You know you’re moving in the right direction when big media starts bastardizing the name of your tools. I was quite amused to tune into CNN.com this morning and came across the CNN Debate Blogs.

So I tuned in, much expecting to find the usual style, format, and familiarity I have come to rely on for traditional blogs. Naturally, I was wrong. The blog label had been bastardized and made into a veritable marketing hook.

Perhaps I’m being elitist about this, but here’s what seems to be wrong:

• It more resembles an IM session with oneself
• There’s no form of syndication present
• There’s no interaction (I know this is more optional)
• Did I mention it’s NOT A BLOG?

Rant aside, this is very interesting to me. On one level, I see this as a rare, perhaps new, form of blog — the micro blog. This blog was “designed” to exist for exactly 90 minutes. It’s value is extremely short-lived and most likely decays exponentially as fuller, detailed coverage of the same event occurs. This is not all that different from, say, the event blog. Of course, event blogs evolve and continue in traditional blogging environments, instead of in the clutches of big media.

On the other hand, it’s impressive that blogging has grown to have such mindshare that people want to “copy” it not because it’s effective but because it’s deemed popular enough.

Many a time in this blog I have covered the slow, but credible creep of blogging from a hobby to a viable news source. For most of us on the “inside” it’s incredible encouraging to see the thing we participate in grow and earn respect.

One point of view that’s less talked about, however, is the negative impact that also comes with it. Since bloggers are not subjected to the same, though questionable, metrics that traditional journalism uses, we’re free to say almost anything. This brings with it a can of issues in terms of knowing who to trust and who to ignore. It’s easy for unassuming readers to get caught in “blog vertigo” where the truth is verified only by the number of people linking to it.

Many have been stung before, but here’s an interesting little snipe from Bill Burkett, apparent source of the Rather memos:

Burkett also accused the White House of using the blog community to launch a “kill the messenger campaign” against him after the documents were made public.

“The coordinated attacks against the documents, then against me, which CBS did nothing to deflect or defend, and then against Dan Rather and CBS producer Mary Mapes have not been against the validity of the documents, but rather as an attack against anything being considered at all,” he said.

Burkett’s wife, Nicki, described the couple as “shaken” by the uproar.

“Our name has been destroyed and cannot be reclaimed,” she said in the e-mailed response. “We are presumed guilty, not only for poor judgment of involving ourselves with CBS, but now considered to be forgers and liars.”

Source: cnn.com, “Burkett insists ‘jury still out’ memos CBS aired”

It’s clear that with this new “power”, if you will, there’s a great responsibility shared by us all. We must be clear on how we get our information, who we get it from, and how we use it. It boils down to reputation and relevance — two cornerstones of our new media.

In a somewhat related note, on Monday, my company will be launching a new site that tackles these issues. I hope you’ll all take the opportunity to check it out, give some feedback, and break it.

Once again, the blogging community has managed to information from the secret domain to the public one. Last week, Kryptonite locks, often heralded as the most secure bike lock, were revealed to be exceptionally easy to break (using a plastic pen no less).

In this set of breaking news, a video of how to break into the Kryptonite lock, like the one seen here on Engadget, surfaced and quickly made its ranks through blogging community and surfaced in various news sources.

What’s most interesting, however, is the simple fact that knowledge of how to pick these locks was common within the security industry, but how it stayed relatively contained until this moment. More importantly, Kryptonite knew it too. This flap is expected to cost them tens of millions of hard cash and immeasurable dollars from the depletion of reputation in the public eye.

For some time, I have observed the blogging industry from both the inside and out. I’ve for some time become convinced that this medium will change the way people interact and the ability of information flows in ways never imagined.

A primary consideration of that progress, from my point of view, is the valuation and eventual commoditization of blogging and the bloggers themselves. I’ve been waiting anxiously for the first blog to be sold, and that time has come.

Peter Caputa notes that one of his active site visitors, Jeremy Wright, has come close to finalizing the sale of his blog for upwards of $4,000. Jeremy apparently made the offer on his site and people have taken the offer seriously. On the other hand, Stowe Boyd also recently cited the eBay auction of the BlogOnTheWeb.com blog community numbering in the thousands for a mere $2,425.00.

So here’s my question: What makes one blog more valuable than another? Natural measures would seem to include:

• Author Dependency - There are many issues associated with the author, but this is probably the most important. If a site is only popular as a result of the skills or charms of the author(s) then a solution that attempts to go on without those celebrities could be fatal.

• Traffic - Surely, prospective buyers will want to know what kind of traffic the blog is generating. Obviously, a little more traffic has never hurt anyone.

• Link Network/Search Discoverability - Blogs with many well-defined links to the blogging community and high visibility in key search contexts may appear more attractive to potential buyers.

• Industry Reach - Since most businesses that might consider buying a blog are targeting the audience, knowing how much of that industry can be reached is critical to making a profitable decision.

• Audience Size - Exactly how many real visitors are there to a site currently. Size does not necessarily matter.

• Audience Demographics - Exactly how coherent are the demographics of your audience, in some cases coherence is good, in others it may not be

• Existing Revenues - A blog already generating significant revenue could be more enticing than one with none.

What would matter to you if considering buying a blog? What would you point out about yours if you were trying to sell it?

The upcoming American Presidential Election has been a wonderful boon for the blogging industry as a whole. Surely, there was progress in other arenas, however, the front row seats and top-of-mind consideration from the warring parties and hungry media is tremendous.

Most recently, there has been tremendous controversy regarding the CBS release of “official” documents regarding President Bush’s Air National Guard Service, or lack thereof. What’s most interesting from the blogging front, though, is not the spread of the news itself but the creation of the Hoax meme. Almost immediately after the segment aired, blogs were posting up to debunk the claims. A very loud roar can be heard from both sides of the camp if you listen closely.

And listen closely indeed many did. Though the media initially went with headlines in kind, they quickly adjusted their posture and began to ask the same questions and pull from the blog sources for inspiration. Many have marvelled at this new power:

The incident could help legitimize the role that blogs and other nonprofessional online writers are already playing in the everyday business of news reporting.

Even traditional reporters working online have had to struggle to win credibility over the past decade. But nontraditional sources such as blogs–which run the gamut from high-school journal entries to war reporting from Iraq–have often had an even harder time being taken seriously.

Source: news.com, “Bloggers drive hoax probe into Bush memos”

What I think is most interesting, however, is that the blog that “started” it all, the PowerLine Blog, was relatively unknown before this entry. It goes to show that, in the long run, good content goes a long way towards building reputation and, naturally, traffic.

I am expecting quite a few more events like this as the election draws closer and closer.

Last night, Judith Meskill tossed me an IM about a post she made. Her most recent post outlined the rather messy plight of trouthgirl, a once Friendster employee, that was fired for her blogging.

Joyce Park, Troutgirl, is a published PHP developer and played a critical role in the re-launch of Friendster on the PHP platform. She had mentioned previously on her blog that the site migration was completed and the post received quite a bit of commentary. Mind you, this was public information by all accounts.

Yesterday, she posted her entry “Shitcanned” where she made it clear that she was released because of her blogging. Specifically, there were two entries mentioned, including the one above:

The levels of irony on this are pretty deep. For one thing, I wrote a fairly well-known paper last year about the need for semi-permeable blogging. For another thing, by all accounts the particular posts that led to my termination were this one and this one (although feel free to check my archives for any other incriminating information). I try really hard not to blog about anything that is not a matter of public record… but I guess that’s not protection any more. You get Slashdotted, make Udell’s column, lose your job. And finally, it’s especially ironic because Friendster, of course, is a company that is all about getting people to reveal information about themselves…

Source: troutgirl, “Shitcanned”

It’s hard to put into words how incredibly asinine this situation is. A social networking company that persecutes its employees for engaging in social media. It’s almost to hold her responsible if someone found her on Friendster, congratulated her on her PHP work, and she accepted that testimonial for display.

For some time I’ve noted that Friendster was plagued with issues as it still fails to provide a context for which I can apply the network to anything but the relatively trivial or low-use “lost friend” search. This only leaves a worst taste in my mouth now and definitely mars the image of the company as a whole for me.

I’m definitely not alone in this. Jeremy Zawodny’s Fired for Blogging shows just how frustrated some people are — he’s quit Friendster now (photo available), leaving the apt reason “firing employees for blogging”.

Last week, Blogger announced that they were going to start sharing the wealth (well sort of). Previously, Blogger had forced advertising on all free blogs, in the form of an ugly banner ad. Recently, they’ve decided to start running Google Adwords on the blogs, with one kicker - the blog operator gets their share:

You may have noticed that we recently removed our ads from Blogger powered blogs. We were making money from those ads but you weren’t getting any of it. Now, we’re inviting you to set up your own Bloggerized AdSense account so that you make the money. What’s the catch? We’re going to take some of the action. Based on what we have learned from AdSense so far, this will work out very nicely for both of us. Please note that this program is optional and that it is not required for you to have a Blogger powered blog—all bloggers are invited.

Source: Blogger Knowledge

Peter Caputa touched on this briefly in a post of his own. As Peter sees it, “This is the future. services that let people have their own identity online and let people have their own personally branded media outlet, which, if they are good at it, can earn them $, maybe even a living.” I definitely have to agree.

I have wondered about something related to this, the notion of personal sponsorship. This always reminds me of the scene in Happy Gilmour when happy becomes a welcome sponsor for Subway. Translate that into our terms and that looks something like this: As People’s Media grows in popularity, authority, and credibility, traditional media and its outlets will be forever changed. Smart businesses will heed the advice of marketing gurus like Seth Godin and join forces with their most loyal and vocal customers.

Google BlogSense, and AdSense in general, always bothered me since I did not have control over which companies were represented. Sure the ads “fit” my content, but that fails to account for my preferences. In general, arranging sponsorship is a lengthy process. Ad networks like BlogAds, etc. are starting to change this somewhat in that sponsors are getting to choose their outlet. It seems to fit that the reverse could be true as well. I should be able to toggle which companies/brands most interest me and welcome conversations from those companies.

Does this exist? If not, it should.

There are countless times a day that I come across a situation or conversation where blogging technology seems like the ideal format for solving a problem. As might be expected, blogging does not have the mindshare it really needs to penetrate these spaces, yet. I’ve argued before that the best way to prove something is to produce successful use cases and announce them from the tops of the highest building possible.

Many folks in the PR business are waking up to the potential, even embracing it. MarketingProfs.com is running an interesting story on cases where blogging could have been applied to give an extra edge or to complete an offering.

Read it now: “Ten Companies That Missed Great Blog Opportunities”

Do you have stories about clients that bawked at your suggestion of blogging? Can you think of places where you see the need for blogging? Let me know.

via John Dowdell

http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3394841

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1631532,00.asp
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1555560,00.asp
http://www.globalprblogweek.com/archives/microsoft_corporate_.php