Random Culture

Blog Video Comments

It's too bad I don't have a WordPress blog, because the folks at TechCrunch just announced something exciting! The ability to leave video comments on their complete blog family. The video comments are powered by Seesmic, and you can see examples on this comment thread at TechCrunch. Watch an overview of the offering here:

I can't think of a cooler way for blogging to really move to a "conversation", as it brings a much more personal aspect to the contributions of readers to the discussion.

Kenneth Cole Activist Blog

Kenneth Cole has launched a blog, and it's not about fashion. The Awearness blog is about politics, the environment, social responsibility and much more. The question remains, will users really care what Kenneth Cole thinks about this stuff? Read more at: Awearnessblog.com

Wired Rolls Out New Blogs

Wired has had a few blogs, but they're starting to roll out more, building something reminiscent of a blog network. One of the latest additions that's been buzzing around is Danger Room, a blog about "national security." It has some fun content worth checking out. Of course, some of the blogs are better than others... and a few are surprisingly thin on content.

View a complete list of all the Wired blogs.

Link via The Long Tail Blog.

Blogumentary

The documentary about bloggers, "Blogumentary", is finally available to watch online. It includes interviews with Jeff Jarvis, Jason Kottke and more. Watch it below.

Link via Fimoculous.

I Got Tagged! 5 Things

Giovanni at The Agency Blog tagged me for the "5 Things" meme. Bloggers who get "tagged" are supposed to reveal 5 things about themselves that their readers don't already know. Since I've been fairly anonymous about myself here, I thought it would be a good opportunity for you to know a little bit about me. So here it goes:

5 Things You May Not Know About John Keehler:

1. I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri
2. In elementary school, I was forced to sing a duet with my sister on stage in front of a large audience. I was dressed up like a cowboy, and she was dressed up like a Galapagos sea turtle, and the song was "We Are the World." She forgot her lines and left the stage... but I soldiered on. I still know every word, and neither of us will ever sing in public again.
3. Fishing is one of my favorite things to do. I like every kind of fishing, but fly fishing is something I could do all day, every day for the rest of my life.
4. I have two tattoos, both of which were inked on my body within a month of turning 18.
5. The greatest book ever written is The Iliad. This is not an opinion, it is a fact... experts agree.

I have to pass the love along, so here are the folks I've "tagged"

• Steve or Angela at Adrants
• Jane Goldman from Adland
• Christopher Jagers
• Paul Herring from ChaosScenario (and coworker)
• Martina at Adverblog

Travelocity Blog: The Window Seat

The agency I work for, Click Here, just helped Travelocity launch a blog called The Window Seat. It's written by their travel experts, and I think is a great example of a company providing genuinely good content, rather than trying to use the format to shill products and services. Definitely worth checking out, particularly if you're interested in travel. You can check out a press release for the launch here.

State of the Blogosphere

Dave Sifry has posted a new Technorati "State of the Blogosphere" report. Here are a few high level points from the post:

• 100,000 new blog are indexed daily
• Over 70% of pings are from known spammers (yikes!)
• 1.3 million blog posts daily
• Top 50 blogs are dominated by traditional media companies

View the entire report here

Link via Micropersuasion.

DEMOfall 2006: uControl

uControl is one of a select few companies that were invited to present at the prestigious DEMOfall conference this week in San Diego. Over the last few months, I've been lucky enough to work with them. They truly are poised to revolutionize the home security industry. If you have a home alarm system and VoIP, check them out! If you only have a home phone line because you have an alarm system, check them out! If you want to make sure that your home is REALLY being monitored, check them out!

You can learn more about uControl by:
Watch video of the uControl presentation at DEMOfall
Visit the uControl website: www.ucontrol.com

I'm also excited that uControl has decided to become involved in the blogosphere. They recently launched a blog at: blog.ucontrol.com.

NY Times US Open Blog

The New York Times has launched another blog, this one for the 2006 US Open. It's written by Michael Kimmelman and a number of other staff writers. Does anyone else wish this blog had some images on it?

Sony Launches Blog for Bravia Ad

I think this is the first time I've heard of a blog being created for an ad. On the heels of the viral success of their Bravia ad, Sony has launched a blog to track news and updates on the Bravia ad campaign.

Link via Influx Insights.

Gawker Trimming the Fat?

Trimming the fat? Or just not figuring out how to monetize a blog correctly? The NY Times is reporting that Gawker founder Nick Denton is putting up Sploid and Screenhead for sale, apparently because they were underperforming. Website statistics are publicly accessible for both sites. Screenhead gets around 200,000 visits monthly, and Sploid gets about the same. For both sites, their page views monthly were significantly higher. These are hardly numbers to wince at, but they are clearly not meeting the goals Denton has set for them, whatever those goals might be.

Steve Rubel at Micropersuasion gives Denton kudos, saying:

"It sounds to me like Gawker Media is practicing smart business. Nick is like an NFL owner. He's trying to stay within the salary cap. This means he has to trim some blogs to invest in others. That's why he will continue to thrive. He's committed to quality and the survival of the fittest. That's the way the media biz has operated for decades."

I can see where Steve's coming from, but the media biz is much different than it was decades ago. Nick Denton says on his own site:

"The categories of news and humor ought to be traffic magnets. The Gawker formula, of geeky obsessiveness, wasn't appropriate to these titles."

Actually, I would the "niches" of news and humor that Sploid and Screenhead are operating in were a formula for underperformance. There are literally thousands of other sites in their respective "niches", so it's hard to compete. In other niches, though, 200,000 visitors a month might be enough to have a relative monopoly in the space. Heck, look at Michael Arrington's TechCrunch. His numbers aren't publicly available, but based on his feed subscriber data, which is, I'd bet he's posting similar numbers... and he's not closing the doors anytime soon.

I think it's also interesting to look at the difference between Weblogs Inc. and Gawker. Weblogs Inc. was able to launch far more blogs than Gawker, and reach a critical mass that resulted in a buyout by AOL. Why is it that Gawker has moved so slow? It's at least arguable that if Denton really wanted to see what would make the cut, he'd launch more blogs and have a quicker evaluation period.

In any case, I'm sad to see Screenhead go. It was one of my daily visits. Hopefully someone will buy them out and grow them to a level that Denton could not. At they very least, someone who can show the "media biz" that things have changed, and not everyone needs to be the biggest kid on the block to succeed. Just ask Chris Anderson.

And stop looking at my website stats and laughing. I'm not doing it for the money.

Vloggercon Videos

I guess it only makes sense for Vloggercon to put up videos from their conference sessions. View them all here. It looks like there are some interesting topics.

Link via Podcasting News.

Puma Launches World Cup Blogs

Puma has launched a new site to support the World Cup, which features 12 German bloggers from cities all around the country. Visit the site at: Adoptagerman.com. The site describes the campaign as follows:

"In their roles as ambassadors, they will tour Europe promoting a modern and unexpected view of Germany while welcoming football fans to the many delights the host nation has to offer this summer."

I think it's interesting that Puma would choose a little bit different angle. I've seen a number of World Cup sites being released over the last several weeks, and many of them are all the same, with obligatory advergames and standard sports stuff. However, I'm not sure where the "adoption" angle comes in, and the connection with Puma is very minimal. I also wish they had allowed the bloggers to customize the design and features of their blogs, to build more personality into them.

Regardless, it's an effort with some imagination, and worth checking out!

Southwest Launches Blog

Southwest Airlines has launched the "Nuts About Southwest" blog. As the site states:

"Nuts about Southwest is all about our Employees, Customers, airplanes, and airports. We really are Nuts about Southwest and we hope that our Readers will share that passion by posting their own comments."

I'm not sure I would be reading this on a regular basis, but they're doing a few things right. The design looks good, they've enabled comments and they're linking out to other sites. It's certainly a good start.

Check it out at: www.blogsouthwest.com.

Link via Micropersuasion.

Issues With Feedburner Ad Network

Feedburner has launched a self-management tool for advertisers to purchase RSS ads in the Feedburner ad network. This is a big deal, since Feedburner has become an indispensable tool for many bloggers and podcasters. Let me start off by saying I'm a HUGE fan of Feedburner. I use them to manage this blog feed, as well as the feed for my podcast.

However, I've got some serious issues with the way they've rolled out the Feedburner ad network. Here are a few points of contention:

1. Select a Category, Not a Site
   This is the same issue many advertisers had with contextual ad networks like Google's AdSense. There was no way to specify the exact sites you wanted to run on. I think this is a big mistake on Feedburner's part. Right now, Feedburner is merely letting you select very high level "categories." Blog advertising through places like AdBrite and BlogAds let you choose the specific sites you want to run on. Feedburner should do the same.
2. CPM Model? No Way.
   When I saw this on Feedburner's site, I immediately hit the floor and start rolling around on the ground laughing, snorting uncontrollably. Come on Feedburner... RSS advertising is certainly having trouble gaining traction with advertisers, and a CPM model is going to make it even more difficult. Their lack of real site targeting makes this idea even more ridiculous. Not only am I rolling the dice on the feeds my ad will run in, but they want me to pay a $5.00 CPM?
   
   CPC is the way to go in the space. Advertisers are used to CPC in ad formats that essentially are text links. My understanding is that Yahoo's RSS ad testing was on a CPC, and Feedburner is not going to be able to be competitive with a CPM model. Ridiculous.

I have a lot of faith in RSS advertising, but as the Feedburner ad network stands, I wouldn't be able to recommend it to my clients. I don't think they should be paying on a CPM basis, and I think they should be able to select the sites they run ads with. These aren't outrageous demands.

Read more about the Feedburner ad network at the official Feedburner blog. Link via AdJab.

Update: Dick from Feedburner left a great comment responding to these issues, including addressing plans to roll out site targeting, as well as some of the issues surrounding CPC models. Check out his response in the comments section. PS - I didn't actually roll around on the floor laughing... we have this weird indoor/outdoor carpeting in the office and it frankly wouldn't be that comfortable.

TV Guide Blogstravaganza!

TV Guide has gone blog crazy. According to an article at Clickz, TV Guide unveiled a whopping 65 blogs! Some are about specific shows, some are written by TV Guide columnists, some are written by celebrities. TV Guide is even offering readers the ability to create their own blogs.

Now, there certainly is room for improvement in what TV Guide has done here. For example, I think the design and format of these blogs leaves a little to be desired... they're obviously not using an industry standard blogging platform. In addition, they're not leveraging unique URLs for the blogs, which limits them a bit in making the blogs easily accessible. What's more, I think the member blogs are a pipe dream, since many people probably have their own blogs. Although, if they're going after a broader TV audience with no blog experience, this may do very well.

But I think TV Guide deserves a standing ovation... According to Merrill Lynch, 2006 is the year online ad spending will surpass magazine ad spending, so cheers to TV Guide for adapting!

Update: The Slowskys

I posted recently about the new "Slowskys" campaign from Comcast, which includes some funny commercials and a character blog. In that post, I talked about how the campaign could be more interesting if we got to see more video footage.

Well, my wish has been granted. It looks like the "Slowskys" have some outtakes they're circulating. Here's one for your viewing pleasure.

Adland Turns 10!

Adland has been around for 10 years! I hope if you're reading this that you know about Adland, and visit the site daily. If you don't, shame on you... it's time to change your ways.

Check out this post with more information about the beginnings of the site, and wish the folks at Adland a happy 10 year anniversary!

Comcast Character Blogging

Over the last few years, a number of companies have tried out character blogging, and it always seems to generate harsh criticism. Frankly, no one has really pulled it off well, and some folks don't believe it ever can be pulled off. Well, we now have another contender to throw in the ring... Comcast.

The blog they've launched is an extension of their latest campaign, The Slowskys, which features a family of tortoises that hate high-speed cable because it's too fast. The commercials are pretty funny. Watch one of them below.

So as an extension to this commercial, Comcast has launched a blog for the Slowskys: www.theslowskys.com. In addition to the normal blog stuff, you can also watch commercials, send e-cards and "chat" with the Slowskys through an AOL instant messenger bot. There also appear to be plans for a chess game and additional video footage through the blog.

I have to say... although some parts of the blog disappoint me, the characters are funny enough to hold my attention. What I want, though, is more video footage, not more blog posts. So will this help soothe the character blog naysayers? What do you think?

Link via AdFreak.

2006 Bloggies: Winners Announced

The winners of the 2006 Bloggies have been announced. Check out the complete list of winners at: 2006.bloggies.com. Some of the more interesting winners are The Movie Blog, for new category "best podcast of a weblog", as well as Post Secret, mopping the floor with the competition and taking away multiple wins.

Gawker Google Mashup

Gawker has launched a great Google Maps mashup, the "Gawker Stalker." It's essentially a feature on Gawker.com that allows visitors to submit celebrity sightings in Manhattan, which are then added by Gawker staff to a Google map.

It's a great example of yet another company leveraging Google's API for Google maps. Remember, if you're interested, it's open to anyone... with a few commercial restrictions.

Link via Blogebrity.

Nike Needs Blog Lessons

Nike recently launched a blog for Nike Basketball: blog.nikebasketball.com. But it looks like they forgot to actually devise a plan to keep it updated.

This is one of the bigger mistakes that many companies make when they decide to take the plunge into the blogosphere. A blog that isn't updated is as good as dead. This doesn't mean you have to update the blog every day, but at least make your posting consistent so your audience knows what to expect, and you're encouraging repeat visits. Nike has clearly not done this. On the Nike Basketball blog, there are a flurry of posts at the end of February surrounding a hall of fame ceremony in Houston, but nothing after that.

Now, I can't say that updating frequency is the only issue with this site. The content also seems a little weak to me, and lacks a unique voice. I think the potential for Nike publishing a blog like this is huge, but the execution hasn't been so great.

Link via Adverblog.

Malcolm Gladwell Is Blogging

Malcolm Gladwell, author of "Blink" and "The Tipping Point", has launched a blog: gladwell.typepad.com. I'll be looking forward to seeing how the blog develops, but someone needs to lend Malcolm a helping hand with the design.

Guinness Blogging in the UK

That's right, the folks at Guinness in the UK have started a blog at: guinnessblog.co.uk. They're doing a few things right with the blog, like allowing comments and linking out to external sites.

But there are a few things they're not doing so well. The posts are OK, but seem to center more around advertising and press than opening up a line of dialog with their customers.

In addition, they have RSS feeds, but no way to get to them unless you're smart enough to view the page source.

And my biggest gripe of all... This whole "age barrier" thing flat out does not work for a blog. I don't want to have to give you my birthday every time I visit the blog. In fact, I won't visit at all, I'll just use your RSS feeds to read the blog!

However, it's a good first start. Kudos to Guinness for at least getting a few things right!

Link via Blogebrity.

State of the Blogosphere

In case you missed it, Technorati founder Dave Sifry posted what is becoming an annual "state of the blogosphere" report. This first part of the report focuses on the growth in size of the blogosphere, as well as spam blogs (splogs), and the rise of tagging. Stay tuned for another installment of this report.

Battle of the Ad Blogs: Vote for Random Culture!

Whoooo! Random Culture has been nominated in Adland's "Battle of the Ad Blogs."

We're up against some tough competition in the "Best Inspiration Blogs." The folks at PSFK, for instance, which is a site I read all the time.

Voting continues through February 10, so you have plenty of time to cast your vote for Random Culture now!

New Blog: Chaos Scenario

Chaos Scenario is a new advertising and marketing blog that I'm contributing to. Right now, I'm blogging on Chaos Scenario with Paul Herring and Pete Lerma. You may know Pete from his Clickz articles.

Visit the site and check it out!

Edelman & Technorati Blog Study

Edelman and Technorati have teamed up to publish a study on blogs. The meat of the report is a survey of bloggers conducted through Technorati, that asks questions related to blog publishing, and many are looking at these habits through their relation to PR. These questions include asking bloggers if they've been contacted by PR, if they'd be willing to review products, and how they feel about employee blogs.

Although none of the results are really groundbreaking, it's worth checking out. You can download the PDF here.

Link via B.L. Ochman's blog.

Coke's Fake Blog

Uh oh... another story of blog marketing gone bad. As a part of the Coke "Zero" launch, Coke set up a "fake" blog at: TheZeroMovement.com. The blog, which doesn't disclose any affiliation with Coke, is described by AdRants as follows:

"...a guy rants about why life is so full of stuff to do and how it would be so much nicer if there was, well, zero to do. It's written in typical character blog prose, devoid of personality and full of whiny banter which comes off like it's a product of a creative brief. There's even fake, supportive comments to go along with it."

And AdRants isn't the only site giving Coke grief for the badly executed blog. There's now a website dedicated to criticizing the blog, called "The Zero Movement Sucks."

Proof once again that a lack of transparency causes backlash.

Link via Adrants.

2006 Bloggies!

The 2006 Bloggies are now accepting nominations. A few categories have been removed, and there are a few new ones, like a podcasting category. Since you couldn't possibly nominate Random Culture for the best designed blog, or the best food blog... how about the best kept secret category, or the best topical blog?

Nominate your favorites for the 2006 Bloggies here

Most Blogged About Books

The New York Times has a great list of the most blogged about books of 2005. According to the New York Times, this list was created from looking at "5,000 of the most-trafficked blogs." No word on what they used to figure that out. The article also contains links to some of the posts from these blogs.

Link via Micropersuasion.

Influx: 2006 Trends

Influx, a division of agency Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners, is running a series on trends for 2006. As a part of that series, I contributed my own thoughts on an important trend to keep an eye on... vodcasting.

Visit the Influx Insights blog and check it out.

MSNBC & Blog Advertising

You may have heard by now that MSNBC has jumped into blog advertising, launching a big campaign on Blogads. In fact, it's one of the largest Blogads media buys, with MSNBC running ads on 300 blogs in the Blogads network.

But what the heck is MSNBC doing? According to Adrants, the buy is to promote their "digital day" this Wednesday, December 14th. But apparently, no one explained to them what a landing page is...

Click on the ad, and you get sent to the MSNBC TV home, with no mention of "digital day", or the "porn" story they appear to be promoting in the blog ad.

Come on guys, this is online advertising 101. You may get points for jumping into the blog advertising game, but you lose serious points for missing this very basic concept in online advertising...

Google Launches 2 Blogs

Google has launched 2 new official blogs... One for Google Talk, and one for Google Base.

Link via Micropersuasion.

Santa is Podcasting

"Santa will be broadcasting from the North Pole for the first time in history, keeping everyone informed on the latest happenings at the North Pole. As well, he has a story that must be told, how Christmas was saved by two unlikely friends, not long ago. This nine part story will be released part by part with the final installment on Christmas day."

Santa is all about emerging technology. Visit Santa's journal, or you can subscribe to the Santa podcast in iTunes.

Link via Podcasting News.

Pop-up Blogs

Pop-up blogs are basically blogs maintained for a limited amount of time. They may coincide with events or seasons, and are not created to continually exist. Clickz has an article about how ElectricArtists is using these types of blogs for clients. This is a trend we'll likely see gaining momentum, particularly since many companies have marketing campaigns that last for a limited amount of time, and then change direction.

And it's not only blogs. There have been numerous cases of this type of "pop-up" campaign in podcasting, for example. If you remember, not too long ago Disneyland created a podcast that was only alive for a few days during their big anniversary celebration activities.

It's important to note that continuous blogs still have a place, particularly when the blogs main purpose is customer support related, or a continuing effort to keep a channel of communication open with consumers. However, "pop-up" blogs could be a great way for companies to experiment with blogging before making the commitment to build an maintain an ongoing blog presence.

Teen Content Creators

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has released their latest study, Teen Content Creators and Consumers. It's a great piece, and should be a harpinger of what the future holds in store. The insights into the differences between bloggers and non-bloggers is particularly interesting, as well as some of the insights into the sharing of created and downloaded content.

Simply stated, this is a MUST READ.

State of the Blogosphere

Technorati has released another "State of the Blogosphere" report. This report focuses specifically on growth, and relies on data from blogs tracked by Technorati. Founder and CEO Dave Sifry gave these findings in a presentation at Web 2.0, which he makes available for download.

Here are a few interesting findings from the report:
- The blogosphere is 30 times bigger than 3 years ago
- 2% - 8% of new weblogs are fake or spam weblogs
- About 70,000 new weblogs are created every day

I think it's interesting that the growth Technorati has been unrelenting over the last 36 months. In other words, it isn't slowing down. It's important to put a caveat on these findings, since they're being made from Technorati data, but they're still interesting results that should be taken seriously.

Link via Micropersuasion.

Case Study: Weblogs, Inc.

Google has released an AdSense case study that focuses on Weblogs, Inc. The case study gives a little insight into the tactics that have worked for the blog network, including testing and ad formats.

Dave Winer on NerdTV

Dave Winer is the subject of the latest NerdTV #6 on PBS. You can watch the entire show online... For those of you unfamiliar with Dave Winer, he's the author of Scripting News, one of the first weblogs. He's also a pioneering software developer, and has been influential in the rise of blogs, podcasting and rss.

Nerd TV calls him the father of rss and weblogging.

Unaware RSS Usage

The Business 2.0 blog points out a new twist in RSS usage. A recent Nielsen study that found only 11% of internet users were using RSS feeds. But a new survey from Yahoo! found that almost 31% of them are, but only 4% know it.

Ogilvy: Read our Feeds

Ogilvy PR is publishing a site that lists the RSS feeds of the blogs they're reading. I think this is a great way for an agency to publish something other than press releases and portfolio updates. And guess what... they've got good taste. Random Culture is one of the feeds in their "Marketing" feeds section.

Link via Micropersuasion.

AOL Buys Weblogs Inc?

WTF? According to Rafat Ali at Paid Content, Weblogs Inc. has been bought by AOL, and the announcement is coming. Apparently, multiple sources confirmed it. This is pretty crazy... and what might the pricetag be? Speculation is in the 20-35 million range.

I think some of the most important questions are: what does AOL plan to do with it? What does this mean for blogging and blog advertising? Surely it gives more credibility to blog ads. AOL will start offering these media placements to their agency partners as a viable way to spend their media dollars.

Check out the Weblogs Inc. site for more, as well as Jason Calacanis' personal blog.

Boeing's New Blog?

Well, not really. inflightHQ.com is a blog about in-flight productivity. It would be a great official Boeing blog, but this isn't Boeing publishing a new blog, it's sponsorship. If it were an official Boeing blog, they might host it on their own domain name... and surely wouldn't allow the folks who built it to push their other agendas directly, like The Blog Business Summit, an invention called "Clip-n-Seal", and a blog about life with a Pug.

Kudos to Boeing for putting money into blog advertising, shame on Boeing for not taking it a step further and actually publishing a blog like this.

The only "real" Boeing blog out there is still Randy's Journal... which is a noble effort, but not really a consumer's cup of tea.

Link via Micropersuasion.

Yahoo! Blog Search?

There seems to be speculation that Yahoo! will be releasing their blog search this week. Threadwatch points out that Steve Rubel caught a glimpse of it back in July.

HP's Fake TV Blog

Oh man... HP has launched a blog for their TV efforts, ilovemyhptv.com.

It's a great looking blog, but sadly, HP has taken the low road and opted for creating a "fake" blog. Does HP expect that people will really believe this a blog being written by "Ted - HPTV Aficionado?" I hope not.

For example... how plausible is the following statement: "...this is my blog. I’m going to tell you all about my experiences shopping, buying, and getting my new HP TV delivered straight to my den."

Really Ted? I don't believe you.

If the writing isn't enough to convince you, then notice that EVERY link off the site points to an HP property. Why does HP feel like they can't just have an honest conversation with the consumer about their product?

Invite-Only Comments

Gawker.com has been missing an essential blog feature for some time now... the comment. They haven't allowed users to comment on the site until now. Gawker has introduced an "invite-only" comment policy. According to a post on the Gawker.com site:

"We’re snobs here, as you well know, and we would never let just anyone post. Rather, this works like Gmail. Only those lucky enough to receive a sure-to-be-coveted invitation from us — or those who receive an invitation from those who’ve received an invitation from us — will be able to post."

This is an interesting idea... it not only helps them battle comment spam, but also creates an air of exclusivity, just like Gmail did. More on the comment policy here and here.

Link via Fimoculous.

Cyber-Dissident Handbook

Reports without Borders has released "The Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents", making the download available for free on their site. The report is geared towards bloggers seeking to get around the censorship that the mainstream media is subject to, particularly in countries with state-controlled media, where bloggers may be the only "true" journalists.

It's a document worth checking out. The handbook covers everything from how to set up a blog, how to blog anonymously, and technical ways to get around censorship.

For more, check out the CNET story.

Blooks? Hackoff.com

A Blook is, according to Hackoff.com, "a book serialized on a blog. You can read it with a browser or feed reader, subscribe to it, tag it, comment on it, and link to it."

Hackoff.com is a blook... The story is essentially a murder mystery set in the midst of the dot-com bubble. Check out the personal blog of the author, Tom Evslin, for more insight into it's creation. In addition, he's also kind of taken an alternate reality gaming approach, as there are fake websites, press releases and other materials that factor into the story.

There may be a high learning curve to really understand and get involved in what's happening, but it's an interesting idea, and feels like something different. Thanks to Jason for the link.

Update: Chrysler Blog

Recently, I posted about Chrysler's blogging effort, and agreed that they're making a mistake by hiding the blog behind a login and catering only to "established" journalists. Adrants was one of the first to point out that this might not be a great idea. Apparently, Chrysler PR Chief Jason Vines has used the blog to accuse Steve Hall of Adrants of being a "cowardly, anonymous poster." You can read more about his comments in this Detroit News article.

Um... Wow. Here are a couple pointers.

1.) Steve Hall isn't an anonymous blogger... I am, sort of
2.) Understand a blog's influence before you start bashing
3.) Even when you require a login, content finds a way out

Link via B.L. Ochman.

Juicy Fruit Blog????

Since we're on the subject of misguided blogging efforts, enter the Juicy Fruit blog... That's right, the Juicy Fruit blog. Calling this a "blog" is a stretch... This may actually be one of the worst blogging efforts by a business that I've ever seen. The text in these posts alone is enough to make your stomach turn. Paul Scrivens at BusinessLogs has some great insights on the matter:

"This is why we talk about not every business needing a blog because if done improperly you will get some major backlash like the Juicy Fruit folks are receiving right now. What makes this silly is that if they replaced the world "blog" with something else on their site then there would be no complaining."

This iPod Shuffle Juicy fruit mod would have been a good marketing campaign... Why not embrace something like that?

Chrysler Blog: The Firehouse

Adrants posts about Chrysler's new blog, The Firehouse. It's a blog created for journalists, that's hidden behind a login. According to Adrants, only those who can prove they work for a "known and established media organization" can apply and read. I agree that this pretty much undercuts the whole idea of participating in the blogosphere... Sure, they may have found a good way to keep journalists updated, but don't they see how much more leverage they'd get if they opened it up?

Sprint Blogging... Sort of

Steve Rubel at Micropersuasion points out that Sprint is now blogging. Well, actually, it's the Sprint Business Solutions folks that are blogging. Like so many other business blogs we've seen, it seems to be updated very infrequently... which is a shame. Has Sprint fallen victim to the same problem other businesses have when they approach blogging: trouble dedicating resources to keep it updated?

Rethinking Blog Design

Gawker's "Sploid" blog has redesigned, breaking the traditional notions of how we think blogs should look. Every blog doesn't need to be a three-column layout, but is it still accomplishing the things a blog needs to? Can you easily see what's new on the site? Is that even what's most important?

I think it's a good thing, if only for the fact that it makes people start to think about pushing the boundaries of blog design.

Oh yeah, there's also a side benefit that the folks at Blogebrity point out: "this sort of design encourages frequent viewing of the actual site, which runs those gorgeous CPM ads that pay Gawker Media by view."

Seth Godin's Free eBook

For a limited time, Seth Godin is offering a free download of his latest book entitled "Who's There: Seth Godin's Incomplete Guide to Blogs and New Media." It's worth downloading.

FYI: It's a follow up to the recent "Knock Knock" eBook, which is still available for download.

Have a Mint

Shaun Inman has launched Mint, one of a number of recent website statistic applications that have launched or will launch soon. Mint is no doubt a beautiful interface compared to the stat programs most of us deal with. According to the Mint site, it also has a plug-in API that will allow developers to add to the feature set.

Some of the other players in this space worth noting are the recently launched Blogbeat, and the upcoming release of Adaptive Path's "Measure Map." It's interesting to see all these small players taking on some of the big guys... particularly in the realm of blog analytics.

Link via Business Logs.

Blogging in Japan

Joi Ito has a great post about the state of blogging in Japan.This excerpt from his post explains it all:

"The other day I heard a radio commercial where they read out the URL, but added that you could post comments and send trackbacks. Yes. Trackbacks. I have yet to hear a radio commercial in the US on a normal major FM show (maybe there are some) asking people to send trackbacks a site."

Wow... trackbacks mentioned in a radio spot. Progressive.

Bluefly is Blogging

Bluefly launched their blog, Flypaper, in April. The blog doesn't talk about their products specifically, but is instead focused on design and fashion. However, they have a promotional area on the blog to highlight products. One of the great things about the blog is how often it's updated. There are multiple posts every day, which shows a commitment to the effort that many businesses lack due to resource issues. What's more, this freshness of content helps them build an audience that's more likely to visit again and again.

USA Today has a story about online retailer blogs, and focuses on the Bluefly effort. It's worth a read.

Link via AdPulp.

Clickz Launches a Blog

Clickz has launched a blog, with multiple authors posting on a variety of subjects. I'm a little surprised, however, that it isn't being updated on a regular basis more than once a day. With that many authors posting, they should be able to always have multiple posts on a daily basis. I count 4 different authors. It also appears that some of the initial posts, which start at the end of July, seem to have days where there were no posts at all. Hopefully Clickz will change the frequency of their posting habits. I can see the potential for this blog to be a great site to visit multiple times a day.

One of the bigger gripes I have is