Seth Godin Agrees With Me
July 23, 2008
Or maybe I agree with him. Either way, I have been saying for a long time now that how many people follow you on twitter or read your blog isn’t nearly as important as who. Its a principle I learned from Dave Slusher, and I believe it completely. I would much rather have 20 high quality, important people reading my blog than 2,000 everyday joes.
But we haven’t come very far yet as every blog/podcast ad network still works under the presumption of numbers. Lots of raw numbers. They do this because this is what the advertisers demand. As an “old school” podcaster, I belived we were going to change the world. We were supposed to change the very face of advertising, forcing them out of their relentless chance for raw numbers and getting them to understand the power of who and the return on influence. But were trying to change an industry that has done what it does for many many years and change never comes easily. Until then, the fight goes on.
I Dig Sprout
April 27, 2008
Web widgets are one of the hot topics of 2008. Sprout is a company I found recently that makes creating and publishing widgets super easy. Everything is based on Flash technology which gives your widget a lot of power and flexibility. The interface for creating sprouts couldn’t be easier and there are built in components that make adding things like rss feeds, Twitter and audio files easy. The program also does everything needed to prepare the widget for publishing on a wide variety of web sites. I love tools that empower the common person to harness the Internet in more powerful ways and Sprout certainly fits that bill in the widget category.
Liberal Internet Politics
August 11, 2006
So the liberal bloggers claim victory as they helped to defeat Joseph Lieberman in favor of anti-war but unknown Ned Lamont. I wouldn’t go to crazy over this. Don’t forget the last candidate they helped push forward, Howard Dean. He couldn’t even secure the nomination for president.
Republicans should be very happy. The farther left the Dems go, the less chance they have of winning anything. People are not happy with the Iraq war, but they’re not stupid either. Just pulling out as fast as we can would lead to complete disaster.
Another Condescending Blogger Survey
July 25, 2006
A survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project says while many see weblogs as an alternative to mainstream media, most bloggers run them as a hobby rather than a vocation. There are many interesting stats and numbers in the report about blogging in general but a strong trust of the research is that since bloggers are doing it for love (hobby) we should not take them seriously like regular journalists. Maybe bloggers are redefining what a journalist is. Just because someone is doing something as a hobby doesn’t mean their viewpoints and insights are any less valuable than someone else. Just because you are getting paid does not make you above everyone else. How about the New York Tims and the journalistic scandals that went down there? Now who do you want to believe?
Blog Spam Worse Than Email Spam
June 29, 2006
I have already deleted 196 spam comments to this blog. Thank God for Akismet. I think I am getting more blog spam than I am email spam now. Either way, they both suck and are completely ineffective a I blow them all away before anyone, including myself, ever looks at them. It makes the junk mail I get in the mailbox look like child’s play.
Why I love Mark Cuban
June 14, 2006
This guy is a multi-millionaire owner of a NBA team and he stops at 7-11 on his way the the opening game of the NBA finals. It's the first time Dallas has been to the big dance. He signs an autograph for the daughter of the guy who works behind the counter as well. Mark is rich, famous and can do anything he wants. But he stops at 7-11 because despite all that he is still a real guy. I love that. He's not too cool to hang out in the real world. Go Mavs!
Love For The Scobleizer From A Network Of Friends
May 12, 2006
I have been following the dramatic story of Robert Scoble's mother. She has congestive heart failure and has also had a massive stroke. She is in very critical condition in the hospital. I immediately connected with this story as my father has had CHF for quite a while now and also had a stroke about six months ago. He has had an up and down time with his health and last week was admitted to the hospital once again. His kidneys were failing and he was dying. The doctors were able to get is kidneys going again and he is now in ICU and somewhat stable. I don't know what the future hold for him and our family, but we take it day to day.
What is amazing is the huge outpouring of love and compassion for Robert and his family as expressed in his blog comments. Robert, being one of the most popular tech bloggers, has thousands of people reading his blog daily. But we rarely get a look into his personal life. This is a business and tech blog after all. But when this kind of crisis comes, business shuts down and everything is focused on family.
Many people commenting on Scoble's blog know him personally and have met him. Others, like me, don't know him from adam. It's just a blog we read. But somehow, regardless of the blog subject matter, if you read a blog long enough, you do get the feeling that you know the person. And a community of regular readers and commenters appears.
The same thing happened when popular podcaster Derek from Skepticality was struck with a severe brain ailment and spend many weeks in ICU. Podcasters and listeners rallied around and followed almost daily updates from his co-host Swoopy. They poured in their well wishes and prayers. It was a beautiful things to see and it's happening again for Robert. With all the attention being paid on the Internet being a dangerous place for kids, here is a shining example that it can also be a wonderfully beautiful place full of love and hope. A blessing for at least two families.