Archive for the 'Weblogs' Category

WordPress: Definer of my limits?

Published on January 16, 2010 in Weblogs. 0 Comments

It’s Saturday morning. Josh must be checking his email, ’cause shortly after I get back from a “power walk” (uh yeah), he pings me:

I’m getting email from your blog

i think i might have not changed over the address when I transferred it

You’ll recall that Josh hosts my blog and awhile back we had some difficulties with a WordPress upgrade (my fault) and so he had to do an entirely new install … and apparently he left his own email address for communications from the blog and he is getting my – you guessed it – comment spam.

Yes, because I haven’t worked at bringing traffic here yet (and apparently Google image search – the source of most of my traffic of late – is still going to the Typepad domain) all I get on this blog is comment spam. Which of course never goes live, but alas bots apparently don’t know when a blog has moderated comments.

“Do you have the plug-in activated to catch spam?” is the next thing he asks me.

Ugh – no, I don’t. I know Askimet is supposed to be a good spam catcher, but I always was stymied by this ‘key’ that it wanted in order to be activated. I tell Josh so. And he offers to do it. “It’s easy,” he says as he is requesting the key to be sent to my email.

“Thanks,” I tell him. “It seems that the older I get, the stupider I get.”

“WordPress,” I muse, “far from opening up new horizons, has been the definer of my limits.”

“Haha,” he types.

Then, “That makes me kinda sad.”

“Me too.” says I.

Continuing ….

The blog is back.

Published on August 17, 2009 in Web/Tech and Weblogs. 0 Comments

I haven’t finished listening to yesterday’s This Week in Tech (#208) yet, but toward the beginning of the podcast I heard Leo LaPorte say “The blog is back.”

He said people want to own their content again and they don’t want to leave it to the Cloud or Twitter or Facebook. And the D-DOS attack that brought Twitter down last week just drove the point home even more.

I heard this somewhere else, too, recently.  So now I’m waiting to see if blogness will just filter in here automagically.

So are blogs back? Were they gone or just backgrounded for awhile? What do you think?

Glad you're here

Published on January 31, 2009 in Weblogs and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: .

This is the new look and new home for the blog I used to call Things I’ve Seen. You’ll find all the old posts have arrived intact, with just a few photos breaking the template, which I will have to fix. (love love love WordPress!)

Bookmark this page or grab the RSS feed. Once in awhile things appear here that are worth taking a look at.

Finally, a huge shout out to my buddy Josh, who encouraged me in all things WordPress, surprised me by making a banner image out of one of my photos and – most important of all – is most graciously hosting my new venture. Thanks, Josh!

-kathleen

Writing tips, via Friendfeed

Published on May 26, 2008 in Weblogs. 0 Comments

Steve Rubel pointed today to Kaylow Media's Six tips for generating terrific blog posts. (Actually, Rubel shared this in Google Reader and it showed up in Friendfeed. Oh, how do you properly attribute sources in these social media times?!) From the post:

  • Notice everything … I realized that the very experience I was having would make a great post

  • Be prepared … I have a stack of index cards and a pen with me at all times, so I can immediately jot down any idea.

  • Talk with a variety of people … the internet represents as diverse a community as you’ll ever find. Look beyond your bookmarked blogs … Poke around the global neighborhood and see what you’ll find.

  • Create a "blogging only" workspace … a person’s environment can influence their behaviors … I’ve conditioned myself to associate [the blogging-only space] with writing, so my brain goes into “writing mode” as soon as I sit down.

  • Step away from the blogosphere … Time spent away from the computer is just as beneficial as reading inspirational posts.

  • Create a crappy first draft … but of course. You'll never write anything if you don't get something down in writing first – no matter how bad it is. That is writing 101 (my comment)

    • Nothing earth shattering – these are good tips for anybody who's writing anything – but a good kick in the ass for me since this blog continues to languish a bit.

    On that last point: I've been editing quite a bit at work lately – more than usual as we go through the growing pains of hiring new people and shifting others' roles around. And I must say I'm pretty damn good at it.

    One thing I've noticed time and again is how so-called seasoned professionals will let that crappy first draft stand as final. I mean, it's one thing to just get your thoughts down on paper. Turning them into thoughtful, powerful, persuasive prose (or copy) is something else altogether.

    Weasel words and phrases (so much the province of old-school PR), over-long sentences, weak verbs (forms of to be and to have, in particular), over-use of adjectives vs. good strong verbs … these are just a few hallmarks of weak writing that I encounter every day. It's disheartening to say the least. Especially when you consider the fact that words are the tools of our trade. Worse still? I'm sometimes convinced that the folks I'm editing truly don't know the difference between an OK sentence and a compelling, even powerfully written one.

    And that's just kinda sad.

    Nobody here

    Published on April 6, 2008 in Weblogs. 1 Comment

    Serverphp

    Wow. Has my traffic gone down over the past year.  I guess I don’t wonder why.

    To get readers, a blog needs content – regular updates, too. But I’ve been busy on Facebook and Twitter and just generally anything that keeps me from paying attention to -  caring for and feeding – this blog. Will I fix it, especially now (great timing!) that I’ve added AdSense, which, of course is earning exactly $0.00? Well, that’s the question now, isn’t it.

    Update: April has brought me about a buck and a half in AdSense earnings. Woo!

    Caught in the net(work)

    Published on December 10, 2007 in Weblogs. 2 Comments

    Alana

    Art by Facebook friend, Alana Servis, drawn on daughter Susan’s SuperWall.

    Hugh is right, you know. From his post, Blogging is dead? According to whom?:

    2007 has been all about :"Social Networks". With Facebook leading the charge, suddenly who you know seems far more interesting to the journalists than what
    you know. Screw the nodes, it’s now all about the network, People. All
    about "The Social Graph", People. We no longer worry about what we have
    to say, we worry about who’s controlling our data. We no
    longer talk about folk we know, like and admire, and what they’re up
    to, we talk about hot-shot startups and how many billions Microsoft is
    going to pay for them …

    … If you have something to say, then a blog offers a cheap, easy global
    medium in which to express yourself. This is as true now as it was
    three years ago, regardless of what the groovy cats in Silicon Valley
    may be up to …

    …  if you’re one of these people considering giving up on blogging in
    exchange for paying more attention to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and
    MySpace, or whatever they throw at us mere mortals, bear in mind you
    are giving up on something rather unique and wonderful …

    Of course, Hugh McCleod’s thing has been to build his own personal business brand via blogging. And he’s had great success with the South African winery, Stormhoek, and other ventures. Not that he’s eschewed Facebook, Twitter, or other social media. Not at all. But he’s held to – and continued to build  – his personal brand.

    I don’t have a business interest in building my brand. But I must say whatever I did build by blogging, here and at Coit Avenue, has dwindled considerably over the past year or so since my blogging efforts have tapered off. And why? For me, it’s the fact that social networking is so much easier than blogging. And the feedback is so much more immediate.

    But what of that feedback? What of ‘results’? I now have 70 friends on Facebook (not bad for an ‘oldster’ with no claim to fame). I spend a fair amount of time each day reading and updating the daily mundane about and for that disparate 70 (too many of whom are my kids and their friends). And for what? There’s no thinking or probing here, no exchange of thoughts or ideas, no synthesis and certainly no real conversation. Connection, yes. But nothing meaningful.

    I guess my point is this: If the only way you connect is through social networking, it’s  like eating only desserts. It’s sugary, fun and easy to take. But it always leaves me wanting more, and is, in the end, somehow unsatisfying. Blogging is the meal, the main course, the sustenance. Sure it is more work. But it is more productive. And more satisfying in the long run.

    So will I cut back on the sugar, break out of the easy-ness of social networking  and get back to balancing my self-expression with the more meaningful, satisfying  work of blogging? No promises  here (it’s hard work, after all!) but  if  I  know what’s good for me …

     

    Update on Amazing Michigan

    Published on August 4, 2006 in Web/Tech and Weblogs. 0 Comments

    The new blog Because Michigan is Amazing has added an About Us page with a little more information on the people and idea behind it. I have more about it on Coit Avenue.

    Amazing Michigan? Not so fast

    Published on August 2, 2006 in Web/Tech, Weblogs and Writing. 2 Comments

    This is cross-posted from  Coit Avenue.

    Fellow MI bloggers, I assume you all got this email too:

    Hi, Kathleen.

    I’m writing from Hass MS&L Public Relations in Ann Arbor. We’re trying to let people know about a new blog that launched today: Michigan is Amazing (michiganisamazing.com).

    The purpose of Michigan is Amazing is to bring to everyone’s attention all the great things about our state. While a creative agency will be supplying the content for the blog initially, it’s the site’s users that will become the content providers * and, through a ratings system, judge which stories are the best. The blog’s categories are People, Places, Things, Events and Organizations. Users can use the blog to let everyone know about the things they think are special about Michigan using text, images or video.

    All users who submit valid entries will receive a small gift, and all those who have posts published on the blog will win a free t-shirt. The best entry of each month will win the blogger an amazing Michigan-themed gift basket loaded with a variety of prizes.

    We’re trying to get the word out and we hope you’ll let your readers know. Just for spreading the word we’d like to send you a small gift.

    Thanks for your time. Please let me know if you have any questions.

    Sincerely,

    Melanie Seasons

    Word of mouth marketing, baby

    So what’s this all about? A google search on Hass MS&L turns up this from the Center for Media and Democracy’s SourceWatch: "David Binkowski from Hass MS&L is scheduled to appear on a panel "How to Create Great Corporate Blogs That Get People Talking" at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association conference in Orlando, Florida, January 20, 2006"

    Ah, so that’s it — a Great Corporate Blog that’ll get us Michiganders talking. But when I checked out the new blog for a sign of a corporate presence, I found nothing, other than a "sponsored link" from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. And indeed, when I clicked on "Send Us Your Amazing Finds," then "click here to read the rules," I read this:

    Contest Eligibility:  Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan does not determine the submissions posted to “Michigan is Amazing” or the winner of the monthly contest …

    The agency MS&L, which acquired Hass in 2002, has a lengthy list of health care clients (although I don’t see BCBSM on the list right now). Looking at the news area of their site, their expertise seems to be in positioning Big Pharma in the face of all its litigation and regulatory issues.

    Digging further, I found that David Binkowski heads up Hass MS&L Blogworks and is a member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, where his page explains:

    …  Hass MS&L has successfully worked with global clients to launch corporate blogs and to deal with the issues they raise. And our marketing outreach practice connects influential consumers with new products and helps spread awareness through these new media.

    A notable success for Blogworks is the much-praised FastLane Blog from GM chief Bob Lutz.

    So what’s the problem?

    What’s wrong with all of this? I work in marketing communications. I understand that you can hardly get a better product endorsement than one that’s person-to-person, or word of mouth. And I’m a blogger — don’t I believe in the power of blogs to spread the word, rally people for causes, inform us on issues, etc., etc., etc.?  Of course. Still, here’s what grinds me about this pitch:

    • I’m asked to "spread the word" about a new blog that appears to have no real reason for being, no author, no sponsor, no voice — and therefore not much reason to engage.  (Content’s kinda lame, too, but there is potential there, if people participate. It’s about Michigan, afterall!)
    • Prizes for blogging? Even a gift to me for "spreading the word?" Please!
    • The initial complete and utter lack of transparency on the part of Melanie Seasons as to who is sponsoring the blog.
    • The initial complete and utter lack of transparency on the blog itself as to who is behind it.

    Conversation goes two ways

    Yeah, I know word of mouth marketing is the thing these days. But if markets are conversations as we read in Cluetrain, this one-way deal isn’t the way to go about it.  And it’s certainly not what blogging is about. There needs to be an exchange going on here — honest, open, no holds barred. And prizes and gifts don’t count.

    A word to BCBSM — if you want to engage bloggers in a folksy, feel-good conversation about how great Michigan is, we’d be more than happy to talk, even spread the word. But take the mask off first. Be up front with us. If you don’t, the words we spread likely won’t be the ones you had in mind.

    ******************

    SourceWatch had more on Hass MS&L: See the subhead Driving Bloggers Pro-War Coverage

     

    Who's watching?

    Published on February 28, 2006 in Weblogs. 0 Comments

    It looks like someone who doesn’t want to be identified is checking out my blogs. I wrote about it today over at coit avenue.

    Traffic by country

    Published on February 20, 2006 in Weblogs. 0 Comments

    Countries

    From my site stats as of today. It’s not surprising to see that 78% of my traffic is from the U.S. But 5% from France? I wonder what’s up with that?

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