DISQUS

I think six months ago, people might have laughed at this. I don't think anybody is laughing now. Twitter's recent traffic numbers are very impressive.

I like "the pulse of our society." I mostly agree -- however, by this time next year, there will be clients that support improved Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook stutus via APIs. search.twitter.com is likely to peak in the near future.

I think the decision to adopt social media so fully is absolutely spot-on. However, their implementation is an open invitation to spammer abuse.

It's one thing to embrace the crowd. It's quite another to lay down on the sidewalk and invite them to trample you. See #skittlefisting, 4chan takeover, etc...

@LATimesNystrom: looks like #skittles experiment is backfiring. I wonder if their interactive agency in on call 24/7/365? twitter is officially a spam magnet

@drcongo: @olishaw http://agency.com apparently made the new Skittles taste like shit and give you AIDS and cancer and fiddle with your kids site.

It only takes a quick glance to find dozens of comments on the twitter search that I wouldn't want ANYWHERE NEAR my homepage if I were CEO of the company.

There are hundreds of these negative comments in the #skittles feed. Social media experimenters, beware. If you do social media right, you can get a crowd of evangelists telling the world how cool you are. Do it wrong, and nobody will notice. Do it really wrong, and your brand will get slammed.

I'm tired from covering Sundance. I didn't want to go today. After all, what would it hurt to take one day off from the festival to relax and get some other work done? Right? I went anyway, and it was one of my best networking days so far this year! AMAZING! Great advice, Gary!

Haha, I think Qik is getting a big boost from all this Sundance hype. I just created an account myself. I'll be streaming interviews with Paul Oakenfold and Dieselboy while you guys are running around like chickens with your heads cut off doing whatever Ashton thinks is funny. Should be great fun for everybody!

I hope we get to see all you new media mavens at Suntweet. A bunch of us are going there to support a local charity and hear from people like Jesse Stay, the guy behind SocialToo (and the author of a couple different FaceBook books), and other social media rock stars.

Anne, I disagree that hiring a graphic designer is a good "cheaper" alternative than hiring a professional photographer for some headshots.

Photo retouchers can indeed make your point-and-shoot photos look better, but that's not saying much. The difference between a retouched bad photo and a photograph that was styled and shot well in the first place is huge.

How do I know? I've done both. I made my living for a while as a photo retoucher, and now I'm a professional photographer. I believe strongly that you should get it as close as you can on camera, and use retouching either very minimally, or in creative and expressive ways (such as hyper-reality composites).

Also, to those who think any photoshop is bad, your photographs used to go to film processing centers where they were exposure corrected and color balanced in a lab. Now your camera does a crap job of it. As a professional photographer who used to develop photos in darkrooms, I can tell you that a photo isn't really finished until it's been through a digital darkroom.

I've rarely seen a photograph straight from the camera that couldn't use a little help, with color, contrast, or the odd zit removal.

Salt Lake City, UT

Founder of the Utah Creative Freelance Network - http://utfreelance.com/

I think that the reporter's job function is going to change significantly over time, but I don't think the need for tv anchors and news program hosts is going away any time soon. They should certainly plug in and be a part of the conversation, but they need to realize, they are not just relays of news -- the demand for that function is going away quickly. Instead, they will be valued as personalities that can dissect news and share differing perspectives. I'm hoping for a rise in old-fashioned investigative journalism. In-depth news stories on topics that are really important.

I have done a little speaking, both with a live audience, and for a small TV network. I never reall considered it something to promote on my website - but maybe it should be. Thanks for the insightful tips. :)

Don't you know how to get loose by now?

My aunt was addicted to jazzercize when I was a kid.

I have wasted way too much time on your blog. No more Jantzie for at least a week. I have photos to edit.

Quantivo's website might be ok, but their video is really bad.

oh em gee!

Yeah, Peter Murphy would totally kick it with those guys.

Seriously. WTF is that?

You're under-estimating the power of that google-juice, and you're under-estimating the power of a big blog write up to drive a lot of other inbound links, and mentions on those same social media sites that you're raving about here. Did it occur to you that a lot of people coming from the social media sites may never have visited without the links in the influential blogs?

41 comments.. looks like they're alive and kicking, Robert. ;)

I've been listening to Rap all day. Diverse, Common, The Streets (UK), Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest -- you know -- the good shit that you never hear on the radio. I think people who think they don't like rap just never got to hear the good stuff. I remember in Junior High some classmates asked me what music I like -- I told them I like Public Enemy and they were like, "what's that?"
"rap"
"rap sucks"
"you haven't heard public enemy"
"shutup. they don't even play instruments. def leppard rules!"

I am so fucking sick of guitar bands. Still. Music isn't about how many notes you can play. Fuck guitar hero. Give me music with a groove and a soul. That's where it's at, bitch.

Watch out for zombies.

DEEP!

It is effective to have a target audience in mind for your blog, and serve that target audience to the best of your ability with your content.

Then find sponsors with similar audience targets.

I think you'll find that the sponsorship model works best for bloggers who are themselves a brand worthy of partnering with. The Gawkers, Kosh's, and Godins of the world will be able to attract sponsors much more easily than smaller blogs.

What bloggers need to show sponsors is that they have a valuable brand, too. Not simply hits to their website, but FANS and ADVOCATES.

In addition to raw traffic stats, sponsors are going to want detailed demographics (which most bloggers don't collect), they'll want to know where and how on the internet the blog is being talked about, how many backlinks the blog attracts, and where they're coming from, and so on.

On other words, if you want to attract sponsors, you need to be working on your own brand awareness.

Disqus?

ting?

Phil has been instrumental in helping our local tech community band together better. It's only natural that we band together to help him and his family in their time of need.

I think that their choice to use value added extras was solid. I opted for the $5 version because money is a little tight at the moment, but if I had a lot of discretionary income to blow on entertainment or politics, I would have purchased the most expensive option I could afford, if for no other reason than a show of support for what they're doing.

Hey, I didn't know these were still happening! Maybe I'll see you at a geek dinner soon. =)

Hey, you tracked down a URL. Terrific! Thanks for this. =) Keep it up.

You must be from the UK. I was drawn here by this post about music, but I'll certainly check out the archives, and read some of the poetry. I like the design, and the tone of your writing. =)

That sounds like my kind of band. I did a quick search, and wasn't able to find anything about them.

I agree with you about iTunes. I'm using Beatport.com for my dance music purchases. No DRM. You can even get lossless audio. It's a beautiful thing.

Of course, if you like free, I give away free electronic music MP3s all the time. Check Knobtweakers.net. =)