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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