down the avenue

What CEOs Want From Marketing

SVAMA (Silicon Valley American Marketing Association) sponsored an event tonight in Santa Clara on what CEOs want from marketing. Susan Bratton moderated a panel of CEOs and CMOs, which included Mark Schar now with Intuit (formally with Proctor & Gamble), Jeff Pulver (not the VoIP one), Shutterfly's Jeff Housenbold and client Glenn Reid, CEO of Five Across.

The first question that was thrown out to the panel was " Why is there a perception that marketing execs will not become CEOs or don't have what it takes to go down that path?' The first thing that jumped into my head -- loud and clear -- was lack of financial experience. Ditto. One of the two main answers. The second one was lack of broader business experience, which is often also true.

Other interesting piece of data.....the average time that CMOs stay in a position is only two years. They didn't specify whether that changed depending on the industry.

Mark Schar shares reasons why CMOs fail from an article in Strategy & Business roughly six months ago.

Great recap:
**The mission and responsibility of the CMO is the hardest to define. It's easy to miss and look like you've failed.

**CMO jobs can range from VP of Marketing Services to the CEO confidante. It's easier to have conflict, whether its a corporate culture style clash or personality mismatch. Its also easy for the CMO to overshadow the CEO which won't work long term. What will the CEO allow the CMO to control?

**CMO responsibilities are more indirect rather than direct............

On "what can marketing execs do to get a seat at the board table?" Says Pulver, "Get tight with the head of sales. I see CMOs fail because the communication and relationship between sales and marketing breaks down."

Shutterfly's Housenbold agrees and adds, "What's the ROI? what are the metrics? It's important to drive cross function collaboration, bridging activities across different roles and function, i.e., merchandising vs what's happening with the direct sales campaign and PR.

They all agreed the importance of open communication and defining expectations early on, i.e., what the process is, what the metrics are and making sure sales, marketing and management all agree.

Susan asks Schar, "what about metrics at Proctor & Gamble?" Schar says, "P&G lived in a world of metrics. Intuit thankfully has the same approach. They can track how well their programs are working on a daily basis, i.e., the website, direct mail, etc. Having these metrics earns you credibility. If you can provide these to sales, i.e., that your marketing program helped drive sales -- they'll love you."

Mark continues, "As you drive metrics, you start to measure finer and finer things, i.e., adding baking soda to toothpaste." The audience laughs. Crest created a category around "brush, no cavities." Since that's not so much of an issue today, toothpaste has been re-invented.......now we tout the whitening your teeth aspect and its more about cosmetics than prevention although it clearly does both.

On "Is Marketing the #1 driver in your organization?" At Intuit, Mark says the "customer is the #1 driver. We do customer driven innovation, where the customer helps drive the product. What does the customer want? What do they say?"

But the start-up perspective was a little different. When you're innovating and looking to build things consumers have never thought of, the customer becomes a lousy source of information. They don't know what they want "yet," or what they could have if it were presented to them.

Savvy marketing execs can interpret the needs not yet identified however. (As can great PR)

Other important things they considered included metrics for first time purchase versus repeat purchase and the frequency. "Look at the frequency at which people come back and the volumes they're buying. Are your marketing programs driving additional sales for not just the product they originally purchased, but peripheral products, accessories, add-ons?" Amazon is really great at this.

Housenbold adds a few more important considerations:
--brand favorability over time
--customer satisfaction ratings (and making sure to measure these fairly)

There's always a question on failure and mistakes and people always love the responses....its the juice, the guts, the "lessons learned," and more importantly for most humans, a way to look at a CEO and think to yourself - "if they failed, then its okay when I do." The soap opera saga that all human nature relates to.

At Intuit, when a project fails, apparently Scott Cook invites people over to his house for a party/get together and they discuss what they can learn from it.

What about advice for other marketing execs? Every one of them seemed to agree on the value of open communication and setting expectations. I love this one - solve your bosses' bossess' problems. Work as a team even when things are tough AND when you're not sure about something or see a red flag, speak up early.

Speaking up early also means being a positive catalyst. Be seen as a catalyst for your corporate culture.
Glenn adds, "Be brave enough to throw ideas out there. Show that you're thinking in an innovative way. Drive the front end of what you should do with your business rather than being a cheerleader after the fact."

Schar says, "Know and love your customer better than anyone in the organization. Love your customer and they'll come to you." I've always subscribed to that philosophy although sometimes "love" isn't enough.

Other great CEO advice: "know what you're good at and surround yourself by other experts." Also, "have the voice of the customer to back up your recommendations. Have metrics to back up your decisions." I've learned that both engineering and sales really appreciate this."

In terms of what's working and now. Word and phrase search marketing wasn't really on the list for a great ROI, but viral marketing techniques continued to be.....not surprising. It's what builds trust over time more than any other method in my opinion. Build community for and around your customer - again, look at McDonalds, eBay, Amazon, Avon.

Schar says "Give your product away." HA. Ask the question when you see a train coming - do you fight it or embrace it? Change your business model and embrace it was the suggestion. Turbo Tax gave away a couple of million filings for free but did it in a clever way. Did they lose? It was extremely successful.

Last comments: throw thought leadership events, smaller groups and roundtables -- yeah, I love these too as I recently said in my interview with Shel Israel (Red Couch). People love being able to talk to their peers about what's working and not working. And lastly, give value-add things to your customer that is not a hard sales pitch. Build a relationship.

AH YES, back to the relationship again. Back to the relationship.

Building a Corporate Blogging Strategy

The Business Development Institute is hosting an event on Tuesday, May 3 in New York, where senior executives from Fortune 500 companies as well as sales, marketing and PR execs will discuss how to build a corporate blogging strategy and how businesses across the board can leverage blogs to drive new revenue, increase market share and gain critical brand exposure.

There's a live webcast of the event, and they're interviewing Robert Scoble.

Online Behavior: Who Decides?!?

Behavioral marketing is something we've been hearing a lot about for awhile (also discussed widely at the recent Ad:Tech conference). Targeting people based on their online habits isn't new though - its just getting more and more savvy.

I find adware so offensive though....most of the time - no, all of the time. (there's a great discription of adware and spyware here).
Spam on my screen. Spam in my box. Noise everywhere. Go away.

But the argument is that the consumer wins since we don't have to pay for so-called compelling content surrounding the neon flashing lights. You know, the flashing zippy banners that makes it impossible to actually read the content.

If marketers are trying to come up with successful and less offensive strategies for winning over the consumer (or mining information on their customers), then figure out a more personalized way to reach us with things we truly care about -- without the flashing neon pop-up ads, banners and offers upon every click. It's sad if this is really working. (meaning people are actually okay with it in their daily lives).

The "other" book recommendations from Amazon.com they refer to is a great idea - well it works for me.

It's not offensive (you have to scroll down to view your choices rather than it hitting you in the face, so me, the consumer decides when and how I want to view it). 50% of the time, I opt in to another book or DVD choice, even if its not for me, "its something I can use as a gift." Isn't that what they want you to be thinking? Funny how that works.

Opt in isn't new either, but why is that I feel like I have less opt in choices than I did three years ago? They quote Claria in the article, formerly known as Gator. (formerly is right - they had to change their name because they offended so many people). --not to be confused with aggregator NewsGator.

So now, cookies are still legal. And I have no say. DoNotCall is apparently working but after submitting two phones numbers, I'm still getting hammered, so I still have no say and no control.

It's invasive and obnoxious and someone else decides for me how my time is spent (answering calls from people I don't want to talk to, running spyware programs, deleting spam, viruses and garbage on a regular basis).

What CEOs Really Want From Marketing

The next SVMA (Silicon Valley Marketing Association) meeting will discuss What CEO’s Really Want from Marketing.

It will be at Techmart in Santa Clara on May 11, 2005 at 6 pm. Speakers include Mark Schar of Intuit, Jeff Pulver, Client Glenn Reid of Five Across and CEO of Shutterfly Jeff Housenbold.

AD:TECH on RSS and More......

AD:TECH, the event for interactive marketing is in San Francisco this week. Adrants writes about a few of their sessions, including two on RSS led by Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li.

Other panelists included Royal Farros, CEO of Messagecast; Chris Henger, VP Marketing and Product Development for Performics; and Catherine Paschkewitz, Director of Consumer Marketing for hpshopping.com.

They focused on the use of RSS to distribute opt in information, such as, coupons, specials, special events, news, to customers. And apparently, all the panelists agreed setting up and publishing a blog is the easiest method of producing an RSS feed.

Advertising was also part of this. Pheedo's Bill Flitter was joined by Feedster's Scott Rafer and Syndicate IO's Stuart Watson. I'm sorry I missed this session.....According to Adrants, "Bill showed how an RSS served text ad campaign lowered by an impressive 50 percent, the CPA for Citrix. Flitter explained while graphic ads can certainly be served via RSS, the non-standard nature of the many RSS newsreaders on the market make the their delivery difficult to gauge and Rafer impressed upon marketers to think of the RSS channel as a subscription channel offering self-selecting, opt-in benefits for both consumer and marketer."

There were other sessions I found interesting, including one on Market Segment Insights, where they discussed demographic, psychographic and behavioral make up of Gen Y, Gen X, Baby Boomers and Seniors.

There was a special discussion on the evolution of contextual advertising on Google and how it can help you reach the right audience to achieve additional marketing objectives. They also talked about how best to maximize your Google AdWords campaign.

It was great to catch up with a few East Coast industry friends and new local ones at the evening cocktail schmooze at the Metreon in San Francisco's SOMO, an event filled with a lot of Sony and Electronics Arts people.

PRSA on Blogs, Wikis & RSS

Slowly, PRSA and PR and marketing conferences are catching up and adding a discussion on blogs and wikis and how best to tap into what they can offer - both internally and to clients.

Client Five Across flies to Seattle to participate on a Southwest Chapter conference panel on Blogs, Wikis and RSS. (although no RSS or Wiki vendors were represented).

Waggener Edstrom and Microsoft's Robert Scoble also participated on this panel, which was surrounded by more traditional PR topics, such as Lessons we can learn from PR Legends, Secrets of Successful 'pitching,' (there's that word again) by Margo Mateas, Managing Corporate Communications with Stakeholder Interest and Investigative Journalism, where they brought in a producer from KING TV, Washington News Council and the managing editor of Seattle Times Dave Boardman.

The Stand Alones in Journalism

Jay Rosen does an excellent intro to a special piece written by Chris Nolan on his blog today. Chris writes an inspiring piece outlining and defining a phrase she coined: "stand alone journalism."

Her points are summarized under amusing categories such as The Sheltered Newspaper Editor and Defining the Stand Alones, which she claims are not bloggers, but people who are using blogging technology. She points out (and I agree), that the most difficult thing, is finding an audience.

Blogging takes time. Successful blogging takes a lot of time (and thought) and like a successful branded column, readers do indeed have expectations. We had a discussion at one of the BloggerCons about the value in setting expectations among your readers rather than simply blogging to blog. If your readers expect you to blog a few times a week and its compelling, then this is what becomes the norm -- and expected, for you and for your readers.

She describes the "stand alone journalist" as someone who succeeds in getting stories told in an honest and forthright manner without benefit of working for a larger news outlet. More description: Stand alone journalists are the next iteration of on-line news professionals. They stand alone because they aren't salaried by existing news outlets. They aren't part of an institution but seek to become one.

Do all of them really seek to become one? I suppose it depends on the goal and the reason for the 'voice.' I do agree with her point however that stand alone journalists carry the desire for good, well-written journalism beyond the economic reality of what newsrooms can produce today.

It's an interesting perspective and comments follow, which are equally compelling.

An International Perspective

This event sounds really interesting. SD Forum is hosting an event the presents opinions and insights from international journalists.

Dan Gillmor is moderating and reporters from Japan, France and India will present. It's a great event to step outside your comfort zone and hear about global views.

It will be held at the Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara on Monday April 18 2005 at 6:30 PM.

Blogging White Paper for Marketing Pros

Intelliseek and Edelman jointly published a white paper on blogging.

The topic and goal is to educate marketers and PR professionals about the relevance and importance of blogs and how they impact their industry as well as their client's business.

Trust Media: How Real People Are Finally Being Heard can be downloaded from either site.

The white paper's blog directory, which is available only to Edelman clients, ranks and profiles top bloggers who cover six key industries: marketing and public relations, business, consumer packaged goods, consumer technology, health care, and public affairs. The paper also provides basic information and experienced advice on blogger behavior, blogger engagement, legitimate public relations uses of blogs, and a blog lexicon. Intelliseek’s BlogPulse portal contributed to the metrics and guidelines used to determine inclusion, ranking and influence for the blog directory.
Edelman and Intelliseek will promote the white paper through a series of webinars, presentations and engagements to interested parties and clients across the country.

Weinberger is also quoted. Fad or here to stay? Read on for one perspective.

On Topix & Newspaper Trends

Om Malik reports on the Topix.net acquisition (by a Knight Ridder, Tribune Media Company and Gannett consortium) via Susan Mernit.

In the midst of my move, I'm missing all kinds of acquisition activity - major players (Yahoo hungry for Flickr -- I'm sure we'll see more like this one soon)......and smaller start-ups in the publishing space.

My Canadian clients iUpload were in town last week and when we hung out with Om, this was a main point of discussion. As pointed out, the trend is moving in the right direction and newspapers are starting to pay attention in a big way.

Blogzine Launches

Blogzine launches, which is New Communications Forum's new bi-monthly online publication dedicated to exploring new communications tools, technologies and emerging modes of communication, (including blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts, search marketing, etc.).

It aims to discuss the growing phenomena of participatory communications and their effect on traditional media, professional communications, business and society at large.

Their first issue explores the evolution of new models for journalism, PR, brand marketing, and advertising, and a contribution from blogger Jeremy Wright.

NY Times Circuits Dead?

Rumor has it that the New York Times is planning to nuke its Circuits section in a few weeks. I'm sure we'll hear more as the weeks progress and discussions take place. What I'd really like to know is how they plan to break up their technology coverage moving forward.

Fueling the Celebrity News Fire

Interesting ABC News piece recently on how publicists fuel the celebrity news fire.

Harvard Symposium on Media, Technology & Common Good

After getting two emails from Boston-based friends who have been freezing and shoveling snow for weeks, I am reminded about a fabulous Media Center event at Harvard this week: Whose News? Media, Technology and the Common Good.

The audience and speakers are a wonderful blend of content, solutions, media......the list goes on, including New York Times Digital Editor-in-Chief Len Apcar, Boston Channel.com, VP of Strategic Planning at Comcast Ty Ahmed-Taylor, Wonkette's Ana Marie Cox, one of my favorite people and analysts Rob Enderle, Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin, Yahoo Editorial Director Bill Gannon, Jeff Jarvis, AP's Jim Kennedy, Craig's List Craig Newmark, Jay Rosen, Executive Editor of MediaChannel Danny Schecter, Halley Suitt and David Weinberger, among others.

The symposium will be based on cross-sector discourse, conducted U.N. style, with participants seated in a U-shaped arena for discussion. Three dialogs will be held, each focused around an inflection point in media, technology and society. Wish I were going to be in Boston for this one.

Blogging Ethics: A Discussion

Posted yesterday in Online Journalism Review, J.D. Lasica writes on the ethics in the blogosphere and what some of these standards are or should be......the dynamics are clearly changing.

Marquis is obviously discussed as are situations like it - I'm actually quoted on the topic from a PR perspective, i.e., paid versus building relationships over time, just like we do with journalists, potential partners, customers and other key influencers.

Some of the questions that are pondered in this article include:

--Just how far can marketers go in soliciting blog coverage of their products or services?

--Does the practice of paying bloggers to blog about a product amount to an advertorial, embedded infomercial or product placement – and does such an arrangement violate the compact of trust between reader and writer?

--Or is it simply the next logical step in the blogosphere’s evolution from hobby to business opportunity?

--Do different rules apply to journalists who blog?

Many industry gurus give their opinion on this topic, including Corante's Stowe Boyd, Mitch Ratcliff, Rebecca Blood, Steve Rubel, Robin Good, Om Malik, Chris Shipley and Ross Mayfield.

They say that most observers agree that bloggers and traditional journalists don't play by the same rulebook, but that's now, that's then, not the future or perhaps the way it should be. Frankly, I think bloggers and journalists have a lot to learn from each other.

JD outlines the Society of Professional Journalists’ Ethics Code, which instructs journalists to:

--Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.

--Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.

--Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.

--Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.

--Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money …

In the blogosphere, we talk about disclosure and being transparent. I agree that some of the principals we are defining for bloggers are different than guidelines for traditional journalists, but I still have a hard time with the 'pay to write in your blog' part, disclosure or not. It becomes an advertorial to me, so why bother. Put it in a box and call it an ad on your blog in a separate space that is clearly marked - this is an ad. There, it's not as gray and there's less ambiguity.

They point out that Forbes abandoned the policy of inserting advertising links into editorial content – an ethically dubious practice even though it was disclosed.

Disclosure or not, I agree with Stowe Boyd here - "While blog advertising has become standard practice, it starts to get cheesy when the blogger is not necessarily writing entries based on his passions, interests and insights. He’s being influenced to put things into his blog because he’s being paid to do it. That violates a basic operating principle of the blogosphere."

I also agree with this: Just don’t call yourself a journalist when you’re cashing that check.

The White House's Next Top Fake Reporter

While we're on the topic of transparency, here's another interesting find. Loose 'Gannon': White House reporter is really James D. Guckert.

According to Editor & Publisher, "Jeff Gannon, the controversial White House correspondent for the obscure, conservative Web site Talon News who resigned from his job Tuesday, confirmed late Wednesday, in a phone interview with National Public Radio, that he has been using a false name. A few hours later, Howard Kurtz, writing in The Washington Post, confirmed earlier tips, arising from liberal blogs, that the reporter's real name is indeed James D. Guckert."

Then a day later, I find this. Only in the states could the media (online and print) play something this way. Why do we always turn "the embarrasing" into an animated cartoon? You have to admit though - its sadly amusing.

Coming to FOX this spring: Who will be the White House's next Top Fake Reporter?

Transparency Debate

Sun's Andy Lark has a great post today on transparency. Transparency around blogging, transparency around communications and marketing, transparency in the industry overall.

He refers to two industry voices I really respect - David Berlind and Dan Gillmor, who have been writing about grassroots stuff and transparency from a media and PR perspective for awhile. Andy's point is: where are the communicators? I agree. I ask myself that frequently.

Here's his point around the gray fuzzy area that communicators are thrown into, particularly at large companies like Sun.

"It's going to require that in-house communicators sit down with their legal and finance teams - especially the security lawyers - and develop a shared view of what transparency means. The outcome might be a set of behaviors, practices and polices that really articulate what transparency means in the context of the business - a kind of playbook. Transparency runs deeper than fiduciary responsibility - it cuts to the core of an organization. So this ain't just an issue for the lawyers, accountants or PR people. It's as much a cultural issue as a procedural one."

Interesting. David Berlind is throwing an idea around called JOTS - Journalist Online Transparency System and Andy suggests we might call ours PROTS - Public Relations Online Transparency System and that the two should sync whenever possible. It's an interesting read and while he's operating in a large corporate environment, many of the same principals will apply to small and mid-sized companies, especially around funding, a merger or an IPO.

Speaking of transparency, while many realized that the recent McDonalds Superbowl hype and hosted blog was fake (yes FAKE), it doesn't mean everyone saw through it.

If blog writing, reading and the grassroots value within these blogs will continue to be taken seriously, stunts like this must be unveiled to as many people as possible and quickly. There have been many blog posts about it and comments...............another beautiful thing about blogs. News travels faster than it ever has before.

Transparency, transparency, transparency.

Blog University Marketing Gems

Elisa Comahort, Andy Lark (Alias RA) and Renee Blodgett at New Communications Forum's Blog University last week.

Open Source Alternative to MediaMap

Here here. About time we started having a serious discussion about an open source alternative to the clumsy overpriced MediaMap alternative. They have become a monopoly and no longer offer viable affordable options for consultants or small shops.

I definitely agree that media directories must evolve into wikis or they will become extinct as things evolve. Thanks for starting the conversation Steve.

Recap of Blog Conferences

Client NewsGator was a sponsor of the recent Blog University in Napa this week.

There was so much to cover in the past two blogging conferences, that it feels as if I have been blogging about blogging for weeks. I promise more variety in the next week.

For a recap of session and discussion highlights and presentations, check out my latest coverage of both events.

Power Laws and You

Stowe Boyd led the Power Laws and You session at Blog University today.

On the panel included: Nooked's Fergus Burns, Six Apart's Michael Sippey, Creative Blogging's Jacobi Torsten and client NewsGator's Mike Lombardo.

Reed's Law states that the value of an online network is based on the number of groups that people form, not just the number of people. As networks become very large, this grouping phenomenon leads to interesting dynamics, since popular search engines rank order websites and blogs based on the number of incoming links.

Being more connected -- more referenced -- increases the likelihood of being discovered today, and the probability of gaining more links in the future: the so-called Networking Power Laws. Translated into public relations, these facts mean that the more connections to your website, or the more mentions about your product and services, the better.

Integrating Blogs in Business

HA. I always laugh when I hear this. 2005 is going to be the 'year of the blog.' I wonder what I'll be doing in 2006. A few things from the conference discussions and sessions to get involved and guide your CEOs and other executives.

Get up to speed on blogs. Start your own blog. Visit blogs and join conversations. Reach out and build a network. Research your own IT infrastructure. Connect with like-minded colleagues, whatever their discipline. Talk to your senior management colleagues. Create a group blog for your function (or with your clients if you're a consultancy). Find an influential champion. Reach out and build a network. Research your own IT infrastructure to find out what tools make sense to implement. Connect with like-minded colleagues, whatever their discipline. Get a news aggregator and start monitoring blogs. (hey, try out NewsGator....they're a client, so yup, I'm a little bias) Talk to your senior management colleagues and find out what their goals are. Create a group blog for your function (or with your clients if you're a consultancy). Find an influential champion and engage them.

Objectivity vs Authenticity

In the ethics discussion at Blog University's last session, Jeremy says, "Journalists strive for objectivity and bloggers strive for authenticity." Simple, but true. I like it.

Says Stowe Boyd, "Blog is a social media. It’s not going to be a code of ethics like journalism has today, or will there be…? Perhaps a BS in blogging.." Everyone laughs.

I think its true that it’s going to be the social context that will help you determine what you read and respect. There’s a responsibility on the side of bloggers and journalists but there’s also the reader's responsibility to filter through and comment on what is real and honest.

If this is really all about conversations, then it needs to be two ways and it needs to be interactive. We have already started this process but it will clearly evolve. More authors, more voices, more perspectives....all good. More to read. ARRRRGH. This part is getting out of control.

Howard Stern Like a Blogger

A great line from Richard Koman over coffee today. Howard Stern is a like a blogger – complete transparency unveiled for everyone to see and hear. He wears it on his sleeve (in his case nationally on the air) in the same way that many bloggers throw it out there. It's naked.

New Media: Blog or Print?

While yesterday's Blog University event was more of a workshop 'learning' format, today's sessions were in one room and packed with panels and interactive discussions that revolved around ethics and communications strategies.

The first panel on Blogging and Journalism included Jeremy Wright, Fast Company's Heath Row and former Financial Times columnist Tom Foremski and was moderated by ProfNet's Dan Forbush.

Neville Hobson also blogged about the session and has a great shot of the group. It's amazing how fast he gets his posts up - he may be up there with David Weinberger. A blog animal.

The first question was about whether the dynamics of blogging have changed the way they deal with PR executives. Tom doesn't think it changes the communication process at all, Jeremy feels that it is dramatically different and Heath is mixed.

On the topic of online versus print. It's always a win if something on the web or a blog makes it into print, says Heath Row. Tom says that journalists steal from other journalists all the time. It's clear that switching from a world of traditional print journalism to blogging has made a significant impact on his life.

Someone from the audience asks: what makes a blog entry journalism opposed to just rambling? Tom says, "I ask myself this question. Is blogging just another form of journalism? It's really more of a super-set of journalism. Blogging allows for free-form thinking and creation. You don't have to edit for style like you do when you write for a column in print. It's cutting away from that old form of print journalism, experimenting and being innovative in different ways. This is what excites me."

Others agree. Blogs today are what journalism used to be in the early days. Today, we're starting to see 'real facts and honest truth,' - transparency at its best. "There's no reason why my brain dumps should be getting 100,000 readers," says Jeremy. It's because its raw, transparent and honest.

Heath jumps in, "Blogging encompasses all forms of writing. That being said, I consider the blogging I do for Fast Company a form of immediate journalism. As soon as something happens, everyone can know about it within moments."

He refers to the objective true voice in journalism. We can try to be as objective as we want, but its still subjective. We're just not honest about it. Blogging really brings out the personality of the writer. If they disagree with an opinion, you can see why and its immediate - it comes across in a very human way. Blogs are subjective and there's also the intersubjectivity that David Weinberger refers to."

So what's next? Will everyone on this panel become talk show hosts as time marches on?

Another thought on models that will evolve. One is the epic model, where the source doesn't matter but how people view it will. The second model is where blogs become nothing, its the foundation, part of the web, part of the fabric. The third model that will evolve is that blogs could be entirely changed, whether its audio, video or someone's pure thoughts. Blogs evolve on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. To believe that they're going to stay the same is very naive.

Tom has such a strong British accent and style; every time he responds or makes a comment, I find myself smiling. It makes me miss my life in London that now feels like it never happened it was so long ago.

On models and how it will play out, "that's proprietary information" says Tom and the audience laughs.
"The technology that enables blogging is the fascinating thing. The technology behind it will change the media completely. It doesn't cost me anything to blog except for the cost of hosting it Everything is built on an open source platform. At the Financial Times, the costs to produce my story were significant. How will the small community papers compete with the growing number of news sources. Even News.com has publishing systems they have to support and data centers. It's expenisve."

Heath responds, "I don't think blogs are going to kill traditional media empires. Blogging is just another way to communicate. The barriers to entry have certainly increased. More people can read more people's opinions and more often. Having said that, the trusted and respected voices will still be there, on the web, or in the traditional media. There will be more trusted tribal voices that will arise."

He continues, "If you look at the Economist, there are no bylines. You don't know who the writers are. You read the Economist because the writing is so good. It also has a brand that you trust and that's part of the reason you go back for more. You will read other people based on the fact that someone you trust reads their blog or their media source. Worthwhile is a good example. Do you read it because that Halley and David's voices are represented there?"

This was really one of the better sessions, not just because of the panelists' viewpoints but because of the interactive discussion that followed the panel - live through questions and in the hallways over coffee.

Marqui'ism Debate

Corante’s Stowe Boyd just announced that he’s going to do a public debate with Marc Canter on the merits and issues around Marqui and what Stowe refers to as Marqui’ism, which Marqui is sponsoring I might add. It came up during the ethics interactive discussion at the Blog University event. Not surprising that it was raised here.

This is killing me. Anyone else? I have a lot of respect for Stowe however, and everything is being fully disclosed. It will be interesting to watch how the industry responds. Jeremy Wright, who's sitting right next to me, just posted his thoughts.

Three Personal Web Predictions

In today's wiki session, Dan Forbush throws out three personal web predictions:

1. The Personal Web will turn everyone into authors, playwrights, screenwriters and ad copywriters.

2. Wikis will be out primary collaboration medium.

3. New organizational models will emerge to resolve issues pertaining to copyright and compensation.

On the Value of Wikis

Constantin Basturea covers the value of wikis for PR and marketing teams as well as how to implement them for clients (both small and large companies).

He starts by referencing another a variation of "email is dead." Email is the place where knowledge goes to die.

My other world (early adopter bloggers and technologists) have been using wikis within companies and at conferences for a couple of years now, but this is clearly a new tool for PR agencies and some of the clients they represent; many of these among this audience include Fortune 500 companies. (Ketchum and Edelman reps are in the room for example).

A few things that wikis can bring: (old world versus new world)

1. Passive reader vs active reader.
2. Dependence on webmaster's updates vs update pages on the fly.
3. Information consumption vs information creation and sharing.
4. No ownership verus stakeholders.
5. Formal versus informal, human voice.

On how to implement a wiki:
According to Constantin, you need to first decide whether its a good fit for the organizational culture. It's obviously best when a wiki is used by a team since its collaborative in nature and doesn't set social rules. Think about wikis as a room where people come to collaborate and share information in real time.

There are various wiki engines out there so its important to evaluate which engine works for your particular corporate culture and decide which one will best meet your needs.

Once you decide on a wiki, next steps involve customizing and preparing your wiki, which includes design, features, and personal pages. Then, you prepare documentation (help, how it works), discover, encourage and support wiki gardeners, highlight functionality and then encourage participation and show management support.

ProfNet's President Dan Forbush talks about a relationship they have with Ross Mayfield's SocialText.

Dan runs through a demo of EditMe, which he suggests wiki beginners try out for $5 a month. He refers to EditMe as wikis on training wheels.

Blogs for Corporate Crisis

Shel Holtz is moderating the discussion on the use of blogs (corporate and PR-driven blogs) for crisis communications within organizations.

A few pointers, which are fairly standard crisis communications guidelines:

1. Respond quickly, accurately, professionally and with care. 2. Treat perceptions as fact because in the eyes of the public, they are. 3. Acknowledge mistakes up front. I'd add: be human and professional when you do. 4. Take advantage of existing relationships.

Why blog in a crisis? There are many excellent reasons why a blog is useful when your company or client is facing a crisis situation:

1. You can provide a response instantly. 2. You can provide updates instantly. 3. A blog is a way to provide a human voice to the outside world. You can accommodate the publics' emotional response. 4. You can produce a record. 5. You can allocate a space on your blog that is ready to put an icon up with a statement, i.e., a place where people know where to go for a response or important instructions in time of a crisis. 6. If you communicate well and involve your audience, you can turn a crisis into a reputation opportunity. 7. Not every crisis affects the company directly. In the case of the wild fire in Carsen City, Nevada, companies were able to offer help or donate products on their blog.

PR Machine & The Blog Pitch

I'm having an odd moment in the first session of New Communications Form's Blog University. Here, I'm surrounded by a large group of PR professionals - supposedly my colleagues. Somewhere, somehow along the way, the blogger geeks and technologists have become my professional and social network, which means that I feel like I'm on foreign soil.

It's been awhile since I've managed accounts at an agency, attended a PRSA event or served on a PR committee. Being among so many people who are involved in my daily grind is bringing me back to the early nineties, so my odd moment might best be described as surreal. Forward wind, backward wind, forward wind again. Surreal.

Since running my own gig, my thread with other PR pros is more on a social level, i.e., organizing an event or party, lunch (and then we tend to talk about everything except for our industry), or logistics, i.e., should I work with this vendor or not?

The first breakout session is called "How to pitch bloggers." Bloggers are probably flinching. I had to walk out of the room. I have a major issue with the word "pitch." More on that later.

In Napa for more Blog 'Stuff'

I can't believe I'm committed to two blogging conferences in two different states in one week. Had I flown to NY for VloggerCon last weekend, it would have been three.

I arrived in a very wet Napa tonight for Blog University, also known as New Communications Forum. They're holding it at the Silverado Resort, which is one of the older properties in the area.

It's an odd place really. My experience in Napa has always either revolved around drinking wine or buying it. The Silverado is fairly spread out and the rooms are really mini-condos rather than rooms, which are difficult to find on your own. Frankly its better to call the guy who's running around in a golf cart to reduce the risk of walking around in the dark and cold rain. Can you tell how I spend a half an hour of my time tonight?

The other thing to note is that the rooms are not heated until you arrive and turn it on. It takes awhile to heat the room up and the bathroom never does since its without a vent......Because of the rain, there is no wireless access. Because of the rain? Can someone explain that one to me?

Forrester Magazine

Forrester Magazine is an interesting concept. Announced last week, the discussion is over the gray lines between paid research and editorial content in the traditional trade rags.

Clearly this move is about branding for Forrester and not a bad move with the Gartner META acquisition and the increased volumes of IT content to choose from - what's credible and what's not is the question?

Italian Food

I forgot to post this humorous photograph of Ann Revell-Pechar and I with CNET's Patrick Houston after dinner one night in Vegas last week. He may consider it compromising but if he's smart, he'll just consider himself a lucky man. If this is the effect that fabulous Italian food has on women.........

Bloggers vs Journalists Debate Over?

Jay Rosen's essay on Bloggers vs Journalists is over - something he plans to revise so check back. He wrote it for the Harvard Blogging, Journalism & Credibility Conference that I wrote about earlier this month.

Bush Ketchum Fiasco

There's growing controversy over the increasing ambiguous communication -- whether its an online news site, a blog or through traditional press -- about getting paid to tout a corporate.......or government message.

The Post commented last week about the Bush Ketchum PR controversy. In a letter to Paige, senior Republican and Democrat Appropriations lawmakers asked him to provide a list of money spent by the Education Department on public relations activities between 2002 and 2004.

Apparently the department has acknowledged paying the PR firm Ketchum to rate journalists on how positively or negatively they report on No Child Left Behind, and to produce a video on the law that was used by some television stations as if it were real news.

$700,000 for coverage audit and a video??!!?? Damn, I'm offering the wrong services and targeting the wrong industry.

I love the way this source summed it up.

This building-as-billboard is the workplace of those eager beavers who had this brainstorm: Let's pay a million taxpayer dollars to a public relations firm to manufacture enthusiasm for No Child Left Behind, including a $241,000 payment to columnist and television talk-show host Armstrong Williams for his praise of the legislation. The eager beavers are long on energy but short on judgment.

The Bush administration promoted its education law with a video that comes across as a news story but its not clear that the reporter involved was paid and of course, that 'pay' is taxpayer's money.

Even if a reporter relationship is disclosed, why would I read it? I'm still having a hard time with this. I may as well go to the corporate or government website and read the "controlled messaging" that they develop. If I were paid to write something about a company and wrote something negative about it or its products, fat chance they would ask me back to write more.

So, what am I missing here? People justify it by saying "I'm disclosing the relationship up front." Great, and they absolutely should, but disclosure is only part of it. Its the whole concept of what's real and not real.

I'm struggling with this and my clients pay me to do messaging and positioning for them; they pay me to talk to the media; and they pay me to write papers for them.

When I reference clients on my blog, its often touting 'a third party endorsement in the press,' or its a straight product announcement.

In the Bush/Ketchum case, the Bush administration clearly knows that its going to gain more points for messages that revolve around education and children. Certainly, these are issues that many Americans want the government to 'fix.' But to spend public money on a political agenda?

Government press offices play a key role in sharing information and pitching story ideas, but sending out videos featuring "pretend" news reports is wrong, said Al Tompkins, who teaches broadcast reporting at the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists.

It doesn't take an instructor in broadcast reporting to figure that out.

ABCs of Authentic Conversation

Susan Bird, who founded WF360, the group that creates transformational conversations for companies and public forums throughout the world, just finished a book called ABCs of Authentic Conversation, which gets major praise from Tom Peters. The goal is to help people master the art of verbal exchange. Check it out.

Gillmor's New Grassroot Journalism Project

Dan Gillmor is now officially on his own. I've been in this business for over 15 years and think of Dan as a brand; his own brand and a powerful brand of the Merc News........he's been connected to that gig for perhaps longer than Michael Miller and PC Magazine.

Dan's Happy New Year note points us all to his new blog on grassroots journalism.

It's so great to see someone you respect and trust follow their passion. Acting on your passion takes an incredible amount of courage. So many people contemplate and talk about how they want to change the world and never do anything about it.....then they wake up one morning and realize they just hit sixty, and then often feel its too late. Maybe they write a book, maybe they.....

Dan is attempting to do more than 'watch the dance' from the sidelines. His words come from that deep inside place that we have all experienced, at least once - hopefully more. I live for it. It's called passion. "This is a chance to truly walk my talk. But the opportunity to be in on what I consider a pivotal shift, and to be involved just as it begins to happen."

Yup, Dan is doing what I refer to and recommend others do all the time - Be The Dance.

His goal is to inspire a new kind of journalism, one which many of us as bloggers are already participating in. It truly is grassroots at the core as is what we're seeing in podcasting right now.

He has a few supporters already including Mitch Kapor and Pierre Omidyar, who has a fabulous one line bio on his blog: a technologist trying to make the world a better place. I love it.

Forrester Envisions.......

I had never heard of Moonwatcher before discovering this post. They commented about a recent Forrester insight and also referenced their blogging report I wrote about in November.

"Forrester envisions a day when new employees on their first day will be handed a sheet of paper with their phone number, email address — and a URL for their blog. The company would give all of its employees a personal internal blog where they could provide project updates, trip reports, and market intelligence — anything that they think others should know about the work that they are doing. This information could then be tied into the company's VoIP phone system — for internal calls, the caller's photo, title, bio, and a link to his blog would appear on the computer screen. The blog content would give context and background for the call, making it unnecessary to send extra emails or to have extensive discussions about a project."

Needing an Assistant

Okay, I'm finally caving. I need an assistant. HELP!!! It would likely be part time initially but could turn into more hours over time, starting sometime in the middle of January. If anyone knows of someone who might be appropriate, let me know.

Gartner Buys META Group

This is big news in the tech industry and certainly has an impact on PR pros and their clients. Gartner is slated to buy META Group for $162 million in cash. Gartner said it would use cash on hand to pay the $10 per share purchase price, plus borrowings from an existing line of credit. The deal should close in the second quarter of 2005, provided regulators and META stockholders approve it.

Bacons to Add Blogs

It was only a matter of time before this happened. Bacons is adding blogs to its MediaSource Premium Research Module, which means it will now track coverage of blog content.

Like coverage of traditional media, their new module will help their clients gauge the effect of blogs on "business decisions and corporate reputations."

MediaSource is mostly known to PR pros, who use this tool as a way to track and reach media and analysts and monitor and evaluate campaigns over time. Given the growth of blogs as a communications platform, this was a "must" for a company like Bacons. I'm only surprised it took them this long to take it seriously.

Bloggers Can Learn From Journalists

There have been so many blog posts about how the world is increasingly turning to blog content versus mainstream media sites lately.

I agree that the blogosphere has opened up an entirely new universe of information and perspective not available through traditional communications venues and applaude those who are committed to this new content flow. I'm not an A Level blogger, have a real job and know how much of a serious time commitment it is.

Poynter has a refreshing post on what bloggers can learn from traditional journalists.

The points in summary include:
(the notes under each are my perspective and insights)

Checks & balances (a.k.a., the editor)
The blogger reports but then hits send and its suddenly out there. You can go back and edit, but the editing process is different as is the decision making process about what to post and when. I love the creativity and freshness that blogging brings, but it is a different reading experience than lying on a hammock with the New York Times on a Sunday morning.

Sometimes I wish I had an editor. Lately, I've been writing a lot more personal posts (its the holidays), but I think it would be great to have an editor to give my blog and others a little more "form."

Reporting isn't a Dirty Word
As Steve points out, the majority of bloggers don't do original reporting. Many do however and a large percentage of those are former journalists or writing a column elsewhere. This part doesn't bother me since I can scan through 30 or so blogs and news sites every day and look for ones where I can either get access to news in categories I care about or get a perspective from a blog I like to read on something already out there.

There's no doubt however that learning about serious and ethical reporting can help give a blog more legs. The issue for most bloggers is that we don't get paid to blog and its time consuming as it is. If you're not sure about something, its best to state it up front - after all, blogs are more candid and informal in nature and there's nothing wrong with saying what you're confident about and what you're not. It's mostly opinion.

The Blogger's Toolbox
Their advice: check into resources available, use them and learn about.....and from the tools of the trade.

Think about Ethics
Bloggers get hit with this all the time. It mostly pertains to their content, however lately, there's the issue over bloggers receiving a retainer to write about clients. Talk about a gray fuzzy area that will completely change the dynamics of the blogosphere. So much for free-form, "from the heart" authentic writing, journal style. There are ways to make money and keep it ethical.

Ask Before you Attack
This is a good point. Be balanced.

Get to the Point Quickly
He points out: "In journalism, one of the first things you learn is the importance of the inverted-pyramid style of news writing."

It works for news releases but for some reason, I struggle with that on my blog. Perhaps its because I still see it as less of a business tool and more of a 'room' where I can vent, pour, express and be creative with words and thoughts. Hopefully over time, I'll start to tighten my entries or perhaps have different categories for longer flowing stories.

Accuracy, Accuracy, Accuracy
I'm a fan of accuracy but if I wear my PR hat for a moment and I've been wearing one for over 15 years, I can't tell you how many times I've had to go back and correct something that a reporter wrote.

The PC rags are great at doing fact checks for some things, but I find that journalists often avoid the PR person for 'fear that they'll get brainwashed' by a different perspective when they should be looking to us as a wealthy resource who they can not only learn from, but who can bring mistakes to their attention. Good PR pros and journalists do have that relationship but it often takes years to get there.

Acknowledgements
This goes without saying.

On Why Advertising, Marketing and PR Pros Should Blog

A fine Kettle of Fish (such a great name), posted a series of pointers on why Advertising, Marketing and PR pros should blog. Hell, this applies to the rest of the business world as well.

While some of the reasons are fairly basic, the list is a great reminder of not only "why blog," but what gives the blog its greatest value.

They expand on the following top ten but here I have made a handful of comments and summarized it for a quick read.

Blogs are Interactive
--Readers are involved

Blogs are Humanizing
--That's the authentic voice and also the candid one

Blogs are Inexpensive
--Although monthly hosting fees seem to be going up

Blogs are Immediate
--The moment news is available on the web, it can be available on your blog moments later.

Blogs are Infectious
--I'd say they're more addictive than infectious, but they're definitely both.
--They are definitely viral or have been. Passed on and linked from blog to blog.

Blogs are Empowering
--Goes back to the advertising and truth thing again.
--Engaging and empowering and more direct.

Blogs are Authoritative
--I'm not sure all the bloggers on the A and B list are the most sophisticated in the blogosphere, but there are ones I value more than traditional media. We need to sift through, but I have read a number of fabulous insights.

Blogs are Valuable
--Blogs can most certainly be a centralized repository for experience
--I'd add something they missed....the collection of valuable content can now be accessed in a matter of minutes since its archived by date and topic. This becomes valuable to the reader and the blogger.

Blogs are Popular
--Yup, we all know it made the Webster Top Picks this year. Wonkette on Washington. Election blog activity. Sex blogs. The list goes on.

Advertising: Truth or Absolute

Advertising is dead. Branding is dead. This is the fourth time I've been hit with this in the last few days, including from Doc. Didn't we also talk about this in the early nineties? Are we not in just another one of those cycles?

Adrants asks the question whether truth and advertising mix? I was asked that question by nearly everyone when I graduated from CDT in London in 198(something) and again when I worked at Saatchi & Saatchi a year later and again a few years later. And so it goes.

Advertising 'styles' and media outlets change, as do our marketing messages, but what doesn't really change is human nature. And years later, while blogs and online media outlets are exploding, people still subscribe to People Magazine, Readers Digest, Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine and the NY Times. People still watch the networks, CNN and Nick at Night.

An interesting point from one of Adrant's interviews and discussion is the notion that new endless choices now available to us has resulted in an audience who decides what they 'want to hear rather than what they should hear.' And Mike Bawden thinks that this makes "the truth" almost impossible to define and, maybe more importantly, is conditioning audiences to only listen to the truth they want to hear."

To be honest, I'm not sure I buy into that entirely, meaning this also occured twenty years ago.

I really like Harry Webber's take on the two faces of truth in advertising, which he describes as Mobile and Absolute.

"The objective in advertising is to appeal to a version of Mobile Truth or the Truth of the Marketplace. In other words, the truth that defines a given market segment's unmet wants needs and desires. We ask a sample of 1500 respondents their version of the truth about bad breath, dandruff or financial security. They give us 1500 opinions. We stoically proclaim that we now know the truth about what the consumer wants. We then craft our products and their selling messages to appeal to that Truth of the Marketplace."

Webber claims it's not a question of whether truth in advertising is dead. Webber says truth and advertising are entirely unrelated. "What we do has nothing to do with the truth. What we do has everything to do with what we assume our target consumer believes is the truth. To us, their perception is reality. And our perception of what those 1500 people believe is the truth is 'the truth.' 1500 'truths' out of 90 million."

Truth is a strange concept. Rare is it an absolute. This applies to public relations as well. And this is not new to 2005 based on industry changes, more advanced technology and products and new media outlet dynamics. To me, it always goes back to the basics. My thinking: be human and you have the human. Every time. When the ad or PR writer passionately believes in what he is selling or pitching (whether its a slogan or a verbal pitch), you rarely lose.

Global PR Wiki Day

PR Newswire's Media Insider announces that Global PR Wiki Day will Be January 27, which is the same time as the Blog University event in northern California. An online event, they hope to engage more than 12,000 PR practitioners.

I think Blog University's New Communications Forum looks like a fabulous industry event, but my first response to Global PR Wiki Day was 'something that must have come out of a Hallmark card brainstorm session.'

At least they're attempting to use wikis; trial and error is always a good thing so we can see what is effective and what needs tweaking for PR pros.

IDG Syndication/RSS Event

IDG is holding a new RSS conference called Syndicate next May in New York.

I didn't realize IDG was taking RSS this seriously. Apparently so. They feel that its time for a gathering of marketing and advertising execs, publishers and content developers to discuss the implications of the new trends in syndication and what this means for various industries moving forward.

Indeed, major corporations are increasingly using blogs as marketing, customer service and knowledge management tools.

One of their discussion points includes the controversy over the death of email marketing: Marketing and advertising executives struggle with how to integrate RSS advertising into their marketing campaigns - will it replace or complement email marketing?

Rafe Needleman's Column at CNET

You remember Rafe Needleman? Catch of the Day, Red Herring, AlwaysOn, etc? He has a new gig at CNET, which means his column is now running Release 1.0.

I look forward to reading his columns....and hopefully catching up with him at CES, if any of us will find time to come up for air to engage with anyone for longer than ten minutes. It's going to be a busy one this year -- hopefully this is an indicator that there's more confidence again in the tech sector.

Forbes on People's Use of Blogs

Everyone is so damn interested in how blogs will impact the next Internet wave. Forbes just posted a poll to find out what people's involvement is with blogs. And it's America....people want to know what kind of $$$ will come from this new trend, a trend that doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

Increasing Traffic Tips

There are many resources out there with tips on how to increase traffic to your blog; this piece by ezine publisher Priya Shah expands upon eight key points.

1. Write Posts That People Will Want To Read
2. Optimize Your Posts for Search Engines
3. Submit Your Blog and RSS Feed To Directories
4. Ping The Blog Services
5. Build Links To Your Blog
6. Edit Your Blog Posts Into Articles
7. Create Buzz About Your Blog
8. Capture Subscribers By Email

Dan Gillmor to Leave San Jose Merc News

Wow!! If this isn't a statement.

Dan Gillmor is leaving the San Jose Mercury News next month to work on a citizen-journalism project.

Says Dan, "I hope to pull together something useful that helps enable -- and demonstrates -- the emerging grassroots journalism that I wrote about in my recent book. Something powerful is happening, it's in the early stages and I have a chance to help figure this out."

This part is even more powerful - "I hate the idea of leaving. But I'd hate not trying this even more."

Way to go Dan. Follow your heart. If your gut is saying you need to try this out, you'll always wonder "what if" if you don't.

It was also announced more officially in the Silicon Beat by two of Dan's colleagues.

PR Week on Blog Impact

Those of us in the PR'asphere have no doubt read this article in PRWeek, but I think it's relevant to others in the industry as well. It's an informal poll about the impact of blogs on the public relations industry in 2005.

It's a very limited survey. With what's happening right now, you would think they would dedicate more ink and insight into this. Clearly, the PR industry still doesn't 'get it.'

Hats off to Jeff Tarter

One of the things I knew I would face following my west coast move is the withdrawl from Boston-based networking events and parties. I was particularly sad to miss a party that John Brodeur and friends held for old time industry friend Jeff Tarter on Friday at the Fire & Ice in Back Bay.

Dan Bricklin blogs about the event and even recorded some MP3s. Seeing this photo of Jeff with his warm, engaging and authentic smile made me miss Boston.

The roast was in honor of Jeff's final issue of Softletter, which he has been publishing since 1983.

I've always had a soft spot for Tarter. Not only does he have an outstanding reputation in the industry and has been one of the most respected industry analysts for over twenty years, but he's also just a fabulous and caring person to know. Softletter continues but is now under new management.

Another group photo taken by Bricklin. Hey, there's Rich Anders, Vadim and Barb Darrow.

Hats off to Jeff Tarter.

Hmmm, I hope someone sang for him?

Extending Your Brand Through Blogs

ITBusiness' Ian Palmer wrote a nice piece on the Blogosphere that touts client iUpload in the opener.

Great quote by CEO Robin Hopper: "Blogging facilitates communication better than e-mail. The credibility of e-mail is being jeopardized daily."

Wake up corporate America. Start thinking about blogging in a different way and how the extension of blogs to customers, employees and other key influencers can put you on the map.

There's so much marketing potential businesses and individuals can tap into by leveraging tools often referred to as unedited, informal, online personal journals that now through branded blogs, can include text, graphics, multimedia, hyperlinks and more. They can extend your voice into the big world wide web and beyond.

Forbes Abandons Ad-Sponsored Links

Interesting ethical decision made by Forbes.com today. Forbes abandons ad-sponsored links.

According to AP, President and CEO of Forbes.com Jim Spanfeller feels that the links might blur the lines between paid advertisements and staff-written copy.

They won't be used in articles anymore, but they will still use them on automatically generated pages on Forbes.com, such as full-page company profiles.

Of course, now the same thing is happening in the blogosphere and we're all wondering what to do about it. I think the result will be mixed. Much will depend on the purpose of the blog - are you out there to make money, educate or influence, just vent or "heal" others through your words.

Mining Blogs for Research

Great piece in today's WSJ about companies mining blogs for research.

With the continued growth and popularity of blogs, companies are now paying more attention to what is being said, about who and which products.

New research is springing up as a result, but the cost can be anywhere from $2,500-10,000 for refined results worth anything.

Looks like what companies care most about is getting "to the pulse," and pulling down "mined" data as quickly as possible to assist with key strategic decisions.

BuzzMetrics is out there studying online interaction through "word-of-mouth influencers," a list of thousands of bloggers, message-board posters and other people they have deemed influential in the online community. Hell, I should be teaming up with these guys. Excellent idea, but $10,000?

Client NewsGator already has a nifty feature in their Online Services that allows you to track information on your competitors or any key word you choose for that matter. It will deliver it to you on your desktop -- web browser, inside Oulook -- or mobile wireless device. All that for $5.95 per month. Aggregators are great for managing information overload, which increases daily -- for me.

I started tracking 12 blogs and news sources and now I'm up to close to 50. Something's gotta give.

Journalism Differently

Traditional Journalism is changing, or is it? There's a need for it to adapt and some want dramatic changes now. Blogging is a perhaps a wake-up call? But traditional journalism isn't going away nor should it - perhaps it just needs a face-lift.

OJR Columnist Mark Glaser says, "Time for someone to do it, to make the case for a new way of doing journalism, to stop talking about change in decades and start thinking about change in months and days. To stop complaining about the way things are, and the way things don't work, and to start doing it differently..."

Full read on Jay Rosen's blog today.

The Ads Are Comin'

Susan Kuchinskas writes a piece on ads coming to blogs in InternetNews that can also be found in Marc's archives.

According to the piece, 15 independent bloggers will begin inserting mentions of Marqui's hosted communications management services into their blogs for $800 a month starting next week. They'll get an additional $50 per qualified sales lead they send to Marqui.

I'm laughing as I write this. They're actually calling this their "Blogosphere Program." OUCH - listen to this one. Bloggers are urged -- but not required -- to disclose the relationship. A traditional journalist would have to disclose such an arrangement or all credibility would be lost.

If bloggers don't disclose these relationships, the authenticity and legitimacy of blogs will always be questionable. At least in my mind.

While Marc Canter is an advisor to them, he's also honest about his feelings about ads and represents the independent blogger perspective - "A lot of bloggers are idealistic about keeping the blogosphere pure," he said.

I agree. And yet, my marketing and PR hat says, "something's gotta give." A great new communications medium like this can't stay pure for long....certainly not in a country that capitalizes on everything.

And bloggers want to start making money, particularly if their content is valuable. Why shouldn't they?

My issue is the disclosure. Perhaps they post it in a different section so its clear what you're reading - a plug or a genuine comment.

While the company makes it clear that the bloggers are under no obligation to be positive -- and that they won't get cut off if they don't make nice, I have a hard time believing that if a blogger continuously posts negative comments, that a company would continue to "pay them to get slammed."

Citizen Journalism Smart for Business

Check out another great piece on Citizen or Participatory Journalism or what some refer to as "Open Source Journalism."

Editor & Publisher's Steve Outing talks about the growth of citizen contribution in what some hope is a fad.

"Inviting the public to participate in online news publishing by contributing articles and photographs is likely here to stay -- indeed, it might allow journalism institutions to renew some of the public trust they've lost in recent years by inviting the public in instead of keeping them outside the ropes."

Dan Gillmor and Jeff Jarvis often post strong opinions on the whys and merits of this communications shift.

There are some great suggestions for how organizations can effectively integrate the best of citizen journalism.

NY Times New Blog

When I think of David Pogue, I think of Macs, a great sense of humor and fun consumer technology 'stuff.' He writes about things he's passionate about, so I'm not surprised that with yesterday's news of the New York Times' launch of a new technology blog, Pogue is front and center.

Pogues Posts will include "musings" of the state of consumer technology. The state of? Interesting description choice.

He plans to use this space to answer reader questions, follow up on other columns, flag emerging tech news issues, point out hilarious or important developments on the Web, share cool tips and write about other topics that don’t justify a longer-form treatment.

Media Giants Hungry for Blogs?

Great "media" piece in WiredNews on the fate of online, its success pertaining to ad revenue and beyond and what media giants will do in light of the recent power shifts.

Jeff Jarvis of AdvanceNet is quoted as saying, "Dow Jones has been leaving ad dollars on the table because it's a paid site. Now it could increase subscriptions and advertising revenue at the same time through MarketWatch. It works pretty well when you can have a paid site and (a) larger free site."

Look at the trends. MarketWatch has now been sold. Could Slate, MSNBC, CNET and Salon.com be next? Then of course there's blogs.

Sam Whitmore of Whitmore's Media Survey, thinks that many of the big media companies will scarf up cult destinations, where a growing number of people are going for opinions, analysis and community. Like Blogs. "Look at what happened politically," Whitmore said, when blogs hit the big time during the presidential campaign. "The same thing will happen in business, because people know they don't need to head to branded sites for good information. Bloggers can be trusted to be independent and people will turn to self-published experts for information."

Sam predicts that by this time next year, Nick Denton, founder of Gawker and Wonkette, or Weblogs Inc. founder Jason Calacanis, will have sold a couple of their blogs.

Corporate Blogs a Double-Edged Sword

Nice piece from Michael Gartenberg in the November 15th issue of Computerworld on the issues facing corporate blogs.

While some just say "its a bad idea," Gartenberg thinks more companies should blog, but suggests they do so "with caution." He makes a few suggestions, including putting together a set of guidelines.

I think guidelines are okay, as long as they don't detract from the "personality" of the blog/blogger.

Organizations should be careful about the language they use, since what they say can have ramifications down the road......especially if its a publicly traded company. "Establishing policies for company bloggers and then knowing who is saying what are critical steps."

CEOs: To Blog or Not to Blog

Last week, Seth Godin suggests that CEO blogs are a bad idea. More would probably agree with him rather than not, but I can't help but feel that this attitude feeds the fear factor around the directness, authenticity and honesty that make blogs such a fabulous medium for communicating with customers and other key influencers.

Godin claims that "If you can't be at least four of the five things listed above, please don't bother."

I disagree. The number of people reading blogs are increasing and people are starving for compelling news from compelling people.

The smart CEOs will jump on this bandwagon now and use their blog to create a brand around their company and its products/services. Like Robert Scoble continues to do so well, its inevitable that they will also create a brand around their name. If this isn't smart marketing, I don't know what is. It's a good idea for local politicians to get smart about blogging earlier rather than later as well.

There are others who share my sentiment. There's also a great read on the RSS Enterprise blog today on why should a CEO blog. It points readers to the CEO Bloggers Club, which believe it or not, has an international audience.

Blogs do not need to have millions of readers or links to be successful. And it isn't necessary for people to blog every day. Blog when you have something compelling to say and people will come back for more.

My vote: Two Thumbs Up. And another piece of advice: The CEOs I work with are incredibly passionate about their company and products/services. Why show that only in the boardroom? Wouldn't it be great that wonderful raw and authentic asset was visible to the community you care the most about - your customers?

CBS & AP on Blogs & Internet Media

CBS New York talks to AP's Curley about the impact of online media versus traditional media. This isn't news - the Internet has been picking up readers and viewers that print and broadcast media have been losing for years.

The key in recent years, particularly with the onslaught of blogs, is that some of the power is moved from news providers to consumers, who "use Web-surfing programs and video recording devices to control what they want to know and when and where they'll learn it."

I love this quote from Curley - "You have to let the content flow where the users want to go, and attach your brand — and maybe advertising and e-commerce — to those free-flowing 'atoms."

He also referenced 4 million "bloggers" making 400,000 posts per day. Hell, so I'm a mere 2-3 posts out of the 400,000? It's daunting to think about where this is going. I use a kick ass news aggregator and am still killing myself to keep up with "it all."

At this growth rate, this is more posts in one hour than the AP sends out in an entire day. But much of this noise will eventually fall through the cracks. It has to.

I love his parting statement, "It's a new community that's forming in the news and information space. The "neighbors" may not all like each other, but we're all part of the same network, like it or not." Here here.

Forrester Report: Blogging Bubble Or Not

Charlene Li's Report on Blogging: Bubble or Big Deal, is out. It's more of a corporate look: When and How Businesses Should Use Blogs. Client NewsGator is included in the report. Click here to get your hands on it.

Her executive summary below:

"Although Weblogs (blogs) are currently used by only a small number of online consumers, they've garnered a great deal of corporate attention because their readers and writers are highly influential. Forrester believes that blogging will grow in importance, and at a minimum, companies should monitor blogs to learn what is being said about their products and services. Companies that plan to create their own public blogs should already feel comfortable having a close, two-way relationship with users. In this document we recommend best practices, including a blogging code of ethics, and metrics that will show the impact of blogs on business goals."

Blogs Like Viruses & Terrorists

Fellow flack Michael O'Connor Clarke has an amusing read today about blogging posing a threat to Internet users. Thanks Michael for a morning full of laughter. He counters the cynicsm with humor. It's hard not to be flabbergasted when you read something like this:

“Viruses, worms, Trojan horses, Remote Access Trojans, hackers, organized crime, terrorists, and others continue to make the Internet a dangerous place due to fraud, extortion, denials of service, identity theft, espionage, and other crimes. Now, blogging is emerging as a threat to the Internet user community.”

So now blogs are compared to terrorists and viruses. Ya gotta love it.

Once corporate Marketing and PR departments put the breaks on their fear about blogging, they'll finally understand what a valuable tool it is. Successful corporate blogging is good PR. Damn good PR.

If you can use humanity in your corporate blog, it becomes an authentic, direct and pure way for a company to start to truly engage with and better understand their target audience.

CES On Blogging

OUCH - check out Steve's blog post about CES banning bloggers. Credibility clearly isn't there yet in the eyes of some.

Feedback from other albeit smaller conferences about how to handle bloggers has been more open but not by much - "we're still trying to determine what our blogging policy is." I take that to mean - the big players like a Jon Udell or Steve Gillmor will be accepted.

As for the rest of us, interesting content or not, we still have more education to do - "there is a world of valuable opinion out there beyond traditional journalists - some of them happen to be engineers in pajamas, and some of them are CEOs, seasoned PR & Marketing Pros, and Venture Capitalists."

BrandWeek on Blogs

About time BrandWeek got around to it. The November 10th issue has an article called Going Whole Hog on Blogs.

Beyond the verticals, I'm now working with mainstream business and consumer media on blog stories, including a couple of broadcast TV and radio outlets. Everyone is still trying to figure it out.

I love the phase we're in; there's so much to look forward to. With the increasing number of companies getting involved in this space, we're likely to see advanced tools coming out sooner rather than later to make this so much easier!!

Forrester Blogs In The News

WOW - this is the second time Forrester gets major press play on blogging. CBS Marketwatch interviews analyst Charlene Li, who recently published a report on blogging and tools. Reminds me that I need to talk to her about something.

This story comes only days after Jupiter's interview.

Like Jupiter, numerous Forrester analysts have blogs and use them for analysis and opinions. The chief of Jupiter's research unit credits them with generating sales leads....

Growth on the horizon. And I have clients with real business models and they're actually making money at this stuff. Horrah!

Blogs Increase Biz Jupiter Says

Interesting. I saw this article on how Jupiter has found a way to use blogs to boost its business - posted on Yahoo, JupiterMedia and on a couple of people's blogs. I've been watching Jupiter's blogs for awhile now, starting in the early days with Michael Gartenberg who I've known and worked with for years.

Now, over a dozen Jupiter analysts post blogs. While I love my friends at IDC, they're not even watching this space closely yet - at least not compared to the other analysts firms I deal with on a regular basis.

Jupiter hasn't really measured it yet but Schatsky claims scores of potential clients have contacted Jupiter because of the analyst blogs. They receive close to 50,000 page views per day - Yikes...and this is a fad?

It works because its building relationships and connections with potential customers. Reading the same guy over time establishes trust in the eyes of the reader. Robert Scoble at Microsoft is a success for many of the same reasons - people feel they have an inside voice to Microsoft and read information they can trust from someone they tap into for updates daily.

It's not news but it is momentum. And execs and marketers should pay attention. Building momentum like this through articles and new data on things like - "increased business as a result of...." can only help to give the world of blogging more credibility.

More and more conferences are popping up. Check this one coming next January on making blogs "work for your business," in Seattle.

Time for Flacks to Embrace the New World

Journalist, blogger, author and industry pundit Dan Gillmor recently received en email from a PR flack. He remarks how little they understand the blogosphere and its potential "positive influence."

They offered their client's CEO to talk to him about 'what Fortune 1000 companies are doing to take action against bloggers' and 'how companies are taking steps to protect their corporate reputations from bloggers and digital influencers.'

Huh? Protect their reputations from bloggers? What about from employees, journalists, themselves?

Gillmor says “The new world isn't about managing bloggers. It's about working with them, having a conversation with them.”

Like everything else, the mediocre and unethical bloggers will fall through the cracks and the reputable ones will remain. As communications professionals, we should be embracing this wave. Bloggers are yet another way to reach our customers, our partners, our investors and even the press.

Blogs are hot and while many don't think they're here to stay, I disagree. A week ago, there was an article about how Madison Avenue Ponders the Potential of blogs in the New York Times.

Their subhead: "Will Suits Take Over Blogging?" HA. So much fear around blogging. I don't get it. The article talks about the growing number of professional blogs created by ad agencies and communications professionals trying to get into the "game." Their tone is corporate and doesn't carry the same freshness and attitude that early bloggers had. Stop trying to control 'everything.'

PR execs who resist blogging should only be doing so if they don't have faith in their own profession. If they were smart, they would embellish it, not try to squash it. Doing so only shows ignorance, laziness and defeat.