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Suw: Democratising the music industry even more.
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Suw: Just replace ‘science’ with ‘technology’. Although I bet this analogy doesn’t work with 3D mathematical modeling – they all knit.
links for 2007-03-17
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Kevin: OK, this has nothing to do with media, but it’s damn interesting. Direct person-to-person micro-loans.
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Kevin: Is online ‘newspaper’ revenue starting to make up for the decline in print advertising? Not quite, but the gap might be closing.
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Kevin: Milbloggers on BBC Radio 4. Good to hear Black Five. Jason Hartley. Been there. Done that. MSM, what took you so long? You’re only two years behind the curve.
links for 2007-03-15
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Kevin: My good friend Robert Freeman gives a tour through journalists telling stories through maps. Great round up of clever sites.
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Kevin: I often say that Google isn’t a search company, it’s a search-enabled advertising juggernaut. And media should note Google’s special sauce is serving up relevant ads to interested eyeballs. Generic banners never worked.
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Suw: Alice has taken fantastic notes of Will Wright’s talk at SxSW which are making my brain spin. In a good way, though.
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Suw: I have an idea I’m trying to get a hold of, and this, somehow, is part of it.
links for 2007-03-14
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Suw: Oh gods and little fishes. ‘Neuromarketing’? I don’t know whether to be fascinated or scared.
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Suw: Ficlets – the internet version of writing a line of a story on a piece of paper and then handing it to the person next to you to carry on.
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Suw: Seems to be launching with a dead guy in a cubicle. Class!
Search useless for blogs
Interesting little piece from eMarketer about how people find the blogs they read. It’s really no surprise to discover that 67% of respondents find blogs through links from other blogs, and 23% via recommendations, but I like the way they analyse this for the benefit of businesses used to dealing with old-style websites who try to use search engine optimisation techniques to make their site more visible:
The fact that blog awareness is effectively spread by word-of-mouth is key for anyone using one in a campaign. Not only can you not build it and expect them to come, you cannot even build it and optimize it for search and expect them to come. Blog launches must be accompanied by links on established blogs, and some good recommendations from established, influential bloggers.
My only quibble with that advice is that you have to launch your blog without links from established blogs – you can’t just go round emailing influential bloggers and asking them to link to a blog they’ve not yet had the opportunity to read! Trust – and links – have to be earnt over time and there’s just no way round that. You can’t have a “launch accompanied by links on established blogs”, you have to launch, write what you write, and the links will come if you are good.
Another quote:
Two-thirds of blog readers said that they read to be entertained, and 43% said that they read to keep up with personal interests or hobbies (multiple answers were allowed).
Businesses really need to understand this point. People don’t read blogs to be marketed at, they read blogs to be entertained and kept up to date with stuff they are interested in. If your blog doesn’t do either of those things, it just won’t be read. Bunging any old crap up on a blog isn’t going to cut the mustard – you’ve got to be passionate, interesting, and entertaining.
Of course, none of this is news, but it’s good to see some statistics to back it up.
links for 2007-03-13
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Suw: Would so love to play with this when its out, but not sure I want to buy a PS3 in order to do so!
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Suw: At last! Someone takes notes at one of my talks! Tim Travers gets the gist of my talk in a nice, concise manner.
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Suw: This is pretty much what I wanted to say. Sky’s ads on XFM have been disgustingly smug and I really hope they get their knuckles rapped.
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Suw: 8 Jun 07, up in Leicester. Be interesting to see how the programme evolves.
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Suw: I just like the diagram.
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Suw: Guide to copyright, copyleft and everything in between.
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Suw: Interesting pricing structure based on allowing the buyer to choose how much to pay.
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Suw: Cory explains why he gives all his books away for free online
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Suw: Must play with this one day soon.
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Suw: Wired’s wiki.
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Suw: I really must dabble with Dabble some time soon.
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Suw: Interesting take on consulting.
links for 2007-03-12
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Suw: Steph talks about how GTD is not about cramming more work into your life, but getting your work done efficiently so that you can go off and enjoy your spare time guilt-free.
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Kevin: More than two-thirds of blog readers find blogs through links on other blogs and not search engines, and most people are looking for niche information.
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Kevin: I wish I would have had this to read on the flight back from the US. A 66-page study on how news organisations are building new relationships with communities by Lisa Williams of Placeblogger.com, Dan Gillmor and Jane MacKay of Northeastern U.
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Kevin: Robin writes a killer post adding some nuance and complexity to the UGC craze. To sum up, it isn’t a no-cost , silver bullet solution for what ails media. Encouraging participation takes investment and focus.
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Kevin: Ewan writes about Web 2.0 tools for teaching, but he provides a really good list of digital story-telling tools – especially for stills – in a great post. Journalists and journalism students should take note and bookmark this.
Online communities thrive offline
In the late 80s, friends of mine in Rockford Illinois, where I went to high school, used to meet up with friends they met on D-Dial, a BBS system. They got together for pizza, for bowling and for D&D. It was my first experience with any type of online community, and I remember playing around online in my buddy Chuck’s attic on his Commodore 64, chatting with people and downloading the Anarchist Cookbook so we could make our own fireworks (Well, that was the plan. We never quite found the right fertiliser, although I know we scared the bejeezus out of my girlfriend at the time as we drove around town listening to free jazz and dreamed out loud about the massive rockets we’d make.) My friends had been online for years, using the simple text-based systems that pre-dated widespread access to the internet outside of universities, scientific institutions and the military.
But even then, I knew that offline community was important to online communities. It’s a common misconception that people use online communities to replace or in lieu off face-to-face, ‘real’ community. I have always rejected that, and my online communities in Flickr and via blogs reinforce or support my offline social ties, especially having friends spread over a few continents.
That belief was reinforced Friday night as I attended the DCist’s “Exposed” photo exhibition. The Warehouse Gallery was filled overflowing with people, many of whom had name tags with their real names and their DCist user IDs. Thanks Kyle for the invitation. Congratulations to the DCist crew on such an astounding success.
Coming to Washington DC. Meetup?
I’m in Washington DC next week (March 3-11) on a working holiday (as much as that is an oxymoron). If you’re a blogger, in new media or want to talk about digital journalism, drop me an e-mail, and we can grab a coffee or a drink. Looking forward to being back in the old hood.
links for 2007-03-01
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Kevin: Don’t have time for community? Rethink your priorities. Steve Yelvington: “Stop putting all your time into cutting and pasting newspaper stories onto the web, I said. Your limits are real, but you can reallocate.”
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Kevin: A great roundup on community, user-generated content and what encourages participation. It’s a good roundup and has some thought provoking ideas for people looking to develop community strategies.
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Kevin: WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive rolls out a blog ad network. “Adify promises to let the client accept advertising that’s much more focused than that available through larger, more opaque networks.” Targets specific audiences.
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Kevin: Outside.in launches as an aggregator of local blogs in 63 cities in the US.