Rattleblog: Tales from the blogosphere

11-08-2006

by Damien Mulley

Rattleblog this week covers some old media banging heads with new media, while other old media heads are embracing new web talent.

The circuitous argument about old media manning the barricades against the barbarian hordes of bloggers popped up again in the New Yorker this week. Author and blogger Steven Johnson spoke for many when he pointed out that bloggers have no intention of making journalists and newspapers obsolete. [Sigh of relief: Editor]

While it's true that print newspapers will not go the route of the dodo because of bloggers, Dave Newberger points out that online editions of newspapers work to boost readership of existing print papers, so embracing new forms of media could be advantageous.

This is what the Washington Post is doing, according to Denise Howell who reports that the Post is encouraging readers/users to create video mash-ups with content they've provided on their site. Unfortunately you sign away all rights to the mash-up, unless of course it gets the Post into trouble. That's a no-no according to Denise, and many agree.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is also mixing existing content with new technologies, according to Niall Kennedy. The WSJ are now offering personal start pages where you can read WSJ content as well as news feeds of other website, which you can add to this start page. Irish newspapers have yet to do this, but who knows what the future holds?

Embracing new web technologies may also be a good idea for TV; Loic Le Meur points to a McKinsey study that shows that teens currently spend 600 percent more time online than watching TV.

No doubt this had something to do with Lucasfilms' u-turn this week when it told YouTube to put back up clips from its Star Wars films that had previously been taken down due to copyright infringement. It seems that Lucasfilms are now happy for the millions of YouTube viewers to access Lucasfilms content from the site.

Radio too is finding itself mixing with the web with news this week from the Search Engine Journal that Google will now be selling ads on satellite radio for their customers, who up to now could just buy ad space on websites.

Murdoch-owned MySpace this week signed a USD900 million deal with Google that will see the search firm become the main search and advertiser provider for MySpace. Murdoch was laughed at by traditional media when he embraced the new net generation and purchased MySpace for USD500 million, but one deal with Google has already recouped twice the sticker price for his purchase. Perhaps this will spark other traditional media outlets to devise online plans.

The other big news this week involved AOL, which released the search history of thousands of its users. The data was released in such a way that it became quite easy to identify the people who conducted the searches despite AOL's claims that they had protected their users' identities.

Using AOL's data, Irish blog Stall The Ball was able to track down a woman from Arizona who is moving to Ireland. Stall The Ball was then able to build a detailed profile of her and her kids, just by examining what she searched for. Said Stall The Ball: "I think 1766125 is a female, from Scottsdale Arizona, looking at either moving to Ireland or coming over for an extended stay. Has a dog, currently ill not drinking a lot of water. Has kids, one in preschool the other a bit older. Is interested in/ has friends or relations from Tallaght or Howth possibly, but definitely Clontarf." How's that for Big Brother?

Locally, Cork blogger Donncha O'Caoimh who also develops blogging platform Wordpress, blogged about his first experience of an earthquake while at a work function in San Francisco.

Lastly, as blogging is becoming more popular, non-techies want to learn how to start and run a blog. Tom Raftery of Podleaders.com will be providing training courses in Cork and Dublin for those that want to learn about blogs. It won't be long before these rising stars will have their blog quoted in Rattleblog!

Damien Mulley is an Irish blogger and works as a technical writer in Cork.