This video is so smart. First, the information he sings about is right on, so he’s done some research. Second, its clever enough that people are passing it around the web. In the past year its been viewed 450k times. Would he have had the same amount of exposure otherwise? Plus, he’s singing about SEO, and distributing the message via social marketing. There’s a good chance that he knows both well.

Nicely done. Very clever.

I assume this means that marketers are testing the waters to see if they can capitalize on Twitter’s success, but they’re breaking one of the rules of social marketing. Social marketing only works when you have something people actually want, you have to add value (I hate that term but it fits). The best example I can think of is Dell. The only way this medium will last is if people are enjoying it.

A new trend is emerging. Unfollow everyone and start over. I just learned about it last night. At first I bristled against this but after giving it some thought I think its brilliant. The whole point of social media is to connect with people online. If you aren’t saying anything that I want to listen to, then why would I maintain the connection? Loïc Le Meur unfollowed everyone in his Twitter account yesterday, and is slowly adding people back. Its beautiful. Its the equivalent of hitting the refresh button. It preserves the value of Twitter for him. The alternative is to ditch social media altogether, and where’s the fun in that?

I don’t have 23,000 followers, so I probably won’t need to do this anytime soon, but I’m also not following everyone that finds me. If your Twitter account has become unruly then this could be just the trick to set things right. I promise I won’t be offended if you drop me, there’s a chance that I’ll unfollow you.

I have been blogging for six years now, and have also created accounts on just about every social site that I could find. I have loved Flickr since day one, it is THE place to share and peruse photography. And, it meshes with my blog perfectly. Facebook took me a while to warm up to, but now I love it. I enjoy keeping up with the daily lives of my friends, and I’ve even regained contact with some that I had lost touch with years ago. Twitter is even more fun. I’ll admit that it took me months to understand the point, much less embrace it. Now I’m addicted, I love it more than ice cream.

What I’m saying is that I ‘get’ blogging, and I also ‘get’ social media, and there (currently) is no site that makes me want to give up my blog (whether I have 2 readers or 50,000 isn’t the point). What’s more, I’m not going to stop reading blogs. My Bloglines account is loaded with dozens of RSS feeds that I check almost daily. Some are friends, some are blogs with tips for saving money or that provide social commentary, but I love all of them. If one of them drops I’ll go looking for other blogs to enjoy.

If I feel this way about blogging, then there are others. And if a community of people aren’t going to ditch their blog and want to read others, then blogging is certainly not dead. The fact is that Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, etc do not replace blogging, they enhance it. Conversations that happen in more social spaces generate ideas that get explored on blogs which prompts further discussion… and on the cycle goes. Besides, if marketing sites are still publishing a guide for blogging, then what about it is dead?

Blogging is not dead. Blogging is doing just fine.

Over the past several months a new trend has been emerging. The technology changed more than a year ago and the way that we use the web has been catching up. I’m just getting my head around it now, and holy cow is it cool. I’m still grappling with these concepts so please forgive me if this post is a bit janky. I’ll cover some broad trends and then give a couple of concrete examples.

For the past couple of years sites have been displaying data from a number of sources through RSS, that isn’t really new. There is an increasing number of sites that allow users (and other sites) to submit data remotely as well, through API’s. What this means is that you don’t even have to visit a site to take advantage of its services. In some cases the sites, or web applications, don’t offer anything on their own site other than an administration panel. Gravatar is a site that offers a centralized avatar storage and distribution for the rest of the web, all you can do on their site is update your email address and picture. But, once that’s done every website that takes advantage of that service displays your avatar. Similarly, create an account at OpenID and you can access dozens of sites with those credentials. Last.fm keeps track of the music you play on your computer or iPod and gives you tools to display that list on any site you wish, your blog, Facebook, MySpace, wherever. Twitter, Flickr and Delicious also make it a snap to share information on any other site you choose.

There is a shift toward decentralized content, the information that you view on one page could be pulled from a dozen or more places. These mashups are fun and useful, but its not just content that is being shared between sites, now applications are, too. I can think of a few examples for WordPress. Disqus is a blog plugin that replaces, and adds functionality to, your blog engine’s commenting feature. Comments display as threaded, and they extend across similar sites. I have already reviewed Zemanta, which is a tool to help add links, images and related articles to your blog posts.

There are several Firefox add-ons that extend the functionality of Gmail, making it a great alternative to Outlook. RememberTheMilk has an add-on that allows you to see and manage your task list from within Gmail (that’s actually one of my favorites). Xoopit indexes your email and gives you quick access to images and videos that have been sent to you.

Some people are referring to this as the semantic web. The way I understand the semantic web, this is incorrect, though I’m certainly no expert so I don’t necessarily claim to be right. My understanding is that semantic is a way of categorizing the information contained within a web page so that computers can make sense of and utilize that content. I guess maybe this fits within semantic in a general way, though I consider this to be more along the lines of content/application distribution.

This is a pretty exciting trend within web development. As each of these sites/tools develops more ways of interacting with them, the functionality of the web increases. Distributing content across a number of sites increases the chances that someone interested in your words will see them, increasing the value that those pages bring to readers. And, transferring applications to the web opens up a myriad of opportunities as well. I’m excited to be working in this industry right now.

Image via Wikipedia

Have you heard of Zemanta? No its not a drug, although that’s what I originally thought, too. Zemanta is a tool that recommends links, tags, images and related articles as you type a blog entry. I found out about it a few weeks ago, and was intrigued enough that I installed the Firefox plug-in right away. Three blog entries later and I’m sold, I love it.

What It Does
As you type in a blog entry, Zemanta looks through your text for keywords, if it recognizes one, it surfs the web for links, images, tags and articles that are related, and displays them next to your entry. If you agree that these articles are relevant to your post, just click the appropriate button and Zemanta adds the link (or image) to your post.

Why It Matters
First, your posts become more interesting to read when you link to related content on the web, show pictures to illustrate concepts and link to other articles that either support or contrast with your claim. In other words, your readers will find your work more appealing.

Second, Zemanta makes it easier for your blog to be found. By using the tags that Zemanta recommends, you’ll be categorizing your content with the same keywords that others are using, which will ultimately have an impact on the traffic your blog receives through search engines. If Zemanta picks up on something that you blog about, others on the web will find out about it as they blog on related topics. If they link to your post, your blog just became more popular.

Review
Okay, so now that you have a grasp of what this tool does, here’s what I think of it. This is such a great idea! Why on earth hasn’t this been done before? Seriously? I mean, there isn’t any revolutionary technology at play here, this is just a tool that recommends content based on what you’re tying in.

So far I’ve tried the Firefox extension, the WordPress plugin and the Windows Live Writer plugin. As promised, they each work identically, so it doesn’t matter which you use. They also offer plugins for Drupal, Movable Type as well as an extension for Internet Explorer. I have no reason to believe that they’d work any differently. The only blog engine that I’ve tried it with is WordPress, but I did try it with two different themes, and all of the features (pictures from Flickr, lists, links, etc) rendered perfectly in both themes. If you use an image from Flickr or Wikipedia, credit for the image is handled automatically.

The content loads quickly, though I’ve only tried it with a broadband connection. I wouldn’t even attempt this tool with dialup. All of the buttons work flawlessly, which I was impressed with. It works well enough that you really don’t even think about it, it just offers up recommendations in the background as you type.

Bottom Line
Honestly, now that I know about this, it doesn’t make sense to me to blog without it anymore. As a blogger, I want for my work to be tagged appropriately and categorized correctly. I want to link to other sites when appropriate. And I like showing images to my readers. Zemanta makes all of that a breeze, so I get to focus on quality writing. The tool works flawlessly, so what’s not to like. I wish I had thought of it.

Related Articles

• Zemanta Is My New Favorite Tool As A Blogger
• Zemanta ~ Must Have Firefox Extension for Bloggers
• Zemanta – Semantically Augmented Blogging
• Zemanta – Content Suggestion for Bloggers

The answer will be different for every blogger, but everyone that contributes to a blog will need to have something to write about. Its not easy to come up with something meaningful to say on a regular basis, so its good to have a collection of tools to ‘prime the pump’ when its your turn to contribute. Here are a few of the steps that I take when coming up with ideas.

Do Interesting Things. Get out and interact with the world around you. If your blog is a company blog, then get involved in the community within your industry. Attend happy hours, go to conferences, find out what others are talking about and who the forward thinkers are. What do you think about where the industry is headed? Do you agree with the forward thinkers? As a professional within you industry, your opinion counts, and someone is interested in hearing it. Your blog is the place.

If its a personal blog then take up a new hobby and write about what you’re learning or experiencing as you go. Set a goal such as losing weight or writing a book or running a marathon, and blog about your progress.

Be Social. Blogs are a social medium. One method of making yours interesting is for you to be social. Go to concerts, join a book club or start a group around one of your favorite things. Do anything that will prompt you to interact with people. A long time ago a friend of mine started a bread pudding club. Once a month they’d get together at a restaurant that serves bread pudding for a meal, and, of course, dessert. I thought that was a cool idea. When you get to your computer write a review of the concert, or about how you tricked Richard into eating a spoon full of wasabi, or why your movie club is done with Coen brothers movies. Lets face it, people are interesting. A lot of ideas come to me just by being social.

Have An Opinion. People like knowing what others think about stuff. Tell the world what you think. People want to know why you refuse to use anything other than an iPhone, or why you refuse to buy one. Have you been a long time Black Crowes fan, but hate Chris Robinson’s solo work? Tell your blog why. If you collect anything then you have an opinion and your readers want to know about it. When I was 6 my Dad gave me a Bicentennial quarter, and I thought the drummer on the back looked cool, so I started collecting them. I still do. If I get one as change I’ll go out of my way to not spend it. At last count I had $28.75 worth of Bicentennial quarters.

Keep Tabs. As I’m going throughout my daily life, I try to think about things that would be interesting for my readers. Good ideas often come from random events in daily life, a commercial that I think is witty or entertaining, my response to a commentary that I heard on the radio or a conversation that I overheard in the grocery store. As these ideas come to me I make a mental note. Next time I’m near my computer if the idea is memorable then I blog about it while the memory is fresh.

Read Blogs. Create an account with Bloglines and get in the habit of subscribing to RSS feeds as you surf the web. As you read what others are writing about you’ll pick up a few ideas for your blog. When I feel like writing, if I don’t already have an idea, I’ll open Bloglines and peruse the new posts. If someone has an idea that prompts a response or that I think I can add to, then I do. I write the response on my own blog and link back to the original article. I try to find at least one or two new blogs to subscribe to each month, and I limit myself to 20 feeds at a time, so as new ones come in, the less interesting ones have to go.

Only Write About Things That Interest You. This is important. If you want your blog to be interesting for your readers, then it must first be interesting for you. No one wants to read something that the author didn’t want to write. Web citizens are sharp people, they’ll see through the text that you aren’t into the subject, and they’ll move on to another blog. Find something that you’re passionate about, write about it on your blog, and eventually the readers will find you.

The Secret Weapon. Sometimes its time to write and I have no idea what I’m going to write about. Its times like this that I lean on the web. There are a handful of sites that are useful for prompting ideas. Digg and Slashdot usually have something that’s interesting, so I start there. Lately Twine has been helpful in finding things that interest me. StumbleUpon is also good at presenting material that I like. Lately I’ve been using Blogstorm’s Hot Topics, and I like it.

True confession. When I started this post I had no idea what to write, but I’ve made a commitment to myself to update this blog at least twice a week. I surfed the web for 15 minutes and found Chris Brogan’s post on 100 Blog Topics, and boom, this post was born. See, the system works. Go forth and blog.

Within the past 3 or 4 months I have become increasingly addicted to Twitter. I didn’t get it at first, because if you aren’t following anyone, and don’t have any followers, then it isn’t very interesting. But the more people you connect with, the more fun it becomes. Now Twitter is one of my favorite spots on the web.

About a month ago I came across the profile of Henry Rollins, then John Cleese. This morning I decided to see what other celebrities have embraced Microblogging. I believe that these are the real profiles of these individuals. I’ll update this list if I come across any more. If you know of others, or find out that any of these are fake, please post comments.
Edited March 24, 2009.

• John Cleese – British actor and comedian, was a prominent member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
• Chris Cornell – rock singer. Cornell was the lead singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave.
• Snoop Dogg – rap artist and actor.
• Fran Drescher – television actress best known for her role in The Nanny.
• Jimmy Fallon – actor and comedian. He got his start on Saturday Night Live and is now the host of NBC’s Late Night.
• MC Hammer – pop artist who is most famous for a dramatic rise to and fall from fame in the 1990’s.
• John Hodgman – actor famous for his role as ‘PC’ in the Mac commercials.
• Dave Matthews – lead singer and namesake of the Dave Matthews Band.
• Dave Navarro – rock guitar player that has played with Jane’s Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails and more.
• Shaquille O’Neal – pro basketball player, currently with the Phoenix Suns, but he’s also played with Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat.
• Trent Reznor – the main guy behind Nine Inch Nails.
• Adam Savage – one of the main guys from the show MythBusters.
• William Shatner – actor best known for his roles in the original Star Trek series, and more recently in Boston Legal and the Priceline Negotiator commercials.
• Britney Spears – Pop singer, drama queen.
• Brent Spiner – actor best known for his role as Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• George Takei – television actor known for his roles in the original Star Trek and Heroes.
• Wil Wheaton – movie actor. Has had roles in Stand by Me, Toy Soldiers, Flubber and many others.
• Patric Wilson – drummer in the alternative rock band Weezer.
• Steve Wozniak – cofounder of Apple.

Enjoy.

Bill was the primary speaker, and he was probably the more confident speaker between the two. He raised a few great points about Google’s shift to including news, videos and social media items in search results, indexing flash content and search within search. He also made a personal comment about flash content that I happen to agree with, that flash developers make sites that are annoying to everyone but the person that developed it. I completely agree that the medium (flash vs html vs ajax vs …) needs to be chosen based on the message and the content, not the other way around. I would have loved it if he had taken this line of thought further, but this probably wasn’t the proper forum for that conversation.

Brian was also great. He didn’t speak as much, which is unfortunate because I appreciated his thoughts as well. While discussing the use of social media he made the point that each site (Digg, Twitter, Facebook, etc) becomes its own community, and if someone is going to use that medium then all efforts really need to be tailored to that specific site. Digg users respond differently to a story than Facebook or Sphinn or Reddit users would. Very insiteful. To claim that you’re an expert in all social media is too broad to be meaningful.

I also met a few folks from other agencies around town. I particularly enjoyed visiting with the event host, Paul Bradshaw of Full Orange Films. All in all, I really enjoyed it, and am looking forward to attending future events.