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Frank Catalano, a columnist, writes that weblogs will not cause the death of traditional journalism as a whole, though many individual media companies may suffer from the cumulative effects of new technology just as many old-time stage, film and local newspaper firms did.
When are RSS feeds going to get easier to publish? Listgarden is a start, but Microsoft Word needs a "Save As RSS" menu option. I have a feeling I might be waiting awhile. In the meantime, we'll have to put up with kludgy workarounds like this. Anyone have a better idea?
Phil Windley has put together a 12-step program for starting a weblog. Twelve steps is appropriate since blogging is addicting for many.
Brian Schwartz, a Senior PR Counselor at tech reseller giant CDW, has launched a killer new personal blog called Reporters' Gold. The site aggregates information technology industry data points and insights from different sources for reporters. You can read more in his initial post.
Brian takes a POV that we all should emulate - that reporters are our customers. He already has assembled an essential array of resources. More importantly, Brian plans to use the blog to listen to the press. This is consistent with a marketing philosophy called "Customer Plus-Delta," which is outlined in the outstanding book Creating Customer Evangelists. "Customer Plus-Delta" is all about listening to customers in real-time. Blogs facilitate this through comments, emails and and trackbacks. Brian is wisely using his blog to engage in such a dialogue with the press. Be sure to add his RSS feed to your feed reader.
Microsoft's army of employee bloggers are all over the company's decision last week to scale back on some of the planned features in the next version of the Windows operating system, code-named Longhorn. Scoble's got a round-up of blog reaction and Channel 9 scored a video interview with Microsoft exec Jim Alchin.
New York Newsday has a nice Movable Type newsblog set up for the RNC.
At the Space Needle in Seattle today I received a five dollar bill with this Web site scrawled on it - www.wheresgeorge.com. The community site has an ambitious goal - to track where that paper money in your pocket has been and where it will go next. Neat idea.
The Seattle Times has started a participatory journalism blog where a dozen voters under-35 from across the region and across the political spectrum will share their election-season experiences. More details here.
Joi Ito says that Wikipedia, a community-built encyclopedia where anyone can edit any of the 300,000+ articles in it, was recently attacked by a journalist from the Syracuse Post-Standard in an email exchange with Techdirt. I think we're going to see a small faction of folks question the validity of this open-source resource, even as it is increasingly relied on as a credible source by journalists and other thought leaders.
(Updated to reflect Mike Masnick's comments. Thanks Mike!)
Apple is expected to unveil its next iMac as soon as next week and Mac fan sites are buzzing with speculation over the design, CNET reports. Meanwhile it looks like at least one such site may have posted photos that spoil Apple's party.
(Post updated to reflect these are fan sites, not blogs. Thanks commenter.)
UPDATE - Engadget says this was all a hoax.
Google Blogoscoped has a list of them.
Once largely an underground phenomenon, blogging has gone mainstream, attracting marketers particularly eager to get in front of hip 18- to 34-year-olds and savvy influencers, reports Tobi Elkin. The story includes quotes from my blogosphere hommies Nick Denton, Rick Bruner and Bill Flitter.
New York Magazine dissects how James Taranto, a former PR pro, helped the Wall Street Journal build a blog franchise with its Best of the Web Today blog.
The Daily News reports that the movie "Garden State" is taking on cult-like status among young adults in part because of the role Zach Braff's blog played in marketing the film. The News reports that fans are pouring their hearts out to the film's 29-year-old creator on his blog, driving hours to see the film, and going back again and again to glean new meaning with like-minded peers they meet online.
Key quote...
The gimmick is smart PR, allowing Braff to continue the conversation he started in the movie and drawing fans back for another look.
Remember how the Blair Witch Project took off like wildfire a few years back? It was a seminal event for online viral marketing. Well, blogs are making this easier and engaging for both the directors and the audiences. Way to go Zach. Show the big boys how it's done.
iMedia Connection profiles the bloggers who are covering the Republican National Convention next week. PubSub also launched a cool add-on for IE that lets you monitor what blogs are saying about the convention in real-time.
PRWeek.com's Keith O'Brien forwards the results of their recent online poll on blog comments. The Web site asked: How should a company handle negative comments on its weblog community?
The results ...
For transparency's sake, allow all comments (30.56%)
Keep all bad comments that pertain to the debate (16.67%)
Have someone review comments before showing (13.89%)
Require e-mail address to validate identity (33.33%)
Don't allow comments. It's your platform (5.56%)
Honestly, I don't understand why requiring an email address matters. A lot of people enter phony addresses anyway. Still, if this poll is valid, it's great to see that most folks are willing to use their corporate blogs to engage in dialogue.
Tom Murphy: "Blogs are simply a tool. That's it folks. A tool. "
Is it really that simple? RSS is now R$$, according to Wired News. The space is attracting lots of venture capital interest.
Wayne Hurlbert notes that fellow PR blogger Trudy Schuett may turn pro! She's chronicling her adventure over on About.com.
Light blogging ahead as I travel to Seattle tomorrow. I am going to have dinner with the one, the only Robert Scoble! I also plan to check out the brand new, completely wifi-enabled Seattle Public Library when I am there. Just check out these pics Dylan Greene shot! I am glad to be getting outta here. From what my former colleague Mike Elgan writes, the Internet may crash tomorrow! Stay well bloggers.
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