Blog Catalog Group Discussions: Blog Straight Talk

What are the top qualities to become a Millionaire?'

Commlabindia — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:10:33 -0600

Take a poll and share your views on, “what are the top qualities to become a millionaire?” For those who are interested in taking the poll, please click on http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning/how-to-become-a-millionaire

Vote Me Please.....'

besucces — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:28:58 -0600

hi friends, how are you?

I hope you just fine.....

Friend I need your help for voting me....

vote me here : http://www.daihatsu-sirion.com/lomba/index.php?mib=members.profile&id=0000000031

You just fill your Email address, name and phone number.......

I'm waiting your vote friend....

thanks...

How to design a translation file format for multi-lingual elearning courseware development?'

Commlabindia — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:05:29 -0600

Here is a translation file format that works for the legacy courses, which are developed without considering translation in future. Do you know about any translation file format that would be useful for multi-lingual elearning courseware development? I would love to hear your views. Read full article at http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning/translation-file-format

Software Product Simulation - Which is the best, Captivate or Flash?'

Commlabindia — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:07:04 -0600

Software product training using authoring tools like Captivate or Adobe Flash is an effective mode of eLearning. For both simple and complex software products, Captivate plays an important role in developing eLearning content. It helps to record screens and navigational flow of the product effectively.

Read the complete article at
http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning/captivate-or-flash

make money online'

munirahmed — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:55:13 -0500

make money online

visit my sites

www.makemoneyonnet.weebly.com

and share ur site

want link exchange mail me c.jsss@yahoo.com

Check a Demo By registering Surely Its Use ful To customer service managment concern'

eserviz — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:31:00 -0500

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4. Inform customer on service status
5. Generate error free invoices
6. Post offers , schemes, Amc remainder etc

Benefits :

1. Simple and user friendly
2. Improved employee productivity
3. Return on investment with in 4 months
4. 24*7 365 days .Any time any where access
5. Current Information availability for immediate action
6. Customer delight ,retention and new customer acquisition
7. Reduce service cost and manpower, improved sales ,increased profits

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follow each other '

fassy — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:49:28 -0500

hey in my blog u can get maximum stuff about every thing .. visit

www.rapids-downloads.blogspot.com

www.fun-tubes.blogspot.com

Dinosaurs stumbling badly into new media'

libdrone — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:35:17 -0500

If you have been a web publisher for more than a year or two, do you commonly engage or interact through e-mail or through twitter with other web publishers in your niche, people in the field your blog covers, publicists and other professionals? Do you often get unsolicited but not necessarily spam e-mails from people who don't even quite realize that they are asking a Competitor in a market nice that is VERY Competitive to give Their brand new web site free publicity?

Read about what I found in My inbox this week

http://outofit-personal.blogspot.com/2009/05/dinosaurs-stumbling-badly-into-new.html

How will an economic down cycle effect'

kevingoodman — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:05:12 -0500

the .com world?

Do we give web 2.0 more credit than merits?'

kevingoodman — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:17:23 -0500

Twelve years ago I was enjoying chat rooms, instant messengers, a geocities page, etc. The web is changing the landscape of things but are we assigning it more 'revolutionary' credit than reality merits?

Of course I am speaking in marketing terms. Can the web make a brand or does the brand make the web? The first scenario seems to validly happen but it seems the web more often follows real world merit. I am still not sold on web 2.0.

Can the Media Contribute to a Solution?'

Nomadic — Mon, 19 May 2008 07:02:58 -0500

I have pasted something on the general discussion board under this topic.....I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject....maybe all in one place, so respond to the main board.
Thanks!

Challenging the Viral Model'

kevingoodman — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:20:52 -0500

A new study published by PNAS finds that the viral phenomena is more complex than previously thought. Instead of a fan shape the researchers found information was passed only to a single individual 90 percent of the time. The researchers followed several chain letters and graphed them. They often formed long linier branches of one on one transmission before breaking out into several new branches. It also took many more transmissions than previously thought before the viral email was widespread because.

The previous thought was that the message doubled every generation of transmission now it's believed to double with ten successions.

Ultimately this gets to the point that a true viral message is a complex mechanism and vulnerable until it has succeeded many transmissions.

Some food for thought/discussion. Read the full study @
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/105/12/4633

Is viral marketing just another urban legend? '

kevingoodman — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:10:06 -0500

I still don’t know if I buy into the whole viral marketing model – actually I do. I‘ve recently found myself exploring the concept of viral marketing and simultaneously investigating the urban legend phenomena.

The power of small talk and the masses – reliable?

I am actually wondering if analysis of the popular urban legend phenomena would yield any gold for the viral marketer.

Technorati experiment?'

kevingoodman — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 08:50:19 -0500

Do you guys think technorati can be used effectively to test headline effectiveness?

The idea would be to device several different headlines that say the same thing in different ways and then simultaneously ping technorati – to see if any particular type of headline pulls more blind views.

I could see several challenges but I think the first is devising categories for the headlines and identifying the modes of language that are being tested.

Blog MATCH'

imblogger — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:58:07 -0500

I have just thought a nother way to increase your traffic on blog by blog match
its simple and easy
you have to match your blog with another blog base on your business, subscribers and traffic and join hands with another blog in this way you will get his traffic and he will get your traffic here is an example
you are selling clothes and you have 500 subscribers perfect match would be blog selling clothes with 500 subscribers
so some one looking for clothes might like to see shoes or viceversa
tell what do you think about this idea?

Cyber-Demos'

clioandme — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:10:37 -0500

just thought I'd call people's attention to an interesting use of the internet, cyber-demos for free speech organized by Reporters without Borders. Here's the original post on the main boards:

http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/international-online-free-expression-day

And here's the direct link to the cyber-demo story on Reporters without Borders:

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=26086

Has anyone ever heard of this kind of thing before? What do you think?

Managing Online Web Communities'

pointlessbanter — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:44:18 -0600

Just figured I would share this with you, it is a free webinar that I am attending this week. It has Jeremiah Owyang from Forester Research running it, who is like a social media genius.

http://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:15859.945162504/rid:775513f13876593ef32d2e511606d190

Use iGoogle Gadget to drive traffic to your blog'

Aseem — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 02:27:14 -0600

I write a blog on Insights. I recently created an iGoogle gadget for my blog with two intentions in mind.
(1) Provide a small interesting and beautiful gadget to share daily insights in brief.
(2) To use this gadget as a promotion for my blog though a link provided in the gadget.
Has anyone else tried to use igoogle gadget for the same? How has been the experience? Any advice, suggestions?
Any suggestions specifically for my gadget will also be very useful - www.google.com/ig/adde?synd=open&source=ggyp&moduleurl=insights.tickandpick...

Thanks
Aseem
www.letstalkinsights.com

Alan, You're My Favorite...!'

samfreedom — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:46:30 -0600

I don't know, man... I must be doing something right over there:

http://entrecard.com/blog/?p=109

Specifically...
http://tinyurl.com/2qqzud

Looks like I've been outed. There it is in my favs... the Thin Red Line...

Going to Atlantic City for a few days... the Borgata is hosting the WPT Main Event this month through the 31st:

http://tinyurl.com/2pmebj

Look for Sam Freedom on TV. I'll surely mention The Thin Red Line ;-)

Sam

Innovation and Communicating across Areas of Expertise'

clioandme — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:15:30 -0600

I read an interesting article from the NYT back in Dec. about innovation: Innovative Minds Don't Think Alike, by Janet Rae-Dupree, http://tinyurl.com/yulvy9 . Its examples were drawn from business and engineering, but it also spoke to my experience as a historian, which I wrote about here: http://tinyurl.com/2ygnsd .

When writing my blog piece, I realized that I was also talking about this group. We do not all share the same educational and professional background, nor the same assumptions. It's that fact that can lead to interesting discussions, not least because it forces us to dispense with the jargon of our own more specialized professional milieu.

Is there a discussion point here? Well, perhaps you would care to share some of your own experiences communicating across disciplinary or professional boundaries?

The Missing Ingredient to Monetizing Your Entrecard Experience'

samfreedom — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:01:50 -0600

Hi folks, along the way, there'll be many cool things we can sorta "plug in" to our Entrecard experience that'll benefit us in unexpected ways but I've been patiently waiting to find that certain special true no-brainer that could synergize with Entrecard (and now also Project Wonderful) that can lead to an unprecedented windfall of earnings as time goes on...

As some of you already know, I love synergies... really let this one sink in because it's not about any one of these things alone even if ANY or ALL of them are great alone... there's a very powerful possibility in their combination.

Here's the full details:
http://tinyurl.com/2x8l5f

Social Media Resources'

clioandme — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 09:48:17 -0600

How about having a thread for posting relevant links? We could keep it sticky too.

Here's one I just found a blog that will interest many of you. (Or perhaps you already know it?)

"Unit Structures: Thoughts about information, social networks, identity and technology" http://chimprawk.blogspot.com/

It's by Fred Stutzman, Ph.D. student at UNC School of Information and Library Science, co-founder of claimID.

Chain Drop-- Putting the Human Back Into The Social Media Equation'

chaindrop — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:19:59 -0600

Hey folks,

Alan here. To tell you about a new Social Networking site for bloggers

http://chaindrop.com

Much in the tradition of the Blog Straight Talk group where Rich has invited guests to offer their perspectives and paired them with his own views to start discussions about various aspects of blogging and social media, Dane and I have started a new blog to share our takes on Social Networking. We don't have all the features set up yet but we have started our conversation and urge each and every one of you to join in and engage with us.

I've said many times that it's all about networking and building relationships with other bloggers. Now I have a blog dedicated to just that idea. Come check us out.

Out Marketing The Marketers On Entrecard'

libdrone — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 04:57:40 -0600

So I'm breezing through the Entrecard forums and look up and notice something. Dane Morgan's on board now. He and Sam Freedom show every sign of taking _those_ discussion boards from bland to blazing.

First-- a warning. Entrecard is addictive. Perfectly normal bloggers have joined and been turned in to card-dropping click monkeys in minutes, so proceed with caution.

In a recent blog post I wrote about Entrecard and promised to start a discussion about EC as a social networking site here on BST. This is Not that discussion.

While the critics initially dismissed Entrecard as "just another traffic exchange' and called the concept unworkable, Entrecard has clearly proven itself to drive traffic to blogs and is winning over critics. The way it is creating more traffic is by getting a bunch of bloggers to read each other's blogs. More people reading more blogs = more traffic. Delivered as promised.

There is a lot of talk about that traffic being 'junk traffic' ("but they're only on the site for 10 seconds to drop the card...") but don't believe it.

You see, I have become one of those addicted card dropping click monkeys. And quickly pushed my blog first to the top of my category and now onto the Most Popular and Most Recommended lists. And I Am getting traffic. In five months on blogspot I had gotten a total of about 5,000 visitors and 8,000 page views.

In one month on WordPress and networking on Entrecard I had 2,300 visits and 5,300 page views. See, it Does work. What the folks who complain that "chain droppers" are "junk traffic" fail to realize is that there is No Such Thing. Having visited on occasion as many as 301 blogs per day in my quest to drop cards and climb the listings, I learned that if the blog owner had been savvy enough to insure that both the Entrecard widget AND the beginning of their current post is visible when the page loads, the click monkey will probably read the headline while waiting for the message to change from "Drop Yours" to "Thanks" or the dreaded "300/day".

And if the headline hooks his interest he may well read the article. If the article gets him to thinking he may well leave a comment. If the article gets him to thinking the blogger is brilliant he may will digg, Stumble or post a recommendation on the blog's Entrecard page. As one of those addicted click monkeys who visits so many blogs, I assure you I have done every one of those things in the course of visiting blogs ostensibly just to drop a card and get a credit.

There's no such thing as 'junk traffic'. Only bloggers who create compelling content that engages and retains their traffic and those who don't. But don't blame the traffic that the blog didn't engage it to do more than click a widget and close the tab. Might as well blame the audience when the show's a bomb and they walk out. Sure, you can, but you've still produced a bomb.

My addiction to clicking is taking me to new heights. I've decided, just for the heck of it to make my blog and my category, the humble little Books which previously had been down there with History in the low cost basement, into the most expensive and popular category and blog, respectively. And I am laughing my @ss off as I do it, largely thanks to the amused encouragement of Sam Freedom.

So are any of you marketing professionals ready to pass comment on Entrecard?

Has Ask.com found a new angle to attract users?'

clioandme — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:27:56 -0600

Marketplace (NPR) reports this evening that Ask.com is going to offer a feature that lets you turn off its ability to save your searches. In other words, you can search and not leave a trail of bread crumbs.

I've got to get back to the kitchen, but I thought this was a topic worthy of discussion. I know that if this is done right, and Ask can deliver decent search results, I might just be willing to make the change. Worth considering at any rate.

I know this isn't social media per se, but it relates directly to the Facebook faux pas and the collection of data by all kinds of online services.

A possible case study in social media?'

clioandme — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:26:09 -0600

Google has removed the URL field from comments on Blogger (Blogspot) blogs. Some of us are now posting about it and trying to create some buzz. Since the founder of this group blogs on Blogspot, and so do a few other members, perhaps we could talk about how to create buzz on the subject and how said buzz progresses (or doesn't)?

Related links so far:
http://whatswrongaroundus.blogspot.com/2007/12/when-brilliant-men-have-dumb-ideas.html
http://mattnutts.com/2007/12/02/google-lets-down-the-bloggers/
And my tumblelog post advertising these posts and including Digg and StumbleUpon links for them

Related threads so far:
http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/blogger-blogs-url-feature-disabled
http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/setting-up-haloscan-comments-on-a-blogspot-blog

I've also posted on the subject at Bumpzee and the Authority Blogger forum. Now I'm going to see if there's a Techorati wtf thing or if I need to add one.

Does Blogging Take Time?'

RECRUITINGANIMAL — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:11:15 -0600

After blogging for a number of years, I'm struck more than ever by the fact that blogging takes time.

In order to blog every day, I usually limit myself to what Rebecca Blood calls Filter Blogging. I surf the net for recruiting-related articles, copy the "money lines", and post them with a good title or a brief comment.

When done well, this is a very good form of blogging.
You save your readers time by surfing the net for them
and your amuse and sometimes even intrigue them with
your brief comments.

Still, even when someone else is doing the writing, it can take quite a while to surf the net, edit the chosen works and to try to come up with good titles and quips.

Lately, I have the inclination to write some longer, well-organized, well-referenced essays. Unfortunately, I'm not a practiced writer so it takes a lot of time for me to figure out how I want to structure my message and what words I should use to link the various parts.

Also, tracking down appropriate references for my ideas takes a lot of time. The Brazen Careerist does this on a regular basis and she spends a full day
on her blog.

Therefore, when I see career advisors tell anyone and everyone to start a blog, I have to laugh. Someone who is out of work might have time to blog but for most people who have a job and family responsibilities, blogging is out of the questions for reasons of time alone.

Social Bookmarking?'

clioandme — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 18:43:53 -0600

Why do so few people that I know on BC use del.icio.us (or use it very little)? I would have figured that people interested in social media would want to tap into this new medium too. When I looked for del.icio.us links on the profile pages of people I know here, I came up either with no links or very few bookmarks.

What's my own take? I am disappointed by those bookmarkers who only bookmark their own blog posts or those of their friends, though I expect to see such links too. I was hoping to find useful references to links from bloggers who know a lot more than me about blogging, social media, etc. So far, though, I've just ended up adding a couple historians' to my network on del.icio.us.

At the intersection of Marketing and Politics'

libdrone — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 01:53:46 -0600

Interestingly a thread in the Political Debate Group had produced a blog post that is as relevant to this group full of marketing gurus and eloquent definers of of our Marketing Culture.

Please read

http://whatswrongaroundus.blogspot.com/2007/11/biggest-obstacle-to-electing-right.html

and let's discuss Tiffany's claim that our marketing culture is the biggest obstacle we Americans face politically.

Gadget Reviews - World of Gadgets and Gizmos'

martinalex2 — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 05:42:49 -0500

http://gizmogadgetreviews.blogspot.com/
Gizmogadgetreviews is a trendy blog dedicated to latest gadgets, gizmos and cutting-edge technology.

Should We Self-Censor Ourselves?'

gmoney — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:16:17 -0500

I am free to say whatever I want, when I want and how I want to say it. I mean
what I say and say what I mean. I write what I feel and I can do this because of
Freedom of Speech.

Rich,

Thank you so much for letting me a guest on Blog Strait Talk.

The First Amendment states "Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of
grievances."

As a blogger and reader of blogs I feel that blogging is the last way to truly
practice freedom of speech.

If you look at the different forms of media you will see that the above
statement is true.

On the radio... Don Imus says "nappy headed hoes" and is forced out.

On Tv... in a scene on "Desperate Housewives" Teri Hatcher's character,
Susan, goes in for a medical checkup and is shocked when the doctor suggests
she may be going through menopause."Listen, Susan, I know for a lot of women
the word 'menopause' has negative connotations. You hear 'aging,' 'brittle
bones,' 'loss of sexual desire,' " the gynecologist tells her."OK, before we
go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren't,
like, from some med school in the Philippines?" Susan fires back. This
simple maybe 20 second exchange generated more than 30,000 to an online
petition seeking a network apology and guess what ABC coward and issued a
apology.

I have a friend that teaches a above 60 adult education class and she stated
in her course overview three words AGNOSTIC, NON-BELIEVER, SKEPTIC. She is
being forced to remove the word Agnostic from the course overview because
one person is offended.

I took on the role of promoting BlogCatalog. In my email signature I
have put Evangelist for BlogCatalog.com. I am sure at some point someone
will be offended.

What questions does open and honest freedom of speech raise?

Do we want really want freedom of speech?

Do we truly have freedom of speech?

When do we feel that freedom of speech is not needed?

Should there be limits on freedom of speech?

Do you limit your own freedom of speech as a blogger?

I tend to stay away from words or topics that will upset a few. I don't feel
that my stance to limit myself is ethical, but it does limit the drama. There
are many times that I want to write about racial inequality, white
privilege, unfair hiring practices, gays getting special treatment, sexual
harassment being blown out of proportion, rape shield laws being sexist and how
religion is used as a crutch and a control mechanism by the church.

My persona and my life are bigger than those topics BUT, I fear that I will be
judged on a few words and not the intellectual views that I might bring to the
table.

I tend to ask more questions than I answer.... that is the philosophical side of
me. There is not real write or wrong, just deeper discussion!

A Case Study on How People Have Used the Social Web to Become Famous'

pointlessbanter — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:14:36 -0500

http://www.buzznetworker.com/the-cult-of-personality-a-case-study-on-popularity-on-the-social-web/

I figured this would be an appropriate post for this group

Who Controls your Online Content?'

mattonen — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:23:18 -0500

Hi Richard,
Thanks so much for the opportunity of being a guest on Blog Straight Talk. Especially for a chance to discuss the following topic – Censorship and Social Networks.
Who owns your data? What happens if you become Censored on a network, and no longer have the freedom to access any of your information or the data or data that you once belonged to? Who really owns or should own the right to the data? The Social network or the author?

This has become a sensitive topic for me due to personal reasons. For over 8 Years I was an avid contributor, Moderator and author on a professional, social network; A few months ago I was censored, and my membership was terminated. Today, I no longer have the ability to access, or have fair or creative common ownership and rights to my data, or information, which also includes rights to my Moderated Groups and Membership lists, and the ability to correspond with my members. I am also unable to Visualize any comments and remarks that are based upon my material, or have the ability to respond and defend my words or character? What also if this individual also loses not only data, but also the rights to their Moderated Groups, and their membership list, including ability to correspond with those members. The part that becomes even more challenging – in asking the owner of the network to remove my name, profile and posts from the network has been met with a resounding “no, it will be an inconvenience for the network”, so today they have the “right” to permanently “own” my name and material.

Okay, like with many social networks there was a user agreement that defined these conditions, but, it may be important to mention that it wasn’t the same user agreement I agreed to 8 years ago, but it appears that many of these agreements on these social networks have a tendency to change on a whim, or circumstance, as does your membership acceptance with it. These user agreements on these networks like the one I am dealing with often have clauses that state that they are immune and won’t be held liable for any of the comments, data or contributions on these networks. I agree to this, we fought for those rights and I think this is truly fair.

But, somehow, Somewhere, the lines starts getting blurred, because the user agreements will then continue to say though we aren’t liable we still own your material, content and yes, possibly even your name or profile. What an interesting contradiction of terms. Let me be able to eat my cake and of course still own it too. Censorship takes many forms, and this is indeed the utmost of censorship.

Either these networks have gotten very confused, greedy, or they just don’t seem to understand the difference in being a Service versus a publisher – the law clearly defines that a Provider of an Interactive Computer Service must Not be considered a Publisher or Information Content Provider. What gives? Either you are a Service or an Owner/Publisher? Where do you draw the line? Quite often I wonder if these networks have forgotten the reason that we fought for the protection in the first place - for allowing fair and honest freedom of expression, discussion, and exchanging of ideas. I guess it is good for some but not for all.

Smackdown: Journalism Versus Blogging'

geoliv — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 09:39:54 -0500

Much has been said about journalism versus blogging and the approach of the two media forms. Are they the same, are they different? Has new media completely destroyed the lines of difference? A lot of bloggers fancy this to be the truth.

In some ways this is true. The boundaries between publishing mechanisms have been destroyed. There are real bonafide electronic journals using blog platforms (for example TMZ , albeit tabloid) and writers in traditional media that throw out objectivity and act like ranting bloggers (Advertising Age’s Jonah Bloom and Rush Limbaugh come to mind). Some publications like ESPN encourage conversation after their stories, and some bloggers like Seth Godin just write a daily column with no comments.

But in the end is the journalistic piece the same as a blog entry? Is a journalist really a blogger and vice versa? I think not. Why?

A journalist has completely different writing mission. First of all, it’s their paid occupation. Secondly, they engage in some sort of thought and research to deliver a popular slant in a print, audio or video format. Their writing is not scholarly writing, but most trained journalists research and deliver a balanced point of view.

A blogger (or columnist) writes or records a conversational opinion piece that waxes poetic on a point. This opinion style of writing is often not grounded in facts, is not researched, and does not have multiple sources. It’s from the heart. In some cases, blogger opinion takes the form of emotionally charged rant.

Journalism was dubbed the Fourth Estate, a means of keeping the government in line. Yet journalism has lost a lot of power because of its inaccuracies. Conversely, bloggers have now arisen to become the Fifth Estate, and police the media. But the expectation of a journalist – who is not a scientist or scholar working for years on a singular point of view – to deliver 100 percent truth is out of line. The reality is that most journalists do a better job of exploring the facts than an opinionated blogger shooting his/her mouth off!

It’s good that we have more checks and balances in place. But blogging voices will never supplant the role of a journalist. The NY Times of the world will always have a place. In the end, while we detest unchecked authoritative voices, we still crave the structure of Real Journalism.

(OK, I'm going to shut up and watch the stream of fury now!)

The Power 150 and Social Media Measures'

geoliv — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:19:21 -0500

There are many ways to measure success in social media. But do most social media measures really mean anything to businesses? To answer the question, we consider the popular Ad Age Power 150 and other measures.

Take One: Becker

Last week Geoff Livingston had an epiphany as his blog, The Buzz Bin, broke the 20,000 mark on Technorati (congrats on that, Geoff), which was a goal he established in March. But now he wonders … what does it mean?

http://nowisgone.com/2007/09/21/does-blog-rank-mean-anything-seven-pros-and-cons/

It’s the same question I’ve been asking about social media measures for some time at Copywrite, Ink.’s blog (run a search on ROI, among other things). We appreciate it, recognize it, but it just doesn’t translate into anything tangible for businesses, especially those that have yet to enter social media.

I’m not knocking the measures because they help us connect with other people. But if we’re talking truth, social media measures just don’t mean anything to the businesses we serve or hope to serve. What does? Meeting their strategic objectives. That’s it.

http://copywriteink.blogspot.com/2007/09/changing-times-new-york-times.html

This was one of the reasons I never joined Todd Andrlik’s, now Ad Age’s, Power 150, which was a combined ranking system to measure marketing and public relations blogs that used a number of social media measures: Google rank, Bloglines, Technorati, Andrlik’s take on blogs (his subjective measure). My only motivation for joining would have been because Andrlik is pretty nice guy and it gives you a mini-billboard too (despite the ladder-like feel).

Otherwise, who really cares? It’s the total measure of nothing; although you might think otherwise given the way a few people gloat about their position. Andy Beard, who isn’t on the list, ranked himself when the Power 150 moved to Ad Age. (He has since written other articles about it, noting that it does a good job at bringing the marketing community together).

http://andybeard.eu/2007/07/marketing-blogs-go-ballistic.html

In his article, Beard asks several good questions, including why e-mail subscribers might be discounted. In subsequent articles, he offers some advice. It’s all good reading.

And far as I know, Livingston didn’t read Beard’s take on it, but he has started asking similar questions. Who uses Bloglines? What about my other subscribers across the vast expanse of other readers? What about e-mail subscriptions? Does Technorati really count considering you can earn links with any number of tricks and tactics? Aren’t RSS subscriptions a better measure? What about Feedburner? And what about traffic? What does it mean? And on and on.

Perhaps not for personal blogs, niche ezine blogs, etc. but most social media measures lead people to erroneous conclusions when they live and work too much inside the bubble. As I’ll be writing about later this week, traffic alone (or rank or anything else for that matter) is not the true measure of a successful blog or business. Let me provide a brick and mortar example…

Sudance catalog (http://www.sundancecatalog.com/) had opened a store in a premium retail location in Las Vegas called Boca Park. I know it was premium, because I worked on the account, and several stores are thriving there. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Sundance.

Had Sundance used social media measures, it would have been a goldmine. It had tremendous traffic, great brand awareness, high visibility as a flagship store, was written about often, and seemed to have everything going for it. Except one thing. For whatever reason, nobody bought any products, at least not enough to justify the rent.

Take Two: Livingston

I posted extensively again on this topic today at Now Is Gone, so I’ll try to be short and sweet here. Yes we love to talk about rankings in the marketing blogosphere, but they don’t mean anything. As practitioners and players they are important to us – mostly for ego and bragging rights.

But no business or organization will engage in social media for a cute badge on their blog that proclaims them to be the 78th out of a 500 companies on a questionable index. Unless you can attain a top ten ranking on such a large list, who cares? There’s no PR value. There’s only one number that really matters, that’s #1 with your customers.

We also love talking about conversation and ethics, but those are just the means and rules of social media engagement. It’s good to remember that whether it’s a social media campaign that’s meant to enhance or alter perception, or a campaign that seeks to attract a larger community of buyers, corporate social media always has a purpose. Social media must have an end purpose, a measurable, tangible purpose. Even if it is simply engaging with customer to create a better product.

I think the social media marketing crew really needs to look beyond rankings and the era of conversation discussion, and focus on delivering tangible results. It’s a great ideal, but pragmatic realism demands more.

For more read Corporate Social Media: What’s the ROI, http://nowisgone.com/2007/09/24/corporate-social-media-whats-the-roi/