I’ve been reading a lot of comments in the last couple of months raving about how good Google Reader is, and how it just beats Bloglines hands down.
From a professional bloggers point of view, what’s all the fuss about?
Blog
How To Blog Like Om Malik
Om Malik of GigaOm has grown to be a fave blogger of many people because of both his posts and the fact that he often breaks stories before anyone else. I think of him sort of as the Walter Cronkite of the Blogosphere (or in Canada, the Lloyd Robertson). Om is informed and he gives credit to his sources. Aside from his hot scoops, he’s the rare blogger that can take the lowly “summary” post and transform it into something worth reading. Om “gets” blogging.
Here are a few tips for you to blog like OmMalik (just my estimation, feel to comment/ disagree):
- Know your topic, be your topic. Read. A lot. Know as much as you can about the topic you’re blogging about. Go to conferences, if you can. Read books and magazines – remember them?
- Present different viewpoints. Despite my own blunders, blogging isn’t about just presenting your opinion (well, it can be, but only rare bloggers can pull it off). The thing about Om’s summaries that probably wow a lot of readers is that he goes and reads several other blogs writing about a particular topic, event, product, service, company or person and references a bunch of them in the body of his post. He doesn’t just take a single source and rewrite it in his own words. This is the type of summary that gets people to come back, and probably gets those referenced linking back.
- Develop cross-discipline. Your blog might be about a niche topic, but that doesn’t mean you cannot ever write about anything else, provided it’s relevant. For example, I write about VoIP for several people but they give me free reign to work in IPTV (Internet TV) and stuff about cell phones because it’s all related. Breadth of topic gives depth. This also draws people interested in related topics to your blog, through the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
Of course, to actually power blog, you need good tools. Here are a few:
- A good web browser. I’m emphasizing the word “good”. Honestly, if you want to power/ pro blog, you need Firefox, plain and simple. The plugins that are available for it are amazing, and they make you an efficient blogger.
- A good blogging editor. You can use a text editor (and I do), but a good blogging editor lets you see what your post will look like. I’m partial to PFF (Performancing for Firefox), now called Scribefire, because it sits in your Firefox browser window as either a bottom pane, a browser tab, or even a separate window. Scribefire makes you an efficient blogger. I’ve also used and enjoyed Zoundry Blog Writer and Qumana Blog Editor.
- Feed subscriptions. In fact, use a good web feed reader (I like Bloglines and Newsgator Online edition) and subscribe to as many relevant weblogs as possible.
- Mind mapping. This is as much a methodology as a tool. I’m working on an intro mind mapping post for Performancing, but if you want to get started, get the free Freemind software. I’m also acid testing MindApp and MindJet MindManager and loving both. Mind mapping methodology is great for power blogging because it lets you map out your thoughts, organize them, and cross-breed stories ideas. It helps your mind build connections between seeimingly disparate ideas. It generates inspiration. (Now that I’m using mind mapping again daily, I’m finding an explosion of story ideas, though not necessarily time to write them.)
- Ability to write. Oh know he didn’t! Yes. Let’s face it, if you can’t write, how do you become a power blogger? But good news: you can develop your writing. I used to publish a monthly print mag in the mid 1990s, and several of “my” writers were top notch, but still more learned to become good writers. That means knowing what a run-on sentence gawd do they bug me, even though I’m guilty of writing them when I’m tired. [Anyone catch that?]
Now, you could clone Om, but I think that technology is a ways away. Don’t forget to get your recommended daily allowance of GigaOm. It’s the next best thing.
[Disclosure: I don’t own shares in Om, Inc. :]
Firefox Developer Needed for ScribeFire
ScribeFire, our blog editor for Firefox has been downloaded over 1/2 a million times. It’s a really, really cool, open source project.
Unfortunately, our current developer, Jed Brown has gone MIA, and though we all hope he’s safe, and worry about him, we have to move on nonetheless. ScribeFire really, really needs to get up to speed with Blogger Beta, the new WordPress API’s and a whole ton of other stuff to stay current, and stay on the Mozilla recommended plugins list.
I’m looking for an FF dev that thinks she/he can take ScribeFire to the next level. If that sounds like you, we’d REALLY like to hear from you! Just drop me a line at [email protected]
I’ll also be emailing a few of the Mozilla folks for help.
Suggestions, help and pointers most welcome!
Linking Wars: Scoble vs Engadget
Hard to miss the blood on the pavement left behind by Scoble and Engadget going at it like a couple of rabid dogs (well ok, Ryan BLock kept his cool) this weekend — over what? Who got a story out first of course…
I feel for Scoble, he thought he had the scoop, but whether he got his story out 1/2hr before Engadget or not, it makes no difference, they have their own sources, and they didn’t need Scoble to get their story out so in my mind, Scoble looses — and he’s making himself look a twit for getting all huffy in public over it (says the master of public huff…)
Having said that, Engadget know this to be rude. Really, really rude, so boo to them, bastards.
10 Keys to Performancing’s Future Success
I added the Performancing feed to my RSS Reader almost from the very beginning and have read and watched from the sidelines during its growth. As Fall 2006 approached I was beginning to think about contributing to the community blog. It was also at that time things began to change. The awkward silence on the blog during November and December was so thick that even as a virtual outsider I could feel the tension and the pain. I don’t need to revisit the history of the last four months. I am sure I was not alone in wishing for the best yet fearing the worst. I read through the comments of recent days and I realized how helpful Performancing had been to so many people, myself included.
Now that Performancing has had its white water period, what will be the key to Perfomancing’s success?
1) User Contributions – Nick has already brought back the ability for community members to contribute to the Performancing blog. The future of Performancing exists in its ability to continue to provide quality content to help bloggers succeed. Nothing more, nothing less.
2) The Performancing community needs to contribute – While Nick has made it possible again for users to contribute, it won’t mean squat unless people actually do it. I am sure some people are upset at what has happened over the last few months. I am sure others are laughing or even mocking. However, to those that feel Performancing can continue to have a voice, you must be the ones who step forward and not only write a comment or a forum post, but actually create content.
3) Keep it Simple – Metrics, PFF, and Partners were all cool. However, the future of Performancing may not be in the cool tools or widgets. It may simply be the content. I still firmly believe, even in the age of web 2.0 cool tools and the social web, that content is still king and will forever be. Keep it simple. Focus on the content.
4) Focus on value – Sites that create value are the ones that will still exist next year and years thereafter.
5) Stay away from bunny trails – While it may be tempting for Performancing to go off and chase rabbits in hopes of finding some quick way to rescue the site, it must avoid doing so. The success of Performancing won’t depend on quick fixes but on the long term value (see #4).
6) Build a better community – with a base of members already in hand, Performancing can move forward to build a better community. What if we all had better profiles? What if we could search those profiles so that we could connect better with each other? Another website community I read regularly is actually posting tasks in their monthly newsletter for members to accomplish. These tasks are simple: complete your profile, complete a survey, etc. The purpose of these exercises is to build their community. Performancing needs to do the same.
7) Learn from the past – While portions of the past might have been extremely painful, I am sure there are lessons to be learned. It would probably be helpful to all of us, if at some point, those lessons were shared.
8) Grieve the losses, but build on hope – It’s ok to be upset and disappointed over losing Metrics and Partners. Some extensively used Metrics and others had high hopes for Partners. Sure we could all ask “What could this have been?”, but we should press forward, learn our lessons and say “Let’s move forward to something better.”
9) Be Thankful – as a user it is easy to complain. We bitch and moan about everything. We seldom take the time to be thankful for the word processors and text editors we use to write our blog posts, even if they are a bit clunky.
10) Carpe Diem – Now is the time for Performancing to seize the day, doing it six months from now will be too late.
Akismet is the Greatest Blog Service Ever
We’ve only had comments open to unregistered users since Wednesday this week, and already Akistmet, the Automattic/WP spam filtering service, has caught 130 pieces of commercial vandalism and made them sit in the corner facing the wall — way to go!
I’ve also put it on my personal blog and a new project im working on. What a fantastic service.
Thankyou Automattic!
Some years back I’d have said there was no way a service could keep up, but it appears that all but a very, very few hardened arsewipes are managing to get through.
Editing comments
Steve Rubel asks why it is that not many blogging and other social media platforms allow commenters to edit or delete the comments they make on community based sites.
Everyone sticks their foot in it from time to time. If you do this
on your own blog, you can edit the post and take it back. You could
delete the post too, but it’s not looked on very positively. Still, if
you leave a comment on some other site, you very often need to live
with it. So you better think twice before lambasting your friend for
slamming Jethro Tull on his blog.There’s really no reason why community sites shouldn’t offer this
option. It’s good for everyone involved. Three sites, at least that I
know of, allow you to edit or even delete your comments. They’re the
social saints.
These ‘social saints’ are Flickr, Blogger and Facebook.
WordPress, the engine I use for my blog, doesn’t feature the ability for commenters to edit what they write. There might be a plugin out there that does something like that, I don’t know. But for me, it should be up to the blogger – the site owner – whether a comment is changed or deleted. A commenter can always send an email to the site owner, or add another comment clarifying things.
To my mind, the person that makes the decision on the site is the person that is responsible for it. There have been countless examples of bloggers getting grief for deleting comments from their sites – allowing others to do so just clouds matters and complicates things, especially when the deleted or edited comment has already become a part of a conversation.
Blog tools, services and monetization programs
I just deleted a comment promoting a service aimed at bloggers here. Not because it was a bad service (i have no idea, i havn’t tried it) but because I find it incredibly rude when people just come in uninvited to promote at Performancing.
Having done that, for the umpteenth time this month i might add, it occured to me that maybe we need to work with this rather than against it?
Im open to suggestions on how we might do that, but for now, if you have something to put out for general review by the Performancing community, drop me a note at [email protected] and tell me why we should cover your service on the homepage.
Let me know if you guys have any thoughts on that..