I signed into Vox the other day, for the first time in months. It looks like everyone in my personal neighbourhood has been similarly lax too - only one of my friends has blogged in August, and several last posted in May. It’s like a Web 2.0 graveyard.
The same goes for Twitter. I got all fired up about micro-blogging, yet my Twitter feed is gathering dust, or whatever the internetweb equivalent is (stray zeroes and ones?). And the same is true for the people I follow.
In both cases, I think the reason is the same: Facebook. My friends and I have basically dumped personal blogging and micro-blogging in favour of posting status updates, joining groups, and sending each other virtual fish. And I don’t think we’re the only ones.
I think in many cases Facebook is kiling personal blogging but IMO facebook sharing is much like blogging used to be. Sharing links, videos, and comments. So Facebook is just a new form of an old communication tool. And you get to control who you share it with very much like Vox.
I remember the day when I used to check in to CNET on a daily basis sometimes even multiple times a day. I read an interesting article on 24/7 WallSt that signaled a real decline in revenues with CNET. And the large culprits appear to be independent tech blogs. It’s a sign that the little guys and some big guys can defeat a behemoth in any industry.
In the last quarter, revenue at CNET (CNET) hit $97.2 million. That was only 5% better than the same quarter a year ago. Given that CNET is perhaps the premier provider of tech information on the web and had over 31 million unique visitors in the US during June, the lack of growth seems amazing.
The company has a market cap of $1.1 billion, so it trades well below 3x sales. TheStreet.com (TSCM), which has a similar business model, trades at nearly 6x. [Read more →]
Agh, I hate to be quoting Fox News but it’s one of the few places that seems to be talking about this issue. Bloggers are fed up with payrates, we want insurance, and we want to be able to set standards on how this industry — online publishing is run.
One of the issues that particularly has troubled me in the last few years is how blog networks pay their bloggers. Most of them offer a percentage of profits that a blog makes rather than paying by the post, or one of many what I consider more ethical alternatives.
While some bloggers in networks are making pennies per the hour the network CEO’s and support staff are raking in huge salaries and getting VC Money to help furnish their homes. I don’t like it. It smells funny.
While this Fox News’ story is talking about political bloggers. It’s applicable industry wide.
In a move that might make some people scratch their heads, a loosely formed coalition of left-leaning bloggers are trying to band together to form a labor union they hope will help them receive health insurance, conduct collective bargaining or even set professional standards.
The effort is an extension of the blogosphere’s growing power and presence, especially within the political realm, and for many, evokes memories of the early labor organization of freelance writers in the early 1980s.
Organizers hope a bloggers’ labor group will not only showcase the growing professionalism of the Web-based writers, but also the importance of their roles in candidates’ campaigns.
July of 1947 from the daily column of Miss Eleanor Roosevelt
“In reading quotations from Russian papers in our papers, I find that, in the way they express their attitude against the United States, they strangely resemble some of our papers in their attitude against Russia. The difference, of course, is that the Russian papers are government-controlled and therefore supposedly represent the government point of view, whereas our papers, thank goodness, represent only the point of view of their owners and editors. Undoubtedly they also represent the thinking of a considerable group of people, since they have large circulations, but it is not the official point of view.
The readers of our newspapers sometimes do not read the news at all, and when they do, they sometimes do not believe what they read. I once asked a man why he read a certain New York City paper, when he was expressing to me such completely different political views from those held by the paper. He looked at me and said: “The sports sheet is good and that is the only page I really read, except perhaps some of the comic strips. They have some of the best in this paper.” That remark was illuminating. [Read more →]
The UN is a place I would assume would be more than happy to engage in the use of New Media, as they probably have a lot of folks who want to know information and probably want to communicate that message effectively or do they?
According to the Inner City Press they oppose using New Media for communicating with the public:
In late June in Madrid, the head spokespeople for 37 UN agencies met and planned how to best communicate the work of the UN to a worldwide audience. While claiming to want to engage with new media, including blogs, a UN summary of the meeting obtained by Inner City Press shows a proposal by at least some UN agencies to exclude any media without a traditionally hierarchical editing process — that is, to exclude blogs and most participatory media.
While the minutes blandly record the UN Communication Group’s intention to continue to monitor the issue, multiple sources say, and experience confirms, that at least three UN agencies at that time adopted a policy of no longer answering any questions from Inner City Press, described by the New York Times of April 30 as the only blog accredited at UN headquarters. So much for engagement with new media, said one UN communications professional requesting anonymity in order not to lose their job.
TechDigest had an interesting editorial about how they believe Facebook is killing personal blogging. 
I remember the day when I used to check in to 
Agh, I hate to be quoting Fox News but it’s one of the few places that seems to be talking about this issue. Bloggers are fed up with payrates, we want insurance, and we want to be able to set standards on how this industry — online publishing is run. 
July of 1947 from the daily column of Miss Eleanor Roosevelt
The UN is a place I would assume would be more than happy to engage in the use of New Media, as they probably have a lot of folks who want to know information and probably want to communicate that message effectively or do they? 
One thing I love about Facebook: