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I had missed this one. Jeff Jarvis and Craig's List founder Craig Newmark are reportedly working on a new venture to aggregate quality investigative reports from citizens and professional journalists. Readers will be able to rate and promote certain stories. Newmark told InformationWeek that revenues might be generated through micro-payments, either through a pay-per-view system or through subscriptions.
Technorati Tags: Craig Newmark, jeff Jarvis
Yahoo News is gearing up to implement trackbacks. When I blogged this last story using ecto, it automatically discovered this trackback URL. More details can be found on the Yahoo News Sandbox blog. In addition, they are also rolling out new personalization and keyword highlighting features. You can demo all the new goodies on this Yahoo News! Sandbox site.
Technorati Tags: ecto, Trackbacks, Yahoo
IDG News reports that Microsoft has revamped its blogging policy after many employees expressed outrage over the company's abrupt censoring of a Chinese blogger. Under the new policy, Microsoft will only remove blogs when given proper legal notice, and will only block access to that material within the country where it is deemed unlawful using special technology.
Over on the Google Adsense blog they are providing invaluable tips on how to optimize your Adsense ads to make more money. They are:
1. Choose the right ad formats
2. Place ads where your readers will notice
3. Improve targeting
4. Customize your ad colors
Technorati Tags: Adsense, Advertising, Google
Cymfony has launched a Knowledge Center that contains all kinds of rich information to help marketers learn about blogs, consumer generated media, PR measurement and Web 2.0. Each section includes a briefing book, best practices and more. Kudos to Cymfony for driving this. Jim Nail provides more background.
Technorati Tags: CGM, Consumer Generated Media, Cymfony
An update to my earlier post on the ESPN ads on iTunes. A reader points out that the “This is SportsCenter” ads that were sold on iTunes are now completely free (iTunes link). ESPN has waived the $1.99 fee it had been previously charging. However, they also appear to have wiped out all of the initial negative reviews over the fees!
Technorati Tags: Advercasting, Advertising, ESPN, iPod, iTunes
Wikipedia has blocked certain US Congressional IP addresses over allegations that certain staffers repeatedly ignored community policy and edited out certain passages of articles they object to. The IP addresses are blocked for a week until the community can weigh both sides.
Technorati Tags: Wikipedia
According to Nathan Weinberg, Dateline NBC is courting certain tech bloggers to link to a special live blog they are hosting in conjunction with their series on sexual predators. Nathan smells trouble because Dateline is already advertising this same episode on his blog via a BlogAds campaign.
Nathan writes....
“I don’t fault NBC for doing this. I think every advertiser on my blog should send me a pitch when (or better, before) they buy an ad, with no expectation of payback. I hope that if someone were to write about that pitch, they be transparent and point out the ad in their sidebar. I think NBC should have went the Marquis route, financing the discussion, so it was clear that the content is sponsored.”
(For blog newbies, the Marqui program Nathan mentions refers to a campaign about 18 months ago where a telecommunications company paid bloggers it sponsored with ads to reference them.)
Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is here. So Dateline pitched Nathan on blogging about a subject and they also just happen to advertise on his site. How is this any different than if Wiley pitched a Naked Conversations review to Fortune - a magazine which they are advertising in? It's silly to always assume that marketers need to uphold to a higher standard of transparency when dealing with bloggers. Sometimes they do, but not in this case.
Kudos to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD). They not only listen to the blogosphere and engage when appropriate, their PR team blogs too. Consider this story.
A blogger who goes by the name of SteveAudio posted a fairly politically charged rant about his dissatisfaction with the LAFD's slow response when his house was ablaze. Putting the politics aside, it certainly would have been easy for the LAFD to lay low. However, instead the Public Service Officer/LAFD spokesperson chose to respond with this comment.
“Steve:
Please accept our apologies for any perceived delay in our arrival to your incident the other morning. As you know, there were hundreds of responses for your Fire Department that night, and often the closest unit was committed to another emergency, causing Firefighters to be dynamically deployed from Neighborhoods across the City.
While we can't enter the arena of political discourse, please rest assured that the men and women of the Los Angeles Fire Department will do everything in their power to remain worthy of your respect and praise.
Brian Humphrey
Firefighter/Specialist
Public Service Officer
Los Angeles Fire Department”
That certainly got Steve's attention. And while it can't bring back his house, it certainly helps him to know someone is listening. Now imagine that every local government agency followed the LAFD's lead. Don't you think the world would be a better place to live? (Special thanks to Matt Lockshin for sending this in)
Technorati Tags: Government, LAFD
The San Francisco Chronicle has a big piece on Web 2.0 that gets to a fundamental question. Is Web 2.0 just some marketing hype or is a real revolution going on here? The article describes a Web 2.0 site as one that carries consumer-generated and/or tagged content. It also talks up sites that are powered by Ajax and it features quotes from all the regulars you read about on TechCrunch.
This Chron piece misses a bigger point. Web 2.0 isn't marketing hype. It's not about the social Web applications - e.g. blogs and RSS - or even about Ajax. Web 2.0 is about a true renaissance in our excitement for the Web as a platform for innovation. Web 2.0 is about our enthusiasm that we survived the dot-com boom wiser for it and ready to take technology to new heights after a brief lull. So let's focus on the corral, not the signpost. Shall we?
Technorati Tags: AJAX
It's only been a day since ESPN started selling their cute “This is Sports Center” Ads on iTunes, but already they are getting a big thumbs down from consumers. So far 23 reviewers have weighed in and the collection has amassed a piddly one-star rating out of a possible five.
Honestly, I don't blame them. Are they fun? Yes, when you watch them on TV. But they are certainly not worth $1.99 each. Worst of all, most of these ads are 30 seconds in length. This means you can more or less watch the entire ad by simply previewing it for free in the store! Save your money! The only value in buying the ad is that you gain ability to take them with you.
Advertisers better think twice before selling TV ads on iTunes. Instead, go outside the box. Create innovative free video podcasts that take us behind the scenes of an ad campaign or, even better, release branded entertainment shorts.
Technorati Tags: Ads, Advercasting, Advertising, ESPN, iTunes, Television, TV
Technorati Tags: News 2.0
In chapter eight John Battelle's incredible book, The Search, he astutely predicted that Google would increasingly fall under the watchful eye of the US government. As we saw earlier this month, John was right. The US government requested aggregate search data not only from Google, but from all of the major search engines. Only Google didn't comply.
Years from now we will remark that this was the beginning of the end of Google as we know it. The reason is one day - maybe sooner than we think - the government will try to break up Google. This may accelerate depending on the outcome of the 2008 election.
Whether DOJ would succeed here is entirely an open question. However, if this does indeed happen, it will certainly slow down the search giant and the Web economy overall, much as DOJ did for Microsoft and the PC economy.
Over the past two years we've all watched as Google's image has transitioned from a once post-dot-com era darling into a Big Brother that many industries - from retailing to media to advertisers and more - fear. This trepidation isn't rooted really in Google's web search prowess, but more in its increasingly far-reaching tentacles. This fear only rises as Google moves into new industries beyond its core. Notably these include online and offline advertising, book and video distribution, commerce, and possibly music too if the rumors are correct.
As Google launches new services and begins to disrupt other industries (almost always with the consumer in mind), it will succeed wildly in some arenas and fail in others. However, where it succeeds Google will become the most powerful intermediary on the planet. Every business - including airlines, advertisers, media companies, retailers and more - will rise or fall depending on how they are positioned on Google's services. As this power (which to some degree already is present) gets larger, Google will be tempted to give its paying customers all kinds of breaks. The question is will they be able to resist this urge as competitors pour on the heat.
Let's look at a conceivable example of how a bigger Google might lead to unfair competition. Let's say you're a book publisher. Google's growing sales force convinces you to purchase Adwords that lead searchers to your book samples on Google Books. Carefully placed links on Google Books take browsers to Froogle where consumers can buy the book. This doesn't sound unfair so far. However, imagine Google sweetens the deal and gives you special incentives if you pull out of MSN Shopping. What might this include? Perhaps they will offer radio airtime or print ad space. Or, maybe they will happily feature your latest CNN PR hit right on the Google Video home page.
Think this won't happen? Think again. With power comes corruption. Revisit DOJ vs. Microsoft. In this landmark case Microsoft was accused of cutting off partners who did business with competitors. This was back in the day when Windows was our core entryway to the Web. Now that Google is becoming the Web dial tone, it may tie all of its ever-expanding tentacles together in ways that cut off competitors. And if that happens then you can bet the Feds will step in.
Unfortunately, my fear is that this will happen one day. Why? Perhaps Google will need to substantiate its burgeoning market cap with fresh earnings and it will cut corners. Or maybe less scrupulous employees will join the company as it grows. Or maybe Google's ego will go to its head. Who knows? However, what we all saw these last few weeks is that the Feds are watching this space. One slip-up will land Google in a courtroom not unlike Judge Penfield Jackson's. And if or when this happens, then it could have a chilling effect on all of the industries that thrive on the search economy - including PR and marketing.
The New York Times has launched a bunch more free podcasts, including Olympics, restaurant and theater updates, and a podcast tracking the most emailed articles.
Technorati Tags: new york times, nyt, nytimes
Peter Shankman, a PR pro, has started a company that matches like-minded passengers who are traveling to the same destination by air. Sounds like an awesome idea to me.
Technorati Tags: Social Networking, Travel
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