DISQUS

Here's a new service that helps split ad revenues among bloggers (though it is not [yet] based on performance, like pageviews and such): http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/16/set-up-you....

CNN also partnered with Facebook for one of the debates during the election, so they already have a relationship and that made the technological implementation probably less complicated and less costly.

Also, to follow up on your response to my first comment (and thanks for responding!), I do not doubt that community managers don't read every feed item every day.  But just like  I want to grab attention with my résumé in case someone actually looks at it, and then draw them in with compelling experience... so do I try to make my headlines attention-grabbing and my content interesting and unique.  There's no guarantee of fairness, but that fact alone encourages me to work that much harder!

Seems to me that a good step that blog networks could take is reporting to its contributors how much traffic their content is getting.  I requested this from BC at the end of last quarter when they asked for suggestions.  This way, there would be transparency, at least to the hard "numbers" value that blog networks bring.  Obviously this would not be easy and blog networks have little incentive to offer it... but I think it would help.

Also, your comment system seems to be a little out of whack... seems to strip all the pararaph breaks and other formatting right out?

Jarred, sorry about this. I tried to fix this manually on your comment and a few other long ones, and hopefully did an okay job. I'll have to look for a permanent solution later today! - Monica

Interesting post, Monica.  I think you make some solid points, especially in highlighting the directly negative aspects of sharing content traffic between your blog and the network.

However, I guess I question slightly the premise of your critique.   Does anyone really join a blog network and expect to get more traffic on their own site, or to get paid, or to have their content chosen based on merit?  I was never promised these things, nor did I particuarly expect or count on them.  You cite "hidden truths and empty promises" that are covered up by myths... but at least for Brazen Careerist, I was never really promised anything.   I had no illusions about what was happening.  This was clearly a start-up company that would eventually be profiting from the eyes laid on my content.  Now it's true that they didn't advertise this explicitly to me, and sold it to me as a "community" and as an "exciting opportunity" to connect and share with other Gen Yers.  That's not a lie; it is those things too.  While they didn't explicitly tell me they were a start up looking to profit from my content, they never led me to believe I'd get more traffic or get paid either.

The point I want to make about the value of blog networks is this: the value is gained indirectly.  It is not measured in page views or dollars, but in ideas and community and legitimacy and other fuzzier, subjective values and denominations.

Now, I don't blog to make money or to promote myself, but I do enjoy maximizing exposure to what I write.  For me it's a mixture of hobby, personal development, and self-enrichment.  Our content is CC-licensed to be used and distributed by whomever as long as we are given credit.  Whether eyes fall on it through the blog, feeds, networks, aggregators... as long as I get credit and maybe a link back to my blog (which BC gives), then I'm cool.  I do understand that other bloggers write for other reasons: to promote their brand, to make money off of ads on their site, etc.  So they should definitely think twice about joining a blog network if their goal is to maximize views on their actual blog.  But really, I don't see how it can hurt, in the aggregate, to give your content another channel to propegate through  Just like books and news actually gain value from being indexed by Google: you may not get the value from that particular view, but the more eyes your stuff is seen by, the more people will click through to your site, subscribe to your own feed, follow you on Twitter, etc.

Another important point is that you're going to get more value the more time you invest in that community.  The more you read other posts on the network, the more you comment and dialog with other writers, the more you engage the moderators... the more likely you are to be featured on the front page, linked to by those other writers, and generally seen as a power player in the network.  It's not enough to simply give the OK to have your feed added to the network stream.  A network is not an aggregator; it's a venue with an audience and community that takes engagement and investment to pay off (figuratively speaking).

The value I get from being a member of a blog network is:
- legitimacy (I get a badge for my blog and feel "legit" because I'm a member of a greater group of bloggers.  This both gives my blog some superficial sheen of authority, and gives me a little self-confidence and pride as blogger)
- community (Similarly-aged and -minded bloggers that might not otherwhise have read my content see it, and I read theirs to expand my own views and ideas.)
- exposure (Who knows how many people read my stuff on BC and never come to my blog, but if there's one reader that does then that's one more reader I might not have otherwhise had.)
- motivation (I know that a moderator will look at my content and consider it for the front page of the network, and so I work that much harder to polish it and make it a little more interesting)

Monica, this was very brave of you to share... and I know from experience that writing something out and sharing it is another step towards healing and improvement. Best of luck with all the changes and challenges you're experiencing.

Jarred

Don't forget the tiny fact that Keifer's DUI and subsequent imprisonment contributed to the delay of the series as well. :)

Stan, you didn't look at the whole picture. You don't mention that any song you for which you buy streaming rights at the $0.10 price can also be downloaded as an MP3 for an additional $0.79... still cheaper overall than iTunes and, I presume, DRM-free. So you are not locked into their service. If you want to free the song from the cloud, you pay a little more. It's brilliant.

Yes, the $0.10 price tag should be understood as what it is: the right to stream a song an unlimited number of times from the cloud. This makes sense for people who mostly listen to music when they're wired at work or at home. But as devices like the iPhone and Android phones increase our ability to connect on the go at high speeds, we'll be increasingly enveloped by the cloud and able to access our content (almost) anywhere.

You also overlook that Lala scans your iTunes library and allows you to access your music that you already own for free online. They first scan your music and match it to content in their databases, and then they upload any non-DRM music that they didn't have into your account. In other words, Lala is anything but restrictive: it puts your music you already own into the cloud for free, and gives you a cheap way to buy new music for cloud-based access. For an additional price -- combined with the 10 cents, still cheaper than iTunes -- you can download the MP3 of what you've purchased. Where's the restriction? I only see freedom...

Also, have you had an experience of a song streamed from Lala being of dubious sound quality? I've only been using it for a few hours, but so far it matches Pandora in quality and to my ear, I haven't experienced any major quality issues.

Monica, I usually find your posts to be spot on, but I'm afraid here I must disagree a little. If someone is having trouble figuring out what they want to do in the context of the decisions they've made, and they're expressing exasperation, it is perfectly legitimate for you to offer your advice, especially given your expertise in career counseling. If she is going to gripe, she should be expected to listen to your response.

However, you say that "if you do not have a job and you want to get a job and nothing you’ve tried is working, you are in no position to refuse perfectly good and reasonable (and free) advice from someone whose only intention is to help you." I beg to differ. You say yourself that "she does not want coaching and [your] patience is thinning." Who's problem is that? She didn't ask for help; it sounds like she just wanted to chat and needed someone's ear to vent her frustration. Just because you offer her expert advice doesn't mean she has to think it's a good idea, or take it.

I know it can be hard when you think you know better than someone else what they need. But sometimes people have to fall and pick themselves up.

@Tiffany: Oh most definitely. That's why I wanted to point out that the word "blogging" (web-logging) is equivalent to the words "writing," "photographing," "painting," "composing," "playing," etc. I would be skeptical of anyone who told me to first consider if I was going to be good at any of those things before trying them, especially when the "barriers to entry" for blogging are so low. In the end, at its core, blogging is just writing, and that's something that most of us can do.

I definitely knew what Monica was getting at, though, and I didn't mean to sound like I was accusing her of missing any kind of point or of being misleading. She definitely seems to be talking more about blogs like yours and mine, ProBlogger, and more high-end blogs like TechCrunch, etc. But that is a certain form of "blogging," and not encompassing of it.

I just want to encourage anyone -- but particularly members of the twenty-set who are in jobs that don't allow them to express themselves as much in writing as they did in school -- to consider blogging without any sort of self-analysis. Don't worry if you're going to be good or popular or have enough time to post regularly. Do it for yourself first, when you feel the urge. If you love it, people will see that love and read more. Even if you're not an expert! I think readers value passion just as much as content.

Though you cite lots of great potential reasons to start a blog, they aren't the only ones. There are tons of people who blog to share their thoughts, pictures, and favorite links with those close to them, for example, or write blog fiction.

I started a personal travel blog when I went abroad for a year so that I could share my experiences with friends and family. But I also used it as a medium for creative expression, writing about things that interested me. I was an "expert" only to the extent that I was an "expert" on myself.

Blogs can also be news or scholarly mediums, covering a variety of fields and ideas. Our current blog, Tropophilia, covers the broad theme of "change" in art, technology, philanthropy, government, etc. We're not change experts, per se, but we are interested in it and like writing about it. Even if we only have 20 people read our blog every day, it still serves the purpose of letting us research and write about our interests.

I'm wary of the idea that blogging is a skill to be learned. Why does someone need to decide if they're a "good blogger" before they even start? Does someone need to decide if they're a good writer before trying to write? A good photographer before they start snapping some photos? Sure, if you want to market your blog, grow your readership, maybe serve some ads and make some money, then you'll need to reserve lots of time and energy for it. But I'm not sure blogging is something for which you can predetermine your aptitude. I think you only need to predetermine your desire.

Blogging, at its core, is just another medium for writing. Writing can make money or help you brand yourself, for sure, but it can also be a way to relax, to create, and to share.

It may be becoming too congested, but I think what Chris is pointing out is that eventually the supply and demand will sort that out. If people want a social network for every interest, then people will develop social networks for every interest. If the market decides they'd rather have a few big players, then the niche networks will die off. But to determine the equilibrium, you have to dance on both sides of the balance first.

I think social networking as a feature, rather than a service, is the future. I think within the next few years, every site that is created will have built in social networking features. It's just the next step in how we interact with content: first it was disengaged, then there were accounts, then feeds and comments, and now full engagement and partial "owenership."

This, too, is congesting ("Who wants a different account for every site?", as you point out). That's where I think a big player like Facebook or Google will step in and try to offer a "super account" that basically just adds the new site on to your profile. No more signing up, fogetting passwords and usernames, or going to an account you haven't been to in months and finding that your picture is way out-of-date. Everything will be centralized and pushed to the satellite sites.

I agree that it's getting a little silly with the number of services out there, but I don't think calling for them to "just stop it!" will really make them ignore market forces.

It's hard for me to answer the question exactly as you've posed it. Where I live is important and so is what I do, but I'm not sure I could say which is more important in a general sense. All I know is that I need to be happy. If one factor or the other is causing unhappiness, then it's time to reevaluate. What's most important to me, then is the balance itself and not one of the "weights" over the other.

If you're OK with sacrificing a little on preferred enviornment for preferred career, then great. But if you won't be happy in the city or town where your dream job is located, then you have to take that into account. It would be foolish to decide which is more important and then go with it. I think it all depends on the specific job in question, the specific city in question, and the specific person in question.

Great question, though, and I'm interested to hear what others have to say!

Jarred @ Tropophilia

Hey Monica,

I subscribed to your blog after your guest post on ProBlogger. I'm one of the "twenty set", and find your content highly relevant to things I'm dealing with. Keep up the good work. Our blog, Tropophilia (http://tropophilia.coom), talks about "change", and I'm planning to write a post about life changes in the past year: new job, new city, new responsibilities, etc. I'm sure I'll be linking to you.

We recently designed Tropophilia in conjunction with our move from wordpress.com to a self-hosted install. You can compare the two by checking out our old set-up at http://tropophilia.wordpress.com.

I know Meebo runs an embedded chat widget, but if you're a Gmail or Google Talk user you might consider their new Chatback feature: http://www.google.com/talk/service/badge/New.

Regarding your desire to linkshare, we tried a del.icio.us feed for a while but really wanted to be able to comment on the links we were sharing. With the K2 theme we were automatically given the "Asides" feature (you can see this on our main page now), which just moves any posts written in a category you assign to the sidebar. We're just getting started with it but we're already in love. I think you can plug this in to your WordPress scheme. Read more here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Adding_Asides.

For your logo, I designed Tropophilia's in about 3 minutes using MS Word and a screengrab. Just play with some cool fonts and extra goodies, and then capture it at the right dimensions using Grab (OS X) or some other screen cap utility.

Hope that helps. Would love to discuss more if you want to shoot an email. And check out Tropophilia, I think you'll find some things you like. :)

Take care,
Jarred
http://tropophilia.com

See a good debate at Tropophilia about the invisibility feature and whether it violates some sort of social (networking) contract: http://tropophilia.com/2008/02/25/invisibility-....