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BlogCo., a corporate blogging information blog.
Providing a daily dose of news and features from the world of enterprise RSS and business blogging for both the consumer and RSS professional.

Blogger unmasked, court case upended

A physician blogs about his malpractice suit during the trial, using an alias, and is unmasked in court. He settles the next day.

The case is a startling illustration of how blogging, already implicated in destroying friendships and ruining job prospects, could interfere in other important arenas. Lawyers in Massachusetts and elsewhere, some of whom downloaded Flea's observations and posted them on their websites, said the case has also prompted them to warn clients that blogs can come back to haunt them. A well known Boston personal injury lawyer who followed the case, said he had never heard of a defendant blogging during a trial.

» boston.com [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

Advantage of Youth: ignorance

Young people make better entrepreneurs because they're too inexperienced to know that their ideas are silly:

The mistakes novices make come from a lack of experience. They overestimate mere fads, seeing revolution everywhere, and they make this kind of mistake a thousand times before they learn better. But the experts make the opposite mistake, so that when a real once-in-a-lifetime change comes along, they regard it as a fad. As a result of this asymmetry, the novice makes their one good call during an actual revolution, at exactly the same time the expert makes their one big mistake, but at that moment, that’s all that is needed to give the newcomer a considerable edge.

» corante.com [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

Curl Up With A Good Blog. Publishers Turn To The Web To Find New Talent

Once upon a time, a writer would have to try to attract the interest of an agent in the hope they would submit their proposals to publishers and beg them a book deal. Now, however, it would appear to just be a simple matter of a writer posting their work online and then sitting back waiting for the offers to roll in.

Yesterday's announcement of this year's winners of the award for blogs turned into books, the Lulu Blooker prize, would have us believe that many publishers are perusing blogs with the aim of adapting them into books. The website eagerly claims, "Traditional publishing houses, ever in search of the next big name author, have begun to mine blogs and websites for new talent."

» guardian.co.uk [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

College Recruiters Use Student Bloggers

Colleges seeking a competitive edge are increasingly enlisting and sometimes paying student bloggers to chronicle their lives online. The results run the gamut from insightful to boring, but the goal is the same: to find a new way to win the attention of the MySpace generation. "We found it a much freer, less constricting, far more believable way of letting prospective students glimpse what was going on on campus," said Seth Allen, dean of admissions at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania.

» washingtonpost.com [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

The Art of Forgetting in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing

Mayer-Schönberger lays out his idea in a faculty research working paper called "Useful Void: The Art of Forgetting in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing," where he describes his plan as reinstating "the default of forgetting our societies have experienced for millennia."

Why would we want our machines to "forget"? Mayer-Schönberger suggests that we are creating a Benthamist panopticon by archiving so many bits of knowledge for so long. The accumulated weight of stored Google searches, thousands of family photographs, millions of books, credit bureau information, air travel reservations, massive government databases, archived e-mail, etc., can actually be a detriment to speech and action, he argues.

"If whatever we do can be held against us years later, if all our impulsive comments are preserved, they can easily be combined into a composite picture of ourselves," he writes in the paper. "Afraid how our words and actions may be perceived years later and taken out of context, the lack of forgetting may prompt us to speak less freely and openly."

[ PDF ] Useful Void: The Art of Forgetting in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing

Local bloggers' posts appear in Boston newspaper

While most newspapers are trying to stake bigger claims online, one new publication is pulling material off the Internet to be printed in ink.

John Wilpers, editor in chief of BostonNow, a free weekday daily introduced last month, said he wanted to fill the paper with items that local bloggers submitted to the BostonNow Web site.

Last week, editors began culling posts and running excerpts next to articles from reporters and newswires. The blog items, which appear in gray boxes, are still relatively few, but Wilpers said he thought the feature would grow.

Wilpers, who previously edited two other free commuter newspapers, Metro Boston and The Washington Examiner, said he wanted to address what he believed was the news industry's biggest problem: an inability to connect with the communities it covers.

» news.com.com » nytimes.com

A few companies cashing in on the blogosphere

As a few star bloggers have made six-figure salaries or million-dollar deals, more and more people have been tantalized by the prospect of making money online -- even though the vast majority of blogs are little more than online diaries.

"A lot of the blogosphere does not make sense if viewed from the point of view of a business model," said David Weinberger, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. "Blogs remain, I believe, primarily conversational."

» chicagotribune.com

DRM group vows to fight bloggers over AACS

Bloggers "crossed the line" when they posted a software key that could break the encryption on some HD-DVDs, the AACS copy protection body has said.

Thousands of websites published the key, which had been uncovered in a bid to circumvent digital rights management (DRM) technology on HD-DVD discs. Many said they had done this as an exercise in free speech. An AACS executive said it was looking at "legal and technical tools" to confront those who published the key.

» bbc.co.uk

Blogger's Code of Conduct - Tim O'Reilly's Draft

We celebrate the blogosphere because it embraces frank and open conversation. But frankness does not have to mean lack of civility. We present this Blogger Code of Conduct in hopes that it helps create a culture that encourages both personal expression and constructive conversation.

1. We take responsibility for our own words and for the comments we allow on our blog.
   We are committed to the "Civility Enforced" standard: we will not post unacceptable content, and we'll delete comments that contain it.
   
   We define unacceptable content as anything included or linked to that:
   - is being used to abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others
   - is libelous, knowingly false, ad-hominem, or misrepresents another person,
   - infringes upon a copyright or trademark
   - violates an obligation of confidentiality
   - violates the privacy of others
   
   We define and determine what is "unacceptable content" on a case-by-case basis, and our definitions are not limited to this list. If we delete a comment or link, we will say so and explain why. [We reserve the right to change these standards at any time with no notice.]
   
2. We won't say anything online that we wouldn't say in person.
   
3. We connect privately before we respond publicly.
   When we encounter conflicts and misrepresentation in the blogosphere, we make every effort to talk privately and directly to the person(s) involved--or find an intermediary who can do so--before we publish any posts or comments about the issue.
   
4. When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action.
   When someone who is publishing comments or blog postings that are offensive, we'll tell them so (privately, if possible--see above) and ask them to publicly make amends.
   If those published comments could be construed as a threat, and the perpetrator doesn't withdraw them and apologize, we will cooperate with law enforcement to protect the target of the threat.
   
5. We do not allow anonymous comments.
   We require commenters to supply a valid email address before they can post, though we allow commenters to identify themselves with an alias, rather than their real name.
   
6. We ignore the trolls.
   We prefer not to respond to nasty comments about us or our blog, as long as they don't veer into abuse or libel. We believe that feeding the trolls only encourages them--"Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, but the pig likes it." Ignoring public attacks is often the best way to contain them.

» Tim O'Reilly / radar.oreilly.com

The end of military blogs?

The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.

Military officials have been wrestling for years with how to handle troops who publish blogs. Officers have weighed the need for wartime discretion against the opportunities for the public to personally connect with some of the most effective advocates for the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq -- the troops themselves. The secret-keepers have generally won the argument, and the once-permissive atmosphere has slowly grown more tightly regulated. Soldier-bloggers have dropped offline as a result.

» wired.com / [ PDF ] The new rules

New Dell Spanish-language corporate blog / DellenDirecto

Dell chairman and CEO Michael Dell announced Tuesday at the Entrepreneur Endeavor Summit that the company has launched DellenDirecto.com, a Spanish-language blog geared toward communicating with its customer base and other stakeholders. Dell considers it to be an extension of Direct2Dell, its English-language corporate blog that it has operated since July 2006. In March, Dell launched a Chinese version of Direct2Dell.

Bienvenidos a DellenDirecto, el blog corporativo de Dell en español. Este nuevo blog, diseñado para nuestros clientes, seguidores y bloggers que prefieren tener conversaciones con nosotros en español, será introducido por Michael Dell durante su visita a Miami para la Cumbre de Emprendedores de Endeavor. DellenDirecto es una extensión de nuestro ya conocido blog en inglés, Direct2Dell, que hoy en día recibe un promedio de 3 millones de visitas al mes con más de 100,000 visitantes únicos mensualmente.

» DellenDirecto.com

über bloggers

It's no secret that bloggers are becoming increasingly influential. But Arrington is part of an emerging crowd of writers who use their narrowly focused blogs, such as hyperlocal real estate reports, green guides, or Web 2.0 startup reviews, to establish themselves as thought leaders. These new influencers are taking a page from the blog networks Gawker and Weblogs Inc. and turning rapid-fire, around-the-clock blog patter that makes and shapes the news into a hot new online media model.

Companies are directing more efforts toward buttering up these New Media players, often feeding them exclusives that play well with their targeted audiences. And for marketers who are increasingly comfortable with spending money on blogs, advertising with these opinion leaders provides instant cachet.

Think of these as the digital version of potent, passionate trade press writers. They swarm every novelty in areas like tech, creating problems and buzz for companies and innovations. They report news and publish it alongside analysis of newspaper stories and company releases. These posts are salted with strong doses of personality, sparking discussions across the Web. By melding their own insights and opinions with the aggregated views of others, they're starting to gain leverage. "In a time-starved world, people—especially decision-makers—have very little time, but do not want to miss being in the know," says Rishad Tobaccowala, chief innovation officer at advertising firm Publicis Groupe Media.

» Business Week

Map: Blogosphere as social network

Discover Magazine has an interesting article on mapping the blogosphere, reporting on the work of Matthew Hurst. Hurst put together a 3D map of the blogosphere, with bright spots represent sites with the highest number of links and isolated islands represent closed communities like LiveJournal. The study also identifies other islands like sociopolitical commentary, gadget hounds, sports fans, and, um, porn blogs.

The blogosphere is the most explosive social network you’ll never see. Recent studies suggest that nearly 60 million blogs exist online, and about 175,000 more crop up daily (that’s about 2 every second). Even though the vast majority of blogs are either abandoned or isolated, many bloggers like to link to other Web sites. These links allow analysts to track trends in blogs and identify the most popular topics of data exchange. Social media expert Matthew Hurst recently collected link data for six weeks and produced this plot of the most active and interconnected parts of the blogosphere.

» discovermagazine
» map graphic

White Paper: 2007 Digital outlook report

Avenue A | Razorfish has released Digital Outlook Report 2007, a 140-page PDF that describes where marketing dollars are being spent online, key trends that will impact marketers in 2007, and new quantitative research on best practices for measuring the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

[ PDF ] DigitalMediaOutlook07

Research: Calculating Blogging ROI

Forrester used the process outlined in the associated Best Practices document, "The ROI Of Blogging," to calculate the ROI of General Motors' FastLane blog; but, this is not merely an exercise to generate a number. Using scenarios, General Motors can understand the risk and impact of increases and decreases of a key metric — the number of press mentions — on the value of the blog. With this knowledge in hand, General Motors can make critical businesses decisions, such as whether to invest heavily in innovations that will rekindle press attention.

Some other insightful findings include:

• The largest contributor of ROI to GM’s Fastlane blog in 2005 and 2006 was press mentions
• The total cost of launching a blog with a team of 4-5 people starts at $25k
• Smart blogging includes monitoring brand discussions in the broader Blogosphere
• Tying benefits to known metrics helps translate blogging ROI more easily

» forrester

The report provides the following chart to help translate blogging benefits into known metrics/value:

Research: B2B blogging and marketing

Business blogs can shorten sales cycles when they connect decision-makers to the designers and thought leaders who shape new products and services. Unfortunately, B2B blogs are new and evolving; only a small fraction of Fortune 500 companies sponsor one today. This early state represents both an opportunity and a concern for business marketers, especially early pioneers at high-tech firms where evangelists and engineers lead blogging efforts. Forrester believes that B2B blogs can open the formerly closed borders of corporations to prospects, customers, and investors. Marketing's role here is to leverage good blog content produced by technologists into their sales and PR activities, and create guidelines that keep individual bloggers from exposing inside information or straying off topics into areas that don't support the business.

» forrester

[mp3] The Value Line-Up: Vision, Strategy, and Execution

Anyone can write a “mission statement;” that’s the easy part. Putting those ideas into action is a much more difficult task that involves the entire company. While the twin concepts of vision (the destination) and strategy (the means to get there) may be carefully discussed and debated in the executive suite, these concepts often fail to permeate the entire company.

The principles of value creation may sound intuitive, but very few companies actually put them into practice. In many situations, it’s not because they are poorly managed companies. The culprit is almost always a lack of alignment and incomplete execution.

[mp3] Listen or Download / 00:26:52 min / Deloitte Insights

Blogging Success Study / Northeastern University

After careful review, the research team identified five factors for success. The majority of the twenty participant bloggers pointed to these factors as important to the success of their blog. We focus in on these factors in Section Three.

The five factors identified by the participants were:

1. Culture
2. Transparency
3. Time
4. Dialogue
5. Entertaining Writing Style and Personalization.

» Advanced Organizational Communications

Economist Interview: Wide world of wikis

This interview was hosted by Brendan Greeley, the blogger-in-chief for the US public radio program Open Source, and the author of The Economist's survey on new media, Andreas Kluth.

[mp3] Listen or Download / The Economist

Blogs as leading indicators

This interview was hosted by Brendan Greeley, the blogger-in-chief for the US public radio program Open Source , and the author of The Economist's survey on new media, Andreas Kluth.

[mp3] Listen or Download / The Economist

The future of newspapers. Is print heading for obsolescence?

The age of podcasts, war-zone bloggers, and countless other online information sources presents newspapers with arguably their biggest challenge ever. But how to react? Is print heading for obsolescence? Or can it re-invent itself and reach out to a generation brought up looking at screens? Leading media figures tell Ian Burrell where we're going from here.

I think you'll end up with some premium-branded newspapers, a bit like The Sunday Times has done with its £2 price, which will be far more niche-orientated. The ones that have got a clear definition as to what their market is are the ones that will survive. Love it or like it the Daily Mail has a very strong market, it has a right-wing bias and it really targets that quite heavily. It's getting that niche and really working it. That's where Metro has been successful, it's a young, urban, travelling audience and it's fulfilling a need for that audience at that place and time.

Lots of answers from lots of media people. Worth reading.

» Search Blog-Specific Tags: Bloggers - Newspapers
» The Independent

Business Blogging Seminars

[mp3] Intro to Six Apart's Seminar on Business Blogging

State of the Blogosphere, October, 2006

First off, the total posting volume of the blogosphere has leveled off somewhat, showing about 1.3 million postings per day, which is a little lower than what we were seeing last quarter but still about double the volume of this time last year. This leveling off may be the result of more aggressive and mature spam fighting capabilities as discussed above, but we'll have to see how the next three months progresses to determine if this is the case or if some other trend is at work.

Along with the aggregate posting volume information, we’ve put in some annotations of the events that occurred at the time of the spikes, showing that the blogosphere continues to react strongly to various world events. It is important to note that these spikes are relative to the posting volume at that time. For instance, the big spike in July is related to the Israeli / Hezbollah conflict as well as other escalating tensions in the Middle East. I similarly would expect to see a spike beginning today and throughout this week in response to the upcoming U.S. elections.

» Search Blog-Specific Tags: Blogosphere - Technorati - State of the Blogosphere
» Full Report

SEC chief gets blogging

Chairman of the SEC, Christopher Cox, has joined the blogging world.

In a comment on Sun Microsystem's chief executive, Jonathan Schwartz's blog, the SEC chief showed interest in Mr Schwartz's recent request that blogs be used as a way to expand investors' access to information. In a triumph of PR, Mr Cox posted the text of a letter he had sent last week in response to a letter from Mr Schwartz on the subject. "Since you're talking about trasparency and efficiency in communications, I though you might appreciate my taking advantage of the internet's speed and potential for broad dissemination by posting here as well," he added.

Blog Business Summit

Are you interested in learning how to leverage blogging for your business? If so, you should have been at Blog Business Summit last week! The conference spanned useful topics ranging from starting your 1st blog to the future of online communications. There was an impressive line-up of speakers (bloggers) and panelists, including Dave Taylor, Robert Scoble, Chris Pirillo Jason Calacanis, Ben Edwards, Andru Edwards, and John Battelle.

Two common themes were search engine optimization (SEO) and engagement with your blog's audience. Google favors fresh content and links -- so, the simplest way to drive more traffic to a blog is to give your posts more google-relevant titles. Blogs also have great potential to engage readers in a conversation about their content. Robert Scoble mentioned that his blog's audience's engagement level is much higher than most websites because he brings his personality to his blog & stays authentic. 

Many attendees blogged about the conference as it happened. It was weird to hear constant typing during the presentations.  For a summary of each session and its highlights, click the "continue reading" link below ...

Wednesday:

• Business Blogging Case Study: The Creation of a Sponsored Weblog - See summary
• Dave Taylor Keynote - The Future of Findability - Dave is an amazing presenter with a vast array of knowledge. A key thing he reminded that group was that a blog is "just a tool" and it is up to the blogger or bloggers to take advantage of this tool to the best of their abilities. Another key takeaway from this presentation was that you NEED to make sure that your customer can find you (ahead of your competitor) when searching for your company or product online (findability). Further, blogging is the 21st Century version of word of mouth. More coverage.
• The Blog Advantage: What Blogs Are and Why They are Taking Over - Steve Broback from Blog Business Summit mentioned a couple of reasons blogs are better than traditional media: they are more practical, more visable, and provide greater flexibility. Do you know what Nigritude Ultramarine means? The answer is nothing- It stemmed from a SEO challenge to see who can become number 1 on google for a search term that did not exist. The winner- a blog.
• Getting Started: Your First Blog - This was a very basic session on how to start a blog, using TypePad as the example.  Dave and Steve were able to create an entire blog, start to finish, within the hour. Quite a feat considering all the dialouge that took place in between building the blog.
• Working Your Blog: Posting and Beyond - Again, Dave Taylor discussed the various ways to get your blog noticed in the vast blogosphere.
• Getting Started with Podcasting and Video Blogging - Robert Scoble, John Furrier and Andru Edwards discussed some of the history of Podcasting, and how you can best incorporate these new forms of communication into your blog.
• Legal Issues for Bloggers and the Companies Who Employ Them - This was an interesting discussion with Buzz Bruggeman, Kevin O'Keefe and Phil Mann on the issues employers and employees face with blogging and bloggers.

Thursday:

• What's Next in Online Communications - My key takeaway? Internet usage on phones will be the future. See summary.
• Maintaining Authenticity & Integrity Within Commercial Social Media - Lots of bloggers covered this one (including me). One interesting quote he mentioned was "Do not let anyone get inside the blog post"-- meaning disclose EVERYTHING and do not deceive others. At the end of the session, Jason Calacanis announced that Podtech and GoDaddy agreed to a $100,000 sponsorship of his new podcast, with the money going toward putting two Brooklyn kids to a private school they could not otherwise afford.
• Engaging with Bloggers: Working the Blogosphere - Halley Suitt, Janet Johnson, and Buzz Bruggeman led a lively discussion about how to best engage with bloggers when trying to market your company.  The number one rule they all seemed to agree on was making sure you read and understand a blog or blogger before doing any sort of outreach. More.
• Audience Measurement: Quantifying and Qualifying - See this excellent summary of the panel discussion.
• Building Communities Online - Dustin from Move.com wrote a good summary over at RainCity Guide. He actually randomly sat next to me during the morning sessions on Thursday and we talked at length at the reception afterwards. I posted my notes on my blog.
• RSS and Feeds: Monitoring the Blogosphere and the Buzz - See summary
• Walking the Tightrope: Mixing the Personal and Professional on your Blog - This panel was the most lively and interesting session that I attended. With Jory Des Jardins moderating, Robert and Maryam Scoble participated in the panel with Chris Pirillo and Ponzi Indharasophang. They talked a little bit about how being personable creates a strong bond between reader and author, which drives engagement.
• Corporate Blogging Policy - Ben Edwards from IBM, Nicki Dugan of Yahoo!, Betsy Aoki from Microsoft talked a bit about corporate blogging policy. Summary here.
• Entrepreneurial Blogging: Maximizing Ad Revenues - This turned out to be just a free-form discussion with the main contributors being Jason Calacanis, Dave Taylor, Andru Edwards, Robert Scoble, and Chris Pirillo. One thing that was brought up was the notion that, in the blogosphere, "Everybody's talking, no one is listening." More coverage.
• Microsoft & Social Media: Lessons Learned from the MSDN Community Blog & Channel 9 - Some great ideas came out of this session around how to engage the "MVP's" of your blog- how do you get them coming back time and time again and adding insightful ideas. More.
• Small Business Blogging - Sarah and I both missed this session. But here's a summary.

Friday:

• Putting Web Feeds to Work - It's estimated that 30% of your time on the job is spent looking for information. Conference sponsor Attensa has a RSS reader (that plugs into Outlook) that can help people organize their information more effectively. For more information, check this post.
• Ben Edwards: Branding in the Age of YouTube - One of Ben's slides said, "The rise of social media heralds the advent of a new communications paradigm" - which represents a new way of communicating that's emerging. Are you ready to lose control of your brand? Well, you already have according to Mr. Edwards. Instead, try to influence rather than control. In the age of social media, there is the concept of the "naked" corporation- Everything can be seen by everyone. Embrace social media- it's here to stay. See more coverage and take a look at this video Ben played for the audience.
• Ten Ways to a Killer Blog - Robert and Maryam Scoble gave a lively and engaging presentation about ten tips to create a great blog.
• Podcasting and Video Blogging Best Practices - Mary Hodder, Robert Scoble, and Andru Edwards spoke both about best practices and creative way to use video online. The first thing to determine is what story you want to tell. Stay close- "if your pictures aren't good enough, you probably aren't close enough." More coverage.
• John Battelle Keynote - Talk about a great keynote speaker. Take a look at this great summary for the key points. More coverage.
• Blogging and SEO Strategies - John Battelle, Tris Hussy, and Dave Taylor answered audience questions about the ins and outs of drawing more traffic to your blog. One tip- show a little link love!
• The Future of Blogging: Tools and Trends - RainCity Guide gives some highlights here or Pro PR summarizes here. What do you think? We'd love to hear your thoughts (if you've made it this far)!

If you're interested, Teresa Valdez-Klein at Blog Business Summit has started to post speaker slides for all the sessions listed above on the Blog Business Summit blog.

Blogging Becomes A Corporate Job

In its short lifespan, blogging has largely been a freewheeling exercise in online self-expression. Now it is also becoming a corporate job.

A small but growing number of businesses are hiring people to write blogs, otherwise known as Web logs, or frequently updated online journals. Companies are looking for candidates who can write in a conversational style about timely topics that would appeal to customers, clients and potential recruits.

Via: Wall Street Journal

Blogging as a job has emerged as companies of all stripes increasingly see the Web as an important communications venue. Blogs allow firms to assume a natural tone rather than the public-relations speak typical of some static Web pages, and readers are often invited to post comments. While some companies are hiring full-time bloggers, others are adding blogging duties to existing marketing or Web-editing positions.

Currently only 4% of major U.S. corporations have blogs available to the public, according to a recent survey by eMarketer, a New York research company. But ads for blogging jobs are popping up on online job boards in recent months. "Blogging jobs are growing in popularity," says Jennifer Sullivan, spokeswoman for CareerBuilder Inc.'s CareerBuilder.com, based in Chicago. She notes that in March she recruited a communications specialist whose job includes writing CareerBuilder's blog.

Journalism, The Blogosphere, and an upcoming conference

The newest edition of The Convergence Newsletter is out, this month focusing on a variety of helpful places to look regarding issues of convergence and particularly in ways that the convergence discussion impacts professional and community journalism.

Melissa McGill, the new editor of the newsletter, has compiled a particularly helpful list of blogs, with the help of University of South Carolina journalism instructor Doug Fisher.

At the top of the list (and we're honored) is the C3 blog and Henry Jenkins' blog. I was elated, until I realized the list was in alphabetical order. Still, we're honored to make the newsletter's list. But there are a few other intriguing sites as well that may be of interest of some of our readers here, including The Cornate Media Hub, MediaShift, and Media in Transition by Vincent Maher, among several others.

The blogosphere is certainly an important part of blogging and citizen journalism, an issue we've been writing about a lot lately, such as here and here and here. However, I appreciate Melissa's helpful tools in finding some of the cutting-edge voices in those debates and highlighting their work.

As an aside, there's also a piece promoting the Convergence and Society Conference at the University of South Carolina that will be taking place October 19-21. The conference looks to be worth paying attention to, whether you are actually able to attend or not, especially if you are interested in how convergence is affecting news outlets and expanding the reach of citizen journalism.

The conference's tag line is "Ethics, Religion, and New Media Conference." The blurb for the conference states, "Since September 11, 2001, ethics and religion have emerged as important topics in the study of new media. At this conference, the moral implications of emerging media are addressed at the levels of society, culture, and the media professions. It is a forum for scholars, media professionals and theologians to discuss converging media from the standpoint of competing values.
Via: http://www.convergenceculture.org/weblog/2006/10/journalism_the_blogosphere_and.html

[Forrester] Corporate Blog Design Is Broken

As blogs become a staple of online culture, more and more companies are using them to humanize their organizations and build personal relationships with their customers. But most corporate blogs are fraught with usability problems — like confusing terminology and poor navigation — that hinder mainstream user adoption and regular readership. In order to tap the power of blogs, firms must understand their target users and the design shortcomings that currently make corporate blogs difficult to use.
Via: http://www.forrester.com/go?docid=40389

Blog Co. (tm) dot com

Through this portal you can access a growing range of Blog Co.
brand services.

Brand Name / Trademark: [ Blog Co. ]

Blogging Goes Mainstream

In 2004, the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants, news services and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion formation. Even politicians not actively involved in a campaign such as Tom Watson, a UK Labour Party MP, began to use blogging as a means for creating a bond with constituents and creating a channel for their ideas and opinions. Minnesota Public Radio broadcast a program by Christopher Lydon and Matt Stoller called "The Blogging of the President", which covered the transformation in politics that blogging seemed to presage. The Columbia Journalism Review began regular coverage of blogs and blogging. Anthologies of blog pieces began to reach print, and blogging personalities began appearing on radio and television. In the summer of that year both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions credentialed bloggers, and blogs became a standard part of the publicity arsenal, with mainstream programs, such as Chris Matthews' Hardball, forming their own blogs. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary declared "blog" as the word of the year in 2004. (Wikinews)

Blogs were some of the driving forces behind the "Rathergate" scandal involving Dan Rather of CBS and some memos used on the show 60 Minutes II. Within 72 hours a coordinated group of bloggers had built a case that they were likely forgeries. The evidence presented eventually created such concern over the issue that CBS was forced to address the situation and make an apology for their inadequate reporting techniques. This is viewed by many bloggers as the advent of blogs' acceptance by the mass media as a source of news. It also showed how blogs could keep the pressure on an established news source, forcing defenses and then a retraction of the original story.

Blogging is also used now to break consumer complaints and vulnerabilities of products, in the way that Usenet and email lists once were. One such example is accusations about vulnerability of Kryptonite 2000 locks.

Bloggers have also moved over to other media. Duncan Black (a.k.a. Atrios), Glenn Reynolds, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (a.k.a. Kos), Ana Marie Cox (a.k.a. Wonkette), and others have appeared on radio and/or television. Hugh Hewitt is an example of a media personality who has moved in the other direction, adding to his reach in "old media" by being an influential blogger.

In January 2005, Fortune magazine listed Peter Rojas, Xeni Jardin, Ben Trott and Mena Trott, Jonathan Schwartz, Jason Goldman, Robert Scoble, and Jason Calacanis as eight bloggers that business people "could not ignore."

The year 2005 also saw the introduction of the first qualification in blogging.