Web-Tones

Super Blogger Makes TIME 100

Link: Michael Arrington - The TIME 100 - TIME. Is this is a sign of things to come? No. Blogging (and new media in general) have completely transformed journalism. It is game, set & match. It has been for awhile. That is not news. So super blogger Arrington (of TechCrunch fame) makes the TIME 100, that is yesterday's news as well. Congratulations to Mike, but this is not a signal of anything, except the past.

New media will transform ALL knowledge based industries, including the practice of law. That has been a constant mantra here at Web-tones, but in some ways it is just stating the obvious. The transformation is already well underway. By the time the MSM starts writing about it, the transformation will probably be nearly complete for the early adopters. It is the way things work on the web. Right now, as we speak, there are cutting edge boutiques already creating the fodder that will be written about. There are even more fast followers lurking at the edges waiting for an opportunity to make a move.

But seeing a transformation of knowledge based industries is really not very visionary at all. It is an obvious extrapolation of where we are today. The reality is that EVERY industry is a knowledge based industry. Name one that isn't? The transformation that we are seeing is to the economic order as a whole. It is more far sweeping than the industrial age and the information age combined. The kinds of creative destruction that we are likely to see cannot be adequately described because we are only at the cusp.

It should be a fun ride. These are the most interesting of times.

Content Ownership Showdown!

Sports Blogging: Yeah this controversy is probably headed for the Supreme Court. Why? Well because big money is on either side of the "v" and the issue needs addressing. Professional sports organizations are concerned with the sports media using too much video in blogs and other Internet based channels. The legal issues raised are the usual suspects: fair use, the first amendment, and intellectual property rights.

Linking good for business?

Link: Join The Web Content Conservation Movement - Publishing 2.0. Linking also just makes good business sense because once all the megaphones of the various echo chambers begin to fade (start leaking because of the noise), readers will be drawn to where there is analysis and insight. I suppose that "conservation" is a good thing but human behavior tends to be driven more by self interest then by a need to contribute to the collective. Even when we believe that contributing to the collective is a good thing. It is not how we are wired.

Roll your own "A" List

From time to time you hear someone complaining about how “A” list bloggers are gatekeepers and other similar whining. I wrote about that here. Sure there is an “A” list. So what? The “A” list built the “A” list. It is their thing. How did they build it? By being interested in the same things, writing about the same things, and cross-linking like madmen (and madwomen). In other words, they staked out a piece of Internet real estate and took possession of it. Good for them.

The reality is that there are many “A” lists. It depends on the space. Usually when people refer the “A” list they mean “tech bloggers.” There is a huge tech “echo chamber” out there and for some that defines the universe. That is a small piece of the Internet universe and probably becoming smaller. I mean, how many new FriendFeeds can the world support? I happen to like FriendFeed, but you get my drift.

What is most often missed is that anyone can roll his or her own “A” list. Start writing about something you are passionate about and linking to others that do the same. Any topic imaginable can be looked at from a new angle. Pick an angle that sheds some light, and link, link, link. The six degrees of separation thing works; Chris wrote about it here and I did here.

It is early in web years.

Anatomy of a ‘Blogging will kill you’ story?

Link: Anatomy of a ‘Blogging will kill you’ story: Why I didn’t make the cut | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com. This is too absurd a premise for it not to be link bait, an indication that in some perverse way that MSM is starting to get it. As Larry points out, there are stresses in all kinds of jobs, and I don't think that a reasonable person would believe that blogging would make it into the top 10, probably not even the top 50.

Very Clever!

Link: Micro Persuasion: Become a Knowledge Management Ninja with Google Reader. Steve, this is a very clever way to leverage RSS! I currently use gmail, but have continued to use Bloglines simply because there is only so much "switching costs" I am willing to endure at various points in time. However, this is the most compelling reason I have found for a potential (future) switch so far. Sure the Bloglines new beta appears "hot" (nope haven't switched to it either) but Google is likely to continue to dominate RSS, so I am becoming (gradually) accustom to the fact that "Google is the new MS."

Organic Traffic: It's the content stupid, but content is not enough!

To paraphrase James Carville from the 1992 presidential when his "it's the economy stupid" first entered the American consciousness: "it's the content stupid." There may be many ingredients in building an audience for a blog, but whatever the strategy, first and foremost you must start with the basics. Do you have something interesting to say? Lawyers write for a living and therefore this initial threshold question is not as problematic as it might be for other professionals. Clearly, not all lawyers can readily meet this requirement but a certain percentage will not find the transition to blogging all that difficult, at least not from a writing perspective.

However, a far more subtle question is whether they can get "plugged into the conversation?" The latter requires establishing relationships and commenting on what other people are writing in a manner that motivates (compels?) them to comment on your "stuff." Why is this important? Several reasons come to mind: 1) monologues are not much fun; 2) more importantly, if you are blogging from a business perspective then those inbound links are crucial to your search engine rankings. Many of the "how to blog" tips (e.g. top 10 lists) are designed for this purpose. As cheesy as these tactics are, and lets face it, cheesy  is probably the most complementary thing we can say about them, many bloggers engage in this behavior. Why? Because in on-line marketing the search engine is king and we must feed the monster the inbound links that it/we eat for a living.

Why Leadership?

Link: Why Leadership?. My good friend Sal Purpura just launched his leadership blog. Sal is one of the smartest IT executives I know and his blog will provide insightful commentary on leadership in general and IT leadership specifically!

Blogging & Bandwidth

I am referring to human bandwidth, and the amount required, to maintain a current blog. Law School eats your time and it was clear that as the time crunch came, I lost all available CPU cycles to post. However, I also noted, because while I stopped posting I did not stop reading (well at least scanning via Bloglines) my favorite blogs, that some Professor written blogs also took a hiatus as demands on their time had a similar effect (vis-a-vis their own admissions). The bottom line is, as anyone who has seriously tried to maintain a blog current knows, quality human CPU cycles are required, and while certain individuals (e.g. politicians) can pay for someone to blog on their behalf, most other professionals cannot afford this luxury (nor is it likely to work for them).

Academics are starting to realize the potential benefits of blogging. There is a movement afoot to "hire" grad students to blog on their behalf. This is NOT likely to be an effective strategy because a blog is all about finding your "voice" on subjects that are of interest to you; hard to find your voice via a proxy. That said, collaborative efforts might be viable, as long as one individual takes the lead in setting the tone.

But, the bandwidth required should also not be lost on attorneys (or other professionals) that want to blog to create mindshare in a certain space. Do not be misled by consultants that tout all the benefits and tell you nothing of the costs. It may be a brave new world out there, but crossing the chasm to prosper in it will require the bandwidth to climb the curve, and the bandwidth to ride it once you have learned to stand up on the board.

Blogging

Chris Locke (Rageboy) of Cluetrain fame, gives reasons for blogging and one big how to, "do it till it hurts" well no, more like "do it until it scares the shit out  of you." Writing for Chris is an exercise in self discovery and we are never quite certain where it leads, although if we are honest in our writing we get to know ourselves at lot better (that's the scary part), and perhaps others as well. His latest rants can be found here on Mystic Bourgeoisie. Personally I find Chris' prose some of the most provocative on the Net, you will love it or hate it, but you will be moved by it!