The Buie Knife

Social Media Revolution 2013

Watch this directly on Youtube.com

Erik Qualman, the creator of this video, has certainly generated curiosity about himself. I've now Googled him and checked out his Wikipedia profile. He's coined a word, "socialnomics: word of mouth on digital steroids."

The video is a good promotion for the growing importance of social media: "90% of consumers trust peer recommendations," compared to only 14% who trust advertising. 

And I want to know more about how "we will no longer search for products and services...they will find us via social media."

I do think there's still a tangible sales pitch to be done on the ROI on social media, not simply that, as Qualman says, the ROI "is that your business will still exist in five years."

The quick factoids in this video raise a lot of questions:

My 'Blook' On My Mother Cited As One of the Best for History Buffs

What a surprise to discover that my blook -- blog plus book -- Teacher of Our Town: Lillian Secrest Buie -- was cited in August 2009 by "Online School" as among the "100 Best Book Blogs for History Buffs: This nonfiction blog will point you to historical books....This blog acts as a 'living memorial' for Lillian Secrest Buie, and it follows her story, her writings, and the book inspired by her life."

Previously, Cheryl Hagedorn of "Blooking Central" wrote a piece about my work, "Living Memorial Becomes Autobiographical Blook." 

How Blogging Is Producing a Creative Renaissance in Journalism

Michael Manning, New York Review of Books: "Over the past few months alone, a remarkable amount of original, exciting, and creative (if also chaotic and maddening) material has appeared on the Internet. The practice of journalism, far from being leeched by the Web, is being reinvented there, with a variety of fascinating experiments in the gathering, presentation, and delivery of news. And unless the editors and executives at our top papers begin to take note, they will hasten their own demise."

At the bookstore, I picked up a new book by blogger turned successful author Heather Armstrong. Don't underestimate the emerging power of this medium (despite the hype).

Michael J. Totten Reporting from Iraq: A Model for Other 'Independent' Freelance Journalists, Travel Writers and Bloggers?

As I think about writing, reporting, editing and blogging from abroad (specifically Turkey), I'm looking for models of people who've done it successfully (for money). I've already cited the fine work of Bea Vanni, who coincidentally now lives not far from me in North Carolina. In the spirit of rewarding writers who've provided lots of invaluable information, I've emailed Bea and told her I want to make a donation to her blog, at least equivalent to the cost of a book, if her material were in book form.

Michael J. Totten may be another successful example. His "Middle East Journal" was the 2007 and 2008 Weblog Awards Winner for Best Mideast or Africa Blog. He writes frequently from Iraq, calling himself a "reader-funded foreign correspondent and foreign policy analyst who has reported from the Middle East, the Balkans, and the Caucasus." His work is published in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, NY Daily News, and Commentary.

Iran: A Nation of Bloggers, But What's Real? Follow Information Like a CIA Analyst

IRAN: A Nation Of Bloggers from ayrakus on Vimeo.

Related:

Iranian Revolution is Twittered and YouTube'd.

Alternative view: The Iranian People Speak, and "About Those Iranian Polls".

Follow the developments in Iran like a CIA analyst.

How to Improve the Blogosphere

Joel Achenbach: "Why oh why can't we have a better blogosphere? I vote for more polished prose emerging from thorough research. Good writers (and good thinkers) rely on revision as an essential element of the enterprise. In fact, I like Slate in particular because that stuff has actually been edited, revised, trimmed, copy edited, and all that jazz. It's filtered. Filters are good...Many, if not most, bloggers would benefit from greater experimentation with revision, and might do well to resort a bit more often to that timeless communication technique known as silence."

Blogging's Spiritual and Possibly Even Financial Rewards, in Contrast to Deteriorating Conventional Journalism

Despite all the horrendous stories of newspaper layoffs, near bankruptcies, and even "bailout plans for journalists," there's some silver lining in the media world: blogging is blooming into a profitable financial and publishing enterprise for at least a few. The Huffington Post, which had 4.5 million unique visitors in September, just landed $25 million of new funding. It plans focused acquisitions, and currently has a valuation of $100 million.

TPM Media, founded by Talking Points Memo blogger Josh Marshall, which has about a dozen employees, is hoping to expand in 2009 through micro-targeted advertising.

And despite the decline of traditional newspaper advertising revenue -- down by at least 11 percent  from 2007 to 2008 -- online interactive advertising is projected to grow in 2009, with spending increasing by as much as 15%.

To build an online publishing business that's self-sustaining for just one person from online advertising, one commentator at the Media Shift blog estimated that "100,000 monthly uniques (or about 3,300 daily uniques) as the tipping point where a blog or site can start generating livable income."

Not only that, but blogging may have spiritual rewards that other forms of journalism do not, says Arianna Huffington. She writes in "The Meltdown Will Be Blogged": "Blogging is all about connecting to others. The bond between blogger and reader creates an intimacy that is a much-needed corrective to the isolation that hard times bring. I'm always amazed by the things I learn from commenters I've never met but feel that I know. And I'm equally amazed by the things I keep discovering about myself in the course of writing and clarifying what's important to me.

Andrew Sullivan fleshes this experience out in a terrific essay in the Atlantic called "Why I Blog." "Alone in front of a computer, at any moment, are two people: a blogger and a reader," he writes. "The proximity is palpable, the moment human -- whatever authority a blogger has is derived not from the institution he works for but from the humanness he conveys. This is writing with emotion not just under but always breaking through the surface. It renders a writer and a reader not just connected but linked in a visceral, personal way. The only term that really describes this is friendship. And it is a relatively new thing to write for thousands and thousands of friends."

Read Arianna's essay. Meanwhile, Sullivan quotes a reader who says yeah, when a blogger she read (but had never met or even seen in the mainstream media) passed away, it was like losing a friend.

Despite the 'Death of Newspapers', Blogging Represents a 'New Golden Age for Journalism' Says Andrew Sullivan

In "Why I Blog," a magazine-length piece in The Atlantic, financially successful blogger Andrew Sullivan declares that blogging represents a new "golden age of journalism." A golden age? How's that, as newspapers seem to be dying? On NPR's "On Point," Sullivan, Tina Brown of The Daily Beast, and Nicholas Lehmann, dean of the Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, discuss the question "Can Bloggers Save Journalism?"

Sullivan argues that "in the end, eyeballs will attract advertising." We're still in a transitional period in which online business models do not yet bring in the kind of revenue that newspapers do (or did). But new ways of financing will emerge. Sullivan's personal blog already has more page views than the Christian Science Monitor. His overhead is himself and one intern, compared to the huge staff, plus buildings, infrastructure, print, paper of The Monitor. "There's just no way that given the economic disadvantages that institutional journalism has that it's going to survive in its current form," he said.

Advertising, plus foundational support and reader subscriptions, will in time finance investigative reporting and the kind of journalism that people value, Sullivan believes. Expert niche blogs are already emerging from "people you learn to trust," he notes.

Lehmann countered that the Internet may never adequately support direct, on-site original reporting. "That's the big worry here." He cited the New Orleans Times-Picayune's in-depth series on the political breakdowns resulting in the city flooding as an example of reporting that could never be financed by blogging.  His other examples included investigative reporting on Abu Ghraib, rendition, torture, and Walter Reed Army Hospital that were done by major print publications. The largest staff of any online profitable publication, Slate.com, has just 32 people, compared to hundreds of reporters at the largest print-driven papers.

Sullivan quickly conceded that his blogging is "parasitic," with so many links to "a dying model. The question is what happens when that model dies out." He speculates that eyeballs to blogging will generate advertising revenue that allows bloggers to become reporters. "In other words, you'll just have a disagregation of the entire process, and the market of eyeballs will determine what's reliable and what isn't," he said.

Examples: www.fivethirtyeight.com provides first-hand reporting of what's happening on the ground in various political campaigns. The torture story was amplified and pushed out by bloggers like himself, Sullivan noted.

Brown calls online publishing so liberating, to "create new voices online is so exciting."

The discussion is well worth listening to.

Salient quotes from Sullivan's Atlantic essay below:

Sometimes Blogging Feels Like This...Monty Python's 'Argument Clinic'

Hat tip to Dave Rubar on Ed Cone's Blog for this link. Watch this on YouTube.com

Reflections on Year's End, Winter Mortality, Reason for Writing, Blogging

It's almost year's end, and I know of two people in their 80s on their death beds who aren't likely to make it into 2008. I wonder if more people die in late December than at any other time of the year? If in poor health, enduring pain and a long illness, one can certainly understand that the will to live into another year would diminish if not shut down at this time of year. I've tried to find a Google link to research that confirms my hunch that the mortality rate is higher in late December than at any other time of the year, but the best I can find is a study from Auburn University in Alabama indicating that more people die in winter months. 

While searching for that data on the Docuticker.com web site, I did find a study by Scarborough Research asserting that 15 percent of the adults in Austin, TX are bloggers, 14 percent of Portland, OR adults are bloggers, and 13 percent of San Francisco adults are bloggers. Nationally, eight percent of all consumers are bloggers, according to this study. Kind of amazing, isn't it? I wonder if it's really true. How do they define "blogger"? If you set up a blog a year ago but haven't posted since, are you a blogger? If you post twice a year, are you a blogger? If you post comments to someone else's blog, are you a blogger? Certainly, Ron Moore, with his very frequent comments on my blog, is a blogger. But would the study count him? Anyway, it's encouraging to me that so many people are taking to writing, and reading blogs.

Is it a good use of time? This time of year is a time for taking stock. The passing away of friends and acquaintances over the last year lead one to reflect on how to choose to spend whatever remaining time we have left. Obviously, none of us knows how much time that will be. Should I continue in 2008 to spend time blogging, or should I get more of a life off of the computer? My last post mentioned the kidding I've received from my extended family for spending time blogging. And it's true one shouldn't take blogging, especially if done in isolation, too seriously, or spend too much time on it, especially if what you produce is the drek and garbage found on a lot of blogs.

Debra (writemyline) made a great point in the comments about the value of blogging. I liken it to providing the discipline for a combination of journal-keeping, letter-writing, research, debate (sharpening my own thinking), and often inspiring the first draft of columns or articles I write for publications. And connecting you and me to a world community that shares some of the same interests, concerns and values.

One powerful reason to write, if not blog, comes from a popular blog called "37 Days: What Would You Be Doing If You Only Had 37 Days Left to Live?"  Why 37 day?