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Chris Garrett

Microsoft Live Writer Review

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microsoft writerIt’s pretty much well documented that I am a Microsoft fan. I owe a substantial portion of my career to their software. Got to say though I had mixed feelings about them developing a blogging tool. More and more of Microsoft is getting a clue about blogging but that doesn’t necessarily mean they get bloggers quite yet. Also for obvious reasons, we are known in part for our own (brilliant) blogging tool.

My expectations going in were that it would be

  • slick
  • easy to install
  • huge
  • filled with proprietary “stuff”, from markup to interpretation of feeds
  • possibly slow

Well it is easy to install, not particularly huge (5mb?) though on a slow connection you might not agree. Standards aren’t stretched so as I would notice, someone with more XHTML knowledge will have to correct me if I am way off mark here. Seemed fairly nippy on my machine, nothing too taxing. The experience overall is quite familiar to Office users which I am sure was the intent.

It’s not politically correct but I don’t care that they don’t support Macs. I really don’t get the whining about that. Microsoft isn’t a charity, they don’t have to support a platform if they don’t want to, especially one that takes away custom from their own products. They don’t support Linux, Beos, Amiga, Vic20 or my toaster either funnily enough.

PFF has established a basic feature list now that any blogging tool has to have, natively or through extension. Even with the ever-growing list of features our users keep coming back with some great ideas for new ones. It is not enough now to release a tool that only has wysiwyg blogging capability, it needs to do a fair amount more. This package meets those criteria without getting carried away. The only feature I have found so far that had me shaking my head was the ability to add maps – a niche feature I imagine!

Installation consists of downloading and running the install package, it sets up an icon in your programs list and you are ready for business. I already have more blogs than I know what to do with so I elected to setup the program with one of my test blogs. The good news is the detection process works smoothly, even my Drupal test blog, unfortunately not to the extent of being able to retrieve my categories or loading my old posts.

Image handling is particularly nicely done, allowing alignment, resizing, drag and drop insert and upload using the newMediaObject API. If your blog doesn’t support image uploads you can also add FTP accounts. Wierd thing is, although it did upload my picture it added a link rather than an img tag – strange! I’m not sure if that is down to my blog or the software.

The important consideration is would I swap PFF for this? Unsurprisingly the answer is no, but not out of bias; I find the ability to blog the current page too valuable, I like having my blog editing right in my browser. Until Microsoft integrates their new tool with IE (which I am sure they have thought about) I will keep using Firefox and Performancing for my posting needs.

Revenge of the Bloggers

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What would you do if someone wronged you in a blatant way? You would probably have words and if that didn’t produce an apology would more than likely as a next step blog about it, right? And probably invite your blogger friends to also blog about it? Of course a lot of them will anyway, particularly if what the dude did was dumb, damaging or both. And of course their readers might well pick up the story. Then what if the guy, instead of getting the point threatens you with lawyers and all kinds of legal threats?

While posed as a hypothetical question, this has actually a basis in a real story that is playing out. Kris Krug first blogged about his problem in February. He had been contacted that some of his photographs (quite noticeable because of his style is quite distinctive) turning up on another guys portfolio. Kris blogged about it, the pictures disappeared, everyone wondered at the cheek of the guy (often on their blogs) then got on with their lives.

End of story right?

Turns out the alleged photo thief didn’t like the fact that his name was now turning up for a unsavoury Google result; Kris’ blog. So what did he do? Called his lawyer …

Now, this being the blogosphere what didn’t happen is Kris roll over and take the content down and say “please mr don’t sue me”. Actually, he posted the legal letter up on Flickr. And, this being the blogosphere, lots of people thought “no way!” and posted to their own blogs, of course using the lawyer-using-alleged-photo-thief’s name (as you do).

Rather than a small problem that might have been resolved amicably he now has a much bigger problem that might never be cleared up. If you wanted to get professional photography gigs you probably wouldn’t want potential clients seeing these sorts of search results.

So, interesting story, justice prevails, etc. End of. Right?

Well in this case it seems from where I am sitting things played out much as you would expect and the guy got something amounting to what he deserved. (Perhaps a bit more than really necessary but it does look like he acted like a twit then escalated the whole thing way more than he needed to).

What concerns me is the scale and ease that this man’s professional reputation has been shredded. Even if he deserved it, how much chance has he of ever showing his face as a professional photographer? People forget, Google less so. Take out the scenario and personalities involved in this particular case and just look at the cause and effect, that is a pretty big scary stick bloggers wield isn’t it?

How about next time someone is set up? Or falsely accused. What happens then? Searches for some innocent persons name show all sorts of sensational lies. You could say there are laws to protect the innocent in those cases, but that is assuming you have the time and  money, but also that the sites and authors are in geographies where you can even go after them.

My worry is with bloggers as judge, jury and executioner, rule of the lynch mob will become the norm with very little anyone can do about it.

10 Reasons Why Blogging for PR and Marketing Works

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Just like the early days of the internet where people wanted to keep the capitalists out of Usenet, and history repeated with the web, even now it seems there are still people who want to keep marketing out of blogging. For me this is just daft, the web is a reflection of the real world and the real world contains people who want to buy and sell products and services. Get over it.

So those concerns aside, should companies look at blogging as a marketing channel? Any company should at least look into blogs. I really believe that, and in fact I have recommended blogs as a solution a couple of times even during my brief spell away from the marketing world. What is this belief based on?

[Read more…] about 10 Reasons Why Blogging for PR and Marketing Works

WordPress Give Insight into Monetization Strategy

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Matt Mullenweg has just announced two new interersting additional features to WordPress.com

Just launched some pretty major features at WordPress.com: private blogs, store, and custom CSS.

I am more interested in the insight into their monetization strategy though.

WP Cash

So the idea is you buy credits at $1 each. For the new Custom CSS (and only so far) product it will cost you 15 credits, so that is $15 a year for the privelage of tweaking your theme. If only a percentage of users take this up that is plenty of cash into the coffers and I expect this to be the first of many small, cheap upgrades that together will probably add up to a pretty sum.

My first reaction was this seems a pretty lame first product if you ask me, I can think of others I would have preferred. After thinking on it a while I think this is a good move. This nicely introduces the WordPress.com user base to the idea that it’s not all free without holding a gun to the users head saying “pay up or lose out”. Anyone using WordPress.com just because it is free will probably not miss this functionality, those who are interested in a more unique look will not be overly put off by the price tag.

What I would have thought though, if this is the route they are going as a business strategy, would have been the option to use your own domain. Perhaps that will be next? WordPress.com users would probably pay extra to get Javascript ability, allowing for third party advertising and Performancing Metrics.

This will be interesting to observe. Good move Matt and co, I hope it is well received.

Shifting Opinions

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Over the weekend as I sat in the hotel bar I got an opportunity to witness a social phenomenon, I found it quite interesting and would like to get your opinions on it.

Although I have never studied sociology or psychology academically I am quite a fan of people watching. A guy, possibly from the “smoking cessation workshop” was magnetically fascinating to me. It wasn’t just his massive frame and booming voice but what he was saying. In isolation his conversations were not out of the ordinary, they were the sorts of conversations you would hear in a bar anywhere. Loud, opinionated, and full of unsubstantiated “facts”. The part that interested me was how this 400lb social butterfly would change where he stood on any issue depending on who he was talking to. Not just subtly, moderating his more extreme stances or taking the edges off for the more timid audience. No, he actually would switch sides on debates or swing from cautious optimism to overwhelming cynicism. 

Luckily for me he would always hold court in the same place and his audience would gravitate towards him (perhaps his bulk caused a localised gravitational field). Perhaps with some self knowledge of his tactic he chose the far end of the room. Little did he realise it would not matter where in the room he chose, his voice carried right the way to the bar at the other side. Yes there was a lot of alcohol being consumed but surely another member of his party must have also discovered what was happening? Nobody seemed to mind.

As I listened to another complete conversational about-face I wondered if this man was a more exaggerated version of the rest of us. Perhaps we all do this to an extent? There are certain things we might do or say comfortably amongst friends that you would not dare in front of your in-laws for example? Perhaps when visiting your Gran you might reduce the number and frequency of cuss words that escape your lips?

I would like to think I am flexible with my view points on world affairs and am willing to bend my opinion when faced with a good argument or new evidence. Having said that I doubt I have ever changed opinion so radically or quickly. If something seems right though it should be ok to change opinion. There is actually nothing wrong with deciding you think differently when you think about it, otherwise what is the point of trying to persuade another to your point of view? If you think less of someone for changing opinion then why attempt to change it? Flip-flopping is seen as a bad thing, especially when done so swiftly and obviously as the man I was watching, but could it be a valuable, laudable trait? Perhaps it is good to have compulsive empathy?

So what does this have to do with blogging?

Well for a start if this man was a blogger then he would almost certainly need to be using a pseudonym. After going on record with his first opinion he might need another whole blog to put forth his new one. Perhaps this fear of sharing your real, most extreme opinions is why there are so many blogs written under aliases?

But the main thought I had relating this subject to blogging was how visible a change of opinion is when there is possibly years worth of audit trail for all to read. There is not just a momentary conversation but a whole backlog of thoughts and ideas to mine. My wife is an expert at remembering things I have done or said for the 14 years of our relationship but even she is no match for a quick Google.

So on the one hand, I was thinking, it is ok to change your opinion, on the other people think flip-flopping is bad. Presidential races have been affected by the accusation. In social circles it is regarded as being “two-faced”. What is the solution? I guess whenever you change your opinion in public you need to explain what you used to think, what you believe now and what changed your mind. Doesn’t seem a very elegant approach but neither does sticking to old patterns of thinking when faced with new ideas.

What do you think? Stick to your guns or flip flop? What ought a blogger do and which is better or worse? Do you blog under your own name? Why? Is it ok to shift opinions and do you moderate your thoughts in case they cause offense?

Please comment, I would really like to know …

Expertise; Is it Necessary?

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Since it was asked in our forums I have been pondering on this question and thinking about the blogs I have read since the thought was raised; is it necessary to be an expert in your subject in order to have a successful blog? I have to say I am more sure now of my initial assessment than I was when I made it. Blogging is not necessarily about expertise, in fact you might be at a disadvantage if you think that is the case.

Let me explain my thinking with some examples

What, other than their entertainment value and popularity, do these blogs have in common? Both of those blogs have authors that are experts but the blogs are not popular because of the bloggers expertise!

Scott Adams is an expert in creating and drawing a massively popular syndicated comic but in his blog he writes funny stories about daily life or trouble in the middle east. It is actually quite rare for him to write about his work in any sort of detail.

For every serious post about freedom, copyright and campaigns on BoingBoing there is around ten that are just plain fun. Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author (a good one actually), but you never see a “how to write science fiction” tutorial on there.

OK, I know you are thinking of a bunch of blogs where the author does share his or her expertise. You might include Performancing in this category, I don’t know. Fact is for any given “expert blog” there are many non-expert blogs. I love bloggers that share their expertise, it is a good thing. Just, you know, not entirely necessary.

What I think sets apart a good blog from a bad one in most cases is not the knowledge or experience of the blogger but how interesting they make the content. If Scott Adams wrote the very same ideas in a serious political blog I would never subscribe to it, as well as his off the wall way of looking at life it is his writing style that grabs me. If you are not an expert but can be interesting or write particularly well I believe you can more than make up for a lack of expertise. Have all that and expertise you will probably do even better but don’t hold back because you don’t consider yourself an expert.

So what if your subject requires a tutorial or knowledge approach? Take a quick look at Darrens Digital Photography School blog and tell me what you see. A bunch of tutorials and tips right? His blog has quickly become probably the most popular photography tips blog on the web right now, mentioned everywhere including newspapers etc. Well he is a decent photographer but I don’t think Darren has turned into Ansel Adams any time recently! He is sharing a well-researched passion, not necessarily expertise. Much of what is in his blog is already available, what sets his blog apart is the accessible way he presents the information in daily, clear, uncluttered, simple, bite sized chunks.

For a while I attracted quite a lot of attention from tutorials, articles and books on certain programming technologies. People considered me an expert on the subject but I thought of myself as anything but. Whatever I wrote about was usually something I had only just figured out for myself. With my own photography blog part of the aim was to learn by teaching, it has certainly helped.

It is like the old joke about the two hunters being chased by a bear, one stops to put on his running shoes, “you really think those will help you out run a bear??” “No, but I might just outrun you …”. You just need to be interesting and one step ahead of your audience. There are so many resources you can turn to for the information you might not actually need to know much about your subject at all (although you might feel a fraud it is only what authors have done for years). It’s better to have both but if you do have to choose between “expert” and “interesting”, choose “interesting” every time!

Write Like an Expert

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I was inspired to write this post by a terrific piece at Wired, it seemed to go well with my “some guy on the internet” post the other day. The satirical wired piece recommends the following for appearing to be an expert:

  1. PICK A FIELD THAT CAN’T BE VERIFIED.
  2. CHOOSE A SUBJECT THAT’S ACTUALLY SECRET.
  3. GET YOUR OWN ENTRY IN AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.
  4. USE THE WORD ZEITGEIST AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE.
  5. BE SURE TO USE LOTS OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS.
  6. SPEAK FROM THE BALLS, NOT FROM THE DIAPHRAGM.
  7. DON’T BE AFRAID TO MAKE THINGS UP.
  8. DON’T LIMIT YOURSELF TO CURRENT KNOWLEDGE.
  9. GET AN HONORARY PHD.
  10. MAKE A HABIT OF NAME-DROPPING.
  11. BE FAMOUS. IT HELPS.

Crazy thing is I think there are bloggers out there taking his advice!

I tend to read quite a lot of technical blogs to keep my knowledge of geek stuff fresh. You wouldn’t believe how many times I sit there shaking my head at all the acronyms, “leveraging paradigms” marketese and technobabble that goes on. Most of the time it’s just not necessary and on the rare occasions it is necessary it is only polite to explain or link to a definition somewhere, right?

I’m sure I don’t have to mention any blogs by name where the author talks from the balls either. Some bloggers need to calm down on the ol’ testosterone. Sure it is great to have confidence, and go right ahead and be forthright, just don’t beat us over the head with it.

Making stuff up and dredging up old knowledge is now so refined in the SEO space it is practically an art form. Just look at the comments in Digg or Technorati over the coming days commenting on Nicks SEO post for verification.

The name dropping is the best one. Some bloggers make an art of it. Erm, just because you met Tom Cruise doesn’t mean you are suddenly an expert on acting (or Scientology), heh.

Having said this, I can do without fame or an encyclopaedia entry but I would love to get me a honorary PHD. Or a degree of any kind …

Read the full article, it is funny stuff.

Some Guy on the Internet Said

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Have you noticed how blogs can give a person more authority just by virtue of the fact that their thoughts are “published”. In some circumstances this can be pretty bad, at least for the gullible. How many times will people make decisions based on advice or reviews that basically comes down to acting on the opinion of “some guy on the internet”?

For some reason the same person could post the same thoughts in a forum and not get noticed, but publish a popular blog and all of a sudden they seem to be an expert. No additional qualifications, no visible change in talent, experience, wisdom or clarity of thought. No, just the same thoughts published in a blog.

It seems in a certain segment of the online population a blog is like having a book published. The act of publishing bestows some veneer of authority. Having been published and technical edited/reviewed others I know what a fallacy even that is but at least with print publishing there is some fact checking, at least with the good publishers a modicum of quality control. Nothing stops a blogger spouting absolute complete offal and having it taken as gospel.

OK so most of the time the blogger has to build up some sort of following before this takes place but I actually believe it is that very following that causes many bloggers to think they know better. “10,000 rss readers can’t be wrong”. After this happens comments they make that would be taken as trollish in other media becomes dogma for their followers. Just look how disproportionately influential some blogs have become, say, in the web2.0, tech or marketing crowds. Yes some of them deserve to be popular, but do they deserve to be followed blindly? I would say no-one deserves that. A healthy level of cynicism is worthwhile while reading anything on the interweb.

The good news is this affect can be used to your own evil advantage if you want to generate consultancy work, attract writing and speaking gigs or just become internet famous.  Just remember wise words from Spiderman; “with great power comes great responsibility”.

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