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Rewriting our old blog cover

Posted by: Stephen Baker on November 30

Remember this old war horse?

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It’s the cover Heather and I wrote in May 2005. Yesterday I learned that it’s still getting quite a few clicks. But a lot has happened since then in this field. Parts of the story are out of date. And I’m sure at least a few of our predictions have fallen flat. So I would like to annotate the article, creating a December 2008 version, which we could put back up on line. I think this could be a lot of fun.

How should we do this? As a wiki? Any suggestions?

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Reader Comments

Raza Imam

November 30, 2007 03:40 PM

Do it!

My blog has revolutionized my business and can do the same for others... if they're smart.

Profile small companies that are using blogs to grow their businesses; readers will relate to it. Feature stories of people connecting with each other via blogs about a disease, or perhaps a social cause.

Talk about how good bloggers are rewarded and bad ones are punished. A few days ago a guy told me that Bob Lutz's blog is a joke now because it seems like he doesn't write his own posts anymore. Talk about FakeSteveJobs. Talk about

Inspire your readers to take action and join the blogosphere. Your initial article did that for me! I'm actually re-reading it now.

Raza Imam
BoycottSoftwareSweatshops.com

Eric Weaver - Brand Dialogue

November 30, 2007 09:26 PM

I think a wiki would be great...great hook to use the tools you cover to create/rewrite the story.

I think the main point is not the specific tools (blogs, podcasts, etc.) but the act of self-publishing and co-creation. It's so commonplace now that we're past the hype stage and into the just-another-tool stage.

http://www.branddialogue.com

Albert Maruggi

December 1, 2007 12:45 AM

Agreed Raza and allow me to add please,

In addition to blogging, which is appropriate for some companies not all, further consideration should be given to participating in the conversation.

Tools like Twitter, Utterz, and Helium are dynamic communication platforms that are transforming businesses. Without question thoughtful participation has elevated our business, but more importantly, the blogsphere has contributed so much to my thinking about better ways to help our clients.

Now the question of return on investment will always be present. To that question I suggest several dimensions of success, they are, thought leadership and the benefit to the company, enhanced knowledge just from participating and what they means to your workforce, and exponential growth among audiences within your profession or that of the markets you serve.

I also wish some investigation and analysis was given to measuring blog participation on the part of the individual. Sure we can come close to understanding blog visitors, links and trackbacks, but what about the individual who regularly contributes through comments, but doesn't have a blog or is an infrequent blogger on his or her own site. I’d like there to be some type of blogger index which includes the commentaries as well.

Albert Maruggi
www.providentpartners.net/blog

Jon Garfunkel

December 3, 2007 12:26 AM

Steve,

An update is a good idea.
"December 2008 version"?

Too bad there's still no good annotation format (unless you count MSFT Web Comments). There *should* be a way to preserve the original text of the article while providing "forward notes" to explain what happened afterwards. Because it would be great for people to come upon the *original article* and be clued into updates. Wiki doesn't well cut it for display.

And this should be done on many more articles than just this one! Rather than a wiki, we need a way for trusted users to submit solid updates to articles. And while you can, in Raza's words above, add *new* facts (like the phenomenon of "FakeSteveJobs"), I think it would be a helpful constraint to just focus on the facts of the article. In this case, you would explain what happened to Bob Lutz's blog (see John Cass's study), to Technorati, to Pubsub, Dan Gillmor's Grassroots Media.

Dario Salvelli

December 3, 2007 08:00 AM

Fantastic: i don't know this cover but your suggestions it's true. The blog not only revolutionized the business but also the relationship and the job possibility!

schadenfreudisch

December 3, 2007 12:53 PM

my small suggestion is that you get you and heather's picture back on this layout. that was something significant about the cover that you lost. reporters actually putting their faces out there. becoming part of the story.

David Staub

December 3, 2007 03:20 PM

An annotated update of your article is a great idea. I don't think a wiki is the way to go for updating that article (or most articles, for that matter). Unless a reader goes back through the history, the wiki only shows the latest version. In many cases, it is the differences that will make it interesting, not just the final result.

Another alternative is simply a follow up article, focusing only on the issues that need to be updated.

David Staub
Illinois Business Attorney

Serge Lescouarnec

December 5, 2007 12:03 PM

Hello Stephen

We had a roundtable on the topic back then in Montclair.

I will host a panel titled 'Just over 50 and not dead yet' at South by Southwest.
It will highlight the fact that the web is not populated just by 20 somethings on My Space and Facebook.

Take care

Serge
Blog:
http://www.sergetheconcierge.com

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In Blogspotting Senior Writer Stephen Baker and Associate Editor Heather Green take a look at how cutting-edge technologies are changing business and society. Whether its blogs or wikis, data crunching or data targeting, technology’s advances are reshaping the world that we live in.

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