Jason Kottke, the designer/techie/blogger mastermind behind kottke.org, has quit his job in order to blog full time. He’s asking for donations (join the 35 and counting other micropatrons. Update Feb. 23: That’s 320+ micropatrons one day later. If they’re all paying the requested $30, that’s almost $10,000.) to keep himself afloat and hoping to raise 1/3 to 1/2 of his former salary (no mention as to what that was).
He’s got a lot of high-minded ideas about not using advertising, about the arts being supported by patrons, and about the power of personal publishing. It’s all pretty cool–and pretty crazy. Time will tell if kottke.org survives or crashes and burns. I’m hoping he makes it–I’d love to do what he’s doing. Then again, I’d probably want to spend more time writing books, and my current level of support is pretty weak.
Another article about someone getting fired for blogging. You wouldn’t think this would be so hard, but you’ve got to use a bit of common sense when you blog. Especially when blogging about your employer.
Well, I’m not quite as schizophrenic as I used to be. I decided to cut back the Monkey Outta Nowhere blog–not so much cutting it back as diverting the entries from there to here. More importantly the Monkey Outta Nowhere blog will stick to company business (and the fun Monkey News) so I’ll feel less inclined to do a lot of the extra posting. It doesn’t completely solve my schizophrenia, but it helps.
I do lots of blogging. I’ve been doing it since 1998, though as many have noticed, the way I blog has changed a lot since then. While I used to be a lot more introspective (often to the point of absurdity–you can’t imagine how much I confused my mother), my entries of late have been a lot more news oriented. Links, news, quotes. Bite-size candy. I still like to be introspective now and then, but nearly as often.
In total, I have access to at least 18 different blogs in varying states of activity. Most of them have been shuttered, thankfully, and several of them are blogs I’m paid to work on, but many of them continue on as solely my creations. Frankly, I think I’m becoming a schizophrenic blogger.
Legendary ad-man and vice chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, Steve Hayden, talks about the marketing potential of blogs. Of course, there’s also the potential downside:
Until January 25 you can download The Beginner’s Guide to Business Blogging for free. Though it is a bit repetitive, the guide covers all the basics (including ‘what is a blog?’) and explains how a blog can be good for business.
ABC News declared bloggers People of the Year in 2004. As part of the story 11-year-old Dylan Verdi was featured as the youngest videoblogger.
She posted her first entry on December 20, 2004. The ABC News camera crew showed up on December 29. The Person of the Year story aired on December 30, leading off with her story.
Sigh. Those short reviews so break the mold with the giant Amazon link on the side. I really need to do something about that.
What I really want is a flexible system of reviewing that allows me to post long rants (like so) or quick one-off’s (like so). I really like how Jason Kottke handles his movie reviews. There’s room to go in-depth, but he also has a handy-dandy color-coded ranting system. It’s totally arbitrary, but it helps you see where movies stack up. But I think he also used quite a few Movable Type plug-ins to get that to work. I’m not that much of a hacking genius. I also like having the images and links to Amazon (thus the enormous boxes that break things on shorter reviews — using the Amazon code means Amazon feeds it and I don’t have to save and upload all those stupid images).
Sheesh, all this to be some kind of web empire guy. Or more or less have a running archive of all the movies/books/music I’ve enjoyed (or cared about enough to say something about).
Maybe one of these days I’ll become a real techie so I can make my web site do exactly what I want it to do.
More and more people are understanding that blogging can be a boost for business. It’s not just the content, it’s about providing easy, timely updates that don’t require the help of the IT department. It’s about interacting with customers, rather than just talking at them. It’s about showing a personal side, rather than a blank wall of stiff press releases.
Blogging for business has come up before, and we’ll hear about it again.
A work-at-home dad wrestles with faith, social justice & story.
ABC News declared bloggers