The Mason Technologist

Found a Free Offline reader to Synch with Bloglines.com
I just installed GreatNews. It seems cool and its free.
Bloglines is my main RSS reader, but I was looking for something to download my feeds when I don't have internet connectivity such as on the train down to NYC. Looks like this will work quite nicely.

This is the first time I have ever seen Google crash!
I must use Google 100 times a day (no exaggeration) and this is the very first time I have EVER seen a server error. I just had to take a picture ;-)

Hand-held Brainstorming Tools
I have never seen these brainstorming tools before.
The reviewers on Amazon LOVE these things!
I'll have to run this by our creative director!

PRSA - Presentation on Using RSS in Corporate Communications

I just sat in on a presentation given by Elizabeth Albrycht with APM Communications on RSS for the B2B market. She validated some of our strategies including RSS in online press rooms, and capturing and tracking word of mouth and online buzz. Some other interesting ideas she had for RSS were:

• Extranets and partner areas
• Customer relations
• Resource center and online libraries
• Event related information

It's great to see all these new ideas for RSS. I will continue to monitor and post other ways to use RSS and XML as a connections tool. If you find anything else let me know!

Hey PR guess what? -- Journalists adore blogs.

MarketingSherpa just published survey results that over 50% of technology journalists surveyed read blogs on a regular basis and surf them for new story ideas. My guess is that others will soon follow.

REI to use Blog software to post content to their website

Interesting story posted on Internet Retailer on how REI is doing a limited rollout of blogging software to post content on the REI website.

Blogging software developed by Seattle e-mail technology
developer What Counts will, in effect, make bloggers out of store personnel who
use the tool to post local events and schedules. While that content will reflect
the personality of REI as a company to the extent that it supports company
values and mission, it's not, at this point, intended as an extended platform
for the personal attitudes of the individual blogger.

"We're using blogging technology, but it really will not be
presented as a blog," says Reynolds. We are not educating the 50 or so users
that they are going to be blogging. We're simply creating a new user interface
that makes it incredibly simple to post content."

This was a topic of discussion in my last 4As IT committee meeting and I poo-poo-ed the idea! Even the Mason Technologist gets it wrong some times ;-). Well, obviously blogging software will never replace robust content management systems, but its an interesting idea.

Actually I suggested doing a similar thing on the bruegger's news page. We have added an RSS 2.0 feed, but why not make the news page a "blog" to post not only press releases, but video and audio news as well as other news items that don't necessarily warrant a full press release. I'll let you know when it goes live.

Podcast Vs. Blogcast
The debate rages on, right now Podcast is winning by a landslide, but blogcast is on the rise... See for yourself -->
Track it with CustomScoop
Track it with Blogpulse

This is a great example of how to use these tools to track word of mouth

PR People should read Tim Bray's article on the new PR. With blogs, the word of mouth network is getting more and more efficient. The smart PR firms know this and use it to their advantage.

adCenter Live in France?
I just received a call from a representative at MSN that said MSN adCenter has launched in France today. I tried searching for it, but couldn't come up with any more info other then the original announcement and video and these screen shots from back in March. She is supposed to be sending me some additional information later in the week, so I will post it when I get it... Does anyone have more detail? Let me know...

7/15/05 - Update, looks like I misunderstood what the MSN rep said. She referred me to the March press release which talks about France and Singapore being the test markets. So as of today adCenter is still in beta. I'll keep my ear to the tracks.

How do you get bloggers to write about you?
Crispin Porter + Bogusky figured it out - cash in on the poker craise and mix in their client Victoria Secret and you have Pink Panty Poker. Hmmmm, they say they are targeting 18-24 women...

Blogpulse
Alright, everyone liked the customscoop.com graphs so much, that I figured I would post one from blogpulse as well. Let's stick with Tom and Nicole just for comparison sake:

The cool thing about blogpulse is that you can click on the graph to see the actual posts for that day. The other cool thing is you can graph 1, 2 3 or 6 months.

This looks like a great way to see if your message is getting out there.

Scoble has recently republished his Corporate Weblog Manifesto (originally posted in 2003). As we venture forth into the world of Blogging, it might be a good idea to review his thoughts.

I figured I would post the first 3 here, but the full post is at: http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2003/02/26.html

1) Tell the truth. The whole truth. Nothing but the truth. If your competitor has a product that's better than yours, link to it. You might as well. We'll find it anyway.

2) Post fast on good news or bad. Someone say something bad about your product? Link to it -- before the second or third site does -- and answer its claims as best you can. Same if something good comes out about you. It's all about building long-term trust. The trick to building trust is to show up! If people are saying things about your product and you don't answer them, that distrust builds. Plus, if people are saying good things about your product, why not help Google find those pages as well?

3) Use a human voice. Don't get corporate lawyers and PR professionals to cleanse your speech. We can tell, believe me. Plus, you'll be too slow. If you're the last one to post, the joke is on you!

Free Flow of Info

Friends and co-workers have been forwarding me interesting articles - all with the same theme: The way that we collect and disseminate information is rapidly changing.

1. The way that people gather their information is rapidly changing. A recent study by BIGResearch shows that 18 to 24 year olds are spending more and more time reading blogs, IM, IPODs and other new media outlets.

2. Everyone in the world has an outlet now and their own voice. Information is now being disseminated now through camera phones, mobile blogs and remote audio recorders. The way news and information is reportred is changing. The coverate of the 7/7 London bombing shows that more than ever before, citizen journalists provided some of the best coverage.

3. RSS is an evolutionary step.

In 1996 we simply browsed for information (html)
In 2002 - search for information (yahoo and google)
2006 - subscribe to information (RSS)
Browse->Search->Subscribe

I watched an online channel 9 video from the Internet Explorer 7 team. They show how RSS is going to be used for more then blogs, podcasts and vblogs. One example the demonstrated was a new way to synchronize your schedule using RSS and information in icalander format. This means that any schedule program will be able to share information and have it updated immediately - Lotus Notes, Exchange, GroupWise - They all will be able to share information! Very cool stuff.

The time of personalized information management is upon us. We will use computers to automatically search, organize and present information in the way that we choose. RSS is the tool that enables this.