Category: Opinion

Opinions

Do bloggers need a code of conduct?

Do bloggers need guidelines about blogging conduct and civil behaviour? Tim O’Reilly is drafting a Blogger Code of Conduct, which is shaping up by the collaborative effort of bloggers on a wiki committed to the “Civility Enforced” standards.

O’Reilly has posted the first draft, which is also posted on the Blogging Wikia, where you can join in and edit the wiki and encourage others too. The final version will be posted on bloggingcode.org, along with the html to display the badge and link to the code. It is based on the Blogher community guidelines, that embrace the spirit of civil disagreement and declines to publish unacceptable content.

Here is what the blogger conduct code says now –

1. We take responsibility for our own words and reserve the right to restrict comments on our blog that do not conform to basic civility standards.
2. We won’t say anything online that we wouldn’t say in person.
3. If tensions escalate, we will connect privately before we respond publicly.
4. When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we take action.
5. We do not allow anonymous comments.
6. We ignore the trolls.
7. We encourage blog hosts to enforce more vigorously their terms of service.

You may not agree on many of these points. So they have also decided on a “anything goes” badge for sites that want to warn possible commenters that they are entering a free-for-all zone.

Bluffer’s Guide to Web 2.0?

News from South By South West SXSW

“How to Bluff your way in Web 2.0” by Andy Budd and Jeremy Keith. The focus of the session was to teach you how to appear like you are a Web 2.0 master. Here are some notes and pics

Slides from the presentation

Video: What is Web 2.0?

Opening remarks:

– Web 2.0 is a fantasic area to bluff since no one knows what it means anyway.
– We will have you talking like Jason Fried in a few minutes.
– We will have you create a company that Yahoo will buy.

Four aspects of Web 2.0
– supports social interaction
– encourages user participation
– enhanced user experience
– and open data.

Must use handy buzzwords

– long-tail
– tipping point
– leverage
– Ajax
– Tagging

Popular Web 2.0 apps (some): flickr, technorati, plazes, Yelp, Meebo, twitter. There is a great Twitter drinking game.

Misc items:

– Shows Carbonmade as a perfect Web 2.0 app – loads of colors and gradients and illustrated icons, lots of use of transparency and rounded corners.
– Everything is wet in web 2.0
– 3-D logos are where it’s at
– Throw in your favorite typeface when you are out at a party
– With Web 2.0 it’s all about giving A-list geeks toys. You should have microformats, rss, APIs.
– Two kinds of APIs, simple kind is called REST, the tougher alternative is SOAP
– Two APIs = mashup
– Most common mashup uses maps = most common one is the ChicagoCrime.org, shows overplot and Gawker stalker
– Must have Ajax’y goodness – use moo.fx for quick tutorials

To build a good Web 2.0 app you need:

– Drop the e in any er words
– You could use .us or .tv
– Sub domains rock!
– Add “get” in front

You need a cool logo
Then setup a mysterious homepage and a blog to talk about everything around the app
Then you think of a concept

– Think of an old idea, add tagging and social network = flickr
– Take a site like Digg or YouTube and make another one
– Put two apps together: Digg plus Flickr = Dickr
– Build it on the cheap
– Hire a 15yr old cheap kid – pay in pizza
– Spend all money on the design
– Demo – pay for a demo at a large conference
– Wait for Yahoo or Google to buy you – use the bluffing tactics in the parties

Social side of Web 2.0

– Starts with the wisdom of crowds book
– The greater internet f***wad theory = normal person + anonymity + audience = f***wad
– You want community – like a lunatic asylum
– Loves Milk & Two
– Must have ratings for the social network
– Must have tagging
– Must have bookkeeping
– Must have comments

The (sponsored) word on the street

BBC News site has a nice post regarding Word of Mouth advertising
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6478889.stm

Word of Mouth advertising lends itself quite nicely to blogs. Thus, are the millions of personal blogs out there just untapped sources of advertising for big companies??

Word-of-mouth marketing, the latest advertising boom in the US, is coming to Britain. Would you be prepared to slip a casual product endorsement into a cosy chat with friends?
The average Briton is bombarded with more than 3,000 adverts a day. From Coronation Street to the school sports day, almost every aspects of our lives seems to be sponsored these days. Ads are squeezed in, on and around everything we see, do and use.

It’s relentless and we are starting to turn off and tune out. Only 14% of regular campaigns now have any effect, according to Marketing Week. To put it simply, we’ve grown tired and cynical of traditional advertising tactics. Positive word-of-mouth has always been the advertisers’ Holy Grail. On a credibility scale it comes top and traditional commercials come bottom, says advertising author Tom Himpe.

Now, word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing, already established in the US and Canada, is coming to the UK, the Magazine can reveal. And it means the banter you enjoy with their mates down the pub on a Friday night could soon shift into sales patter.

WOM is when unpaid volunteers are sent new products and, as they go about their everyday lives, are encouraged to tell their family and friends – even strangers – what they think of them. The products can be anything from mobile phones to sausages.

‘Honest’ message

WOM marketing companies are at pains to insist it isn’t viral or buzz marketing because the volunteers – known as agents, advocates, ambassadors or transmitters – must state they are part of a marketing campaign. It is about harnessing “honest word of mouth”, say companies.

Agents are not scripted, or commanded to spread only a positive message. And they are not paid. Instead, they get free samples, and what the industry calls “social currency” – the thrill of being among the first to try a new product.

It’s flourishing in the US, with 43% of Fortune 500 companies adopting it in 2007, according to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). Some industry experts believe it’s set to become one of the most powerful forms of advertising.

“The beauty of WOM is that it’s open, raw, real and direct,” says Mr Himpe. “Negative or positive, at least the message is genuine. It’s not just the brand talking.”

But companies that think they’ve found the Holy Grail perhaps shouldn’t get complacent. Research shows that positive word of mouth goes out to five people but negative word of mouth goes out to 10… and with much more passion.

Should “fake” blogging be made illegal?

Sam Coates, political correspondent for The Times newspaper published an interesting article on 10th February 2007. It appears that in the UK, a few hotels, restaurants and online shops have been writing “glowing reviews” for their own products or services, in order to win more business. However, from 31st December, such “fake blogging” will become illegal, as a new European directive will ban businesses from “falsely representing themselves to consumers”

I believe that blogging can be rich e-marketing tool. However, how strong is the temptation for a business to embelish its products and services to win more trade? Is a small white lie acceptable in the online world?

Firms must realise that even in the online world, ethics and integrity are just as important as they are in the “offline” world. Its nice to see legislation is keeping up to date with the rapid developments in the blogosphere.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1361968.ece

Why small firms should blog…

Credit goes to Steve Clayton (Microsoft) for this post on his blog.

An article was published by Phil Muncaster in the UK’s IT Week magazine (October 9th 2006) – http://www.itweek.co.uk/itweek/news/2165262/businesses-failing-cash-blogs that was entitled “Businesses failing to cash in on blogs”. It got me thinking.

“According to research of 2000 UK SME’s by Fasthosts that Phil quoted, nearly half of SME firms understand the business benefits of corporate blogs (which I doubt highly) but only 3% have plans to start one”. Mad eh? Here is why Steve thinks they should:

It’s a differentiator: clearly this research shows your competitors are not blogging so maybe you should? Get in there early, lead the way and grab your audience. That’s what English Cut did with significant commercial success.
Your customers will soon expect it: well they will as soon as your competitors give them a way to talk to them and have an ongoing dialogue in a way this is becoming increasingly common. If Dell, GM, Carphone Warehouse and others are doing it (and benefiting) shouldn’t you be?
It’s not as hard as you think: creating a good blog is time consuming but it’s getting easier and easier with tools like Technorati helping you raise your profile, Windows Live Writer making it as easy to blog as write a Word document,
You control the message: Steve attended a great seminar with Matthew Stibbe about how to write well (I’ve got lots to learn) and one thing that Steve took away is that ad agencies, PR companies and those kind of tactics have their place but often dilute your core message with marketing doublespeak. When you control the message, it’s likely to be more respected, authentic and honest. Which means people are more likely to listen.
People will find you: Trust me, search engines make you very find-able. I often look at my referrer logs to my blog (use Statcounter for free) and you’d be amazed at how people find you with the most obscure searches on Google imaginable. Write your stuff, do it frequently and be honest and people will find you. Trust me.
The Google effect: I know several small businesses who pay money to appear on Google (and MSN) sponsored ad links. They get some business from it for sure and it’s clearly a good business for Google. Here is my secret though – I have *never* clicked on a sponsored link on Google for the simple reason that it is sponsored – to me it’s artificial and I bet I’m not the only one who loses the use of their right eye when using Google and doesn’t even see that list of sponsored links over there. What does this mean though? Well if you blog often enough and with intelligent use of titles and keywords you will organically rise up the Google rankings. I’ve been amazed at my own rise for pretty broadly used words like Vista so it proves it can be done. I’m pretty sure that if I wanted to appear top of Google’s search for “Chiswick High Street” I could do so within about 3 months with some focused blogging. It’s a reasonably popular search on Google and has low competition for keywords. I setup my CHS store directory, blog about the place, generate some decent traffic and then sell some links to Foxtons, Barnard Marcus, Lom Bok and off we go…hmmm
You will find your voice: the Fasthost research showed people were put off by what to say and how to say it. I was when I started blogging but your friends and customers will soon help you shape that as they did for me. There are tonnes of places to get advice on this anyway and I’ve listed some below. Frankly, that’s just a crap excuse.

Handy Resources

Suw Charman/MSN’s How to Blog for Business – A Guide to Corporate Blogging
ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Building a Better Blog
Beginner’s Guide to Business Blogging – Originally a limited release, now available for free
The Rise and Fall Of The Hit by Chris Anderson
The Corporate Weblog Manifesto by Robert Scoble
Naked Conversations
The HughTrain
The Stormhoek Guide To Wine Blogging

English Cut is a great case study on how a business can promote its services through blogging!
However, are there other small business blogger success stories? Contact me please, I’d love to interview you!

Wow! The Web Pitch’s New Look

Greetings, the old WordPress theme was becoming too congested for my liking! Therefore I decided to apply a new theme and revamp the site.
Google ads are now located in the top left hand corner. I’ve also added another sidebar for content. A few added tweaks, should ensure the site loads a tad quicker.
The new theme, should also be easier on the eye too!

Also, if you now go into a post there are options to submit the story to one of many social news networking sites, including Digg, Technorati and Delicious

I hope you like it!

Jas.

Search Engine Marketing Blogs

Wow! The sheer number of marketing blogs on this topic is staggering. Marketeers are milking the hell out of this. Below is a link that will link you to over 380 blogs covering search engine marketing with a few that venture into blogging, social media and new media public relations. Search engines HAVE truly been hijacked by marketeers.

http://www.toprankblog.com/search-marketing-blogs/

http://www.toprankblog.com/2007/03/search-marketing-blogs-update-030207/

Windows Vista – Purchase it with a new PC instead

Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn) and I have had a tempestuous relationship over the past year during beta testing. For upgraders with computers older than 18-24 months, I suggest buying a new computer with Vista preinstalled. Alternatively, consider buying a Mac. If a Mac is too much for you, stick with Windows XP.

e-petitions and an email from Number 10 Downing Street!

e-petitioning is becoming popular. So much so that the UK government is actively encouranging it. See http://petitions.pm.gov.uk. I quite like the idea of petitioning Tony Blair, I wonder if Number 10 will take this petition seriously. There is a new petition posted against the rip off prices we have to pay for Microsoft’s new Windows Vista. Go sign the petition and lets see what happens!

“There is a huge difference in the price that people in the US and the UK are paying for Windows Vista the new Microsoft Operating System. As an example of this, in the UK a full copy of Vista Ultimate would cost you £350, in the US it would cost you £195. The US version of Vista is exactly the same as the UK version. There is no difference. Therefore I can see no reason for there to be such a huge difference in prices between the UK and the US other than Microsofts belief that the UK customers will pay more than their US counterparts. I ask people to sign this petition in the hope that the Prime Minister will bring pressure to bear on Microsoft over their pricing as it is my belief they are simply overcharging the people of the UK and therefore are ripping us off”.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/VistaOvercharge

The BBC’s Fifteen Web Principles

Interesting pearls of wisdom from the BBC’s 2.0 project. There are lots of really good pointers for businesses wishing to promote their websites.

http://www.tomski.com/archive/new_archive/000063.html

The BBC’s Fifteen Web Principles

1. Build web products that meet audience needs: anticipate needs not yet fully articulated by audiences, then meet them with products that set new standards. (nicked from Google)

2. The very best websites do one thing really, really well: do less, but execute perfectly. (again, nicked from Google, with a tip of the hat to Jason Fried)

3. Do not attempt to do everything yourselves: link to other high-quality sites instead. Your users will thank you. Use other people’s content and tools to enhance your site, and vice versa.

4. Fall forward, fast: make many small bets, iterate wildly, back successes, kill failures, fast.

5. Treat the entire web as a creative canvas: don’t restrict your creativity to your own site.

6. The web is a conversation. Join in: Adopt a relaxed, conversational tone. Admit your mistakes.

7. Any website is only as good as its worst page: Ensure best practice editorial processes are adopted and adhered to.

8. Make sure all your content can be linked to, forever.

9. Remember your granny won’t ever use “Second Life”: She may come online soon, with very different needs from early-adopters.

10. Maximise routes to content: Develop as many aggregations of content about people, places, topics, channels, networks & time as possible. Optimise your site to rank high in Google.

11. Consistent design and navigation needn’t mean one-size-fits-all: Users should always know they’re on one of your websites, even if they all look very different. Most importantly of all, they know they won’t ever get lost.

12. Accessibility is not an optional extra: Sites designed that way from the ground up work better for all users

13. Let people paste your content on the walls of their virtual homes: Encourage users to take nuggets of content away with them, with links back to your site

14. Link to discussions on the web, don’t host them: Only host web-based discussions where there is a clear rationale

15. Personalisation should be unobtrusive, elegant and transparent: After all, it’s your users’ data. Best respect it.