Monday, February 28
First peek at Buzz Marketing with Blogs
by
Tris Hussey
on February 28, 2005 03:16PM (PST)
 I've known Susie Gardner for just a few months now and we've become fast friends. I've also been waiting for this sneak peak at the table of contents and the first chapter of the book for weeks--I think Susie has too. I'm also going to be doing a full review once the book hits the shelves March 11, so this is just to wet your appetite! So, what do I think? Honestly, even if you're an blog-xpert you should get this book (maybe two so you can one to loan out) because Susie has certainly, from the TOC-- buzzmarketingblogs_toc.pdf--covered all the important bases on blogging. Now a great TOC is like a great book cover, it's not enough to judge the book from, you have to delve in and read it. I've read the first chapter, and if the first chapter is any indication, the book is going to be great (okay, awesome and I'm not saying this because Susie is friend)-- buzzmarketingblogs_ch01.pdf. Whether it's due to the "...for Dummies" style or what, the chapter reads like a series of blog posts...fitting, eh? In the first chapter Susie covers all the basics. What are blogs, why you should blog, and what are the benefits, and pitfalls (there are always pitfalls). I really got into it quickly and, being a Dummies book, torn through it. If you're going to go meet a client before March 11 (when the book hits the streets) who is new to blogging, read this first chapter. Why? Because you'll have great definitions, explanations, and examples to cite right off the top of your head. I read a lot. No, really a lot, like sometimes three or four books a week (I'm on a bit of a dry spell right now). So I have a good eye for what kind of writing I like to read. This is a true Dummies book--nice, easy to read, easy to digest with good facts to pick out and use right away. So, yeah, take a look at the TOC and read the first chapter. Then you'll just have to wait a little while longer to read the whole thing. As I said above, I'll be doing a full review of the books as I get my hands on it. Maybe I'll blog chapter by chapter so you don't have to wait until I finish it--like that will take long! Until then...don't forget to download this preview. You'll be happy you did.
Saturday, February 26
Could you sign this release so I can e-mail you?
by
Tris Hussey
on February 26, 2005 08:10PM (PST)
Here in Canada a new stringent privacy law called PIPEDA went into effect for all businesses large and small, private, public in 2004. I think we're all still trying to work through the realities of this act. One of the big questions was around business cards. When you give and/or receive a business card, what privacy rights do you have? You willingly gave another person all or most of your personal contact information, so where's the line? The eBizBlog discusses this briefly-- eBizBlog e-Business News- Business email addresses protected under privacy act--and pretty much says, you can e-mail someone with business related matters, but auto-subscribing them to your newsletter is a no-no. This is another example of where blogs and RSS win the day. You could e-mail someone as a follow up and say "If you'd like to keep up with the latest happenings at Widgets R Us, check out our blog or here is a direct link to our RSS feed..." Then if they want to know more, they can, by choice. If you're writing great content, then they might stick around. If you are going to do this kind of marketing, I would also be prepared for the "What's a blog? and What's RSS?" questions. I suggest making a quick page/post on those topics and prominently post them on your site. Permanent links as part of your navigation. Privacy laws can be tricky and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but RSS, RSS will definitely keep you in the clear.
Is e-mail dead or not?
by
Tris Hussey
on February 26, 2005 07:52PM (PST)
 Boy, I gotta spend more time reading and less time writing! I missed on the first go-round a thought-provoking article by Tod Maffin-- Tod Maffin's Future File -- Why Email Is Dead. Tod had the experience that I know I've had as well, a "real" e-mail get dumped into the spam folder--or never gets there--and an important question goes unanswered. I had this happen with a client of mine. I was wondering why he wasn't answering my urgent questions. Turns out that all my e-mails were in his spam folder (I had changed to Thunderbird and I think my HTML signature was goofing things up). Okay so Tod is making the assertion that e-mail, as an effective fast business communications tool, is nearing it's end. I think he's almost right. I think e-mail is still reasonably effective, but I do agree that other communications tools can be useful too. Tod suggests XML-based communications and RSS aggregators. I like RSS for project sites ( Basecamp and Socialtext do this well), fast communications? No. For me it's IM. E-mail is great for memo-ish things, sending documents to lots of people--yes there are collaboration tools for this, I know--and such. Quick questions, nothing beats IM. All my IM clients save the chat histories automatically so that could be posted or e-mailed as a record of the conversation. And though I haven't played much with it, Bubbler, looks like a good tool for this too. XML is great, and the applications are maturing, but I think we've got a ways to go before e-mail and the e-mail metaphor really stop working for us. I'm not the only one. This post-- Friendly Technology- Hey Tod Maffin- Email is Not Dead--takes a similar tact as me, but I agree with Tod that e-mail is having troubles. I have to keep checking my spam filter for communications from friends and co-workers. At least a couple times a week something important winds up in there (though Thunderbird seems to be better than Outlook in this regard...I'm still happy I switched back). For me the future is better integrated communications. One client with IM, collaboration, RSS, and e-mail built in. Outlook might be getting close, but I think many of us would be more than a little bit concerned about putting all our eggs in that basket. So what do you think? Is e-mail dead or just dying? How about IM? I'm a huge fan and try to redirect many conversations that way, especially with Skype. I don't agree that this VoIP solution hogs bandwidth, IMHO. Let me know here.
Rejoice! Lektora for Linux and OS X has arrived!
by
Tris Hussey
on February 26, 2005 07:20PM (PST)
Oh, and Jean-Francois (aka Jeff) has also fixed some annoying Windows bugs so there is a new Windows version to download-- Lektora - Download RSS News Reader for Firefox and IE. The bug fixes deal with having open HTML tags in the newspaper view and that sometimes the Add button doesn't show up right. Jeff has also given some details on the little Firefox 1.0.1 upgrade breaking Lektora-- Lektora - Team blog. It turns out that Firefox hosed globally installed extensions. Oh well. You need to upgrade to the latest Lektora beta anyways before March 1st...so get to it! Now, given this availability on Windows, Mac, and Linux I think this makes Lektora one of the only RSS readers that can make this claim. Jeff has been telling me about some of the stuff he has planned for version 2...it's going to be great. Yeah, you'll just have to wait and see.
Friday, February 25
Blogosphere 2.0: crossing the chasm and sliding down the long tail
by
fred
on February 25, 2005 01:39PM (PST)
The blogosphere is about to get big. It is going to get big because blogs are crossing the chasm into the early mainstream market. This means that the opportunity in the blogosphere is moving down the power law curve towards what Chris Anderson calls the long tail. The coming wave of mainstream users generally know that they are never going to be the next boing boing or engadget and these mainstreamers intuitively understand that they are going to blog in the long tail (though most won’t use that language) and that there are going to be lots of other people like them blogging there as well. Collectively, in millions and millions of ways, they are going to build the blogosphere 2.0- blogs for the rest of us. Here are the trends: - The mainstreamers will not blog obsessively, all day, every day. Blogs will be a tool and a facet of their lives, not their lives. I think most mainstream blogs will average annually ~2 posts/week.
- They want convenience. The better the tools/software services, the more convenient it will be for them to blog and the more they will blog. They are looking for the classic “whole product” and do not want to fuss w/difficult to use/unintegrated technologies. There is no joy in perl scripting for them.
- Blogs will become, as Jason observed, the new business card/CV and also the new refrigerator door. People will update the world on their careers in the professional section of their blogs. They will update their friends in the personal areas.
- Pictures/galleries and filesharing posts will become at least as important text-oriented posting.
- As they post more and more of their lives online, they will start to demand ways to safeguard and secure all the work they have done.
- Next-gen blogrings/community/affinity groups will become more important and will create their own mini-blogospheres, complete w/powerlaw distributions
- Folksonomies will become a concept everyone can understand and will surprise everyone w/how they evolve.
The blogosphere is about to get big. It is going to get big because blogs are crossing the chasm into the early mainstream market. This means that the opportunity in the blogosphere is moving down the power law curve towards what Chris Anderson calls the long tail.
Sunday, February 20
Follow up from the NorthernVoice Lightning Tool talk
by
Tris Hussey
on February 20, 2005 09:53PM (PST)
Yesterday I was at Northern Voice and gave a Lightning Tool talk on Qumana. Now if you download Qumana from the download link on the site you won't get the tool that I demo-ed (Lektora is here: Lektora - Download). QumanaLE as we call it is a beta/prototype of several new ideas. The DropPad and editor are one application. Double-clicking the DropPad in LE opens an empty editing window. Drop items onto the DropPad, double click it, and you're ready to blog those items. So here is the FTP link: File- QumanaLESetup1_1_0_23.EXE. But we did a little hacking and tweaking of both Lektora and QumanaLE for the Lightning Tool talk. We are working with the guys at Lektora to have a released version that integrates the two applications for public release, but not yet. Be patient. We have the one-click Lektora to Qumana intregration high, high on our list of new features (in addition to some secret ones so cool, that well, they will blow your mind). We're also, after the now infamous and still continuing XP Hotfix KB891781 problem, re-assessing our development platform and path. We hope to have a prototype and closed beta in the next month or so. If you're interested e-mail me at tris AT qumana.com, and I'll put you on the list.
Jon Stewart on Blogging
by
fred
on February 20, 2005 04:06PM (PST)
I am a big fan of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. It is in my opinion one of the funniest shows on TV. If your a blogger (and even if your not), this piece is truly Laugh Out Loud funny. Here it is.
The Market for Blogging and Blog Tools ...
by
jonh
on February 20, 2005 12:17AM (PST)
Wednesday, February 16
Mitch Ratcliffe Challenges Bubbler ...
by
jonh
on February 16, 2005 08:54AM (PST)
Mitch notices and weighs in on the early days of a new and exciting collaborative tool. I've added the bold emphasis ... Cool, but wrong business model Five Across >> We're turning the web into a conversation.: The new Bubbler "live" blogging tool with its drag-and-drop features is really cool, but I have absolutely no interest in paying for a hosted Web site to use it.... Change the deal so that I can post to my own sites, guys, and you'd have a customer.
Monday, February 14
Fotolog, World's Largest Photo Blogging Community, Welcomes One Millionth Fotologger
by
fred
on February 14, 2005 11:47PM (PST)
Thursday, February 10, 2005. If a picture is worth a thousand words, one million Fotologgers is cause for celebration. Marking a major milestone, Fotolog, the world's largest photo blogging community, today welcomed its one millionth Fotologger. A bona fide global cultural phenomenon, Fotolog is one of the fastest-growing sites on the web. Founded in 2002 as a small photo-sharing project for a few dozen friends, Fotolog is a thriving online community where people from around the world interact and connect through a massive network of personal photo journals, or photo blogs. Hailing from more than 200 countries, members post more than 180,000 photos to Fotolog each day -- attracting the site more than 750 million page views a month. Why has Photoblogging become so popular? Read here.
Sunday, February 13
Five Across releases Bubbler: a new way to blog.
by
Tris Hussey
on February 13, 2005 09:58PM (PST)
Bubbler is kind of like IM meets blogging to me. I think of it as an evolution of InterComm, Five Across' first product. Now I haven't even downloaded or been given a complete tour of Bubbler, so I'm not qualified to comment fully on it. But, we can always count on Michael Sampson to get the scoop and give a great insightful and honest review-- Shared Spaces Research & Consulting- Five Across Bubbler, Feb 14.  If you're not reading Michael's reviews of software, you should. He always gives the pros, cons, and do-able recommendations. I won't steal Michael's thunder by reposting his whole article here. Here's the gist that I got from it. Michael thinks it's a great tool overall, but has some spots to work on like page naming, pricing plans, stats, and web access. The rich-media capabilities are a plus for sure. You have to wonder, though, is it a best tool/blog combination that we need or just a better blogging tool that can to similar things? Once I get a more complete demo of Bubbler for myself I think I'll be better able to judge.  Renee Blodgett, who is working with Five Across on PR, also announced the product on her blog as well-- Bubbler's Blog Tool: Lightning Speed. Renee is pretty busy these days as she is also working on the launch of the new blogging service from iUpload called Perspectives-- iUpload's Perspectives: Reach Multiple Communities Instantly. I've set up an iUpload blog here. The iUpload Perspectives is supposed to, it sounds like, allow me to either syndicate my content or aggregate it. Not really sure. The question, again, is whether we're looking for great blog servers, or just better ways to post. Personally, I think it's a better way to post. But then again, I'm biased. ;-).
Jeff Jarvis' Report on His CNN Appearance
by
jonh
on February 13, 2005 11:34AM (PST)
The whole post is here ... An extract - his conclusion and update Finally, big media won't get away with portraying the citizens at the gates as serfs and mobs for long or they will storm the place. But the better way to look at it is this: Big media should welcome the voice of the people for now we can work together; now we can find out what the people want to know and help them know it; now we have more eyes and ears where news happens. Now every witness can be a reporter and every citizen a pundit and that is good for news and the democracy. : UPDATE: Here's Glenn Reynolds' reaction to the show. : I was impressed that both David Gergen and Bill Press gave props to blogs as a very important new force in news and politics. : Trey Jackson has video .
Saturday, February 12
Update on Qumana errors and the recent security update: a work-around
by
Tris Hussey
on February 12, 2005 04:34PM (PST)
We've received more information on this problem and boy we're not alone. One developer on the support forum has a 250,000 person userbase. Man is he screaming for an answer! The problem is that it also seems that the developer needs help and assistance from Microsoft to figure this all out (read "this is gonna take awhile"). In the meantime there is a work-around see below: You need to uninstall "Windows XP Hotfix - KB891781".
This software update can be removed via "Add or Remove Programs" in Control Panel. I have done this and have not, knock on wood, had any problems yet. I did receive an dialog that said a couple other hotfixes and one application might be affected by uninstalling. I will post here if I have any issues that need to be passed on. We recognize that uninstalling a security patch isn't the greatest solution, but it is, unfortunately, the only option we have right now.
UPDATE Feb 14: This update/hotfix seems to like to "install itself" without you realizing it. I've already had to uninstall it again today. If Qumana stops working again, go and check to see if KB891781 has snuck back into your system.
Believe me, this is driving us just as nuts as it is you.
If you have any questions please e-mail me at tris AT qumana.com.
Some more good ideas on increasing your blog traffic...
by
Tris Hussey
on February 12, 2005 10:38AM (PST)
From—Dana's Blog - Internet Marketing and Sales Technology Ideas From the Trenches—this is a good follow up to my earlier post here on this topic. Dana gives some more suggestions after this intro…
Driving Traffic To Your Weblog
I responsed to a query on
the AMA's B2B Marketing SIG on how to drive traffic to your blog and
thought that I'd post here as well...maybe an idea or two that you can
use, and a few good articles on blog promtion in the links... Dana’s suggestions with my comments in bold. 1.
By default, your weblog should be pining technorati.com, blog.gs, and
weblogs.com. If not, you may wish to engage the service at www.pingomatic.com to get your blog to ping other aggregator sites that can help you out. Yeah. Most hosted systems will do this. If you rolled your own, you might was to double check your settings. FeedBurner
says they can connect with Ping-o-matic too. And on that note, I
recommend trying FeedBurner. There’s good insight to be had there. 2.
Setup a technorati feed for keywords that are prevelant in you field or
industry - get on those bloggers blogs via comments & trackbacks
from your blogs. Blogging is all about the relationship and the
community. You need to participate to get maximum results. This is a really good suggestion…I’d suggest using PubSub and Feedster though as the primary sources of information. IMHO 3.
Use your keywords in your post titles, which ultimately show up in the
URL - this will help with your search engine rankings & drive
targeted traffic. And…make sure that the title of your blog matches what you actually what to be found under. As I recently found out. 4.
Have a look at IT Toolbox - you might try to work with them, get in
touch with their bloggers, or guest blog for them for additional
traffic. Don’t know these folks, but guess who I’m Googling for soon… 5. Write stuff that people will actually read Well
there’s a balance here isn’t there? Write what, and how,
people want to read, but also be yourself. If you have to have
your shout, and it isn’t your most popular article, so what?
You’ll probably feel better. 6. Get off the blog to
get people to your blog. When we were trying to generate interest in
the AMA's HotTopic blog event, we did direct mail, email and, of
course, blogged about it...but when you're driving traffic to a new
blog, it pays to step off the blog to do it. For
many events and companies and blogs this is good advice. The
blogosphere is still a pretty small community, compared to even the
rest of the Internet-using public. 7. Check out this
article on ways to generate newsletter signups - many of the same
principles apply to blog traffic and RSS subscriptions http://www.danavan.net/29ways Hmm, another weekend read… 8. Read Dave Pollard - http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2004/03/23.html#a674 Always read Dave! 9 Read Blogger's own promo tactics written by Biz Stone - they are a goldmine of ideas. - http://www.blogger.com/knowledge/2004/09/promoting-your-blog.pyra Boy, my reading and research list is getting long! 10.
Link like crazy to other bloggers and other sites in your sphere of
interest and influence. Bloggers watch their trackbacks and their
inbound links - some of my best connections with people have come
because my blog showed up in their referrer links over and over. Yes, this is completely true. Bloggers and the Blogosphere is a very social network. Spread the linky love (as Chris Pirillo
likes to call it). But be cool about it. Don’t spam people
with lots of comments that don’t add to the discussion. Think
before you submit. One final thing to remember we’re all
learning this together, so share the what works, what doesn’t
work. It will help us all.
Friday, February 11
Blogs and ads: Jon sure knows how to get a conversation going!
by
Tris Hussey
on February 11, 2005 10:41PM (PST)
I’ve known Jon Husband for less than a year now. I don’t always grok what he’s says—the man has a lot of grey matter under his grey hair. But he and I have been talking about blogs and ads and contextual ads specifically a lot. So Jon has writes a great piece for our Qumana blog on, essentially, that blogs are going to be fertile ground for ads, and well targeted, meaningful ads. Doc Searls, I think, missed Jon’s point a tad. Jon wasn’t say that it’s inevitable that all blogs will have ads, what is inevitable is that blogs that want to have ads, will start getting better ones. In the Jimmy Breslin school, as Doc puts it, Google AdSense is just not working for me. I’m not going to disclose how much (or little) I’m getting. My biggest problem is that because Google sets the ads from the titles tags it seems, I can’t get anything other than ads for blogs (and related) on my site. This just isn’t effective. I’m seeing the same boring ads over and over again. Nothing new, nothing interesting. Mitch Ratcliffe, who has also been talking with Jon, gets what Jon is saying. I certainly hope that a) my blog will start getting more and more traffic so advertisers will come to me and b) it really starts helping to pay the bills in a significant way. I think that the way to achieve a and b is through better ads and context. Traffic begets traffic, so I think good ads could also me that I could advertise on blogs related to mine and get more traffic. Maybe at a reasonable price too. We’ll just have to see. http://blog.qumana.com/blog/_archives/2005/2/10/314884.html http://doc.weblogs.com/2005/02/11#theExperienceOfNoAdvertising http://www.ratcliffeblog.com/archives/2005/02/qumana_blog_the.html http://www.ratcliffeblog.com/archives/2005/02/doc_on_jon_husb.html
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I had a sneak peak of Bubbler in Seattle, but was sworn to secrecy. Now it's out and I can blab all I want--
