I think it was pure voodo, but I have dasBlog 2.0 installed now.  I hope it sticks.

Now, off to copy all my content back, migrate my modified page layout, ...

The web, the ultimate tool for the generation and dissemination of irony, hasn't lost it's touch.  A recent post by a Google employee intended to illustrate how advertising can be used for issue management created a bit of... you guessed it... an issue.  While I'm sure the movie was not a target but provided Lauren Turner with a great segue into a pertinent topic,  the blogstorm which resulted highlights an important point: when blogging on a corporate site... just how much can you say?

When we were ramping up to do the Windows Live Hotmail beta we knew that in addition to the private beta tester forum we wanted to have a public mechanism for putting out the good word about our new baby.  The Hotmail team blog was a "grassroots" effort, driven by the line-level employees and not by our PR department and, as a result, we needed to make it clear to the powers-that-be that we had our act together and weren't going to post something which would prove embarrassing.  To smooth the way I wrote up a guide to communicating with the outside world which covered newsgroups, dealing with press calls and, of course, blogging. 

Personal blogs are just that, personal blogs.  Everyone puts the requisite disclaimer on their blog ("the opinions expressed here... blah blah blah") but it's pretty much accepted that unless you have a company logo emblazoned at the top of your page there is no other source for the drivel contained within.  There's no need to set up regulations for your own blog.

If, however, you're planning on starting a blog for your team, product or whatever you must set up some guidelines, there's no way around it.  If your company already has a policy on blogging, start there, it will provide a great framework for your new rules.  There are also a ton of great blogging guidelines blog posts on the web.  In the fallout of the Google's Sicko-gate Matt Cutts wrote a good Company Blogging 101 post with great tips for corporate bloggers.  The article well written and broken into easily digestible sections. If you blog on a site for your employer (or a site which is identified with a work project) I highly recommend you read Matt's post and figure out how you can work the salient points into your own policy or mental framework.

So, back to my original question: how much can you say on a company-sponsored blog?  The answer: as much as you like... but you have to establish the bounds well in advance.  Corporate America is starting to realize the value of blogging as a tool for customer relations, PR, advertising and more but many companies are still quite shy when it comes to taking the plunge.  Creating a solid set of posting guidelines will keep your boss and PR firm happy (and keeping your team blog on the net will make your customers happy).

Link: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/company-blogging-101/

Web pages are complicated.  People want to share their life stories and pictures, but learning HTML is hard (ask Trina).  So the world of blogging was born. 

Blog software has made it very easy to set up and maintain your content, whether it be a running account of how all your cat's hairballs look like past presidents, or something much, much less significant.  Blogs do, however, have the problem that they often get abandoned for great lengths of time (Dick's blog comes to mind :D).

So, what's today's generation of zero-attention-span kids to do?  Sign up for twitter, of course.

Twitter is, Don MacAskill appropriately called it, a service for microblogging.  It's optimized for very short, simple posts.  It will even prompt you periodically via SMS or IM to find out what you're doing.  After a quick setup you can add your mobile phone number and Twitter will send you an SMS every 24 hours if you haven't updated (a reply to the SMS will post right to your twitter log).  You can also add twitter as an IM buddy if you're using the right service.

It's a fascinating little toy, with all the needed components to make it entertaining for all of about a week (friends lists, ease of use and cool little widgets to add to your other web pages).  For me, however, the signal to noise ratio is way too high to be useful.  There is a public timeline which is sure to get crowded with legitimate and illegitimate spam (when I checked there were two posts within minutes from BBC sports) and switching to a private timeline will require a set of friends as exhibitionistic as yourself.

Still... entertaining enough to play with for a while... though I won't be able to afford to have the SMS notifications turned on (the closest local text is the UK).

I started my first blog back in 2002 on Blogger but switched to using dasBlog in late 2003 when I was wanting more control of my site.  I've wanted to migrate the content over from the old site for a long time but never could find a tool to do the heaving lifting... until today when I discovered Nick Schweitzer's "Coding Monkey" site.  Nick has clear instructions as well as a GUI tool to help switch from Blogger to dasBlog.  The process was quick and painless and his instructions were straight-forward.  If you've been looking to import your old Blogger content into dasBlog but weren't sure how, check out Nick's instructions.

It's more for me than anyone else... but if you want to find my old posts, you can just click on the "Old Blog" topic on the right.

CNN: the most trusted name in news?  Must be on the web, because television is loosing ground to the Internet as a trusted source for information.  From that I segue gracefully into... the Edelman trust barometer found Microsoft is the most trusted name in business.

The Edelman Trust Barometer found Microsoft Corporation the most trusted global company, followed by iconic companies in their home markets, including Toyota in Japan, Haier in China, Samsung in South Korea, and Petrobras in Brazil.

I think MS is a great place to work, and having the company get this type of recognition feels good (especially for someone who used to be a closet MS employee).  I realize that Edelman is a PR firm which counts MS as one of its biggest clients, but this was, after all, a survey.

While I led off with the fun part of the survey... for me this is the really interesting part:

In the U.S., trust in "a person like me" increased from 20% in 2003 to 68% today.

In other words, most people in the US find the average employee is a more trust-worthy spokesman than the CEO.  Any connection to the surge in blogging?  It's pretty hard to preen cause from effect here but I, for one, am hugely thankful for the change in culture at Microsoft which made it possible for employees like me to feel comfortable blogging in relative freedom about our work.

I suppose that brings me back to the beginning... perhaps the trust in Microsoft will not be limited to a single survey or a fleeting one-year occurrence.  With any luck, as more people are able to get a glimpse of the people working at Microsoft and the pride they have in their work, the world will realize that for us it's really about building cool software, not crushing your enemies and seeing them driven before you.  While our moniker of "the evil empire" is something I look on with amusement, it's not a nickname I view with pride.

For a deeper dive on the topic of what can happen for company trust when the employees step out from behind the protective shadow of a company's CEO and PR machine I recommend you check out Richard Edelman's essay The Me2 Revolution on his blog.

Bengt, Steve and I spent a bunch of time posturing to figure out who could get their blog to the top of the Google search results for a made up word.  It's a page rank game, how "popular" is your web site?

Bah, kid stuff.  Real men (real capitalist men) care about money.  Here's the acid test: How much is your blog worth?

Thanks Tom for the pointer!

On Sunday most people got their first glimpse of MSN Virtual Earth (well, the PR started Sunday at any rate) and frankly... it’s pretty damn cool.  Imagine the useful features of Google earth… but in a web page... no software installer needed (unless, of course, you’re not running a modern browser, but then you’re probably on a 200 baud modem as well). 

The site is cool for what it is, but it gets better, the Virtual Earth team thought ahead and built in some cool functionality to allow people to create custom maps... so one of our architects did.  To the see the fruits of his handiwork go to the start preview, click the down arrow next to the “start preview” logo and select “MSN Bloggers Map” from the Popular Feeds/Staff picks section.  Voila, a list of MSN bloggers showing their office locations on a satellite picture. 

Think about how fantastic this is; we’ve made stalking accessible to the insanely lazy and clinically agoraphobic.

Sorry if you received a reload of my entire post set, my blog software threw a cog this morning and a reinstall was required to get up and running again.

The reason the World Wide Web is called the World Wide Web is because it’s filled with interconnected links, allowing you to move from site to site.  Do you ever do that?

When I first started using the web, yes, I did click around from site to site, it was kind of neat.  Now, when I want some information I go to a search engine (typically Google, but I’ve just installed the MSN toolbar, but I digress), type in a search and go directly to the info I want.  I do very little “browsing” when on the web.  Two reasons:

1. Many sites actively seek to keep you on their site
2. The web is getting really, really big… wandering is not as interesting as it used to be, there’s just too much random crap.

The thing that has brought back interest in web surfing for me is the concept of the blog sphere.  A blog sphere is a subset of a subset of the web; it’s the blogs (one subset) I read (another sub set).  This narrowing of scope has made it much easier to navigate the web in an ad hoc fashion as I am no longer presented with the overwhelming scope of the web… I’m presented with the web as seen by people I think are interesting (who find interesting links, produce interesting content or are, simply, interesting).

All day today I’ve been listening to a new, free album I downloaded from Mercedes Benz (yes, the auto manufacturer).  Seeing as you don’t expect go looking for music on a car manufacturer’s site and I don’t own a Mercedes (or a Chrysler for that matter) it’s unlikely I would have happened upon this site on my own.  I found it because Paul left a comment on my blog, and he entered the URL for his blog.  Reading his blog I found the info on the Benz free music download.

Viewed as a whole, the web is full of a bunch of random crap.  Viewed through the filter of the people with whom I share a connection it becomes a whole lot more interesting.

I've found that without an RSS reader I don't get around to checking out my friend's pages, so I need to get myself a reader and am now going to make a concerted effort to find one that fits my needs. Throughout this process I'll keep you updated with my impressions of the various clients I try out. Note that I may end up finding a great client and/or get bored before I can try out every client out there, so don't be disappointed if I peter out.

So, what are my criteria?

Must Have:

• Offline Reading - I tend to live most of my life on my laptop and if I can't take care of some of the reading while on an airplane or sitting in a waiting room it won't work for me.
• Comments API - The original post is not all of the interesting content related to a post, I need to be able to read the comments on my blog and the blogs of my friends without having to navigate to the blog and dig down to the comments page.
• Windows application - I use Windows, if it runs on another platform it obviously won't work for me (and please don't start any religious Mac vs. Windows vs. Linux discussions with me, I can't be bothered).

Like to Have:

• Saved Searches - When part of my feed base relates to work it's great to have a "feed" which is a view of all posts which contain a particular keyword (e.g. Hotmail).
• Outlook Hotkeys - I use keyboard shortcuts in Outlook to speed up reading of messages. If my RSS reader were to use the same keys I'd be able to quickly mark things read, delete and forward posts without having to learn a new set of keys (which would potentially get confused with other applications).

I've started an initial list of readers with my main requirements: http://www.little.org/tips/rssreaders.htm. If you have an app you really like, please let me know.

Seriously now... blogs are little more than personal home pages with built-in text editors.

People put up web pages for a number of reasons, but it's really all about a real or perceived notion that what they have to say is interesting to other people.  Blogs are all the rage now because they've cut through the painful overhead of setting up and maintaining a web page.  Here's what I say, they're nothing new, just a better implementation.

Bill Gates is now going to get a blog.  Doesn't he already have one right here?  Sure... it doesn't look like a blog, but it serves the same function.  So, if Bill Gates already has a web page that provides a forum for his views and news what is he really getting?

Perhaps it's not that simple.  Our society is continuing to evolve from a formal to informal society.  We don't wear ties to work anymore.  We don't like our neighbor's kids to call us “Mr. This” or “Mrs. That”.  We prefer instant messaging over e-mail.  Are blogs just an extension of that formal to casual transition our culture is making?

A formal home page is cold and corporate.  It has pretty graphics and structured layout.  A blog tends to have fewer static pictures and the content, while structured, tends to be shorter and come in fits and bursts (My posts range from a couple lines to long boring rants no one reads... are you still here?).

So what do you think?  Are blogs really something new?

My Cousin Mark Robert (I can't remember a name for two seconds? Must be time to put me out to pasture) used to work for Nokia as a patent attorney, now it appears he spends his time blogging.  I guess I'll have to drop him an e-mail to find out else what he's up to.

Aren't computers grand?  The magic of the web and blogging technology allow us to keep a virtual eye on Rob and Sharon as they each celebrate their 30^th birthday in Paris.

Rob has quite the photo setup and the skills to back it up.  The pictures are bound to be beautiful.

Stop me if you've heard this one...

Someone who speaks three languages is...

trilingual

Someone who speaks two languages is...

bilingual

Some one who speaks one language is...

American!

Sure, an oldie but a goodie. Now in my defense I speak English, French and a little German. I don't, however, have any idea what is being written into the comment fields of my blog (see here and here). I found a Norwegian to English translator on the web (but have since lost it... I'll find it again I know, if only IE had some sort of history feature ;)) and had fair results. Perhaps I should try Swedish or Finnish... I'd really love to know what this person has taken the time to write. Anyone speak... well... whatever?

Blogging seems to be seeping deeper and deeper into our culture.  Aditya posted a link to a great NYT article on blogging.

Here's the quote that got me thinking:

And while there are exceptions, many journal writers exhibit a surprising lack of curiosity about the journals of true strangers. They're too busy writing posts to browse.

Blogging is really very self-serving (except in my case, because I'm special).  People have a strong need for validation, they want to know they are liked, respected, feared, or whatever resonates best with their psyche.  When you think of blogging as simply people looking for acceptance, is there any surprise that high school kids gravitate to it?

No, I don't think it's wrong to seek validation, I think it's natural.  I wish more people recognized the want for validation as a basic human need.  You want to experiment with validation? 

Fun with validation:
People will be giving you information all day long, it's unavoidable.  Next time you get information from someone you have two choices.  You can say either:
a.  "Yeah, I knew that"
       or
b.  "Cool!"

Try it out, watch their face.  So, what did you learn? 

Choosing option “a” is really an attempt to usurp validation from the other person.  Sure, you've made it clear you already have the information, have you made them respect you?  If you short circuit their request for validation they are not going to be happy, in fact, they will be so distracted by you being a “know-it-all” that you will not get any benefit.  With choice “a” you both loose.

Choose “b” and you you'll get a much better response from the other person.  Will they think less of you?  Unlikely.  Will you feel worse?  You already know you knew the information, who cares if the other person knows you knew?  Get over yourself.

Validation isn't limited to sharing knowledge, it covers every aspect of the way people communicate.  When someone shows you their new camera they really don't want to know it was the wrong purchase, they want to hear “cool!”  There's no point in telling them they paid too much, who wins?

Okay Reeves, this sounds very touchy-feely... what's in it for me?  Validation, of course.  If people feel validated when they talk to you, they will like you.  People who like you will do stuff for you.  Pretty simple, huh? 

Now go tell all your friends to read my blog because I'm really really cool and I know stuff.

Sorry for the lack of posts... changes in Blogger and my blogging software conflicted and I haven't been able to publish. Working on getting new tools.

I'm working on catching up to my friends, it appears that a blog is a required element. Close eyes, lift foot, lean forward...