It has been a while since I posted on this blog. It does not make sense to take time off from a busy day to write blog posts few will read, particularly because I don't write/carry gossip and more often than not, discuss strategic or professional issues more of interest to the serious pro. I am that boring!
But I decided to take note of two developments this week with just quick remarks. Being part of the profession and being an acquaintance of people in the thick of controversial events puts me in a strange situation: If I speak out, I am eating a fellow dog, and if I keep mum, I lose the fun of letting pass two significant events related to the issues this blog professes to peruse. So I walk a careful wedge here.
1) Barkha Dutt, arguably India's most popular English TV news anchor, has hit a fresh controversy, having elicited an apology from a blogger on grounds that he wrote defamatory stuff. No court case here, but a quick, grovelling apology. She must have been on the right side of law, or the guy probably was in no mood to fight.
But more interesting is the fact that this has raised the hackles of the blogger community, and on last call a new Facebook group has been formed accusing this icon of free TV of gagging critics (The last one formed to criticise her coverage of the 26/11 attacks had around 4,500 members)
What gives? What's going on?
I have clearly said before in this blog that bloggers are not above the law, and relevant media laws apply. So I am forced to defend Barkha on that ground. I have to tell my blogger friends to know their responsibility.
But discretion is the better part of legal valour and Barkha must know that large numbers of people criticising her is not something she can overlook or ignore in the age of democracy plus the Internet. Bloggers need to realise that freedom of speech is not freedom to break the law.
Sensitive use of language is at the heart of the issue.
But then, who cares for that anymore?
2) P. Sainath, venerable, prodding rural-sensitive journalist, who has won many an award for his moving accounts of farmer's plights and drought-hit areas, has turned down a Padma Shri --something fellow professionals including Barkha Dutt have accepted in the past. He says a government award reduces the credibility of the journo, or something to that effect. I do want to clap, though I may be making some foes in the process.
Honestly, journalism is more fun when the rich and the mighty squirm at you than smile at you. But then, that cannot be at the cost of responsible journalism, and sometimes, has financial consequences.
It is a thankless profession, I tell you!
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
30 January 2009
26 November 2008
State of the Blogosphere-A cheat sheet
Here is an interesting insight into the blogosphere, from Mediapost, looking at Technorati
| Wednesday, November 26, 2008  Blogs And Mainstream Media Intersect According to Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2008 report, the majority of bloggers surveyed currently have advertising on their blogs. Among those with advertising, the mean annual investment in their blog is $1,800. The mean annual revenue is $6,000 with $75K+ in revenue for those with 100,000 or more unique visitors per month. There have been a number of studies aimed at understanding the size of the Blogosphere, says the report, yielding disparate estimates, but all studies agree that blogs are a global phenomenon that has hit the mainstream. Reports in 2008 include these estimates: comScore MediaMetrix reports: (August 2008)
eMarketer says: (May 2008)
Universal McCann finds: (March 2008)
Wikipedia defines the Blogosphere as the collective community of all blogs. interconnected and socially networked. While discussions in the Blogosphere have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion, Technorati isolates the Active Blogosphere as the ecosystem of interconnected communities of bloggers and readers at the convergence of journalism and conversation. But, says the study, as the Blogosphere grows in size and influence, the lines between what is a blog and what is a mainstream media site become less clear. Larger blogs are taking on more characteristics of mainstream sites and mainstream sites are incorporating styles and formats from the Blogosphere. In fact, 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs. Technorati tracked blogs in 81 languages in June 2008, and bloggers from 66 countries across six continents, finding that Bloggers have been at it an average of three years and are collectively creating close to one million posts every day. Blogs have representation in top-10 web site lists across all key categories, and have become integral to the media ecosystem. The key findings included such things as:
In 2004 when Technorati started, says the report, the typical reaction to the word 'blog' was 'huh?' Today... the blog has forever changed the way publishing works... anyone can be a publisher. The issue is no longer distribution, it's relevance. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
27 October 2008
When it is your NGO, and our content...
What happens when one of the country's biggest firebrand social-environmental activists is accused of copyright violation? Sunita Narain is in a spot because her organisation seems to have merrily used content from Mint newspaper without permission.
Here is what the managing editor says in his blog.
Takes me back to that old expression of mine: Loser Generated Content.
Anybody who thinks content is free or should be, is a saint (which I think I am not), or making good money elsewhere and treats knowledge as charity.
It's time quality content producers become aware of their rights.
Here is what the managing editor says in his blog.
Takes me back to that old expression of mine: Loser Generated Content.
Anybody who thinks content is free or should be, is a saint (which I think I am not), or making good money elsewhere and treats knowledge as charity.
It's time quality content producers become aware of their rights.
13 October 2008
The Me Video: Musings on business journalism
In my long journalistic career, I usually have been on the side asking questions, not on the one giving (or pretending to give) answers. But there are exceptions in these strange times.
I was interviewed -- sort of -- last week, by a most interesting blog called Murali Listening.
I was on a visit to Chennai, and ended up as a guest in the office D. Murali, who is Deputy Editor at The Hindu Business Line. Murali, I am told, has one guest a day, to whom he shoots gentle but probing questions and records the responses on his Nokia N73. Believe me, over a period of time he has built quite a collection of stuff under "Food For Thought", and the blog runs like a TV channel.
I was fodder for his cannonball run, and fielded questions on business journalism.
I should have smiled more, but then, these are difficult times and those were difficult questions.
Here is the video link.
And then, I must add that Murali's blog is another proof on how theme-based blogs can blaze a new trail in the media.
I was interviewed -- sort of -- last week, by a most interesting blog called Murali Listening.
I was on a visit to Chennai, and ended up as a guest in the office D. Murali, who is Deputy Editor at The Hindu Business Line. Murali, I am told, has one guest a day, to whom he shoots gentle but probing questions and records the responses on his Nokia N73. Believe me, over a period of time he has built quite a collection of stuff under "Food For Thought", and the blog runs like a TV channel.
I was fodder for his cannonball run, and fielded questions on business journalism.
I should have smiled more, but then, these are difficult times and those were difficult questions.
Here is the video link.
And then, I must add that Murali's blog is another proof on how theme-based blogs can blaze a new trail in the media.
17 August 2008
The Medium and the Massage
I have to say a lot, but I am saying very little. This blog has been silent for a week, not in spite of, but because of too much going on in my head. At work, yes -- and that took away my time. My computer was acting up both at home and work --- and that took away my convenience.
But more important, I attended a television awards seminar and function, visited a Hindi newspaper's swank office and chanced by the studio of a well-known channel to meet a friend. Yet, I have not found the time to pour out what I saw and felt.
Above all, I had this experience of an anonymous commenter saying this blogger was "full of yourself" -- which provoked thought -- even if I were to dismiss it as the ranting of a PR person upset over my criticism of her/his tribe (as the post was at the end of a caustic reference to PR)
Of course, this blog does reflect my view of things, but then, this was the right moment to pause. I need to figure out why people see "me" when I see an "it!".
I have learnt a lot writing this blog -- about readers, viewers, peers, partners, technology, Internet and myself.
I have been deeply disappointed -- but not surprised -- by the lack of numbers in comments but then this is because this is not a gossipy blog and it is not even newsy in the what's-in-it-for-me sense that most careerists seek out the media these days, irrespective of what career they are in.
Time was when the media was about a large, wide social interface, and time was when issues were discussed in a broader context.
The movement of this blog gives me a lot about what has changed.
I have also learnt hell of a lot about blogging itself -- and what it can mean to people of various kinds. To that extent, I see it as successful experiment.
No money, no ads, not even rah-rah comments by the dozens. But I still feel richer. There must be something to it.
But more important, I attended a television awards seminar and function, visited a Hindi newspaper's swank office and chanced by the studio of a well-known channel to meet a friend. Yet, I have not found the time to pour out what I saw and felt.
Above all, I had this experience of an anonymous commenter saying this blogger was "full of yourself" -- which provoked thought -- even if I were to dismiss it as the ranting of a PR person upset over my criticism of her/his tribe (as the post was at the end of a caustic reference to PR)
Of course, this blog does reflect my view of things, but then, this was the right moment to pause. I need to figure out why people see "me" when I see an "it!".
I have learnt a lot writing this blog -- about readers, viewers, peers, partners, technology, Internet and myself.
I have been deeply disappointed -- but not surprised -- by the lack of numbers in comments but then this is because this is not a gossipy blog and it is not even newsy in the what's-in-it-for-me sense that most careerists seek out the media these days, irrespective of what career they are in.
Time was when the media was about a large, wide social interface, and time was when issues were discussed in a broader context.
The movement of this blog gives me a lot about what has changed.
I have also learnt hell of a lot about blogging itself -- and what it can mean to people of various kinds. To that extent, I see it as successful experiment.
No money, no ads, not even rah-rah comments by the dozens. But I still feel richer. There must be something to it.
15 July 2008
How to fool the media..lessons from Helion VC
Now, now.
Ashish Gupta is a nice bloke. He is the guy who co-founded Junglee.com which was sold for a reasonably obscene amount to Amazon.com. Ashish has gotten rich, and he was always clever (You know, IITK, Stanford, all that). He is one of the key blokes in Helion, a confident, smart venture capital fund.
Ashish also knows his Hindi well. He probably has heard the story of Ashwathama from the Mahabharata (Read it here)
To cut a long story shot, Yudhishtra does not lie but wants to weaken Drona. So he announces the death of an elephant called Ashwathama in a manner that conveys to Drona the impression that his son is dead.
The story is now re-told in the age of venture capital funding.
Helion has supposedly denied funding SMS Gupshup -- a hot Internet startup founded by some very smart guys of whom I have written.
The so-called denial, which is reproduced below, came after very respected technology blogs including GigaOM, TechCrunch and others reported it.
Please read it below, and then read my comments that follow, which I have marked in bold letters.
---
My take: Please read the above carefully.
1) Ashish denies funding Gupshup -- What he does not say, in true Yudhishtra style, is that the company that owns SMS Gupshup is Webaroo Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd.
You don't fund a Website -- you fund the company owns it
2) Helion routinely issues newsletters and tom-toms its investments. If it has not done so in this instance, it is because the funding has not tied up, or the news got leaked before the deal could be ready for announcement. It probably is still in an advanced state of negotiation.
3) There is no outright denial -- If the deal was closed with no funding from Helion, it would have been more forthcoming in its denial
4) There is a vague, cryptic sentence that says "The line below is incorrect" -- What line? Why be cryptic?
It is very clear that the balloon got out of hand before it could be filled with Helion's helium...so we got a lot of hot air.
Smoke and mirrors?
We shall wait the final and official word. But I will stick my neck out and say the original story was not a plug.
Blogs attempting to break new ground in journalism need to read through the spin and denials.
Ashish Gupta is a nice bloke. He is the guy who co-founded Junglee.com which was sold for a reasonably obscene amount to Amazon.com. Ashish has gotten rich, and he was always clever (You know, IITK, Stanford, all that). He is one of the key blokes in Helion, a confident, smart venture capital fund.
Ashish also knows his Hindi well. He probably has heard the story of Ashwathama from the Mahabharata (Read it here)
To cut a long story shot, Yudhishtra does not lie but wants to weaken Drona. So he announces the death of an elephant called Ashwathama in a manner that conveys to Drona the impression that his son is dead.
The story is now re-told in the age of venture capital funding.
Helion has supposedly denied funding SMS Gupshup -- a hot Internet startup founded by some very smart guys of whom I have written.
The so-called denial, which is reproduced below, came after very respected technology blogs including GigaOM, TechCrunch and others reported it.
Please read it below, and then read my comments that follow, which I have marked in bold letters.
via WATBlog.com - Web, Advertising and Technology Blog in India by Rajiv Dingra on 7/6/08
Well last week the news of Smsgupshup being funded for 10 Million $ by Helion Venture Capital and Charles River Ventures was published all across the leading digital blogs in India. It all started with a plug by pluggd and spread to medianama which also had an excellent article on why Smsgupshup would need the 10 Million $ (medianama is started by the earlier editor of contentsutra), vccircle and contentsutra itself (which aggregates news from vccircle now a days for the lack of an editor). Also techcrunch seems to have picked the news up as well and linked to pluggd as the source. They have an update as well terming it as an unconfirmed story. (thanks raghav for the techcrunch update)
While all this was happening WATBlog was trying to get in touch with both SmsGupShup and HelionVC on any official update on the status of the funding if any. And here I am publishing the respective responses from the concerned parties on the issue.
Response from Chirag Jain, VP India Operations "Thanks for your mail. Unfortunately we have not issued any notification and are not in a position to make any comments at the moment."
Well the above diplomatic answer was expected. But what was not expected is a categorical denial from Ashish Gupta, Managing Director - Investment Advisor of Helion Venture Capital.
Ashish Gupta
When we emailed Ashish the following "Just wanted to confirm this story and if possible get some bytes from you on the same. SMSGupshup has raised 10 Million $ funding from Helion VC. Will await your response on the same.
Ashish sent us the following one line reply "the line below is incorrect."
On probing further with this question "Would it be correct to say that helion has participated in the 10 million funding? Will await your response."
Ashish Replied "we have not done any funding for Gupshup."
So as far as we know and from the Horses mouth itself and not from any reliable anonymous source the funding has not happened through Helion Venture Capital atleast till 4th of July and thats when we recieved this denial from Helion.
So did blogs report something on speculation? And why didn't Smsgupshup deny the story? And who are these sources that are confirming the story when Helion itself seems to be denying the same! No one will know until and unless both these parties come forward and speak up. On the issue of Smsgupshup's funding I have no doubt that they both need and to certain extent even deserve the funding given that smsgupshup has taken off as the premiere group sms service provider. But who are these investors we shall hopefully know soon
---
My take: Please read the above carefully.
1) Ashish denies funding Gupshup -- What he does not say, in true Yudhishtra style, is that the company that owns SMS Gupshup is Webaroo Technology (India) Pvt. Ltd.
You don't fund a Website -- you fund the company owns it
2) Helion routinely issues newsletters and tom-toms its investments. If it has not done so in this instance, it is because the funding has not tied up, or the news got leaked before the deal could be ready for announcement. It probably is still in an advanced state of negotiation.
3) There is no outright denial -- If the deal was closed with no funding from Helion, it would have been more forthcoming in its denial
4) There is a vague, cryptic sentence that says "The line below is incorrect" -- What line? Why be cryptic?
It is very clear that the balloon got out of hand before it could be filled with Helion's helium...so we got a lot of hot air.
Smoke and mirrors?
We shall wait the final and official word. But I will stick my neck out and say the original story was not a plug.
Blogs attempting to break new ground in journalism need to read through the spin and denials.
30 June 2008
Bloggers need to honour copyright -- and must be respected for theirs!
I spoke at a workshop organised by the Indian Blog and New Media Society last weekend, and faced some questions on copyright of content produced by bloggers. It stays with them, as far as I know -- but then, they also need to honour other's rights.
Here is an article on how Big Media is watching bloggers. Well, Big Media should also realise that bloggers are also challenging them, somewhere!
Here is an article on how Big Media is watching bloggers. Well, Big Media should also realise that bloggers are also challenging them, somewhere!
27 June 2008
Here is my presentation on where blogs are -- and can go
On June 7, I made a presentation to the Delhi Bloggers Bloc on classifying blogs and what they could mean from the point of view of the mainstream media.
You can view it here -- though the size seems larger than it should be!
Uploaded on authorSTREAM by madhavan
You can view it here -- though the size seems larger than it should be!
Uploaded on authorSTREAM by madhavan
26 June 2008
PR agencies take blogging seriously. Should they?
About 3 years ago, I came across a PR agency in the US talking about "Blogger Relations"...and it was an early recognition of the emergence of bloggers as influential people, somewhat like traditional media. PR agencies are recognising this and today's survey by Text100 confirms that one of the world's leading PR agencies is taking bloggers seriously.
I have my doubts on some issues. I am concerned about misuse of blogging but you cannot stop it anymore than you can stop abuse of conventional media. It is more difficult. But it is clear that blogging, or what I call "micro-publishing" is a fact of life.
I have said this many times: Random writing is not blogging -- and certainly not the type media or PR practitioners should take seriously
Here below is the release from Text100 on the issue.
APAC bloggers call for PR people to get online and blog
Text 100 asks 153 predominantly business, technology and news bloggers across APAC what they want from PR and corporation
Text 100 today announced the results of the Text 100 APAC Blogger Survey a new survey aimed at helping the PR industry and its clients better understand bloggers in the Asia Pacific region.
Key Points
In what is believed to be the first survey of its kind conducted in Asia Pacific, this survey highlights the similarities and differences between bloggers across APAC and their preferences for working with corporations and PR agencies.
In a positive sign for the communications industry, 84% of respondents welcome contact from public relations practitioners and the corporations they represent.
Electronic communication is king for APAC bloggers: 58% preferred email, followed by online comments on their blogs, as the preferred means of contacting them.
Similarly, emailing of press releases and interviews or discussions ranked in the top two as the preferred formats for receiving content (67% and 60% respectively).
APAC bloggers are not particular about who they engage with, but prefer to talk with active bloggers and whoever is closest to the story – not necessarily the traditional spokespeople.
Two thirds (67%) of respondents spend less than 8 hours of their working week on blogging.
Bloggers concerns included receiving unsolicited spam from PR agencies, and were frequently critical of the content they received, feeling it was inappropriate and unusable.
While most bloggers ignore traditional press releases, 88% were aware of so-called Social Media Releases and indicated they were in favour of using elements such as videos, quotes, pictures and links from these releases in their posts.
Text 100 surveyed bloggers it knew and those referred by friendly bloggers, not wanting to spam people it didn’t have a relationship with. Text 100 feels the views of the survey’s sample pool are a fair reflection of influential news, technology and bloggers across Asia Pacific.
Text 100 intends to conduct this survey annually across Asia Pacific and to potentially involve other regions over time.
Note: 153 mainly business, news and technology bloggers from eight countries across Asia Pacific responded to the survey. 125 bloggers completed the full online survey, and results were analysed by Hong Kong-based research company, Aha! Research.
Quotes
"The survey showed that effective PR agencies need to make social media part of their DNA. Understanding the nuances of bloggers, for example, should be part of every PR person's toolkit, and not simply relegated to a 'digital group' or 'online team'. To succeed, PR professionals must increasingly become grounded in social media." "It was also interesting to see two quite distinct 'flavours' of bloggers across Asia: those who took a commercial, publisher-like mindset to their blogging, and those who proudly retain their amateur status."
—Michael A. Netzley, PhD Practice Assistant Professor of Corporate Communication Singapore Management University
"The survey was well conducted and is representative of bloggers from across Asia. It's interesting to see Malaysia appears to be ahead in terms of PR/Corporate and blog collaboration. The salient points are distilled and valuable; know your audience, be well informed, be familiar with their blog and blogs in general and most importantly - respect bloggers."
—ShaolinTiger, (www.shaolintiger.com)
“This survey showed that though bloggers in Asia Pacific have some parallels with their counterparts in Europe or North America, there are some differences that communicators should consider. Encouragingly, Asia Pacific bloggers on the whole welcome interactions with PR companies and their clients. But they are mainly part time bloggers, so agencies must take care to contact them outside of business hours and ensure content is relevant. The key learning is to get to know the bloggers and their blogs before picking up the phone or sending that email.
“If I was to use this survey as a baseline as to where the PR industry is at in terms of its success and relationships with bloggers, I would hope that the results of next year’s survey show a far deeper and more connected PR industry that is using the social media tools far more effectively to listen, prepare and engage with the APAC blogosphere.”
—Jeremy Woolf, APAC Peer Media Lead, Text 100 APAC
“The ‘perfect storm’ of technological, business and societal change means the way corporations must communicate has changed forever. At Text 100 we have worked hard to stay ahead of these changes and interpret what they mean for our clients.”
“This survey was designed to provide our teams and clients with greater insight into what is fast becoming one of Asia’s most influential media groups. To me, the results show a community that wants to engage with corporations in our region and presents a great opportunity for PR agencies and the companies they represent to forge very powerful relationships.”
—Ava Lawler, Regional Consultancy Director, Text 100 APAC
I have my doubts on some issues. I am concerned about misuse of blogging but you cannot stop it anymore than you can stop abuse of conventional media. It is more difficult. But it is clear that blogging, or what I call "micro-publishing" is a fact of life.
I have said this many times: Random writing is not blogging -- and certainly not the type media or PR practitioners should take seriously
Here below is the release from Text100 on the issue.
APAC bloggers call for PR people to get online and blog
Text 100 asks 153 predominantly business, technology and news bloggers across APAC what they want from PR and corporation
Text 100 today announced the results of the Text 100 APAC Blogger Survey a new survey aimed at helping the PR industry and its clients better understand bloggers in the Asia Pacific region.
Key Points
In what is believed to be the first survey of its kind conducted in Asia Pacific, this survey highlights the similarities and differences between bloggers across APAC and their preferences for working with corporations and PR agencies.
In a positive sign for the communications industry, 84% of respondents welcome contact from public relations practitioners and the corporations they represent.
Electronic communication is king for APAC bloggers: 58% preferred email, followed by online comments on their blogs, as the preferred means of contacting them.
Similarly, emailing of press releases and interviews or discussions ranked in the top two as the preferred formats for receiving content (67% and 60% respectively).
APAC bloggers are not particular about who they engage with, but prefer to talk with active bloggers and whoever is closest to the story – not necessarily the traditional spokespeople.
Two thirds (67%) of respondents spend less than 8 hours of their working week on blogging.
Bloggers concerns included receiving unsolicited spam from PR agencies, and were frequently critical of the content they received, feeling it was inappropriate and unusable.
While most bloggers ignore traditional press releases, 88% were aware of so-called Social Media Releases and indicated they were in favour of using elements such as videos, quotes, pictures and links from these releases in their posts.
Text 100 surveyed bloggers it knew and those referred by friendly bloggers, not wanting to spam people it didn’t have a relationship with. Text 100 feels the views of the survey’s sample pool are a fair reflection of influential news, technology and bloggers across Asia Pacific.
Text 100 intends to conduct this survey annually across Asia Pacific and to potentially involve other regions over time.
Note: 153 mainly business, news and technology bloggers from eight countries across Asia Pacific responded to the survey. 125 bloggers completed the full online survey, and results were analysed by Hong Kong-based research company, Aha! Research.
Quotes
"The survey showed that effective PR agencies need to make social media part of their DNA. Understanding the nuances of bloggers, for example, should be part of every PR person's toolkit, and not simply relegated to a 'digital group' or 'online team'. To succeed, PR professionals must increasingly become grounded in social media." "It was also interesting to see two quite distinct 'flavours' of bloggers across Asia: those who took a commercial, publisher-like mindset to their blogging, and those who proudly retain their amateur status."
—Michael A. Netzley, PhD Practice Assistant Professor of Corporate Communication Singapore Management University
"The survey was well conducted and is representative of bloggers from across Asia. It's interesting to see Malaysia appears to be ahead in terms of PR/Corporate and blog collaboration. The salient points are distilled and valuable; know your audience, be well informed, be familiar with their blog and blogs in general and most importantly - respect bloggers."
—ShaolinTiger, (www.shaolintiger.com)
“This survey showed that though bloggers in Asia Pacific have some parallels with their counterparts in Europe or North America, there are some differences that communicators should consider. Encouragingly, Asia Pacific bloggers on the whole welcome interactions with PR companies and their clients. But they are mainly part time bloggers, so agencies must take care to contact them outside of business hours and ensure content is relevant. The key learning is to get to know the bloggers and their blogs before picking up the phone or sending that email.
“If I was to use this survey as a baseline as to where the PR industry is at in terms of its success and relationships with bloggers, I would hope that the results of next year’s survey show a far deeper and more connected PR industry that is using the social media tools far more effectively to listen, prepare and engage with the APAC blogosphere.”
—Jeremy Woolf, APAC Peer Media Lead, Text 100 APAC
“The ‘perfect storm’ of technological, business and societal change means the way corporations must communicate has changed forever. At Text 100 we have worked hard to stay ahead of these changes and interpret what they mean for our clients.”
“This survey was designed to provide our teams and clients with greater insight into what is fast becoming one of Asia’s most influential media groups. To me, the results show a community that wants to engage with corporations in our region and presents a great opportunity for PR agencies and the companies they represent to forge very powerful relationships.”
—Ava Lawler, Regional Consultancy Director, Text 100 APAC
17 June 2008
Talking Technorati: How to make sense out of Loser Generated Content?
It is official! This blog has entered Technorati, which classifies blogs by tags and tries to promote them, and creates a floating chaos in which a combination of tagging by keywords, categories and "favourite" labels bundles content and shoves them around the Internet.
Phew! If this is an alternative to journalism, I am not sure if it will work.
Technorati is commendable for its work, but I do believe some kind of an organization of content going beyond tags and keywords and automated software will be needed. If academic PhDs and Nobel prizes need citations by well-regarded people, I presume the same might apply for blogs. Or at least, the better blogs will be paid for, either by subscribers or advertisers -- and there must be real "blogamediaries"
I am sceptical about a democratic soap box oratory on the Net passing off as "citizen journalism!"
I spoke to the Delhi Bloggers Bloc on June 7, and taking a media-centric view, wanted the men/women among bloggers to be separated from the boys/girls of the Blogosphere.
Why should a good blogger be different from a good newspaper columnist or journalist? In the end, I see good blogs as an extension of good journalism -- not an alternative. At the presentation, I referred to many blogs as "Loser Generated Content": if the blogs are useless, the bloggers are losers anyway; and if they are useful and not compensated for in a meaningful way, even good-quality bloggers must be losers!
I can't wait to see more credible organisational and business models to honour the better blogs. Of course, you cannot ban or ignore the mass of blogs anymore than you can ban or ignore random letters to the editor. But I plead for sense and sensibility. Surely technology and tagging must have their limits?
Phew! If this is an alternative to journalism, I am not sure if it will work.
Technorati is commendable for its work, but I do believe some kind of an organization of content going beyond tags and keywords and automated software will be needed. If academic PhDs and Nobel prizes need citations by well-regarded people, I presume the same might apply for blogs. Or at least, the better blogs will be paid for, either by subscribers or advertisers -- and there must be real "blogamediaries"
I am sceptical about a democratic soap box oratory on the Net passing off as "citizen journalism!"
I spoke to the Delhi Bloggers Bloc on June 7, and taking a media-centric view, wanted the men/women among bloggers to be separated from the boys/girls of the Blogosphere.
Why should a good blogger be different from a good newspaper columnist or journalist? In the end, I see good blogs as an extension of good journalism -- not an alternative. At the presentation, I referred to many blogs as "Loser Generated Content": if the blogs are useless, the bloggers are losers anyway; and if they are useful and not compensated for in a meaningful way, even good-quality bloggers must be losers!
I can't wait to see more credible organisational and business models to honour the better blogs. Of course, you cannot ban or ignore the mass of blogs anymore than you can ban or ignore random letters to the editor. But I plead for sense and sensibility. Surely technology and tagging must have their limits?
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