January 20, 2006 – 4:45 pm
(NOTE: I cross-posted this from Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits blog.)
Yesterday, at 4:15 ET, the editors of WashingtonPost.com indefinitely shut down comments on one of the paper’s weblogs, post.blog. Jim Brady, executive editor of WashingtonPost.com explained that this was due to profanity and hate speech evident in the torrent of contentious comments about the Jan. 15 column by ombudsman Denise Howell concerning the paper’s coverage of the Jack Abramoff story.
I can completely understand this decision, although I’m not sure whether it was the right move…
January 19, 2006 – 12:33 pm
One reason why I’m a bit frustrated with what I see as “blog myopia” rather than a broader recognition of conversational media (of which blogging is but a part) is that blogs have a lot of drawbacks.
Yes, blogs can facilitate certain aspects of the public conversation – very well in many cases.
Also: Blogs are a clunky, imperfect, limited, primitive form of conversational media. In fact, sometimes they can inhibit conversation, or even be used (consciously or unconsciously) to dodge conversation.
So in a way, it kind of bugs me that blogs are currently such a high-profile aspect of conversational media, because I don’t think they’re necessarily a great exposure to the experience. But then again, all conversational-media tools, even e-mail lists, have their own set of drawbacks.
So just to put these on the table, here are 10 reasons why I think blogs aren’t always great for conversation…
(Read the full article at The Right Conversation…)
January 17, 2006 – 4:00 pm
On Jan. 4, David Davis, a speechwriter and corporate communications pro, published the results of a business blogging survey he commissioned. His researchers surveyed 750 business executives from the US, UK, South Africa, and Australia who publish company weblogs. Intriguingly, only 17% of these executives write their own blogs.
Hmmm, might a ghostwritten blog be a viable option, after all? I didn’t used to think so, but this survey has me wondering.
But first, a reality check…
January 11, 2006 – 8:21 pm
In a recent private conversation, a well-known blogger and I were discussing the problems that can arise when the people in charge of a business blog are too focused on maintaining a sense of total control.
My colleague expressed a Zen-like principle. To paraphrase, his point was: “Credibility comes by releasing control over the conversation, because you gain credibility when you listen, and when you speak authentically.”
This, of course, runs completely opposite to prevailing corporate culture which often mistakes “credibility” for authority or power.
The problem is, if you significantly control or constrain a public conversation (beyond filtering out spammers, of course), you’re demonstrating power and you may even gain a certain amount of authority. However, you’ll only lose credibility in the process…
(Read the full article at The Right Conversation…)
January 10, 2006 – 9:40 am
I promise, I will be posting more to Contentious… but in the last week I’ve been surprised and pleased by how well my new weblog on conversational media, The Right Conversation has been taking off. Lots of good discussion happening there! Here are the latest articles I’ve published over there:
January 2, 2006 – 12:42 pm
One of the reasons I launched my new weblog,”The Right Conversation,” is that I’d quietly grown embarrassed by the static site I’d been using as an online brochure for my professional skills.
My old Gahran.com site had degenerated into a “cobweb” because it was a relative hassle to maintain. I hadn’t updated it in a long time, and it featured some broken links. That’s not good marketing.
Yes, I’ll admit it, I’ve gotten spoiled by the simplicity, speed, and flexibility of blogging tools. But that’s not the only reason why I’ve killed Gahran.com and redirected all the traffic from that domain to my new blog. The thing is, a weblog can serve as both a brochure and a conversation.
Here’s how I’ve done that, in this case…
January 2, 2006 – 11:47 am
Weblogs are currently one of the most lively and provocative types of conversational media, all because of one simple feature: Comments. Blogs that allow comments are transformed from mere publishing to a facet of the public conversation.
The problem is, though, that’s right now it’s just not as easy as it should be to follow that [...]
November 22, 2005 – 2:15 pm
Want to subscribe to all the shows in my Women in Podcasting list all at once? Check out the Women in Podcasting Blogdigger Group — it contains all the feeds in in my list of currently active podcasts that are hosted/co-hosted by women.
Here’s how you can use that group to subscribe to all those podcasts at once…
November 22, 2005 – 9:34 am
OK, feast your eyes. I’ve finished a first draft of the Women in Podcasting List, reworked in OPML so it’s easier to maintain (and share maintenance duties).
Check it out now via the free online service OPML Manager
NOTE: This is only a first draft! It’s not completely how I want it yet, but it’s a start. I’ll be working on it more later.
Here are a few important caveats to bear in mind about this first draft…
November 16, 2005 – 1:04 pm
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