Blogging

Shel Holtz pointed to FakeBlogsWiki, the wiki for fake blogs. One issue this brings up is that of best practices. The landscape is still a bit confusing with ghost writing and outsourcing blog functions but… experienced community builders can probably figure out the difference  between right and wrong pretty quickly. 

This site is a clearing house for information about ‘flogs’, or fake weblogs created by corporate marketing departments as lame marketing exercises.

Firefox Thrives Among Bloggers (this comes from Steve Rubel)

Increasingly, users of blogs and tech-oriented sites
are using Firefox. They’re embracing Firefox at a far faster pace than
Internet users more broadly.

The Trend Junkie reminds us how good Sean Carton really is by passing along his Bad Blogger Manifesto. Sean makes the very good point that much of what you read today on blogs in insular (bloggers linking to bloggers that tell the same story).

Bloggers would probably say that repeating the story is a way for mainstream media/MSM to take notice. Linking is also a nifty marketing tool. Sean’s post reminds me of Michael Gilbert’s Email Manifesto. At the time (2001), Gilbert’s assertion that "Email is more important than my web site!"was radical. 

Anyway, The Bad Blogger Manifesto:

  1. I will post what I want, when I want, for whom I want.
   2. I will not take ads. Nothing against ads, but the hassle with dealing with them and the ugliness they bring isn’t worth the effort.
   3. I will not be an outlet for press releases. If you want me to flack for you, pay me.
   4. I will not put my life on hold to keep this up. I already have a job. I don’t need another that doesn’t pay.
   5. I will listen to nuts. I like nuts.
   6. I will not argue my points. Go ahead and comment, but you ain’t changing my mind.
   7. I will not worry too much about punctuation, spelling, or grammar. If you don’t like it, read something else. You gotta pay me to worry about stuff like that.
   8. I will not look at my stats. Ever. If I wanted to worry about circulation, I’d start a real publication.
   9. I will not worry about what my employer thinks. I happen to like my employer, but this is MY blog, damnit!
  10. I will not not worry about being boring. Or interesting. I’m not writing this to entertain anyone.
  11. I will not worry about "trackbacks" or "blogrolls" or "permalinks" or any of that other stuff. I’ve got enough details in my life.
  12. I will not hide the fact that I’m a geek. Or can be really uncool. Or might be interested in stuff you don’t think is cool. It’s not worth the energy.
  13. I will be honest and will not edit myself to make anyone happy. When I write for pay, I’ll worry about editing.
  14. Trendiness is for people who lack imagination. If it’s been covered somewhere else ad nauseum, I’m not going to waste electrons.