I don’t know what caused this error, but the Gravatars are not displayed correctly anymore. Apparently, the server is rather slow and I suspect the internal graphic software on their server is currently creating some buggy output. Let’s see how this will develop until tomorrow.
I’ve just finished the Bloggerstudy which is being conducted by Technorati and Edelman. As record of my activities, I will keep the answers to a few questions on which I was allowed to enter my thoughts. I found this already two days ago on Sifry’s Alerts but simply haven’t had the time to survey myself!
- What can companies/organizations and their PR representatives do to better communicate with you?
Companies should consider me as an individual and my writings as more than the evil „yadda yadda“. To create honest replies to my thoughts is imperative, and people like Technorati (David Sifry), IceRocket (Blake Rhodes) and even CNET (John Roberts) represent their company quite well and are able to interact with customers. Perhaps that’s based on the fact that they’re more deeply involved into „tech business“ and „blog business“ than other companies. - What are some of your current frustrations with companies interacting with the blogosphere?
Many companies rather ignore that people like you and me can publicize our thoughts freely. If they are unable to interact with me, they create more damage than they’d expect. Either the blog author as in myself will become more and more frustrated with the company or product, or the whole story creates its own individual development in the eyes of others who might blog about the same experience. The importance of preventing these multiplication effects is easy to understand. I’d rather talk about a bad experience with 10-20 people and keep the good experiences to myself. They are natural, and not many people like to hear about the daily show. - How would you like to be approached by companies interested in reaching your audience?
Since I allow people to comment on my thoughts, companies are able to get in contact with me in numerous ways. The best method on how to reach blog authors is to comment them and enhance the social network of a blog by becoming part of it. Criticism is fine, and counter-criticism makes the discussion worthy to read. However, a personal and direct approach is much better than coming up with a law suit. Not everyone is easily impressed by a law suit and some people like to battle companies because this will maximize your personal popularity among others. Companies can sue each other, but if a company tries to sue a blog author, they can have hundreds of them against them as they multiply like rabbits.
For the past weeks, my girlfriend Katharina has stayed for her internship in San Francisco, CA. The internship ended as planned in last week, and now she and her buddy Rick -whom she knew from her time as au-pair in the states- have traveled for a the final week to Grand Canyon. It’s amazing there, but she moaned on Skype about not being able in the city this weekend. Well I can tell, there’s at least one thing she’d love to attend, and for me that’d be two things:
Event 1: The Loveparade
This party originated in Berlin in 1989 and became a major part of our capital city. However, the organizers were denied to hold the Loveparade in the city – and went off to other places. According to CNET, This beat-driven stampede of raving techno music made its first step to San Francisco last year. Since Kat told me already, she’s been participating in one of these parties in the past, that’d be probably her number one event for the weekend.
Event 2: Webzine
On that blogger convention, I’d have went straight to tried to get into talks with Matt for the fun of it! That’d be my second event, of which I doubt that Katharina would have enjoyed it as much. She’s such a nature driven woman that I sometimes wonder how she survived her internship in that box office ;) Nevertheless, I wonder why I haven’t found any other useful article about that Webzine event in my daily feeds.
Moment mal, was ist das hier? Normalerweise bezeichnet der geneigte Leser es als Weblog oder kurz und gut als ein Blog. Mittlerweile sollte ein Großteil der Bevölkerung verstanden haben, dass es sich im Groben und Ganzen um eine Publizierung in Tagebuchform handelt. Aber man muss auch zugeben, dass in Deutschland die Mehrheit der Bevölkerung und der davon abgeleiteten Internet-User nicht immer wissen, wo der Hund begraben liegt.
Jedoch ist ein Blog nicht immer ein Tagebuch, und hier beim MikeSchnoor.com ist es alles andere als ein kleinkarriertes Tagebuch voller persönlicher Endorphine im Stil des „Ich und meine arme Welt„. Nein, Blogs sind viel mehr als die einfache per-se Definition von vor drei oder vier Jahren. Man kann sie in jeder Form einsetzen, und in jedweder Art als Plattform für Content nutzen. Nur damals schmissen wir die Stifte weg und verbannten unsere dicken Tagebuch-Wälzer in den Schrank – wir digitalisierten uns selbst.
Am vergangenen Donnerstag bestritt ein sicherlich seines Faches kompetenter Marcel Machill sich im Metier der Weblogs. Wenn Journalismus durch Weblog Autoren vertreten wird, sind die traditionellen Journalisten gleichauf mit den Vertretern der Wissenschaften. Sie wettern gegen die sogenannte Fünfte Macht. Herr Machill ist seines Zeichens Professor für Journalistik an der Universität Leipzig. Und er begab sich auf die Suche nach der mehr oder minder endlosen Frage nach Qualität von Weblogs durch ein Interview in diesem jüngsten Artikel der Leipziger Volkszeitung.
Journalismus ist Tradition mit Werten und Wertgefühlen. Früher erlernte der Sohn den handwerklichen Beruf des Vaters, aber heute strebt der Sprößling lieber ein Studium an, als sich an harter Arbeit zu verdienen – den Damen sei hier für die Wortwahl um Entschuldigung gebeten. Auch die Medien sind von Tradition durchzogen: Von Zeitungen über Radio und TV bis zum medialen Internet ist der Journalismus präsent. Seit wenigen Jahren aber setzt sich die Citizen Media mit ihren persönlichen, aber auch gleichzeitig professionellen Autoren bei vielen Lesern durch. Meistens funktioniert dies auf einer Basis von „Take, Give and Share“ ohne Probleme. Zumeist liefern die Blogger ihren Content frei und ohne Bezahlung, was speziell in Nichen-Themen lohnenswert ist. Dieser laut Machill bezeichnete partizipatorischer Journalismus ist unsere Form der medialen Beteiligung in Wort, Bild und Ton – durch Blogs, Videoblogs und Podcasts. Im Zeichen dieses Para- oder Pseudojournalismus steht ein Autor eines Weblogs in der ersten Frontlinie gegen die Traditionalisten. Darf man sich jetzt schon in einem Bürgerkrieg epischen Ausmaßes sehen? Strebt das Volk gegen diejenigen, die als vierte Gewalt handeln dürfen?
Für die seit kurzem sich selbst etablierenden Blog-Netzwerke, die von einer größeren Organisation oder einem Konsortium getragen werden, bietet sich durch diese Art des Journalismus eine gute Einnahmequelle. Hier steht außer Frage, dass guter Content auch von Autoren geliefert werden kann, die nicht dem traditionellen Journalismus entsprungen sind. Ohne Volontariat, ohne Studium der Journalistik, ohne alles.
Von einem simplen Netztagebuch ist es also weit entfernt, je mehr sich ein Blog und der dazugehörige Autor entwickeln. Es gib Tendenzen zur redaktionellen Arbeit, sobald ein Multi-User-Blog an den Start geht. Ebenfalls wird von großen Verlagshäusern die Möglichkeit genutzt, mit eigenen Blogs ihren Redakteuren mehr Spielraum für ihre tägliche Arbeit und Berichterstattung zu bieten. Darf man demnach von einem Netztagebuch noch reden? Geschweige denn von einer Abwertung von Blog-Netzwerken im Vergleich zu der hochgelobten Redaktion? So spiegelt sich ein deutscher Konsumbegriff zur Distanzierung von bösen Blog-Anglizismen mit gepaarter Angst im Geiste der Traditionalisten wieder. Ein Begriff wie Netztagebuch beschreibt immer gerne die Plattitüde der Citizen Media.
Darüber hinaus fällt dem geneigten Leser sogar auf, dass einige Journalisten, die sich an Blogs versuchen, den doch lockereren und freien Schreibstil in deren übliche „prädikat-wertvoll Artikel“ im Tagesgeschäft einfliessen lassen. Wird so nicht das traditionalistische Medium schon von innen heraus gekehrt und so vernichtet?
Heutzutage darf jedoch von etwas anderem ausgegangen werden: Blogs sind das moderne Volksbegehren der nicht-mundtoten Bevölkerung. Wer mit traditionellen Werten in einer medialen Welt voller Vorurteile aufwächst, muss sich an Neuerungen erst gewöhnen. Was taten wir uns schwer, als man das Fernsehen einführte – der Tod des Radios? Und wie konnte jemals die ARD das neue ZDF überleben? Oder leitete erst die Einführung der Privaten TV-Sender den Niedergang des qualitativen Journalismus ein? Sollten nicht hundertausende den Fernseher aus dem Fenster schmeissen, die Bücher verbrennen und Abonnements für die Tageszeitungen abbestellen, sobald das Internet die Inhalte schnell und präzise direkt ins Wohnzimmer lieferte?
Unsereins wird sich in spätestens 10 Jahren genüßlich zurücklehnen und ein wenig darüber schmunzeln, wie man sich damals am Aufbegehrens des Social-Networks von Blogs und ihrer multimedialen Synthese störte. Dieser Stein des Anstoßes wird das liefern, was sich der Medienwissenschaftler von heute noch nicht vorstellen möchte. Die Zukunft lieft in dem Miteinander, und nicht im Kampf gegen die Veränderung der Uncertainty Avoidance?
[Geistige Anregungen und der böse Artikel via PlasticThinking]
I like to sign comments on other blogs, and I’m always kind enough to actually read people’s posts and reply to them. I just commented on one of the WordPress.com blogs which are listed in the Dashboard’s area. There I noticed upon checking the source code that they apparently implement for all off-site links the nasty and disgusting rel=’external nofollow‘ element in their A HREF-Tags. What’s that supposed to be? Am I not good enough? I understand to be marked as „external“, but facing the „nofollow“ argument upsets me. Especially in the case of being a registered user, it makes no sense to insult me like that.
I’d burn anyone down to hell for doing such to me – if I could. But here sanity strikes back again, I’ll leave it as it is. However, I already used my user name and have manually edited the URL from my BeLoved blog to lead to my main blog here at the MikeSchnoor.com. This is not a wrong move of keeping your profile up-to-date, or is it an act of evilness if you enter something else than a xyz.wordpress.com account? Further, it is not leading to any problematic spam because I have been officially invited with a Golden Ticket to WordPress.com! So where’s the point of that? I wonder if I should write a Feedback on this or rather not to waste time on this…
This morning I’ve spend some time reviewing the new CNET News.com layout, and of course I set my main focus on their Blogs section and the German tech news area. I guess I was inspired by John Roberts from their own product development team – thanks for noticing me! Let’s see if you’ll catch this feedback.
CNET’s Blogs
Fortunately, their authors write alot. They really do and its an interesting news grabber site. So far I’ve observed hundreds of blogs, yet within their main Blog site are things beneath the content. First of all, reaching the blog section is easy by using the main navigation-bar. At that point, I’ve been directed to excerpts and summaries of their entire totality of blogs. These excerpts lead to the articles or you can click at a major category for further topical research within these themed blogs. So far so good, now comes the problem.
- Leading RSS Feed
I cannot aggregate the entire blog section via RSS (or any other feed). CNET is only offering to aggregate the categories as independent feeds or the other main non-blog-related categories at their site. And I’m not likely going to add every to my RSS aggregator! On top of this, the link to their XML led to a 404-not-found page. - Comment Requirements
I understand the legal issues that come along once you’re allowing your visitors to comment on the site, but I’m not interested in using a fully-featured CNET account for this. On the other hand, the Pingbacks/Trackbacks are available for everyone. Where’s the comment regulation on these? Seems like a puzzle of illogicalness… - Main Page
Yes I’ve been rambling about the main blog section page already above. But in comparison to the individual categories (blogs), the same layout would be applicable. Without information about how many comments already exist and who wrote the post, I’m less interested in clicking to expand the post.
The German Section
I’m not going to doubt the integrity and quality of ZDNET as a sister site for CNET. Please let your readers know the publishing date of the linked articles. They already do it on their own site, and if a sister site offers to integrate their feeds to you guys at CNET, I’m sure they or you can modify the final appearance on how their feed appears on your site, or not?
Today I received my invite by Anonymuis to become a WordPress.com-User! I was quite excited to test-try-and-error the newish system and created my new account named BeLoved. I plan to write on this account with a third person perspective, and aggregate thoughts which don’t really belong to the MikeSchnoor.com at all. But as being a user on WordPress.com, I noticed a few things that keep upsetting me. Not in an angry way, but I’m missing functionality from this installation here. While the optical illusions of the new semi Web2.0 interface are quite handy for adding new posts and editing the old ones, there is no chance to install plugins or other themes such as a fully customized one.
On top of this, I made the following two feedbacks to the WordPress.com administration:
Redirect Problem
Upon using „http://beloved.wordpress.com/wp-admin“, it redirects me to „http://wordpress.com/wp-login.php?redirect_to=%2Fwp-admin%2F“… ;) Its no real problem for me, but perhaps for other people, since the redirected URL won’t let me sign up with my username.User Management?
There seems to be no chance to add more users to my account on this multiple-user-based plattform. I mean – I cannot maintain the blog being accompanied by my beloved girlfriend, and my original thoughts about creating the BeLoved-Blog cannot be met anymore. Is there any chance of being able to add a sub-user to my account or is this one of my irresistable hopes and wishes?
I’m curious on their answers, and we’ll see what happens with my BeLoved account.
This sounds evil, but is not intended as it. I decided against the „blog crush“ thing made up by Darren. It’s in my eyes somehow worthless because its just another push-and-pull promotion for blogs.
Let me point out why I think so, and why I believe I have a very different opinion on this matter compared to all the readers of his (or my own) blog. I’m not going to use all points, but those that just… make me wonder if that push-and-pull promotion is nothing else but a game for bored kids.
you like the way they blog
I read over more than 200 blogs each day and scroll through various ones each day and night. But there’s not been something in a blog that would make it so uber-special for me to like somebody that much to admire them for what they do. Writing is an art, writing is a profession, and writing can be personal or anything else. But to admire one for what they do will not help yourself with your own writing, or will it?
their RSS feed is at the top of your list
Well, with that increasing number of RSS feeds, I could list about a dozent of authors who are good at their work, and as many who are not. If I’d judge in a radical way, none of even the blogrolls should ever exist.
you leave more comments on their blog than you write posts on your own
I like giving comments, but as an author of a blog, you should clearly maintain your blog and not increase the comments of somebody else just because he/she is your beloved author. Where will this end, would one expect to be invited to co-blog?
you let them know about posts you’ve written in the hope that one day they’ll notice you
Trackback, Pingback – the most beloved tools for every advanced blog author. Why should I email somebody about something I wrote if I can ping or trackback them in a modest way? The author will notice it – either by finding that ping in their moderation queue or by reading their own comments.
So this is it. While I know my daily reads and love to read them, there’s no benefit of endlessly promoting other people with this or that campaign. Why? Because they clearly do not understand how much value that brings for them – as in new readers. And on the other hand, most people do not visit those who link to them at all, nor acknowledge what other authors do.
Considering this above, I’m not in favor of having a blog crush. Why should I admire people for being what they are? I am who I am, and this is equal to what any other blog author or reader is. There’s nothing special in all of us but ourselves. No need to admire this ;) On the other hand I could easily transform a couple of blogs of my daily reads into a blog-crush related post. But who needs such? It’s yet another link farm development. In the end, traditional methods are much better than these push-and-pull campaigns.
Ahoy, bilge rats! T’day is Talk Like A Pirate Day! Arrr! Sippin‘ my grog and thinkin‘ about preparing to board my lovin‘ beauty Katharina in two weeks. But now, get a hold of that night. Aye, I guarantee ye, I’m goin‘ to sleep well with that grog! :D Arrrr!! Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest— Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest— Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Ayyy!
Should this be allowed? Darren polled and fetched us the result: The majority would accept individual signatures, but I have one dearing problem with this:
Weblogs are no Webboards!
The idea of discussion is wonderful, but people already get their chance to enter a name, an url and an email for any communication below the level of using the comment section of a weblog. And most of the users which might want to use signatures here will simply end up in the moderation queue of my blog. I’d choose between manually erasing their signatures (if these exceed more than 2 lines or contain problematic content), or I’d simply squish them by deleting the entire comment.
I still have concerns that such practices makes fighting spam comments difficult I do wonder where the practice will end up (I really hope we don’t end up with comment threads being like the terrible mix mash of signatures that we see on many discussion forums)
And while using anti-spam plugins like BadBehavior ;), I’d fear the users get thrown out for their signatures… not sure how BB reacts to a massive load about signatures. And always remember, there’s the good old Comment Policy awaiting the commenters…
Über mich
Mein Name ist Mike Schnoor und ich unterstütze Unternehmen und Marken als Digitalexperte, Fachautor und Vortragsreferent, damit sie sich im digitalen Wettbewerb hinsichtlich Strategien und Prozessen richtig positionieren können.
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