August 27, 2003
'Stop the blogging madness'
Jimmy Guterman (a friend who, as far as I know, doesn't blog) writes in his latest Media Notes column for Business 2.0: Stop the Blogging Madness. It only seems as if everyone is doing it. A new survey suggests that blogging may always be more for fun than for profit.
The merits of his argument aside -- and I disagree with his premise; new forms of corporate blogging are just now being formulated -- isn't it a bit odd that Jimmy's Web-only columns can be accessed only if you subscribe to the print magazine?
Mike Masnick said:
Jimmy actually does have a blog:
http://www.guterman.com/blogger.html
On it, he only just recently announced that he was no longer blogging about blogging. I think he became convinced that it was just a little too self-referential.
Also, I have proof that his assertions about blogging are wrong, because I've been making a living blogging for three years already, and (worse!) I told Jimmy this in April via email(though, apparently he forgot/ignored it).
For more info on how my company makes money blogging head on over to Techdirt Corporate Intelligence. Not trying to use your board to promote my own service, but it is evidence that there is a space for corporate blogging. We've been doing it successfully for three years, so I find it amusing when people say it can't be done.
Oh well.
Also... (okay, this is getting long now...) as for the whole Business 2.0 "pay to read" thing, Techdirt was one of the first to complain about that move here, and as a reward we were contacted by a PR person who told us that all articles could be accessed via the following code: 079751240X and that we were encouraged to tell everyone about it.
Why lock up your content and then hand out the key to someone who is told to spread it far and wide? I have no clue... But, that's what they did.
Mike
Yahoo dips its toes in the blogging waters
InfoWorld: Yahoo dips its toes in the blogging waters -- in South Korea.
'Liberal talk radio' to debut in January
New York Post: A still-unnamed, all-liberal talk radio network that promises to be the antidote to conservative powerhouses like Rush Limbaugh is planning to launch in January.
Thanks to IWantMedia for the pointer.
Paul Allen looking to sell TechTV
Reuters: Paul Allen's people have approached Viacom and Sony about buying TechTV, the tech-related cable channel, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Thanks to IWantMedia for the pointer.
Business journalists trade on their credibility
Mark Glaser in OJR asks: When can reporters buy stocks in companies they cover? News organizations continue to struggle to establish fair and appropriate conflict-of-interest guidelines.
CNN.com expands e-mail services
OK, I don't get this. CNET's News.com carried a story about CNN.com offering a new suite of e-mail alerts, and E-Media Tidbits today says that CNN.com's new service "allows people to pick news by subject and choose how frequently they receive the alerts." But the only subject e-mails I see on that page are weekly e-mails by topic, and those can't truly be called alerts.
John Garside said:
Tara's got some stuff on this: http://www.researchbuzz.com/news/2003/aug28sep303.shtml
RSS offers alternative to e-mail
Steve Outing in E&P: E-mail -- long touted as the "killer app" of the Internet and the best online channel for publishers -- is rapidly being decimated by spammers and virus writers. It's time to move on to something that's spam-proof: RSS.
'They can dish it out, but they can't take it'
Today in Salon (subscription or one-day pass required): Al Franken talks about his big victory over the Fox News bullies, why Bush can be thrown out in 2004, and comedy as a political weapon.
Back online
My website and blog have been down all morning and just came back online. This is the second time this has happened in the past three months. I haven't had other problems with DreamHost, my ISP, but I'll have to consider switching to a more reliable provider if these interruptions continue.
Dean and Clark making waves
Loads of interesting stuff on PoliticalWire today, chief among them:
• Howard Dean "has surged into a wide lead" of likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire, according to a new Zogby poll. Some 38 percent supported Dean, "giving him a substantial lead" over Sen. John Kerry at 17 percent.
• Gen. Wesley Clark says the White House tried to get him fired as a commentator on CNN. Meantime, he's expected to announce his candidacy in the next month.
