for crisis communications: "The first thing I do when there’s bad press is link to the bad news without comment." That gives him time to meet with communications staff and to find out the whole story. "Silence adds power to the story," he noted. He also admitted he’s obsessive: "I spend almost every waking hour doing something about blogging."
• I was on a panel with fellow PR practitioners and bloggers Lynann Bradbury of Waggener Edstrom and Rick Murray of Edelman, on the topic of "When Worlds Collide," the worlds in question being PR and the blogosphere. Lynnann had a valuable worksheet that companies can use to help them decide whether they’re ready to blog or not. Rick asked the intriguing question of how the highly regulated healthcare industry can participate in blogging. And I defended the press release as not dead yet and outlined some of our lessons learned from the GM FastLane blog.
• Paul Rosenfeld of Quick Books Online and I talked about the nuts and bolts of running corporate blogs in a panel moderated by Debbie Weil.

Technorati tags: bbs05, blogbusinesssummit

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 10:12 AM
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August 19, 2005

What should I blog about?

More updates from the Blog Business Summit in San Francisco. We did hear, via sirens and later on news sites, about an explosion nearby, but our hotel was unaffected. Meanwhile, the conference rolls on …

Molly Holzschlag and Darren Barefoot talked about the need to be open and honest while composing blog entries.

Molly said the companies who are interested in blogging should have an internal test phase to see who the best bloggers are before going public. The company could consider a test group or a few valued customers to gauge initial reaction.

Darren said if you are going to practice, it should be at full speed with the blog – real posts with real thoughts will give you an idea of what to expect.

Molly noted that a blog should accept negative comments. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” she said.

If your company is thinking about blogging or trying to get your thoughts together on what this blogging thing is, the best advice is to study – look, listen and learn. Start reading – search on Technorati for your industry. Read blogs that are talking about it. Participate. Comment on the blog if you like what is being said – and especially if you disagree. Let your point be known.

Sign up for an RSS service such as Bloglines. Once you figure out what RSS is, you’ll never look back. Learning how it works will save you time in the long run.

And try it out. Sign up for one of the free blogging services and post your thoughts. It’s all an experiment and can benefit your company in the long haul.

Technorati tags: bbs05, blogbusinesssummit

Posted by at 05:51 PM
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Honesty in advertising

Dave Taylor, an A-list blogger with several sites, told attendees of the Blog Business Summit how to get the most out of Google AdSense ads on your blogs: throw everything you know about Internet advertising out of the window.

"The more obvious [it is] the links aren’t part of your page, the less likely people are to click on them," Taylor said. Blogs tend to relegate their ads to the side of the page in a box that stands out as an ad. But readers are trained not to look at ads, he said.

He said the more he can integrate the ads into the content of his blogs, the better the ads perform. An audience member asked if it’s possible to take off the header "Ads by Goooogle." The answer is no.

In addition to Google AdSense, Taylor also uses affiliate links, such as audible.com and the Wall Street Journal, and has an ad for his own blog training event. His blog Ask Dave Taylor is his "big time revenue generator," he said.

Although Google prevents its AdSense members from giving numbers on how much they make, Taylor said it more than pays for his mortgage every month.

In my opinion, if you have a blog and you want readers to click on the ads, integrating them into the content somewhat is not a bad idea. However, you don’t want to deceive your readers into thinking it’s actually part of your content and something that you wrote. If you want to gain readers who will come back to your site again and again, you need to be honest with them, not only with your writing, but your advertising, too.

Technorati tags: bbs05, blogbusinesssummit

Posted by at 02:01 PM
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August 16, 2005

Vote: Is the press release dead?

Robert French has a good essay on InfOpinions::Public Relations on Blogs as Placebos vs. Panacea. He has a poll on whether the press release is dead, but he’s only got 16 votes so far – go vote and tell him what you think.

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 11:34 AM
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August 10, 2005

Blog news roundup

Apple employees can blog, but don't mention Apple
Not surprisingly, Apple retail employees are ordered not to comment on rumors to customers under any circumstances. Furthermore, while Apple employees are granted permission by Apple to create their own personal Web pages and blogs, they are not allowed to comment on anything related to Apple on such pages. Furthermore, they are prohibited from posting in any capacity on any Mac-related Websites or forums, whether they identify themselves as working for Apple or not.

Via Rubel.

Google blacklists news organization
Google has blacklisted CNet and its affiliates because a reporter "Googled" the Google CEO and added the information in an article.

Via Rubel and Scoble

And the New York Times article.

IFulfill.com CEO blogs as ship sinks
There's an interesting article in Business Week about the CEO of iFulfill.com blogging as his company crashed and burned.

Posted by at 01:29 PM
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August 04, 2005

50 million blog readers can't be wrong

By Charlie Kondek

As you read blogs, do you ever get the feeling that you're only one of a handful of people that does so? I often do. A recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows, however, that mine is a very wrong impression. According to Pew, 25% of internet users are blog readers. By my count, that's more than 50 million people in the U.S.

But that 50 million number could be even higher.

Another study, by Nielsen-Netratings, says that as many as 2/3 of the people identified as blog readers don't call what they're reading a blog. Some say they've never heard of blogging, or that what they're reading is not a blog.

What do they call it? That's not clear, but it does suggest the number of U.S. blog readers is even more staggering than 50 million. (I just want to stick my finger in my mouth, Dr. Evil-style, when I say "fifty million blog readers.") Buzzmetrics' Mouthpiece also takes this opportunity to suggest that "blogging" may be an industry term that never catches on with consumers, since they know what they're doing not as blogging but by another name.

To which Shakespeare might reply: does blogging by any other name still smell as sweet? To communications professionals that want to engage in the blogosphere, I'm sure it does. Though Pew says that blog readership is still a smaller audience than newspaper readership, 50 million – or more – is still an impressive number. I'll never feel like one of "a handful of people" ever again.

Posted by staff at 02:47 PM
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July 28, 2005

A podcast and a blog walk into a bar . . .

A recent study by the Pew Internet Project notes that a majority of American Internet users don’t know what a podcast is. Twenty-three percent of them hadn’t even heard the term. It’s likely more of them have learned since the survey was taken in May and early June, however, because last month, Apple released its 4.9 version of iTunes, which offers thousands of podcast subscriptions for free in an easy-to-use format. Meanwhile, the mainstream media have seized on podcasting as the latest hot new thing:

• New York Times: July 22: "The Podcast as a New Podium"
• Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, July 6, "Podcasting Is Still Not Quite Ready For the Masses" (subscription required)
• Washington Post July 23: "Apple Plants a Seed to Help Raise Podcasting"
• Newsweek Aug.1: “Podcasting: Talking Dirty on your iPod”

For the official definition of a podcast, we turn to Wikipedia:

Podcasting is a method of publishing via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s). It became popular in late 2004, largely to automate downloading of audio onto portable players or personal computers.

The word "podcasting" is a portmanteau that combines the words "broadcasting" and "iPod." The term can be misleading since neither podcasting nor listening to podcasts requires an iPod or any portable music player.

A podcast is more than an MP3 file; it also has an XML file wrapped around it. (See TUAW blog for a silly argument on the topic.)

Corporations are experimenting with podcasts, as they can be very cheaply produced. GM was one of the first, followed by ABC News, Disney, Unilever, and with broadcast programs such as NPR’s All Things Considered and Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which are pretty obvious fits. Wired magazine gets snarky about corporate podcasts in its most recent print issue ("Podcasting for The Man: It was only a matter of time before big business co-opted the podcast, but someone must have missed a crucial memo. Their attempts to turn the gurrilla format into just another channel for corporate speak are hobbily ill-conceived."), but surely the corporate experimenters deserve major props for trying a new medium.

So, whether you think podcasting is a soil enhancer, an answer to the wasteland of commercial radio, or this year’s blogging phenomenon, you’ll certainly be hearing more about it in 2005.

Posted by Laurie Mayers at 08:59 AM
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July 14, 2005

Special registration for the Blog Business Summit

The Blog Business Summit is a three-day conference in San Francisco, Aug. 17-19 covering blogging techniques, tools and platforms. Here's a special registration rate for Blogworks readers.

Posted by at 11:45 AM
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June 13, 2005

Thou shalt read these 10 tips

Steve Rubel, bright light of PR blogging insight that he is, has distilled many of the tips many of us give to prospective business bloggers into a concise Ten Commandments of Participatory PR.

Listen to the people!

Blogging is not a fad!

Don't fake it!

They're definitely worth a read/steal.

Posted by Jud Branam at 12:29 PM
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May 25, 2005

NPR talks blogs

NPR's Talk of the Nation discusses blogging in the workplace. You can listen to an audio feed here.

Neal Conan talks to Mark Jen, John Palfrey and Michael Wiley.

Posted by at 10:06 AM
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May 23, 2005

Blog news roundup

Wall Street Journal targets bloggers
MediaBistro's Fishbowl blog reports that the Wall Street Journal online is targeting bloggers in order to get more links to its free areas.
… the WSJ Online is making a greater push to get its free stuff out there, appointing former WSJ staffer (and current WSJ contributor) Carl Bialik as "free-content editor" to connect specifically-targeted articles with the bloggers who will give them the sweet link of life in the blogosphere.

Bloglines CEO says new search is coming
Via BusinessWeek:
The CEO of Bloglines (now a division of AskJeeves) says that his company will release a blog search engine this summer which will surpass the likes of Technorati, Feedster, and PubSub. "The challenge," he says, "is to create world-class blog search, which we don't think exists now."
More information in a Q&A.

Feedster adds a script for easier tagging
Via Media Guerilla:
Feedster’s taking a new approach to tagging with the introduction of a code script that basically bolts a tag submission form to your blog posts …
And directly from Feedster.

Posted by at 01:35 PM
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May 16, 2005

Keeping track with tags

The blogosphere is abuzz with tagging, and I've been doing some homework on the subject. Just what are tags, how should we use them and how can they help us?

Tags are also referred to as folksonomies. BusinessWeek says "Blogger Thomas Vander Wal coined the word "folksonomy," a combination of the words folk and taxonomy, to describe this joint work."

Tags are ways to categorize blogs and other web sites in two ways: 1. so other users can find your tags when looking for a subject and 2. so you can keep track of subjects you're interested in.

If you have a blog and it pings Technorati when you add a new post, Technorati automatically takes your blog categories and converts them into tags.

You also can add tags to each post (for example, see "blogging" at the end of this entry).

Once you add that blogging tag, anyone looking at the Technorati tag "blogging" will see this entry.

The other way to use tags are to bookmark them to follow an area of interest. For example, Constantin Basturea has a tag called prdigest at del.icio.us. He tags blogs and other sites that have interesting news he thinks people interested in public relations would follow.

Here are some sites where you can create and track tags.

• Technorati
• del.icio.us
• flickr (tagging photos)
• feedtagger
• Yahoo! News tagged

Other resources:

• BusinessWeek article on tagging.
  
• A blog on tagging.
  
• How to use tags at Technorati and del.icio.us.
  

update: The Toronto Star has an article on tags.

Tags:

blogging
tags
pr

Posted by at 11:50 AM
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May 01, 2005

Blogging for beginners

The local Detroit Society of Professional Journalists chapter had a blog meeting a couple of weeks ago. And, like research has shown, most people have a faint idea of what blogging is. Questions came up that we've answered here in our FAQ: What's the difference between a blog and a message board? Why should I have a blog when I have a Web site?

Bill Mitchell, director of publishing and editor of Poynter Online, gave some great advice: search and read blogs at technorati.com and start your own blog. Try blogger -- it's easy and free.

Mitchell also had a great comment on what journalism was before blogs: "We'll decide what the news is, and (you) eat your peas," meaning that the mainstream media (MSM) tells you what to do, you listen and accept it as a fact. With blogging and citizen journalism, "people are tired of eating their peas," he said.

I was never any good at eating my vegetables. Seems like other citizen bloggers aren't inclined to be spoon-fed, either.

Posted by at 09:11 AM
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April 28, 2005

Corporate blogging policies

Every company should have a blogging policy. Even if you don't have a company blog, one of your employees, somewhere, is blogging. Are they blogging about where they work? Of course. Here are three policies to get you started:

1. Charlene Li, Forrester Research analyst, has created an example blogging policy.

Sample Corporate Blogging policy

• Make it clear that the views expressed in the blog are yours alone and do not necessarily represent the views of your employer.
  
• Respect the company’s confidentiality and proprietary information.
  
• Ask your manager if you have any questions about what is appropriate to include in your blog.
  
• Be respectful to the company, employees, customers, partners, and competitors.
  
• Understand when the company asks that topics not be discussed for confidentiality or legal compliance reasons.
  
• Ensure that your blogging activity does not interfere with your work commitments.

2. Robert Scoble, Microsoft employee and blogger, has 20 rules for corporate blogging, beginning with “Tell the Truth.”
Other key points:

• Be honest & transparent
  
• Acknowledge mistakes
  
• Be an expert on your topic, or link to other experts
  
• Know your web technology
  
• Pay attention to leading voices and sites, such as Doc Searls and Slashdot
  
• Link to your competitors and say nice things about them
  

3. Mark Jen is a former Google employee who was fired for posting company information on his blog, 11 days after he started (the blog and as a Google employee). He's now at Plaxo, complete with blog, and he and Plaxo are creating Internet guidelines for employees.

Mark Jen/Plaxo blogging guidelines:
While we encourage open communication both internally and externally in all forms, we expect and insist that such communication does not substantively demean our environment. This means that constructive criticism — both privately and publicly — is welcome, but harsh or continuous disparagement is frowned upon.

Externally communicating about aspects of the company that are part of your non-disclosure agreement (partnership deals, earnings, upcoming unannounced features, etc.) is ALWAYS forbidden, however, and grounds for immediate termination and legal action.

Specific policies
7. You may not post any material that is obscene, defamatory, profane, libelous, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful or embarrassing to another person or any other person or entity. This includes, but is not limited to, comments regarding Plaxo, Plaxo employees, Plaxo’s partners and Plaxo’s competitors.

Posted by root at 11:30 AM
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Recommended reading

Much is being written about blogs but these examples are required reading.

1. The Cluetrain Manifesto, by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger:
Subtitle: Markets are conversations, talk is cheap, silence is fatal. The end of business as usual
The first three of its 95 theses:

• Markets are conversations.
  
• Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.
  
• Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.

2. We the Media, by Dan Gillmor

• Journalism is evolving from corporate journalism & mainstream media to grassroots journalism
  
• Personal journalism has a long tradition in U.S.
  
• Three formerly distinct groups will continue to blur: journalists, newsmakers and audience

3. BusinessWeek: Blogs Will change your business
Subtitle: Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up...or catch you late

And a sidebar from BusinessWeek: Six Tips for Corporate Bloggers
Subtitle: You can't afford to miss this wave -- and even more important, you can't afford to do it wrong

Posted by root at 10:57 AM
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April 27, 2005

About podcasting

Although this study has a large margin of error (plus or minus 7.5 points), this PEW Internet & American Life study (PDF) is nonetheless interesting.

According to the April 2005 study, more than 22 million American adults own iPods or MP3 players and 29% of them have downloaded podcasts from the Web so that they could listen to audio files at a time of their choosing. That amounts to more than 6 million adults who have tried this new feature that allows internet “broadcasts” to be downloaded onto their portable listening device.

Resources:
www.ipodder.org
www.podcast.net

Posted by at 09:43 AM
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Blogging statistics

The PEW Internet & American Life Project Study updated its blogging survey data in May, which was first published in January 2005. Here are the latest findings:

9% of U.S. Internet users have created a blog

• 57% are male
  
• 48% under 30
  
• 39% have college degrees
  
• 42% live in houses where income > $50K

25% of U.S. Internet users have read blogs

• Similar demographics to blog authors, but with growth among women, minorities, ages 30-49, and dialup connectors

You can find the complete report, "The State of Blogging," here.

Posted by at 09:39 AM
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