Micro Persuasion

MSN Lost and Found

The MSN Search team listened to the blogosphere's generally negative reaction to their latest viral marketing program and they are using their blog to explain themselves. Now that's good blog PR.

Bloggers and Reporters Partying Together

Today during Search Engine Strategies I talked about how many bloggers are becoming "reporter's assistants." Well, here's a golden example. Today Wall Street Journal reporter Jim Carlton (an Apple watcher) turned to iPodLounge to find users for an upcoming story. Jim told iPodLounge...

"I am finishing up a story on how folks are using more computer gadgets these days while on vacation. I'd like to include iPod users in this story, and in particular am looking for someone who has used an iPod while on vacation for something unusual - like listening to a book on tape, or learning to speak French, rather than for just listening to music. If anyone has a story to share, please email me at: [link deleted]. My deadline is the next couple of days, and I'd ask that you include name/age/occupation/hometown, and details such as when and where you took the vacation. I'd be sure to email you copy of story once it is published. Thanks again."

The request was so successful that iPodLounge updated their post, saying...

Update: Jim received so many responses in the first five minutes of the news story's posting that he's overwhelmed. Thanks to all who responded!

Reporters are turning to the blogosphere to find subject-matter experts. If you're selling yourself as an expert to the press, you need a blog.

Remaindered Links

Here's a collection of the RSS/podcasting news o'the day...

• Kanoodle launched a self-service RSS advertising program
• BusinessWire launched 18 RSS feeds for the media
  
• The San Francisco Chronicle ran two stories on podcasting
• KRCW, a Santa Monica public radio station, is launching an extensive podcasting line-up that features locally produced talk, news, cultural programs and commentaries
  
• VNU added Clickability RSS feeds for its most emailed/viewed stories across all of its trades - AdWeek, MediaWeek, etc.
  

Google's Slippery Slope

Dave Winer on Google Autolink: This is not a technical issue, it's about speech, integrity, and commerce.

Search Engine Strategies Round-up

I spoke at the Search Engine Strategies conference today on a panel called "Blogs, Boards, and Posts: Capturing Consumer Buzz Online." I was joined by Gary Stein from JupiterResearch, Jonathan Carson of BuzzMetrics, Mark Fletcher from BlogLines/Ask Jeeves and Mike Nazzaro from Intelliseek. I also got to meet, among others, Nathan Weinberg who blogged the session and posted yet another hideous picture of me! A great session in all.

Blogger FUD

Jon Friedman at MarketWatch says bloggers frighten him...

Now that bloggers have gained a measure of credibility, what are they going to do with their newfound acceptance?

The danger is that bloggers are going to embrace the worst aspects of tabloids. That means, as the saying goes, they'll throw their content against a wall, and if it sticks, they'll publish it, no matter how wild or trivial it might be.  

As important as a freewheeling world of opinion is, an irresponsible writer can endanger reputations within society at large and within journalism as a profession.

Despite tone of the headline, Jon says he is also keeping an open mind.

Podcasting's Challenges

The Boston Globe takes a look at podcasting's challenges as a new emerging medium.

Rip, Mix, Burn, Autolink

Remember Apple’s ad campaign during the heyday of Napster? It was “Rip, Mix, Burn.” (video) The message was clear – clip and mix your music your way. After all, it is your music. You bought it. Unfortunately, Apple ran into a bit of hot water over the campaign because the music industry (e.g. the content creators) felt it encouraged CD ripping and file sharing.

Today a similar controversy is bubbling, sparked by the Google Toolbar's new Autolink feature. It inserts links into online content that were not put there by the publisher. Now Time magazine is reporting that Marissa Mayer at Google says that the company will unlikely back down unless users demand it. Marissa, what are the bloggers, chop liver?

The question at heart is what right does a user have to change the content of a non-editable Web page they didn't create? Cory Doctorow says..

“It's my screen, and I should be able to control it; companies like Google and individuals should be able to provide tools and services to let me control it.”

This made Robert Scoble so mad, he nearly crushed his Channel 9 Guy with his bare hands. Scoble wrote...

“This is such a slippery slope. Do you really want to go down this slope? If you allow Google to do this, you are opening a pandora's box that you'll never close.”

I agree with Scoble. This is a pivotal discussion that bloggers, journalists, PR professionals and marketers need to jump into. Do you really want Google, Microsoft, George W. Bush, God or anyone adding links to your content? You know my position here. If I were you, I wouldn't want this – unless the site is intentionally part of the read/write web, such as a wiki or a blog that is open to comments. Your content is your content. If you care about the Web, I urge you to sign this petition that I created and spread the word. We need to send a message to Google and others that messing with content is just plain wrong.

What Is Open Source Marketing?

James Cherkoff, a Director at London-based Collaborate Marketing, has written a ChangeThis maifesto on the subject.

PubSub Monitors Oscar Blog Buzz

PubSub (a CooperKatz client) has set up some great feeds for monitoring Academy Award blog buzz.

Feedview Makes RSS 'Purty'

Anyone who follows RSS closely has probably drooled over Apple's planned feed integration in Tiger, the next major version of Mac OS X. Today I discovered Feedview, a handy Firefox extension that not only shows newsfeeds/blogs in a more stylish way, but also basically apes this feature for us mere mortal Windows users.

Digg Marries Folksonomies and News

I just stumbled on a new site called Digg - a technology news website that gives editorial control back to "the community." According to their FAQ...

Most technology websites allow users to suggest content by submitting links or stories to an editor. If the editor believes the story to be relevant to the masses, he or she moves the story to the homepage. With digg, users also submit links for review. But rather than allowing an editor to decide which links go on the homepage, the users do.

USAToday.com Offers Classified Advertising Feeds

I am not sure if this is new or not, but it's sure news to me. USAToday.com has launched feeds that deliver classified advertisements via RSS. The feeds are powered by IndustryBrains. On the paper's RSS page they list feeds for Tech and Money section advertisers. Here's USAToday.com's feed for digital cameras.

The Seven Habits of Effective Blog PR

Nick Wreden has a fantastic post on the seven habits of highly effective PR professionals who work with bloggers:

Never pitch, personalize
Respect a blogger's time and intelligence
"A blog is not about you, it is about me"
Quality, not quantity
Feed the food chain
It's no longer just about the media
Keep learning

Barnako Bashes Business Blog Awards

MarketWatch's Frank Barnako bashes the Business Blogging Awards and also says I should have won. That's nice of Frank. But to be honest, I don't pay a lot of attention to these awards - there's just too darn many of them. I think all bloggers are important, even a blog with two readers. With tools like PubSub, Feedster and Technorati making it easy to find relevant content, a blogger's traffic and kudos are less important that what he/she has to say, at least in my book. That's what matters.

Let Our Web Pages Go

Search engine maven Danny Sullivan: Google should give publishers an opt-out for the Google Toolbar Autolink feature.

Oscar Producer Blogs the Academy Awards

Academy Awards producer Gil Cates is blogging the Oscars on the official ABC Web site.

Thinking Outside the Media Box

One of the more interesting developments in online news over the past year has been the rapid adoption of conversational media tools - e.g. blogs, RSS and podcasting - by the traditional mainstream media. While not everyone is on board yet (e.g. Forbes has no blogs and Newsday has no RSS feeds), I do feel that most of the big media does see the forest growing around them and are rapidly adapting.

However, a story that has not been written yet is how the big media will use social media to transcend the boundaries of who they are. For example, I would love to see more newspapers producing podcasts much like the Ventura County Star has done (registration required). In addition, on the flip side, I would love to see more radio personalities writing weblogs. Media companies would not only be wise to embrace these "bottom-up technologies" but to use them to redefine who they are. A newspaper need not only consist of the written word. Newspapers should be podcasting, TV and radio stations should be blogging and bloggers should be writing books. It's hard to be a one-trick-pony in this new media world.

CEO Defends His Stock via Blog

Jupitermedia CEO Alan Meckler continues to innovate. Last night he used his blog to defend his company against an organization called CFRA that offers a subscription service that focuses on "uncovering aggressive or unusual accounting practices that can serve as early earning signs of business deterioration." Alan writes...

CFRA attacked our company last November with a variety of questions and charges that we successfully refuted. These charges were the result of shoddy research by an analyst who clearly did not understand the concept of a subscription business nor understood the basics of depreciation and amortization.
 
~~ Snip ~~
 
Just as Jupitermedia proved CFRA wrong in November, we will let our full year results speak for themselves and prove CFRA once again.
 

An Ode to Odeo

John Markoff at The New York Times profiles Blogger alum Evan Williams' new podcasting start-up - Odeo. The company claims to make it easy for users to discover, create, and subscribe to podcasts. Just another sign that podcasting is here to stay.