Micro Persuasion

Comscore Blog Data

Fred Wilson's got a bunch of interesting charts and graphs on the top blog hosting services from Comscore Media Metrix. (Via techcrunch.)

links for 2005-07-31

• The Future of RSS is Not in Blogs
  "The biggest opportunities for RSS are not in the blogosphere but as a corporate communication channel. " - Yessir.
  (tags: RSS PR Blogs)
• After Hours Comics: 7 Days to Fame Announced
  A comic book by Buddy Scalera about people who will do anything for fame - even commit suicide on TV.
  (tags: Fun Friends TV)
• Internet's Best Friend (Let Me Count the Ways) - New York Times
  "Serious bloggers, the kind who float to the top of Google regularly, just don't have time or space for dogs." Hmmm, I do!
  (tags: Pets Web CGM Blogs)
• Bloggers For Hire
  Know you know where to go to hire bloggers - a talent agency.
  (tags: Blogs)
• Amazon Listmania!: My Favorite Podcasting Resources
  Lots of books about podcasting are coming out soon.
  (tags: Books Podcasting)
• InformationWeek Review: FeedBurner Analyzes RSS Traffic
  A review of FeedBurner.
  (tags: FeedBurner RSS)

CooperKatz is Hiring

We're looking for a cracker-jack Account Supervisor.

Talk Digger Blog Metasearch Tool Debuts

Check out this new a cool service. It's called Talk Digger. It can search for blog back-links across Bloglines, PubSub, BlogDigger, Feedster, BlogPulse, Technorati and even MSN Search and Google, all at once. Bloggers are their target market. Now that's smart. For more, see Fred Giasson's blog.

links for 2005-07-30

• Paper Mac's Origami "Make your own Mac" @ The Apple Collection
  For those of you with time to spare - you know who you are!
  (tags: Apple Fun)
• FOX Broadcasting Company: FOXCAST
  Fox is podcasting.
  (tags: Media Podcasting TV)
• The Daily SearchCast
  Search Engine Watch is podcasting daily.
  (tags: Search Podcasting)
• Pamela Parker: Marketing in a 'Long Tail' World
  "The new environment raises a lot of issues that must be pondered, explored, and experimented with."
  (tags: LongTail Marketing Bloglines RSS Advertising)
• Naked Conversations: Ch. 13 Blogging in a Crisis
  "Kryptonite, Microsoft, Intel and NASA all prove a single point: in a crises speed is of the essence and blogs are the best way to get the word out. "
  (tags: PR CrisisComms Blogs)
• Blogger punished by Arizona National Guard
  An Arizona National Guardsmen who had been openly critical of the war in Iraq on his Web log, has been punished for violating operational security and for 11 counts of disobeying orders
  (tags: Blogs)

SearchFox

Today's new media equation...

Google + del.icio.us + MyWeb 2.0 + Firefox = SearchFox, a new search engine/tagging tool

Take a look at the site. It was developed by a team that includes some heavy hitters from the tech industry. It's got RSS integration as well.

New York Blogger Signed to NBC Sitcom

Wikinews reports that New York blogger Stephanie Klein has signed a deal with NBC Universal to develop her blog and forthcoming book from Harper-Collins into a sitcom.

Apple Isn't Long Tail Friendly to Podcasters

As I browse through the podcasts on the iTunes Music Store I notice something really important is missing - The Long Tail. While each album listing points me to others people have purchased, the same metadata is missing when it comes to podcasts. We should be able to see a link that says "people who subscribe to this podcast also subscribe to..." Take a look at the images below and note the differences.

links for 2005-07-29

• CNET: Getting real about wikimania
  Interview with Joe Kraus from Jot.
  (tags: JotSpot Wikis)
• The Anatomy of a Search Engine
  Great research paper out of Stanford.
  (tags: Google Reference Search)
• The Raw Feed: Brace Yourself For 'Blog Depression'
  Mike Elgan says bloggers are buzzing about a new state of mind labeled blog depression?
  (tags: Blogs)
• The Year of Coffee Blog
  This guy is blogging every cup of coffee he is having this year.
  (tags: Blogs Fun)
• Microsoft Monitor: MSN: Social Networking Edition
  Yusuf Mendi claimed that MSN Spaces is the top blogging site on the Web, accounting for 10 percent of all RSS traffic.
  (tags: Blogs RSS MSN Search Microsoft SocialNetworking)

Google Files for RSS Ad Patent

Techdirt reports that Google has filed for a patent on embedding ads in RSS content feeds.

Scoble Speaks for Microsoft on a Media Issue

Robert Scoble, Microsoft's most well-known corporate blogger, is lashing out against The Register over an erroneous report that the new beta of Internet Explorer 7 (which is now available by the way) doesn't work with the Google and Yahoo tooolbars. Scoble writes...

"It's interesting that many bloggers (both pro and amateur) have been giving me crud the past week or two for 'being fast to publish' and 'not calling sources to check on my reporting' but that the Register, a professional journalism outlet (they get paid for journalism, I do not) apparently didn't call our development teams to check into this report and get their side of the story. I wonder if Andrew Orlowski will link to my blog and correct his story because his report is HUGELY damaging here."

What's interesting here is that Scoble is the only one who's speaking for Microsoft on a media issue in order to prompt a retraction. This is a fascinating look at how one of the world's largest companies handles communications.

Technorati Goes Mobile

Blog search engine Technorati has launched a special version for handhelds and mobile phones. If you've got a web-enabled mobile device, just visit m.technorati.com. You can also try it on your PC here.

Pogue Lip-syncs to Podcasts

Leave it to New York Times technology columnist David Pogue to demystify podcasting. Check out this hilarious video where he lip-syncs to consumer podcasts and in the process shows us all how easy it is to subscribe.

Blog Search Will Soon Be Extinct

You may have noticed there's a big space race going on to build the best blog search engine. One day IceRocket (which now features blogs as its default) is one-upping Technorati. The next day BlogPulse is throwing grenades at PubSub and so on and so forth. Everyone's trying to pick a winner, just as Yahoo!'s getting ready to crash the party. Well, here's my prediction - blog search as we know it today will be extinct in a few years...if not sooner.

For now, everyone in the Web search world is focused on relevancy, thanks to Google. But blogs and RSS are changing how we seek out content. Now people want to search for not only what's relevant, but also what's recent and popular (e.g. linked to). This is going to change how the Web search engines operate, particularly as more consumers begin to read blogs and subscribe to feeds.

For Google, Yahoo and MSN to continue to innovate, they will not only need to work on personalized search - the current holy grail - but also acquire or replicate specialized search engines like the ones above. What I want is to be able to do is sort all my Web results by date as well as relevance and link popularity - or in some combination of the three. Right now I can't. Doing so, as Chris Were describes, is no easy task. But increasingly, it will become what many searchers will crave.

So who's going to succeed first in merging relevance, recency and popularity into a killer Web search tool? I am not sure. Perhaps this is why Google has been slow to get into the blog search game. They're waiting until they can change it.

Google Ranking Factors

Ever wonder why some pages rank high on Google and others don't? Here's a running list of 100 Google ranking factors. Looking down the list and coupling this with my own experiences, it's clear that what counts most as far as blogs go is how one titles posts. It also helps if people link to your post on the same word.

Do Your Worst

Here's a fun new meme on Flickr called "Do Your Worst." The concept is simple. People show off their worst mugs. (Photo by Michael Brown)

All Blogging is Local

If you think only national politicians are scrutinized by bloggers, think again. A Cincinnati television station is reporting that a political firestorm is brewing over questions about one Ohio politician's service in the military.

links for 2005-07-28

• Wired 13.08: We Are the Web
  "At its heart was a new cultural force based on mass collaboration. Blogs, Wikipedia, open source, peer-to-peer - behold the power of the people."
  (tags: Collaboration Web Web2.0 Wikipedia Blogs)
• BW: Tracking the Blogs
  CEO Technorati David Sifry talks about the prospect of big-name competition and the challenge of the blogosphere's hand-over-fist expansion
  (tags: Technorati Search Blogs)
• In One Stroke, Podcasting Hits Mainstream - New York Times
  "Overnight, iTunes 4.9 has already become the most popular podcast-management software on earth."
  (tags: Podcasting)

AOL Debuts RSS Newsreader, Eyes Feed Search

AOL (remember them?) has launched a slick Web-based RSS newsreader called My AOL that promises "will soon provide the most comprehensive RSS feed search on the Internet so that you can discover new content sources on a wide range of news and opinion topics." It's very similar to Google's and MSN's Ajax-based readers. (Hat tip: PaidContent.org)

Put a $37,000 Ad on Your Noggin'

You might recall few months back SnoreStop paid one individual $37k to wear their brand on his forehead. Now they're back with a new citizen marketing campaign, according to Adrants. The company is looking to pay several headvertisers the same amount, but this time they need to show they have a head for talent too. Adrants points to (dare I say) "headhunter" sites where you can apply.