Disqus - Latest Comments for Gem2001

Re: Super YBPs??

Gem2001 — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 05:05:37 -0000

I think that death and regeneration are good things. I think one of the biggest mistakes African Americans make is holding on to something once its time has past. Whether that is the old preacher that should have retired 20 years ago, or institutions that are failing,magazines that are irrelevant, or organizations that are incompetent. Don't fear. something else, possibly better will replace them. This similar argument takes place when talking about gentrification. You need to energy to stave off blight and the best communities are those that constantly evolve and change. Those publications that evolve will survive. Those that do not will die. Those that do not deserve to go into extinction.
Gina from What About Our Daughters

Re: crush on obama

Gem2001 — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 23:05:07 -0000

He is being Harold Ford-ed. I got $100 bucks that says this was financed by one of his opponents. It trivializes his campaign.

I think this is a trojan horse.

Re: crush on obama

Gem2001 — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 10:23:26 -0000

I agree we have to let it run its course, but I think that the folks in the editorial suites in this country should use their critical thinking caps.

I am not a conspiracy theorist or a prude, BUT, it never occurred to CNN and ABC, the possible racial undertones associated with this video?

That is all I am saying. As someone born and raised in the south, this is not harmless. That might not have been the creator's intentions, but it's not inconsequential either.
What About Our Daughters

Re: Have a black summer!

Gem2001 — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 14:57:35 -0000

I did an interview on my show about Soul Planet Travel tours. Its and African American, African centered touring company that has a tour planned this summer to Brazil and later they are going to France.

I love to travel.

Re: crush on obama

Gem2001 — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 18:31:43 -0000

Okay cynthia. We'll see. I think it trivializes his candidacy. I am not a supporter of any of the candidates at this point, this just irked me for some reason.

What About Our Daughters

Re: Yay! YBPGuide turns 2!

Gem2001 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:18:31 -0000

Congrats! You have been such a help over your past two years. Now that I see you are using DISQUS I am going to have to add it to WAOD since you know what you are doing!

Re: Live Blogging - Howard Dean at Netroots Nation

Gem2001 — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:49:19 -0000

Y'all getting drunk up in here? Don't blog while intoxicated

Re: Flip Video

Gem2001 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:58:34 -0000

I used this camera as part of a citizen journalism project at the Democratic National Convention. Love that is is lightweight. does well with volume. the only drawback is that you can't control the light exposure so if you have lights around the person you are shooting it come out blurry. but I think that is the cse with any fixed lense cameras y

Re: Bishop Weeks launches Reality Webisode to find new Wife

Gem2001 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:06:06 -0000

Unfortunately for the good "Bishop" he failed to reserve the domain name for MrsBishopWeeks.com so some clever person *cough* decided to skip a couple of meals at Cheddars and set up an anti domestic violence website at MrsBishopWeeks.com. To say he is claiming to be in the business of web site design it is a wonder he would name a contest and not reserve the domain name. Oh well.

Re: Essence.com gets Ning-y with it

Gem2001 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:09:56 -0000

I am not impressed. I almost thought that it looked like they were using soapblox. I told one of the editors I knew over there to call me if they needed some different perspective. The old site wasn't Web2.0, but it was astetically pleasing. this new sight does not take advantage of ESSENCE's ability to crank out some amazin visuals. They didn't take their strengths and move the over to Web2.0 they are giving their strengths away.

They got hosed. I could have done the site for a fifth of the price and I know nothing about PHP or CSS. this is clearly a template.

Re: African-American Internet Summit

Gem2001 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:13:36 -0000

The website does leave a bit to be desired, but I can hardly talk, I have yet to update the Blogging While Brown website. I MIGHT be interested in going to that, but I found out about it a bit late.

Re: Code Black Enterprises Launches Interactive Division

Gem2001 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:11:55 -0000

not to mention fredric that all of these video sites have got to figure out what they are going to do as broadband providers start limiting bandwidth. whoever figures out how to compress video files and automatically unzip them on the desktop mimicing a YouTube like experience will be the next dotcom billionaire

Re: Is Apple out of touch with society?

Gem2001 — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:45:29 -0000

I would agree that the higher price point is one reason I have not been able to justify switching. However, you assume Apple wants 50% market share. They are doing alright. I think part of the cache of an Apple is that everybody doe snot have one. I was drooling over a MacBook Pro because I want to work with Final Cut Studio and I am not goint to lie, it just "feels" different. They keys feel softer. I feel hipper just playing around with it. Its cute. In the same way that I don't own an MP3 player, I own an I-pod. Sure a $29 number can do the job, but it isn't as "neat". or cool.

I am eying some used Apples on craigs list. I just can't bring myself to pay retail. But no, Apple will never be a $498 computer you can pick up in the electronics section at Wal-mart, but last time I checked, they weren't hocking BMW's at Walmart either.

Re: Interview with Michael Seibel CEO of Justin.tv

Gem2001 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:25:22 -0000

I concur! That was a great quote. I keep trying to get my friends to take it from "talking" about what they are going to do to actually "doing" it.

Re: Is Apple out of touch with society?

Gem2001 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:28:25 -0000

They ARE beautiful!

Re: 1 Online Start-Up Makes A Profit

Gem2001 — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:27:03 -0000

Twitter can likely leverage the fact that they have 2.2 million cell numbers in their database to turn a profit. Plus I can see them offering premium services at some point. I wonder what their overhead is. I LAUGH out loud when I read that someone is pouring 4.5 million into a web site. Are you serious? that's setting you up for a failure. You could launch 1000 websites for that much and increase the odds of success a thousand fold.

Re: Black Enterprise Goes Beta

Gem2001 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:57:29 -0000

Thanks for explaining the difference. I am working on a new project. A huge spin off and was trying to figure out the wp vs drupal vs joomla debate.

Of course I will end up outsourcing, but I like to know why things work the way they work. I was actually going to use WP, but I will have to rethink that.

None of these "old media" types get it. Yet I don't have the time to burnish my tech skills to pull it off. I can code intuitively, but learning "the rules" takes some time.

Probably time for another post on outsourcing ;)

Re: How not to launch

Gem2001 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:39:32 -0000

thanks for the maintenance mode plugin tip. Honestly. you don't dictate what your
"community" turns into. You have to be flexible...at least for "corporate" blogs.

My personal blog however is a benevolent dictatorship.

Thanks for the rollout tips. I'm definitely using them.

Re: The African-American Internet Summit

Gem2001 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:14:05 -0000

Good to see you again Marcus. What the folks didn't know at the conference is going to make me RICH!!!

it was actually a good conference for those with no insight to how the ad folks make their decisions.

Re: Barack and Technology

Gem2001 — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:49:46 -0000

Barackobama.com is the gold standard in online organizing and sales. I always refer my students to the site to get an idea of what is possible with new media.

irrspective of the outcome of the election, the site is a good study for using new media

Re: Clutch Magazine Launches Blog Network

Gem2001 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:53:09 -0000

You GO DEDE! Give them a run for their money. They don't get it. YOU DO!

Re: BWB Conference June 19 -20, 2009 - Chicago, IL

Gem2001 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:55:47 -0000

Thank you for the shout out. Lord knows I wrestled with how to change the site. I settled on a magazine layout theme. I tried building it from scratch, but after a while I was like "Um why exactly are you doing this to yourself?" Hope to see you there.

Re: Tavis’ Blog Contest Hate it or Love it

Gem2001 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:32:32 -0000

I hate it, but then you already know my opinion since you linked to me. Having interacted with "old media" on more than one occasion, I have a personal pet peeve of how they view and treat bloggers. The truth is I would rather be mentioned on a blog than appear on Tavis' SOBU WEBCAST. Having done MSM I can tell you that from a traffic standpoint, any appearance on MSM is short-lived, but links from blogs last an eternity.

Why does it have to be "crabs in a barrel" anytime someone has a complaint of disagreement with another Black person. Black people need to fight MORE not less. Did Tavis bother to reach out to bloggers other than the ONE working for him before he crafted this contest.

Second, if you take blogging seriously, like any profession, you have to develop some kind of standards for how you want to be treated. If you act like a contestant in the early rounds of American Idol, then you will continue to be treated like one.

Re: IAC’s Cutting Emerging Businesses is Rushmore Drive at Risk?

Gem2001 — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:57:43 -0000

Am I reading that right? They have 4.5 Million dollars and they are getting 152,000 unique visits a month? Mr. Diller, please call me immediately for 1/10000 of the cost I can generate 150,000 unique visits.

I get that SEARCH is the big dog online. If you can get a corner on SEARCH, then you are doign well, but I actually think that SEARCh is going to become more "intelligent" in the future. There is only so far, even the most powerful of algorythms can go. The best sites are the ones with live human beings who use the search engines to cull through information that is interesting or noteworthy to their audiences.

If YAHOO can't beat out google, what makes you think RUshmore Drive was going to be able to. I think Twitter, Facebook, Myspace etc indicate that Black web browsers are extrememly comfortable occupying a general "space" and then carving out their communities and networks within.

Re: RushmoreDrive Announces Top Search and Email

Gem2001 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:20:46 -0000

Wow. This isactually sad to watch. Marcus ar you going to weep when they finally give up the ghost?

My parents already have email through their internet service providers. Second, they see all of us emailing them from aol, yahoo, and gmail addys. So explain to me why someone would choos a service, even a free one, that was inferior to several competitors?

if the ad an snse the wod abandon thi folly and thrw their efforts to mobile content and apps since 85 percent of blck ppl have cellphones.

They are't going to out google googel.

Re: RushmoreDrive Announces Top Search and Email

Gem2001 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:56:44 -0000

Wow Marcus, you are one of Rushmore Drive's biggest supporters online so the unhinged assertion that you are hating on RD is laughable. I'm actually worried about you if they fail.

re the slam at encouraging them to focus on mobile content. Almost every "black" media venture that has succeeded has provided something Black ppl could not get anywhere else. It wasn't just branding something as "ours" or for us. If Mr. Johnson hadn't srarted EBONY we would not have seen ourselves in PEOPLE or whatever existed back then. Same goes with black entertaiment blogs. If they didn't cover OUR celebrities, you wouldn't see them on "mainstream" sites. Same with television, radio, HBCUs on and one. But you see what happens when THEY start taking down barriers. WE stop supporting OUR own. If they focused on unique content instead of run of the millionaire apps they would be leading instead of following and online being first matters. There isn't enough mobile content 4 US.

So Marcus has a legitimate concern that RD innovate. Just being branded as OURS isn't enough. That's not hating. That's concern and nobody give RD more coverage than this blog. I hope Johnny Taylor buys a BANNER AD on BlackWeb20.com, RD's biggest evangelists AND SUPPORTS THIS SITE IN A TANGIBLE WAY for the work you and your contributors do.

Keep trucking Marcus.

Re: When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong

Gem2001 — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:39:39 -0000

James is a nice guy and is big on social media. I don't know if he could have anticipated someone taking issue with the fact that he was not enamored with the city that his client was located.

Well its interesting the way you couched the question as if this is a "social media" authenticity issue. It isn't. it is a run of the mill traditional client relations - workplace politics issue. Possibly even some corporate intrigue thrown in there. This is a "know your audience" issue. Nobody gets to say what they feel at work or about work.

It sounds like they are going through some things in Memphis right now and at Fedex right now. That being said. any and everything I say online is permanent and subject to the interpretation of anyone in the world and it frequently is.

You have to wonder the agenda of the person that wrote an entire email and sent it up the chain of command to both the client and Ketchum and leaked to the the blogs. Does James have any enemies at Ketchum? Fed Ex? That to me would be a far more intriguing question. The person who wrote that letter had an agenda. What was it?

Moral of the story, "new media" doesn't eliminate the age old rules of business. Social media doesn't change the rule of the game and eventually age old business considerations will bend social media in their direction.

Keep your head up James!

Re: Robert Johnson scolds Alfred Liggins for Filing FCC Complaint

Gem2001 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:40:29 -0000

@Shercilla there is WAY more to this than Bob is laying on. Liggins isn't the only multicultural broadcaster in opposition, in fact ALL of the multicultural broadcasters are in opposition, from Si TV to the Gospel Music Channel. http://www.commlawblog.com/2009/01/articles/bro...

In fact, the only Black folks in favor of this are the "Civil Rights" organizations, but check out what they were saying about these multi-cast "must carry" schemes just one year before. Non other than Jesse Jackson Sr. via Rinbow PUSH explained why Ion's scheme would harm minority media owners.http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6519836708

What changed in a year? Why was it harmful in 2007, but a miracle in 2008? How did Bob Johnson's Black face change the impact this will have on multicultural channels?

One way to look at it is this. Each TV "station" actually has a ton more capacity than they ever use. That "spectrum" can be split up into pieces. However, cable carriers only have to carry the primary signal. Ion wants to force cable carriers to carry them all. So in exchange for giving Black folks a 51% stake in a piece of a crumb, Ion gets to save its entire business and get exponentially more of its stations on to Direct TV, DISH and cable. Not a high price to pay to give up capacity you already weren't using,

Dig deeper and look into whether or no 51% equals "ownership" if the minority owner retains certain rights that make the majority owner's "rights" illusory. Do you really "own" something if you have to get permission from someone else to do with it what you will? Do you really own something if you have to use someone else's equipment and facilities to carry out your business?

I don't know. I'm just asking the questions. Right now MSM is basically publishing Bob Johnson's press releases.

Re: Robert Johnson scolds Alfred Liggins for Filing FCC Complaint

Gem2001 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:43:26 -0000

@Angela there are not going to be "hearings." At this point this petition is being decided under "DA" delegated authority. The Media Bureau will be making the decision, not the full Commission. Yes, EBONY, ESSENCE, and other AA content providers could get their own programming, but they could have that now. Ion has the extra capacity in their spectrum. For every "Black" oriented station that is added, there will be 50 other stations added. The cable carriers will not be able to carry them all. Somebody has to go.

Re: Robert Johnson scolds Alfred Liggins for Filing FCC Complaint

Gem2001 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:46:46 -0000

Actually, its the other way around. Bob Johnson would have the legalized monopoly. Because this isn't an open process, Urban TV would be the only station benefiting from this in the beginning. TV One, the Gospel Music Channel, the Africa Channel, and BTTN actually had to compete in the market place to get carried by cable. Johnson asking the government not to make him compete, but to force them to carry him. He will get an advantage TV One and the other Black oriented stations won't have because they won't be "broadcast" There isn't a TV One "broadcast" station so they won't get to take advantage of the multicast must carry. They aren't multicast.

At least I think that's the case after pouring over FCC filings all week

Re: Robert Johnson scolds Alfred Liggins for Filing FCC Complaint

Gem2001 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:50:11 -0000

There is nothing preventing Bob Johnson and Ion from beginning to broadcast Urban Television today. Liggins isn't blocking anything. What Johnson is asking is for the FCC to grant Bob Johnson an advantage that TV One, the Africa Channel, Si TV, the Gospel Music Channel,and Black Television News don't have. This has nothing to do with Urban television, but Ion Life and Quoba. Ion can't get them on Cable of satellite, so they are using this "diversity" angle to get a ruling to force all their other non-AA-oriented channels onto satellite and cable.

Don't believe the hype. Most of the "articles" in places like Broadcasting and Cable and the other MSM's are just repeating Bob Johnson's press releases.

You have to ask yourself, WHY is Bob coming back so hard? because if this "Diversity" angle gets blown to bits by Liggins and other Black folks, then the whole deal goes down the tubes.

Re: BlackPlanet’s Featured Blogger Program

Gem2001 — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:52:33 -0000

Well Dede since you said it first, I am safe to say DITTO! and Co-sign. Interactive One , ESSENCE, BET.com, et all don't know jack about producing content. They get traffic and they don't know why. So they just copy what other people are doing. I would mention two sites who purportedly have received millions of dollars for one URL but years later, they still don't know what they are doing.

All the while tiny little bloggers just keep chugging along with minimal capital investment.

As someone who has been featured several times with a direct link on some of the largest ("traffic-wise") sites online, I can say "yes" you do get an uptick in traffic.. for about 72 hours, but I know that being on the blog roll of a particular gossip and entertainment site brings me far more traffic over time.

And haven't we figured out that there is some relationship between traffic and increased revenue, but it isn't necessarily a direct relationship.

Maybe we need to launch a public awareness campaign in the Black blogosphere saying "Do Not Fall for This Mess!!" or start a union. This is naked exploitation especially when you can get paid to write blog posts. Unfortunately people are always looking for the silver bullet to build blog traffic.

Re: BlackPlanet’s Featured Blogger Program

Gem2001 — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:32:59 -0000

Liz,

Lets do it! You know I don't have a problem pointing out FOOLISHNESS! You can be the opening speaker at Blogging While Brown and speak about the scourge that is besetting us. :) they don't have a choice but to try to make us their sharecroppers because they don't have the "mentality" to do what it takes to build an online audience independent of the overflow being driven from the old media properties.

Re: BlackPlanet’s Featured Blogger Program

Gem2001 — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:32:37 -0000

@james and what does that have to do with a single thing I have said about educating Black bloggers about avoiding being exploited. If by "legal ramifications" you are some how implying I, the attorney, have placed myself in legal peril, then by all means send me an email letting me know the address of record for the company in question so we can move things along.

I haven't said anything damaging to anyone other than someone attempting to exploit Black bloggers. And yes, that is foolishness. But thanks for the law school lecture.

Re: How Not to Run Ad Network

Gem2001 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:51:14 -0000

@blackadagencyguy If a group of Black oriented blogs got together and could produce a million visits/uniques/impressions ( I don't know that you've distinguished), what would they need to do to cut out these random ad networks.

Do you care if you get 10 sites that pull in 100,000 visits versus 20 pulling in 50,000? Because the ad networks don't appear to be doing anything Black bloggers could not do on their own and cut out the unnecessary overhead.

Re: How Not to Run Ad Network

Gem2001 — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:42:33 -0000

@Dede I've been pretty consistent in thinking an ad-based model for revenue is a dead ender for the average indie blogger. Yes, ads have a role and should have a place as a revenue stream, but the relationships/brand whatever you build are far more valuable in other ways. I look at Ebony and Jet sitting on tens ( possibly hundreds)of millions of dollars of value based on the "relationship" they ought to have with their readers and shake my head in awe at the thought they could go under. Why on earth would we walk the same path?

I am just trying to demystify the hustle to help others. I've got Google Adsense up on my blogs just because I was badgered about it ( I think you were there :)) Low and behold the checks start flowing in. It was the first time I had any idea what my "passion" was "worth' in a tangible way. I remember offering a special that charged a dollar a day because ads to me had little or no value. They still don't. I laugh at how little I valued my own sites. Adsense is a rough estimate of course, but to someone who would do it anyway for free, it helps know what NOT to do. Sure Google is the Devil, but it help to know where Hell (or the bottom of the barrel) is located.

Can't wait for somebody on this board to buy Ebony and Jet. Hopefully they will not have completely gone under by then.

Re: How Not to Run Ad Network

Gem2001 — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:55:32 -0000

I think we can all agree that everyone on this comment thread wants African American bloggers, publishers, developers to have the same access to opportunity, capital and success as those in other groups. Folks who read this blog are the choir. So right now we're all fighting over the A and B selection.

There are those in the Black blogosphere who are totally oblivious to both sides of this argument and are ripe for exploitation.

This was a good discussion thread however.

Re: Bob Johnson Speaks on Urban Television (Part 1)

Gem2001 — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:22:59 -0000

Why is it that anytime someone criticizes an African American, folks pull out the "crabs in a barrel" charge. As if African American people can't do wrong or their ideas are immune from criticism. its not as if the critics don't have some basis to be leery.

I don't believe a word he's saying, that's a reasonable conclusion to draw in light of his history. However, its an interesting listen. I look forward to parts 2 and 3.

Angela has likely done more original reporting on Urban Television in this segment than I've seen and I have it set up on Google Alerts :)

Re: Bob Johnson Speaks on Urban Television (Part 1)

Gem2001 — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:38:00 -0000

Might I also add that if you have the ability to produce television quality programming and get someone to purchase advertising then you probably don't need Urban Television.

He didn't say he'd sell your advertising. You always have the option to pursue Barter syndication right now.

I have a producer's license at my local public access station. Same professional quality equipment as the pros, plus access to all the editing bays and software. The only requirement is that you air your program on the station first, after that you are free to do whatever you want with it and several producers have syndicated their programming for profit.

Re: Rihanna Photo Surfaced

Gem2001 — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:44:02 -0000

This is a horrific invasion of her privacy.

Re: Sunday’s Thoughts: Happy Father’s Day

Gem2001 — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:33:07 -0000

Lovely Sentiment on Father's Day

Re: The10Spot: Up Against The Wind

Gem2001 — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:01:14 -0000

Where did you get the photo of Michelle and Barack cuddled up. I love that one.

Re: Protest the NAACP

Gem2001 — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:31:13 -0000

Thanks for the support. This is ridiculous! Their silence in the matter is even more ridiculous. The Palm Beach Post reporter who was at the press conference is saying the NAACP president was handing out fliers in support of the suspects.

Re: Black In America: CNN Investigates

Gem2001 — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:34:57 -0000

Not holding out hope. NBC did the same thing last fall "African American Women, Where they Stand" or as I like to call it "Black Women It Sucks To Be You"

Re: Blogging While Brown – Presentation Video

Gem2001 — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:34:44 -0000

I am so glad Theo USTREAMED this I was running around so much that USTREAM is about the only way I can watch what happened. It was a great presentation.

Re: Tavis Smiley’s State of the Black Union: Getting ready, hashing it out

Gem2001 — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:09:21 -0000

I didn't know you were goign to be on a panel, i would have promoted it. I went to watch it ont he site, but didn't see a link to it. Do you have the direct link.