Micro Persuasion

links for 2006-03-01

• iMedia Connection: Measuring Micro Media
  The challenges of measuring audience in a decentralized media universe.
  (tags: media research data stats measuremennt)
• Ad Age Small Agency Diary
  A blog from AdAge.
  (tags: Blogs advertising marketing)
• TechCrunch » Killer New Live.com Service: Street-Side
  Microsoft’s Live.com is launching a preview version of a new service called Street-Side today
  (tags: microsoft live local maps)
• Google News Mobile
  Google News goes mobile.
  (tags: Google News mobile wap wireless)
• Encyclopodia - the encyclopedia on your iPod
  Put Wikipedia on your iPod.
  (tags: iPod Wikipedia)
• infiniteNIL Software
  PackRat lets you use your Backpack data when you can't be on the 'net.
  (tags: GTD Productivity WishList Backpack)

50 Million Podcast Fans Can't Be Wrong

Internet researcher eMarketer forecasts that the total US audience for podcasts could reach 25 million by 2008, and perhaps 50 million by 2010. That's certainly meaty enough for advertisers who covet such numbers.

Fortune Posts Blogging Do's and Don'ts

Fortune.com: "Know your audience, update your blog regularly, and cover your... rear. And don't expect a blog to turn around a failing company."

PR Week Interviews Digg's Jay Adelson

Keith O'Brien at PR Week has an interview with digg's Jay Adelson. If you're not familiar with it, digg is a very popular site that allows users to determine which stories make front page news, making citizens the editors of their own news source.

Technorati Tags: digg

Talking Shop

Phil Gomes lifts the curtain on Edelman's new group blog, Talkshop. I will be contributing over there too. OK, this is the last Edelman post of the day - I promise!

One Pfat Factpack

AdAge has released its annual data factpack (PDF). It is organized in three sections - advertising, media and agencies. I'd love to see someone replicate this approach and create a factpack that focuses on social media.

Technorati Tags: media, stats, advertising

Tips for Corporate Blogging

Backbone Media has published a list of tips for corporate blogging. They are:

1. Understand the fundamentals of Blogger Relations
2. Create value
3. Grow and sustain your audience by providing real analysis
4. Report on community opinion
5. Respond with comments to build relationships and traffic (the former is more important IMHO)
6. Track your conversations
7. Don't be afraid of criticism
8. Conduct interviews to generate content and ideas
9. Promote your blog
10. Monitor the web for brand names and references

Coast to Coast with Eric Schwartzman

Eric Schwartzman separately interviewed my new teammate Phil Gomes and I and mashed it up into a big podcast. We cover how online communication is changing the PR business and integrating social media in our work at Edelman.

Technorati Tags: Edelman, Me2 Revolution, Steve Rubel

Nike Basketball Launches a Blog

One of my readers writes in that Nike has launched a basketball weblog! It's written by the team that designs the sneakers. Unfortunately, it is devoid of social features. There's no comments or trackbacks. Add these and I think Nike is there. I really like how they use photos.

Technorati Tags: blogs, Nike

Technorati Adds List of Most Favorited Blogs

Technorati has launched a new Top 100 list. They now not only rank blogs by incoming links, but also by the number of people who claimed the blog is a favorite. Guess who's number one? As of this writing, yours truly. Yikes! I would love to see this list merged with the Blog Finder and tags so that we can find faves in each vertical.

Technorati Tags: Technorati

The Edelman Odyssey Begins

Chicago, IL

I am finally back in my hotel room after a really long day - my first as an Edelman employee. I spent a lot of time today talking with a really smart group of passionate teammates who share a common bond for utilizing social media to reshape marketing. There should be a lot to talk about in the months ahead...or will there be?

One of the first challenges I will have to face is how to structure my blogging day in an environment that, at least at first blush, appears to be predictably vastly different that my last. I am concerned that I might struggle to find time to read hundreds of RSS feeds, blog, and respond in a timely manner to all the great email and comments from readers. This surely will become more complicated as my travel schedule picks up and I begin to get more into the flow. Other times, when I am in the office in New York, it might feel to you like nothing's changed.

Today I rose at 4 a.m. to blog and now, at midnight, I am probably staying up later than I should be doing the same. In between I flew to Chicago and spent nine hours with my new teammates and several more prepping for these meetings on the plane. Every free moment I had I spent (happily) caring for this blog.

Despite these bandwidth challenges, I am committed more than ever to blogging and trying to maintain the pace I have set over the past two years. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's what I love and it's why I am here. This blog is part of my job description. It's what feeds my insatiable craving to learn. Nevertheless, I can see that there will be some days where I won't be able to participate in certain conversations or approve comments/trackbacks as quickly as I would like. I'd love to hear from bloggers like Jeff Jarvis, Robert Scoble and Fred Wilson and others on their strategies here since we're in the same boat. We all travel a ton and work a lot, yet find the time to blog actively.

Still, I want you to know that I plan to press ahead and give it the best I have. I want to bring you all with me on my journey so that you can share the same excitement that I have for the new world of marketing communications. I will chronicle it here as I continue to share my insights and neat finds. Just don't be surprised if I become more nocturnal! More to come and thanks for your patience!

Technorati Tags: Edelman

It's Not About the Traffic!

Arrrgggh! Copyblogger is propagating the whole school of thought that blogging is just about getting more traffic. They have even published a how-to guide. Well, I am here to tell you, it's not.

Blogging is about a desire to be part of a community of like-minded individuals. Traffic is its byproduct. You can choose to be an active member or a passive one. It's your call. However, I guarantee if you regularly add value to the community, your traffic will grow. That's why earlier today I suggested using tags. But don't get into blogging just for the traffic and, going a step further, don't pay a lot of attention to your traffic data. I don't nearly as much as I used to. This was one of my key learnings over the past year.

See, anytime a blogger thinks blogging is just about getting more traffic then I really question why they're in it. I lose my trust in them because I think they're baiting me (which in this case, Copyblogger did). What's more, I certainly don't see any need to establish a closer bond by opting into their feed.

My suggestion is that if you're blogging solely for building Web traffic and Google Juice, go build a Web site and advertise it on Google instead. Blogs are about being part of a community. Join it, add value to it, but don't focus on the traffic.

Tag Tutorial Time

Over at ProBlogger, Aaron Brazell has written an outstanding tutorial on how to integrate tags into your blog and why this is important. I tag nearly every post and I have been seeing my traffic from Technorati's tag pages climb ever since.

Don't hesitate. Start today. Drag this Technorati tag bookmarklet to your bookmarks to get started. I picked this up over here. I bet we'll see "the tag" submitted as an Internet standard in the next few months, much like the trackback.

Technorati Tags: technorati, tags, tagging, blogs

links for 2006-02-27

• » BlogMedia, Inc. acquires The Blog Herald
  Congrats to TBH!
  (tags: blogs networks)
• Web Marketing Prodigy and Sales Rainmaker Seeks Awesome Job | Will Pate
  Will Pate is seeking new opportunities. Hire that man!
  (tags: Web2.0 friends marketing)
• Werbeblogger - Rock N' Rubel: Interview mit Rick Murray von Edelman
  An interview with my boss, Rick Murray.
  (tags: rickmurray edelman blego PR marketing blogs steverubel)
• Blog Assignment - Audience Research - Spring 2006
  A class project that builds writing skills through blogging.
  (tags: blogs writing education)
• ihaveanidea
  Interesting advertising resouce site. Includes agency profiles.
  (tags: advertising)
• WSJ.com - Real Time: Blog Epitaphs? Get Me Rewrite!
  Jason thinks the blog hype is going to settle down. I think it already started.
  (tags: blogs hype)

The Middle Ages

What if leadership didn't originate from the top of an organization, society or ecosystem, but from its middle? Thanks to a flattening Earth, a declining trust in hierarchy, plus the rising prominence of mid-level stars, we're entering such an era. I call it “The Middle Ages.” Business and society will never be the same. (It's nothing like the last Middle Ages either.)

The Internet, in particular consumer generated media and search, is at the heart of this societal change. Consider The Long Tail. It is actually a byproduct of the Middle Ages. The concept here is that there's a glut of goods in the middle that are not hits, nor flops. They might be books on Amazon.com or bloggers and podcasters. What's important is that they are now thriving because they are easier to find thanks to Internet search and recommendation engines - be they human or computer-powered.

However, the Middle Ages is actually far bigger than the Long Tail. It surrounds it. It's about technology-driven societal change that elevates people in the middle, not just goods. As the Edelman Trust Barometer showed us, people increasingly seek out each other as trusted sources. This is because leadership is shifting from the top to the middle.

Consider the following examples...

* Microsoft's Robert Scoble, a mid-level employee, has twice as many Google results as his CEO, Steve Ballmer

* Fortune magazine recently shined the cover spotlight on 12 Fortune 500 leaders who are not in the CEO position within their organization, but have attained mass influence

* Books like The 360 Leader are hitting the store shelves. These titles help employees become more influential organizational leaders, no matter what their position, by leading up, across and down

* David Sifry talks about the rising importance of the blogosphere's Magic Middle" in shaping the attention curve in particular niches. Niche citizen journalism in the middle is changing media.

These are just a few. There are countless others when you look at politics, media, business, entertainment and on and on. The top dogs don't innovate or lead as much as they used to. The hotspots of innovation now come from the middle because of the Internet. This is a critical change. What does this mean for us? The Middle Ages should be factored into every marketing/communications program and business decision because it's here to stay for at least the foreseeable future.

Technorati Tags: Middle+Ages, Long+Tail, Flat+Earth

Could You Live Without Google?

Could you live without Google? I couldn't. Chris Pirillo, however, is trying hard. He's Googlefasting and having a tough time of it. Check out these links: Day 1, Day 1.5, Day 2, Day 3.

Technorati Tags: Chris Pirillo, Google, Googlefasting

Social Media Tour Set

Thanks to everyone who requested to chat as part of the social media tour experiment. We have quite a line up - 13 in all! Here's the rundown (all times EST). If you'd like to be on standby in case there's a cancellation, please send me your Skype ID. Thanks to everyone who responded. There were too many to do in one day but I would love to give this another go perhaps some other time.

8:00 - 8:30 - Tom Raftery
9:00 - 9:30 - Stowe Boyd
10:00 - 10:30 - Brian Oberkirch
11:30 - 12:00 - Best Damn Tech Show
1:30 - 2:00 - Eric Mattson
2:00 - 2:30 - Dino Baskovic
3:00 - 3:30 - Drew Benvie
4:00 - 4:30 - Jeffrey Treem
5:00 - 5:30 - Fard Johnmar
5:30 - 6:00 - Denise Wakeman
6:30 - 7:00 - David Maister (wow!)
7:30 - 8:00 - R Craig Lefevre
8:00 - 8:30 - Ernie Landante

Technorati Tags: Steve Rubel, Social Media Tour

MSN Weather Gets RSS

MSN Weather now has RSS feeds. Just enter your zip code and look for the RSS button. Here's an example feed for Chicago weather.

Technorati Tags: MSN, Weather

School House Rocks iTunes

ABC has posted episodes of the 1970s cartoon School House Rock! on iTunes (iTunes link). They come in two $21.89 volumes and individually at $1.99. Now I can watch my childhood favorite, I'm Just a Bill, on my iPod!

 

Technorati Tags: ipod, school+house+rocks, abc, itunes

You 2.0

Adam Korbl sent me another social media site that's gearing up to launch. When it rolls out, mecanbe will allow people from all over the world to work together to achieve their goals.

Like 43Things, the site will facillitate goal-setting through the sharing and customization of lists. Once a user finds, creates or customizes a Goal-List they would like to focus on, they simply subscribe to that list. This represents a personal commitment to work on the particular action-goals for any timeframe, as specified in the Goal-List settings.

Technorati Tags: meecanbe, 43things