May 2006

The response to the LAPD’s new blog has been rather mixed. On the one hand, I think it’s a great start with some mostly technological issues to fix. On the other, one LA Daily News columnist, Mariel Garza, thinks the blog “just bogs down net.”

Like I told the Daily News a couple of weeks ago, I think the LAPD is serious about using this blog to really engage the community. I became even more entrenched in that position when I saw the LAPD’s response to Garza’s column:

We designed the blog to do a number of things, respond to criticism without having our responses edited, gauge the pulse of the public, let people know what’s happening in the Department, both good and bad, and yes even plug the positive contributions of its men and women. The audacity of this this LAPD “flack” to actually want people to know that yes, cops are people too and they do good things. They don’t, as the writer would have you believe, spend the majority of their time going from one fast food restaurant to another. Transparency goes both ways you know…

Will the blog, as you say “reverse years of secrecy and conflict with the community?” Our hope is that in time the dialogue will help to heal old wounds. But come on, you’ve got to give us more than two weeks!

Whatever you think about the LAPD’s presence in the blogosphere thus far, they are using their blog to engage their detractors head-on. Yes they have some growing to do as bloggers, but like they said, give them more than two freakin’ weeks!

While I strongly disagree with the idea that a new style of press releases might engage the social media in any powerful new way, I think there’s something to be said for Todd Deffren’s approach to the use of del.icio.us as a tool for working with the mainstream media.

Keeping reporters apprised of updates in the story and relevant information via RSS-empowered dedicated lists of ever-changing links is a fantastic idea. I hope that as the world, and the media in general become more RSS-savvy, that this becomes an accepted best practice for the public relations industry.

Six Apart’s new hosted blogging service, which is scheduled to launch tomorrow, will cater to blogging newbies while allowing users to build social networks. Originally called Comet, the service has been renamed Vox.

Given Anil’s excitement about social networking at our last event, I can’t say that I’m terribly surprised that Six Apart is making a foray into this arena. I’ll be logging in tomorrow to check out the service and see whether it’s at all suited for any kind of business blogging.

Via TailRank.

Wordpress’ Akismet spam blocking plugin has been updated with a few new administrative features. Last week we reported on some problems that users were having with the system.

Via The Blog Herald.

Palo Alto-based Tacit Software has announced that they will release a new program called Illumio. It is designed to search for expertise within networks of friends.

How does it work? In a nutshell, people who belong to a network give the program permission to search the contents of their computers. Based on the documents, drivers and software found there, the program extrapolates their areas of expertise. When any of the users in that network ask the system a question like, “which of the new point-and-shoot digital cameras is the best for the money?” or “Is the used car dealership on the corner of Lake City Way and 85th reputable?” it scans all the users’ computers to find out who might know the answer. The best part is that all of this information is kept private until the user(s) that the system has identified as experts reveal themselves.

There are a lot of potential applications for this kind of software. I wonder if the sofware that makes Illumio tick could be paired with systems like the one Toshiba has released in Japan that allows users to find out what bloggers are saying about a product by scanning its bar code with their cell phones while they’re in the store. Perhaps the same bar code readers could scan opt-in networks like the ones Illumio uses in addition to scanning the blogosphere.

This software could also be used to consolidate the expertise of networks of bloggers, giving users the opportunity to search thousands of blogs in a single topic area for the answer to one single question. Or it could be used for dating, pairing users whose computer contents indicate that they have the same taste in music or interest in historical fiction.

When we talk about “Web 2.0″, we often talk about blogs, mashup Web applications and social networking. But what all these new uses for the Internet have in common is the ability to organize and disseminate information in new and useful ways. Illimio represents another important advance in that arena, giving users access to information that might not be publicly available on the Web.

If blogs put the power to determine a brand’s future in the hands of ordinary people, then Illimio represents an intensification of that trend. It makes word of mouth marketing even more important to the success of a business than ever before. And even if Illumio doesn’t rely on the blogosphere to get information, you can bet that its early adopters will. The existence of this program makes reaching out to the blogosphere an even more essential part of any business communications plan.

Via Digg.

According to a survey conducted by Australian broadband Internet service provider Whirlpool, approximately 1/3 of Australian broadband users are using their high-speed access to download pirated television shows.

In our book, we talk about how the evolution of the Web has brought us the content-on-demand generation. People who are used to using the Web often want content in a variety of formats that make it convenient and desirable for them to use. Many businesses in the entertainment industry have taken notice of this revolution - ABC now streams many of its hit shows for free over its website, and countless television networks are offering their shows for download on the iTunes store.

And the concept doesn’t stop at the entertainment industry. Newspapers need to make their online content available in formats that are supported by the ever-growing number of wireless devices that support data access. To take an example we use in our book, even the makers of Purina dog food make their Animal Advice radio show available in podcast format.

To make the evolution and success of the Web translate to additional success for your business, you’re going to have to figure out how you can provide your core audience with the content they crave and the formats they want.

Via Digg.

A List Apart has a wonderful article this week by Mark Bernstein entitled “10 Tips on Writing the Living Web”.

Although some of the tips - like writing about your sex life - may not be appropriate for the business blogosphere, there are many excellent points here. I liked what Bernstein had to say about keeping prose clear by omitting unnecessary text, and his thoughts on how passion and enthusiasm make the most interesting writing.

It’s a can’t miss article for anyone who wants to improve develop all-important and under-discussed skill of writing for the blogosphere.

Update: I thought of a tip I’d like to add to that list. I learned somewhere along the way that the best writing is usually about the things that you spend a lot of time thinking about. If you pick up a new concept and try to write about it without having even begun to grok it yourself, you won’t pass any real understanding along to your readers because you posses none.

Did you ever think you’d see the day when MoveOn.org and the The Christian Coalition would join forces? Well, it’s arrived.

The organizations have announced a joint campaign to keep the Web neutral, rather than allowing telecommunications companies to determine which sites load fastest based on who is willing to pay the most money.

For our past coverage of the network neutrality issue, click here

Earlier today a piece from one of my favorite blogs, PR Squared filtered into my newsreader. It triumphantly proclaimed that at long last, a press release for social media had been developed.

Forgive me for my skepticism, but I really don’t think that a new format is going to bring the press release to the blogosphere in any big new way. As the situation currently stands, press releases are sent out over newswires like PR Web (which is the official newswire of the Blog Business Summit). Bloggers sometimes link to those press releases when they’re relevant to a topic they care about.

The operative word here is care. A jazzy new format that features bullet points and del.icio.us links isn’t going to make them care about your product any more than sending a love letter to a guy who doesn’t know you exist is going to make him fall in love with you. If you want to reach a blogger, you don’t pitch, and you certainly don’t make an overture with a press release. You send an e-mail or leave a comment. You show that you know her blog because you read it and care about her opinion. Then you figure out what you have in common, you talk about your interests - hopefully reaching some kind of mutual benefit. There is no quick and easy way to talk to most bloggers.

Yes, the press release has a very important place in the world of Web communications. But forget a new format. It’s not going to make one bit of difference. If someone sent me one of these things, I’d disregard it just like I would a traditional press release.

Earlier this month, I asked what Sir Tim Berners-Lee thought about the Network Neutrality issue currently before Congress. Now we have his response. He opposes any legislation that would disrupt the principle that all Websites are created equal.

Via digg

I must apologize for my lack of blogginess thus far this week. It seems that I’ve been afflicted with whatever plague is currently going around and have been out sick. For your reading pleasure, I’ve decided to do a roundup of all the infinitely interesting news the blogosphere has offered in the last few days.

• Does Google favor the left wing? The American Thinker a conservative blog, raised questions about Google’s political leanings this week. Google had removed several conservative sites from its news listings after the sites ran articles about radical Islam that Google deemed hate speech. Whether the articles are hate speech or not is certainly not fur us to say. Perhaps our readers will give us their opinions on whether the left-leaning claims are founded or not.
• Earthlink blogging…sort of. Diva Marketing reports that Earthlink’s VP of Corporate Communications, Dan Greenfield has started his own blog to, “muse on my profession but (not) my job at Earthlink.”
• Microsoft listens to criticism from within. Robert Scoble wrote today about some of the new personnel decisions being made over at Microsoft. He credits Mini-Microsoft, an anonymous employee with many critical things to say about the company, with many of the changes.
• Problems with Wordpress comment spam blocker? Chris Pirillo reports that he’s been having problems with Wordpress’ Akisment service. Apparently, it’s been blocking perfectly good comments without notifying him. Our resident Wordpress guru Jason Preston (whose newest blogging venture is Flicker Gaming) says that he’s never had this kind of problem with Akisment before. His only complaint about the software is he thinks it “makes up spam” telling him he’s been hit with thousands of spam comments - even though he didn’t have a serious spam problem before turning on the service.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little roundup. Hopefully I’ll be back to normal tomorrow so I can offer more sharp analysis of the blogosphere :-).

We’ve been closely following the early days of the Los Angeles Police Department’s new blog. Ruben de la Torre of the LAPD was at our Essentials of Business Blogging Seminar in Los Angeles and did a podcast interview with me to talk about the process of getting the LAPD blog-ready.

The blog’s content is very interesting, covering local crime, community initiatives, and recruitment while responding to newspaper edtiorials and encouraging participation. Chief of Police William J. Bratton laid out the goals of the LAPD’s blogging strategy:

By using this Blog, the LAPD hopes to maintain an open dialogue with the communites we serve and those who have an interest in the men and women of this organization. We encourage you to express your opinions about current events through respectful and insightful discussion. We reserve the right to refuse to post those comments that contain inappropriate language and/or material. In the near future, we intend to expand our Blogging capabilities to all 19 Area Stations.

We think it’s fantastic that the LAPD wants to extend their blogging even further, and to that end, we have a few constructive criticisms.

1) Fix the DNS. It looks like they’re using DNS forwarding from their registered lapdblog.org domain name to their Typepad hosted domain name at lapdblog.typepad.com. The problem is that they’re not allowing users to see the actual domain name, only the .org name - which doesn’t have an RSS feed. Users who want to subscribe may find it tricky to track down the feed URL. For the record, here’s a link to their actual feed.

2) Find a long-term hosting solution. While this original hosting solution is great to start off with, the blog is eventually going to expand to meet the Chief’s stated goal of covering all 19 Area Stations. To keep all the blogs neatly organized, the department may want to look at using Movable Type to host all of it’s blogs at its original website.

This is also good for search engine visibility. Obviously, Google juice isn’t as important to the LAPD as it might be to a corporation that has competitors and needs to engage in aggressive search engine marketing, but even so - diverting Google juice is never a good idea.

3) Have a designer create a custom template. Whether or not you plan to host the blog on your own site or keep it in TypePad, a custom template can help clarify your business blog from all of the personal blogs out there hosted on the same service. Building a distinctive-looking blog is part of brand clarity.

We’re very proud to have played even a small role in this great blog. You’re in our RSS readers, LAPD!

Sometimes companies determine that its in their best interest to build their own blogs. When this happens, you need to bring in a competent developer. My friend Matt over at SEOMOZ has come up with a great list of 20 things to ask a potential developer when you’re trying to figure out whether they’re right for the job.

In Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal Interview, Richard Edelman: PR Executive Turns to Bloggers To Spread Messages for Clients, Edelman stresses the need for transparency and the importance of blogging in that effort. As we have noted in previous unscientific google analyses, the Edelman firm has long seemed to “get” blogging, and Mr. Edelman says some things that the (still!) fearful corporate America needs to internalize. Some relevant snippets from the interview that relate to business blogging:

Bloggers need to disclose sponsorship arrangements:

“For me, and I think this applies in mainstream media as well as in the blogosphere, you’ve got to make sure that companies understand that they have to identify themselves, tell why they are doing what they are doing and make clear whatever financial arrangement there is with a sponsorship. This is an era of total transparency. In a video news release, for example, I think it has to be absolutely clear that this is sponsored, for whatever company it is. It’s very subversive to credibility to have any other kind of structure.”



The letter to the editor is no longer the preferred way to respond to the press. The blog is.

“Look, if you’re in business, and you don’t like the way a story comes out, whether it’s in The [Wall Street] Journal or The [New York] Times or whatever it is, you can post documents on your Web site…you can post back to a piece you don’t like and say, ‘Hey, there’s a different take on this,’ because the only latitude we used to have was a letter to the editor. While a letter to the editor is yes, [still] one of the techniques, we have the ability to have an alternative story line. What I tried to say is ‘Your piece is not necessarily the only word on the subject.’ There are other channels available that companies own, channels like the blogosphere, and then other media.”



The power of the press is now in the hands of the people:

“I really see that this area of self-expression is bridging, clearly, into mainstream media…[traditional media outlets] are trying to accommodate a world in which the citizen feels as if he wants to not just be a spectator but also in some way a player, or have his voice heard…if companies want to be in this world, they have got to give up control. They’ve got to cede control in return for credibility…”

“They’ve got to cede control in return for credibility…”: This is a phrase that speaks volumes, and one we will refer to frequently as we meet with corporate clients. Blogging done right yields high returns on gaining credibility with an audience. It’s well worth the risk of being more transparent.

I’ve been a big fan of NetNewsWire since Steve introduced me to it at Blog Business Summit Seattle last October. It’s a very flexible newsreader and a lot of fun to work with, but there’s one little quirk that sometimes makes me nuts, very occasionally when you cut and paste a link into the “add subscription” window, NetNewsWire can’t find an RSS feed and labels the feed as “Untitled Source.”

When this happens, I use my Safari browser to surf to the site I want to subscribe to and click on the blue “RSS” marker in the far right hand side of the address bar.

I then copy everything after the word “feed” and go back into NetNewsWire. There, I right click on the feed in question and select “Show Info.”

I replace the feed URL that NetNewsWire has derived from the site with the feed URL from Safari. The I right click on the feed again and select “Refresh.”

And presto! Healthy feed.

I’ve just posted over at the blog book blog about another perspective on the network neutrality debate and its subsequent political ramifications in Congress.

We’re plotting and planning for the launch of our forthcoming book from Peachpit Press and are in search of a Seattle-area restaurant or winery that is blog-savvy and fabulous.

We’ve found Salty’s Wine Talk blog already. Any others you folks know of?

No wonder bloggers are wary of PR people (see question 9). Robert Scoble’s been having all kinds of fun with some public relations folks who continue to e-mail him press releases and other forms of non blogger-friendly crap while his mother is ill.

Of course, Robert draws a big distinction between the clued-in PR professionals and those who are not. But it just seems like common sense that if you’re going to engage a blogger, you might want to at least read his blog and try to avoid sending him a press release while his mother is sick in the hospital.

Someone sent me this link this morning, asking if it sounded like something she should apply to. I teased her about her post-graduation jitters and assured her that there were many more interesting jobs in her future than being the bane of the blogosphere’s existance.

Still, I think it’s interesting that these sorts of postings pop up on Craigslist this time of year, when all the recent grads are feeling just a might apprehensive about their futures and their ability to continue achieving after college. I can see how this posting would look like easy money, but would most likely wind up being a dismal experience.

I’m not saying that spammers aren’t responsible for their own actions - we’re under heavy spam attack right now and it’s extremely frustrating. But there are people behind those annoying links to porn sites and poker tournaments, and those people are a part of the business blogosphere that we rarely talk about. Judging by the reaction I got from my friend, it seems pretty likely that at least some portion of this group gets into the spamming game because they’re at vulnerable points in their lives or careers. I’d like to hear from some spammers/former spammers. What led you to get into this line of work? And much more importantly, what would you rather be doing?