http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Sat, 16 Jul 2005 19:41:32 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/16/194132.php Paul ChaneyA recent NY Times article reports that online retailers are beginning to drink the Kool-aid and jump on the blogging bandwagon. They cite specifically Ice.com, eHobbies.com, and Bluefly.com. Two of the retailers expressed some concern over the effect their blogs will have on the bottom-line. Since the blogs include links to other sites, their marketing gurus feel it will lead readers away rather than drive traffic to their e-commerce sites. That's a valid point, since the primary purpose of their blogs is to market and drive sales.One retailer questioned the appropriateness of putting product links inside the blog posts. A quick review of all three blogs showed they each did, with Ice primarily using hyperlinked images of its products to draw visitors in. Another retailer not mentioned in the article, Stone Creek Coffee, has also just added a blog. From what I can tell, the blog is part of their home page. Bluefly asserts that their blog has had a positive effect on sales, even stating that visitors who click to the blog "have been more likely to make a purchase than those who visit Bluefly directly." I think they call that "qualified traffic," which is certainly one thing a blog can do for you. Here are some random thoughts... Blogging, as a marketing channel, will vastly increase in popularity over the next few months. I congratulate retailers such as these who are willing to lead the way. Yes, definately include links to products in the blog posts. That's why you have the darn thing anyway! Rather than giving readers a sales pitch, tell a story. Talk about the experience of using the product. Refer to other related articles found on the web and work in a product link. Do what eHobbies does and show photos of employees having fun playing with products. If blogs are going to prove themselves as viable marketing tools, then it's imperative there be some system in place to track their effectiveness. That should be a given and not something that difficult to do. After all, blogs are just a website and you can track statistics about site visits, referers and page views, have unique URLs for each product which can be tracked through to the ecommerce site and on through to purchase, and track movement from the blog to the main site as well.I contend that, though blogs are not for the faint of heart, they will prove themselves to have viability for retail marketing. In an ideal scenario the benefits they provide will occur in sequence: They're niche-driven, attracting readers who are interested in the topic at hand. That's qualified traffic. It makes sense that those will be some of the best customers. If the blogs are routinely updated, visitors will come back again and again, many of those being existing customers. Trust and brand loyalty will result. Many of these customers will become evangelists for you and talk about you via their own consumer-generated media outlets (blogs, IM, chat rooms, email, etc.). Your blog will become a center of influence around which a community of interested customers/shoppers develop.What's not to like about that?!Here are links to each of the blogs mentioned: Ice.com, eHobbies.com, Bluefly.com, and Stone Creek Coffee.[Special thanks to Rich Ottum for stimulating my thinking about this issue in two blog posts he did.]Edited: LH TAS: fx headline Culture32682@blogcritics.org Sat, 16 Jul 2005 19:41:32 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/16/192332.php Paul ChaneyHave you read the Catalyst Group study about blog usability called Net Rage? (PDF) If not, you should. Those of us who spend inordinate amounts of time using, evangelizing, and otherwise doting over these things seem to forget (at least I do) that most people still don't have a clue as to what a blog is or how they should react to it. In fact, most people probably couldn't care less. They just want information. David Coursey has written an op-ed about the Catalyst Group's study and provides an executive summary of the findings. I won't take time to outline the bullet points here since you can read his article to see them. Nevertheless it's apparent, despite the small sample the Catalyst Group used, that there is a vast chasm between the initiated and the uninitiated. It makes people who blog sound almost like a cult! My point in this post is to ask the question, how can we make blogs more user-friendly? Better yet, how can we initiate the uninitiated to a point where we create an environment in which blogs have ubiquity? Should we even try? Months ago, when doing a series on the future of blogging, Doc Searls told me blogs are "not mainstream, and most people aren't reading blogs yet. But race car driving, farming and espressos aren't mainstream either, and all matter to our culture." If what Doc says still holds true, and the Catalyst Group report seems to indicate that it does, how can we change that perception? Do we even need to? Let me offer a couple of ideas.First, we could go on a massive educational campaign to teach people what blogs are, what purpose they seek to serve, and how to understand the nomenclature. (I even know some bloggers who haven't a clue what a trackback is!) That's one of the things I try to do at Allbusiness.com with my Why Blog? blog. Another approach may be to let knowledge about blogs propogate on its own. The new internet is becoming much more peer-to-peer and it stands to reason that even the most nascent of internet users will eventually come around. After all, according to Technorati, more blogs are being created each day - some 80,000 - than existed even a couple of years ago. I tend to agree with a conjecture made in another of Coursey's columns where he states that blogs (along with RSS and podcasts) will become so melded into the warf and woof of the internet that these odd sounding names won't really be of consequence. Though the names lose their ubiquity, the technology won't. Blogs become just another form of content publishing, albeit one with a certain "style" and set of unique features. RSS becomes simply a way to subscribe to content and organize the web. Podcasts become a way to transmit audio/video. Speaking from a purely technological standpoint, that's what they already do. It's just that we've become our own worst enemies by putting so much emphasis on the nomenclature, we've ostracized ourselves from the average internet user. (Maybe we ARE a cult!)Coursey intimates that the term RSS will be replaced with the word "subscribe." Blog "posts" will be called "articles" and so on. It is the technology that's important, and how well it serves mankind, not what you call it. This goes back to my assertion that we early adopters get very giddy about new tech toys, and things like blogs, RSS, podcasts and wikis certainly fire our jets. But to the "common man" the real issue is not what you call these tools, but how well they serve to scratch an itch by providing needed information. Thanks to the likes of Yahoo! and MSN, this technology is becoming accessible and recognizable so maybe I'm fretting over nothing. It takes time for transition to occur. But, that transition won't be so much in the direction of people adapting themselves to the technology as the technology adapting itself to people. (Does that make sense?)One of the best examples of this is what I see happening with the new blog "channels." Take for example Allbusiness.com. They have a well-established, highly-trafficked website that provides great value to readers, and has for years without the presence of blogs. Now they've incorporated a blog channel into the overall architecture of the site and brought on a team of experts to, in blog-style, provide more useful information. Visitors to the site see the term "blogs" incorporated into the main navigation so they gain some familiarity with it. I bet if you ask the average Allbusiness.com reader, however, they really don't care what you call the things. The real issue is not the form but the function of being providing even more valuable content to an already content-rich website. I guarantee you most of the users of that site don't know that we call our entries "posts." They probably think of them as articles or columns. Essentially, that's what they are, just written in a more punchy, concise, personable style. (Thinking about this whole meme, it dawns on me that my role at Allbusiness is to serve as a blog evangelist and teacher, helping people understand what blogs are all about. Gulp!)To sum up this already lengthy post (er, article...er, column), let me cite some of Coursey's more salient points. He says: The whole RSS/XML thing is way too confusing, and it will need to be replaced by some other nomenclature if it is to become ubiquitous. I am expecting blogs (and Podcasts, for that matter) to be all the rage until some moment when, almost as though a switch had been flipped, they don't seem so exciting anymore. Blogs and "traditional" media will share so much DNA that whatever differences once existed will no longer be apparent. What may end up differentiating blogs from traditional Web media won't be technology as much as style. Successful blogs will be about something, just like successful magazines, newsletters, columns and other written media.Don't get me wrong, I love everything about blogs, their search-engine friendliness, their "shoot-from-the-hip" spontaneity, their world "live" web feel, and the ease with which they allow anyone to publish their thoughts and ideas instantly. However, thinking long-term, it makes sense to assume that blogs, RSS, and podcasts will become blended into the overall matrix of online content. Let's keep the main thing the main thing and express a willingness to admit that the usefulness of the technology is what's really important, not what we call it.Edited: LH Culture32679@blogcritics.org Sat, 16 Jul 2005 19:23:32 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/16/133049.php Paul ChaneyI've dabbled a bit with podcasting early on when it wasn't so easy to do, then dabbled some more since it's become easier thanks to tools like Skype and Hot Recorder. Yet, I've not jumped on the podcasting bandwagon wholeheartedly and asked myself why. No doubt podcasting is the hottest thing to hit the internet since, well, blogs! (And I did jump on the blogging bandwagon wholeheartedly!) Corante thinks so highly of the new media phenomenon they're hosting an event in September called Podcast Hotel, and even holding it at the trendy Jupiter Hotel just to make the point. They refer to it as "the new radio, the new video -- the DIY trend that is shaping the dynamic way we view the world."Mark Cuban, on the other hand, is pooh-poohing this new media invention as not so hot. He likens it to the surge of streaming media back in the 90s, of which he was an industry leader. Cuban asserts that, due to the ease of use, the numbers of podcasts will increase exponentially resulting in "a massive dilution in the audience size of the early entry podcasters. EVERYONE's audience will fall as the marginal listeners find something they like better." He does suggest that repurposing content using podcasts is a good thing, but warns against trying to build a business out of it. So, who's right here? I believe both Corante and Cuban make valid points. Podcasts are hot but will eventually become, according to Cuban, "a normal part of the digital media landscape."We early adopters easily get excited about any new technology innovation. (That's good though, because it's us who introduce these innovations to the early majority.) What is being said of podcasts has also been said of blogs and RSS. Before too long, maybe even wikis will join that list as the NEXT next big thing. However, over the course of time each will find its place in the new media landscape. I'm reminded of a line in the 80s movie Karate Kid II, where the Yoda-like character Miyagi tells his prodigy, "Balance, Daniel-san. Balance." That's a pretty good way to approach the new media - take a balanced view. Podcasts, RSS, and blogs all have their place, and each is powerful no doubt. Yet, where marketing is concerned, none of these are comprehensive enough on their own to do as effective a job as all of them working in concert. What's more, the new media shouldn't be adorned with Holy Grail-like stature to the extent that we give up on the tried-and-true; e-mail marketing, for example. While I still get excited about new technologies and their possible benefit in the business space, I've learned to "take all things in moderation." Use the best the web has to offer without becoming a crusader for one singular strategy or tool. Everything in its place and all things in their time. Just like old Miyagi said, "Balance, Daniel-san. Balance." Edited: LH Culture32685@blogcritics.org Sat, 16 Jul 2005 13:30:49 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/08/141308.php Paul ChaneyI tend to be very apolitical where my blogging is concerned. I have my opinions and world view just like everyone else, but figure it's best to keep that to myself normally. However, I have decided to endorse the One campaign to end poverty and world hunger. Normally, I'm skeptical of anything that promotes the notion that "if we all just get along" the world will be a better place. That's true perhaps, I just don't think it's possible. Much of the time we operate out of a "what's in it for me" paradigm. The One campaign has really caught my attention, however, and may help serve to obviate my skepticism (cynicism). Looking over the list of signatories I see people from all over the spectrum of cultural and political allegiances. Of course there are the usual suspects: rock stars, actors, and well-known political figures. But, there are also people that I never would have imagined seeing on such a list: Pat Robertson for one, Michael W. Smith for another. Then, when I saw the list of sponsoring organizations - including both "liberal" and "conservative" organizations as well as many religious denominations - I figured there has to be something to this. So, I'm buying in. I've signed the declaration and have encouraged others to do the same. I'm also adding a One banner to the sidebar. Whoo-hoo! That's easy enough, but I'm also putting my money where my mouth is and supporting the campaign financially. A few years ago I went on a mission trip to Haiti and spent a week living among the people there. I never understood what real poverty was until I saw it first-hand. Many of those people were literally starving. To look into the eyes of a child with a swollen belly bereft of the very basic necessities of life forever changed my view of the world, and made me have second (and third) thoughts about ordering that stuffed-crust pizza. It also led me to contribute monthly to the mission group that sponsored the trip, New Missions in Haiti, in supporting a particular child in Haiti, a young man named Wensor. I've done that for nearly 10 years now. While I admit to being a capitalist and think America is the greatest country in the world thanks to the opportunities it has afforded me to earn a respectable living (and all the junk food I care to eat), I cannot for one minute think that my bounty is meant to result in greed. I have been blessed, and therefore have a responsibility to be a blessing. Someone once said regarding Christ, "He has no hands but our hands to do his work today." In a small way this is a venue where I can extend my hand to help those in obvious peril. Supporting this campaign is not merely the best of human intention. It is a motivation of the heart inspired by someone greater than myself, born out of the need to help "the least of these."No matter your political or religious beliefs, let me encourage you to support the One campaign with both your advocacy efforts and your dollars. Don't do it because it will "make you feel good" either. Do it because it's right. Do it because a child in another land is starving. Culture32260@blogcritics.org Fri, 8 Jul 2005 14:13:08 EDT