The Affari Edge Blog

So it took me a while to get into the whole ‘blog revolution’. I never fully understood it until I started posting weekly (and bi-weekly) here on out Affari board. Since, I have found interest in other blog sites that discuss topics that interest me. It’s funny how each is unique and puts its own spin on things.

I have recently been reading a lot of sports blogs. I have read several popular blogs - mainly ESPN based. A blog that has caught my eye - and my membership - is YardBarker.com. Being a huge Ohio State fan, I found myself reading blogs during last NCAA Basketball season on this site quire often. This site did something that I had previously never seen done on a sports blog. Yard Barker has a number of pro and collegiate athletes, including Mike Conley Jr. and Greg Oden, who regularly post their personal blogs to the site. If you read one of my last Affari posts, then you know how much I hate media bias, and how having direct access strait to the athletes’ mouths is right up my ally.

I really like the entire celebrity dynamic, especially in our celebrity-obsessed, post-modern society. Hollywood publications such as US, ET and the like have become extremely successful over the past decades by simply stalking celebrities and reporting their every move to the public. Incorporating a similar approach into blogs is definitely going to be the new wave. Right now, average joes create and run websites, but soon enough, Paris Hilton will have one of the most popular blogs on the web. You know us Americans, we have to know exactly what makes such commendable citizens (such as Paris) tick.

I’m going to work on getting a celeb blogger on our Affari board. Let’s see, who would be fitting….? Maybe I’ll try to get the Aflac duck or the Burger King to sign a deal with us. I’ll consider Ronald McDonald for our B-list.

Okay. So I’m a big USF Bulls fan.  Especially football.  As such, I follow a lot of news about USF and its upcoming opponents.  One of the cool sites I found was a blog from Phillip Marshall, a Huntsville Times reporter, about Auburn (whom USF plays on September 8th).  Normally such information would not be worthy of a post here on the Affari Blog… but he posted today about the process.  I thought it was worth sharing:

It is indeed a new day in my business.It used to be that, as the Auburn beat writer for The Huntsville Times, I would spend an average day asking questions and observing. I would put what information I could in the newspaper and go on to the next day.

The events of Wednesday show just how much things have changed. It was a little after noon when I ventured into offensive line coach Hugh Nall’s office and asked him about the situation at right tackle. He told me that he had moved freshman Lee Ziemba to the first team.

As recently as last year, that information would have been interesting, but I would have been more than 12 hours from being able to report it. By then, of course, Ziemba would have lined up there at practice and it would have become obvious to all.

But in this age of the 24-hour news cycle, of the Internet and blogs and the like, I went straight to my computer, wrote the story and had out half an hour later.

Perusing other newspapers on the Internet, I saw where my friend Chip Towers of The Atlanta Constitution was actually blogging live from Georgia’s practice. Sometimes you even see newspaper reporters carrying video cameras. As time goes on, you’ll see more blogs and the like. And you’ll see more people looking for unique ways to cover the news and get the attention of readers.

Things have come a long way since I wrote stories on an old black Underwood typewriter.

Now, he still works for a newspaper - but this niche (Auburn atheltics) is narrow enough that he could register a domain (”Tiger Tracking”) sell ads and become a full-time reporter-blogger.   News gathering and news reporting is changing, moving into more deliniated niches, rather than an “everything for everyone” kind of news we have today.   Marshall’s realization is just the beginning - it’s not quite a new day, more like a new sunrise.

Josh Hallet,  of <strong><a href=”http://www.hyku.com” target=”_blank”>Hyku</a></strong> and <strong><a href=”http://www.empircalpolk.com”target=”_blank”>Empircal Polk</a></strong>, has asked me to be a session leader for the 2007 <strong><a href=”http://www.blogorlando.com”target=”_blank”>BlogOrlando</a></strong>.

Now, unlike conferences you may have attended, BlogOrlando is specifically an <strong><em>un-conference</em></strong>.  The concept grew out of the realization that most people at trade shows, academic conferences, and industry gatherings learned a heck of a lot more from the Q&A sessions or just talking amongst themselves during the social time.  So why not take those good parts and make the entire conference like that??

<center><img src=”http://www.blogorlando.com/images/bo-nodate.gif” alt=”blogOrlando” border=0/></center>

So, what is BlogOrlando, you ask?  Well…

<blockquote>Hyku, in partnership with Rollins College will host the second edition of this FREE event that is open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike from Florida and anywhere else. We hope to bring together a good cross-section of folks to discuss blogging, podcasting, public relations, social media, citizen’s journalism and other related topics. In addition to the Friday event we planned some outings at the local theme parks over the weekend. The event was as much a social/family gathering as it is a ‘work’ gathering.</blockquote>

I attended the <strong><a href=”http://www.stateofsunshine.com/2006/09/21/heading-to-blogorlando-tomorrow/” target=”_blank”>first BlogOrlando last fall</a></strong>, and learned a great deal.  In fact, it helped spur me to move from Blogger to my own domain and use WordPress.

If you have even the smallest interest in social media - especially blogging - then you should make the trek to Olrando for the day.  There are some great people leading various sessions, including bloggers who I read every day.  From politics to media to blogging for business to second life, BlogOrlando has something for just about everyone.

<center><img src=”http://www.blogorlando.com/images/BlogOrlando_BeThere.gif” alt=”blogOrlando” border=0/></center>

I’ll be there.  Will you?

Constantin Basturea, Director of New Media Strategies at Converseon and author of PR Meets the WWW, one of the blogs in my feed, has a significant compilation of public relations and communicaitons blogs, containing674 feeds.  I don’t read all 674 of them, but I read quite a few on a daily basis.  I have found them helpful as I further develop my public relations skills, and informative about what is going on in the PR industry.

However, public relations is not the only industry with a significant number of blogs.

No matter what industry you are in, there are going to be bloggers writing about it.  Some of these blogs could even be your competitors! Use sites like Technorati to search for blogs on your industry and make a habit of reading them.  Even if you aren’t blogging yourself, or your company has not started doing it, you will find your industry blogs as important as reading trade publications or business periodicals.

BusinessWeek Online posted an article in advance of the April 9th magazine with the title “Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Podcasters”.

So, once again, something we don’t understand we mock? The traditional media never takes the time to understand why the “little people” embrace a new voice in the wilderness.

The fact is, most podcasters do produce shows while maintaining a day job. Yours truly not only produces podcasts professionally, but I promote other companies using various web technologies, I service computers and networks, and currently writing a book and kit about podcasting for small businesses!

Quoting from their own article;

While there has been an explosion of shows over the past couple of years, offering everything from advice on how to manage your money to Italian lessons, podcasting’s business prospects are just developing. The share of Americans who listen to audio downloads from the Web has grown only slightly in the past year, to 13% from 11%, according to a survey released last month by Edison Media Research. Those listeners increasingly are crowding around the most popular podcasts. But a lack of standards for placing podcast ads or measuring audiences has hobbled ad spending, which only hit $80 million last year.”

So, in the same article where they slam the content, and the producers, they admit that a measly 2% growth resulted in $80 million in revenue, for a few thousand “indie” shows? Seems like someone should revisit 5th grade math! This is an amazing phenomenon! 2% growth shows revenue increase of over $30 million in one year?

A big factor in how revenue is tracked in podcasting is how many companies produce podcasts for advertising (like ESP and Affari Edge!) vs. how many shows are “indie” content, hobbiests, or, the larger slice, companies producing podcast content for self-promotion or training? Would it surprise you to learn that less than 5% of podcasts are produced with revenue from ads as their main reason for existence?

I can tell you that this is a labor of love for the vast majority of producers, myself included. However, the trend shows VAST growth in households who know what a podcast is, and have been exposed to one in the last year.

Even the author of the study from the Edison Media Research center, Tom Webster, author of “New Podcasting Statistics - Is The Glass Half-Full, or Half-Empty?” had this to say on their site:

Certainly, given the impressive growth in awareness of the term “podcast,” one might have expected more than a two percentage point increase in the behavior. On the other hand, this is 13% of America we are talking about–and while I am not…yet…at liberty to release the percentage of Americans this year who subscribe to Satellite Radio, it is pretty close. So, on the one hand, growth is relatively small, but on the other, podcasting has achieved a similar penetration to Satellite Radio, without the benefit of a honkin’ big marketing campaign, Howard Stern, or Oprah.”

I would think that BusinessWeek should look a little more closely at the numbers before snubbing 50,000 potential subscribers, audience members in the millions, and colleagues in the industry.

The fact is, those of us who produce podcasts for profit, also produce many more for fun, for free, or for a free voice in the new media.

The numbers are growing rapidly, as people learn they don’t need an mp3 player, or Ipod to hear a podcast, and will likely see a change in how they “timeshift” their entertainment, news, music, and yes, even their magazines. RSS changed the world, and shows little sign of slowing down.

The irony is, when I go to the article to read in full on BusinessWeek, they have a full-screen, intrusive pop-up style ad running on the page, blocking my view (which rotates between sponsors) and is more than a little annoying. Geesh, when will they learn?

Last week there was a nasty meme flowing through the blogosphere. There’s no need to go into a lot of detail here, as it was hashed and re-hashed ad maseum last week. However, it was centered around the personal attacks of another blogger. It led to cries of cyberbullying, and because the victim was a woman, there has been significant discussion of misogyny. (I am not making light of the situation, just trying to move past the talk of what happened).

One result of the brouhaha was a call for a code of conduct within the blogosphere.

The first I saw of this was a post by Jim Horton at Online Public Relations Thoughts. He was reacting to an article on the BBC website that quoted Tim O’Reilly (more on Horton’s reaction in a moment):

Among those calling for a bloggers’ code of conduct is Tim O’Reilly - one of the web’s most influential thinkers.

He told BBC Radio Five Live that it could be time to formalise blogging behaviour.

“I do think we need some code of conduct around what is acceptable behaviour, I would hope that it doesn’t come through any kind of [legal/government] regulation it would come through self-regulation.”

He’s right that it should come through self-regulation. My first thought on this is to suggest that instead of a code of conduct, the leaders in the blogosphere should, instead, develop an international semi-professional association that could develop standards. Bloggers who join and adhere to these standards could then have the right to display a “seal of approval” on their blogs signifying their willingness to rise above the fray.†

You see, Horton is right. In his post, he said: “Codes of conduct are useless unless enforced — and they rarely are. Look at the Public Relations Society of America and its ethical code of conduct. Practitioners ignore it and the PRSA is helpless to enforce it. It means little, even as a guideline. Enforcement is fundamental. Those who call for codes without means of enforcement are naive.” His example of the PRSA notwithstanding - if an association has requirements for membership, it can and should expel members who fail to meet those requirements.

Tony Hung at The Blog Herald agrees with Horton. Hung writes:

A Code of Conduct for most bloggers doesn’t have much a point because the blogosphere is self-regulating. If you act like an ass, people will know, and for the most part, will readership will decline. If it doesn’t, that probably means they won’t care a whit about any rules of conduct anyway. Secondly, even if one did have an audience who might care, if you broke it what really happens? Nothing.

There are no real consequences that come of breaking an Official Blogger Code of Conduct.

Now, Hung also dismisses the idea of having a badge for the same reason. If there is no retribution for those who display their badge, but break the code for which it stands, the badge itself has no real meaning. (So I am all for having a mechanism to report abuse and to expel a member when the code is indeed broken).

Marianne Richmond of Resonance Partnership also agrees that there are really no punishments in cyberspace:

Addtionally, what is the consequence for violating the code? For Blogher, or any community with guidelines, violaters theoretically will not be allowed on the site. Thus if a member of the community violates the rules their membership ends. On our own blogs, we don’t have to permit behavior (comments) that offends us either. In either case, there are no “punishments” other than removal.

Okay, I will admit that an association is not perfect. But it’s a start. Of course, any list of standards needs to have a first draft - and O’Reilly included his list on his blog:

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.
2. Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.
3. Consider eliminating anonymous comments.
4. Ignore the trolls.
5. Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.
6. If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.
7. Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t say in person.

This is a good list, and you can read his blog for a detailed explanation of each suggestion. John Cass at PR Communications has a post about how bloggers should take care in criticizing others (a take off from Jen McClure’s post here.): “I can certainly agree with Jen that is a good idea to act maturely. I do think it is okay to give your opinion and criticize other organizations and people. I think the way in which you should conduct criticism is through either positive or negative constructive criticism.”

In the end, we are each responsible for what we do. Marianne mentioned the Golden Rule. For me, it is a guiding principle off-line as well as in cyberspace. It’s probably the best place to start.

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† - The mechanism for displaying the badge should be through some function that could limit the ability of people to use the badge without permission. Perhaps a text-only badge linked through a javascript file (like Google AdSense) would work, allowing the association to police who actually displays the badge on their blog. But that’s a discussion for bigger geeks than me.

At the end of a recent blog post by Brett McMurphy, who covers the University of South Florida sports for the Tampa Tribune, was the following paragraph:

I’ve been told by the higher ups we’re doing away with the comments portion of the blog. Instead, you can go to the Forum: Talk Bulls link at the top of this page. We’ve created the Forum as a place for Bulls fans to gather and discuss various topics.

A quick peek a the TBO.com Bulls forum shows very little activity, except for recently. One poster asked why the switch to the forum. Brett posted the official reason:

“While we’ve generated a very good amount of traffic to the sports blogs, and have seen a spike in the number of comments being posted, we’ve begun to migrate the discussion away from the blogs and into our TBO Discussion Forums.

We encourage the interactivity, but this is a site-wide attempt (not just Sports) to make our Forums the gathering place for a lot of the back-and-forth discussion we’re seeing in the blogs. The hope is that the users themselves will initiate a lot of the discussion, rather than just reacting to your blog posts.”

Ah. Well, there is one problem. You see, USF fans have three major discussion forums already:

• The Bulls Pen - An independent website owned by USF alumn Brad Meyer.
• USFNation - Part of the Scout.com network.
• USFBullsEye.com - Part of the Rivals.com network.

These are in addition to the forums on media sites like ESPN, CBS, and CSTV

On many of these sites, fans talk about what Brett (and other Tampa Tribune reporters/columnists) write about USF. So why does TBO.com feel the need to create yet another message board?

Yes, I know - blogs and forums are both social media. By using forums, TBO.com is trying to fit into the new communications model. For this, they are to be commended. They are doing something that their main competitor, the St. Petersburg Times, is not doing.

However, I don’t believe substituting forums for blog comments is the right way to go.

Forums are great when there are a number of die-hard posters willing to engage in dialogue about a topic. That’s why the USF forums listed above do so well. They each have a siginificant number of Bulls fans postingon a large range of topics every day. The media-based forums don’t draw the same number or intensity of fans.

That being said, why not marry blog comments with forums? If a TBO.com blog generates a large response via comments, the blogger (be it McMurphy or any of the other Trib bloggers) should shift the discussion to the forum by starting and maintaining a thread there. Then s/he could simply post a blog entry that asks readers to join the discussion on the forum. TBO.com bloggers could even “break” stories on their forum, and drive traffic with a blog post indicating “breaking news on the … forum.” There are a number of ways that forums can be used that will work far better than saying “Want to comment? Go to our fourm and…”

TBO.com needs to understand that it’s not about forcing their readers into avenues that “Mother Trib” (as Steve Otto calls it) wants. It’s about giving the readers as many options to communicate as possible. It’s far easier to comment at the bottom of the post than to find a link to the forum, register for the forum (or log in), find the thread on which they want to share their thoughts (or start a new post), and then comment. One step is replaced by four.

As an avid reader of several TBO.com blogs, I hope they reconsider this decision.

Throughout the Public Relations Blogosphere, and the blogosphere in general, there has been a lot of criticism for the concept of paid blogging. I’m not sure the criticism is entirely fair. After all, many companies hire outside representation or consultants to help with all forms of corporate communication. Why not hire people to help with a blog?

In this case, there are two kinds of paid bloggers. The first, and generally acceptable kind are bloggers who are paid to post a positive message about a company’s products or services. This has been done for years in other forms of media: in the 1950’s stars of live television programs would actually do the commercials for show sponsors; in radio, disc jockeys often record paid endorsements for companies. Marketing professionals understand that having trusted spokespeople can have an impact.

In the blogosphere, a number of companies have sprung up that pay bloggers to post about their companies, including PayPerPost, ReviewMe, Blogsvertise, CREAMaid, SponsoredReviews, and LoudLaunch.

While some bloggers have issues with this kind of paid blogging, it is growing in acceptance.

However, there seems to be an unwritten rule that hiring a “blogging consultant” to work with a corporate blog is virtually taboo. This second form of paid blogging is drawing some harsher criticism. For example, when a company called Forgetablogit started recently, the PR blog from PRWorks a satirical approach:

Introducing Blogco’s Blog-O-Matic: you tell us, we blog it for ya.

That’s right. Why bother with all that pesky thinking? Who needs all that painful typing? With Blogco’s Blog-O-Matic you simply let our team of bloggers do all the work for you, in half the time with a fraction of the credibility.

However, a more pointed discussion took place on the Social Media Group blog:

I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade - but the whole notion of ghostwriting a blog pretty much completely destroys the purpose of creating a company blog in the first place (which is, mostly, to open up an authentic dialogue with your consumers for various reasons, with extreme emphasis on the word authentic).

Maybe because I work for a PR firm my view is tainted, but why is it perfectly acceptable to outsource every other form of corporate communication - but when outsourcing a blog, it’s a bad idea? Draft a press release = ok; draft a blog post = not ok. Create advertising copy = ok; create blog copy = not ok. Hire an outside spokesman = ok; hire an outside blogger = not ok.

I’m not quite sure I follow that logic. To be sure, any form of communication is better when coming from an actual employee of the company. But if the communications world has accepted the outsourcing of traditional communications, it will have to accept the outsourcing of new media communications.

What do you think?

Earlier on this blog, we wrote about Publix in the blogosphere. You may recall the crux of that post:

After searching their site, and not finding any obvious links to a blog (and the search for the word ‘blog’ on their site returned zero results), I made a call to Maria Brous, Director of Media & Community Relations. She explained that Publix does not have the current resources to devote to a public-facing blog. Rather, they are dedicated to serving their customers through direct interaction in the stores with friendly, knowledgeable associates and management, as well as a dedicated Consumer Relations Line with both telephone and email interaction. She did indicate that Publix can not monitor the blogosphere simply because of the volume of bloggers out there — a Technorati search on Publix found more than 31,000 entries and 13 blogs - mostly on MySpace. However, Publix customers themselves keep the company informed about what is being said about Publix.

This may be true at the corporate offices in Lakeland, but it does appear that local store managers do get involved in the blogosphere - especially with hyperlocal blogs. Earlier this month, the manager of the Seminole Heights store posted on the Hampton Terrace blog, which was re-printed on the Seminole Heights blog:

Hello all. Two Publix notes I hope you will find of interest…..

#1 We will be receiving a shipment of shopping carts tomorrow, so hopefully we will always have a cart available when you come shopping. Keep letting me know when you see them out in the neighborhood, as I will still get them. (update - 38 additional carts were requested and received)

#2 I have been doing a soft opening time of 7:30 a.m. each day to see how business would be. No sign on the door, just opening them up. If you are running to work/school and need something, walk on it. We are open. I am still running numbers to see if this makes sense to do. The more you come in and buy, the closer it will be to a reality. Remember, the time on the door will still say 8, but doors are open at 7:30.

Sincerely,

Chuck Kaelin
Your Neighborhood Publix Manager

This is how every business should approach the blogosphere - as another way to communicate with their shoppers. To be sure, when large companies let their lower level (even management) employees into the blogosphere, they have a significant issue with control. But the smart company will provide easy-to-follow guidelines and training on what is appropriate.

This is something that not even a local newspaper would print, because of just how hyperlocal the issue is. However, for the loyal customers in that neighborhood, this information can be quite important. There may not be a need for a single Publix store to write a blog, but if the company policy is for each manager to find and monitor local issues, they could develop an even better relationship with their customers in ways that no call center could ever do.

As noted throughout the blogosphere, the Project for Excellence in Journalism has released the State of the News Media 2007 report.  It is a comprehensive look at news - newspapers and magazines; local, cable, and national broadcast television; radio; and online.

As part of the online news analysis, the project looks at Citizen Media.  There are a number of salient points to be gleaned from the report:

“In the midst of these developments, the earlier form of citizen voice — blogs — began to grow in ways that raised question about whether it was becoming less a part of the grass roots and more a part of the establishment.“  In short, blogs have arrived.  You’re reading one now, aren’t you?  The Project found that 8% of online American adults author a blog or online journal.

The growth in the blogosphere has reached mainstream media.  We all know that even the venerated New York Times has started blogging.  USA Today has taken this a step further, building interactive components with their articles into a larger social networking ability.  The Orlando Sentinel is bringing in community members to do hyperlocal blogs for Central Florida communities.

The project found that the typical blogger has not changed much in the past year.  “In previous years of the annual report, we reported that bloggers tend to be younger, wealthier, and more tech-savvy than the general online population. The most recent data suggest this is still largely true.“  A majority of bloggers are less than 30 years old and almost all blogger (95%) read news online.

And it’s not just the production of  blogs that is growing.  The study found that 39% - 2 out of 5 - of online adult users have ever read a blog, a total of 57 million Americans. Consider that just 51 million Americans subscribe to a newspaper, and you can easily see how mainstream blogs have become.

Finally, the project looked at how bloggers make money - or if they do.  Only 8% of bloggers generate income from thier blogs, mostly by selling items or advertising.   The Project noted that the ad market for blogers is only $50 to $100 million, out of a $16 billion online ad market.  But then, bloggers don’t really do it for money.  The biggest reason was a chance for creative expression.

The project’s conclusion on Citizen Media is particularly telling:

A few years ago, many media critics offered varying degrees of skepticism toward the fanfare that surrounded the emergence of blogs. And a minority even questioned how long they would be around.

Heading into 2007, some of that skepticism — shared by much of the public as well —remains. How much can one trust the accuracy of news and information posted on blogs? How can blogs survive without a reliable revenue stream?

It may be a case of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Much of the talk a few years ago — that blogs would supplant traditional media — seems antiquated now. The relationship between blogs and traditional media, in the end, may be more complementary, even synergistic, as time moves on. Citizen journalism, and the interactivity it promises in Web 2.0, increasingly seems to offer the potential of enriching traditional journalism (by enriching citizens), not threatening it.

We belive the same can be said for “traditional marketing” and “traditional public relations.”  A corporate blog should never replace these avenues of communication; instead, a blog should be a part of an overall business communications strategy.

NOTE: All statistics quoted in this post were obtained from the State of the News Media report.