Twitter on the Daily Show

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Twitter Frenzy
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor

The end of blogs?

The demise of blogging and the rise of Twitter has been predicted for some time.
In my own experience I find that I blog less and tweet more. On the other hand, traffic sources to my ThoughtSpurs blog are increasingly from Twitter.

One of the issues with Twitter is that information on Twitter is transitory, whereas blogs have a permanence that allow the information in them to be archived and searched (located) by Google and other search engines.

Twitter is useful for promoting fresh content on your blog or web site. If the content is interesting and relevant the message may be retweeted to wider, secondary networks.

I'm inclined to the view that microblogging's exponential rise in popularity is interesting but it would be wrong to view it as evidence of the demise of other forms.
Different media formats have always proven useful for different tasks. Messages of less than 140 characters have their limitations as well as their opportunities.

The trick is to work them out.

Twittering - Online Stream of Conscious

I wonder if Twitter is causing a reduction in the amount of blogging. Twitter is called 'micro-blogging' and allows users to publish messages of 140 characters or less - the effect is more of an extemporaneous conversation with the network. Users are able to view comments by members of their network and either reply widely, visible to all, directly - only visible by their recipient or to 'Retweet' someone else's message to their own network.

Some people use twitter to develop contacts with others of a like mind. Businesses like the New York Times or New Zealand Herald use the short form and truncated URLs (available from the likes of BrightKit or TinyURL.com. It is an easily updated way for the firms to advise of content updates.

There are many applications popping up around Twitter to manage and analyse connections. Twirl and Tweetdeck are popular. You can measure your influence and the growth of your network with tools like TwitterCounter or Twitter-Friends

It is an interesting experiment in social media. My feeling is that it will evolve.
The question is whether the pressure on attention is sustainable? Who much time do people have to consume an endless real-time stream of conscious.

Follow me on Twitter

Video Blogging

Crossroads: Overcoming the Odds from Sunny Gault on Vimeo.I'm not a huge fan of video blogs - yet, bandwidth here in New Zealand is still expensive and unreliable. And, unlike a written account, it is hard top skim.

Today I cam across this vlog by American woman Sunny Gault. Gault pitches herself as a 'storyteller', and that is exactly how she phrases her posts.

The motif is The Crossroads - she records her piece to camera at an actual crossroad, which seem to have charming, small town names. The format is simple. Just Sunny to camera. She has a rant about the topic on her mind.

She has defined the following categories:

• Career
• Everyday Life
• Family
• Health
• Just for Fun
• Relationships

The Crossroads have a road map. So far the topics have been:

• Overcoming the Odds
• De-stressing
• Work Ethic
• Breaking Promises
• Happy Halloween!

Ok, so…not brain surgery. But watch the clip. Sunny by name, suny by nature.
The chats are warm and engaging, if conservative by nature. She is quite different to LonelyGirl15 or the octogenarian vlogger made famous in YouTube's infancy.
The production values are high (camera technology come a long way).

Lessons:

• Be clear about your purpose
• Be simple in format
• Rehearse
• Be yourself

I will meet Sunny Gault at the crossroads to hear her thoughts.

See you there.

Trends for blog design

Cre8d Design specialise in blog design, themes, maintenance and plugins using Wordpress and community sites using Drupal since 2002.

Principal of the company Rachel Cunliffe has posted her predictions for the direction blogs will be heading in the next year.

"The big-text-shiny-rounded-gradient “Web 2.0 designs” will start to fade in 2009 and seem a little dated."

She predicts:

Here are her predictions for blog design trends in 2009.

Blog themes will powerfully integrate social media like Facebook and Myspace in a meaningful and useful way - as a permanent record all bundled together in one place

Twitter will be much more tightly integrated with blogs.

Simple, classy, black and white blogs with lots of white space are the new trend. Who needs color and clutter getting in the way when you have lots of large gorgeous photos on your blog to steal the limelight?

Blogs will look more handmade. Look for more blog designs with handwriting, collages, paint strokes, doodles, sketches, paperclips, stitches and material.

Bloggers will continue to redesign for wider screens to enable displaying larger photos and large widescreen videos.

Wordpress, Expression Engine, Drupal and other blogging/community tools will be used in ever increasing creative ways - to the extent that a casual visitor will be surprised to learn what the site is being run by and impressed at the ease of updating such seemingly complex sites.

Visit Cre8d Design for the full post

260 blogs worth visiting by Liz Strauss

Blogging expert Liz Strauss has compiled an intersting list of worthwhile blogs. Visit her site to see the ratioanle for each. (Via MindBlob)

1. Kris Rowlands … Fresh Focus
2. Elaine B. … House of Luxe
3-4. John Carson … Make Johnny Cash
and Fine Print
5. Geoffrey Philip … Geoffrey Philp’s Blog Spot Blog
6. Ari Herzog … Ari Herzog
7. Debra … Contextures Blog
8-9. Karin H … Kiss2 - The Kiss Business too (2)
and 1 plus 1 makes 3
10. Mike Vizdos …Implementing Scrum
11. Keith Brooks … Lotus Evangelist
12. Susan Cartier Liebel … Building ‘Solo Practice University’
13. Delaney Kirk … Ask-Dr-Kirk
14. Romana Mirza … Find creativity in the world.
15-16. Jessica Fritsche … paper graffiti
and Daily Tech Diva
17. Rick Grant … New Media Observer
18. Tim King … J. Timothy King’s Blog
19. Beth Robinson … Inventing Elephants
20. Jonathan Fields … Jonathan Fields | Awake @ The Wheel
21. Robert Schilt … Robert@PNG
22. Tammy Lenski … Conflict Zen
23. Michael Sync … Michael Sync - Sharing our knowledge
24. Scot Herrick … Cube Rules
25. cindy lou who … CityStreams
26. C. G. Rosberg … You Ruined My Childhood
27. Julie Roads … Blogging Roads / Writing Roads
28. Andre Ward … Andre Ward’s Blog
29. Mike Kennedy … Facing Up to Your Worst Case Scenario!
30. Michelle … DivinePurposeUnleashed
31. Ann Kingman … Books on the Nightstand
32. Todd Jordan … The Broad Brush
33-34. Michael Martin … Google Android Phones Latest News + gPhone Information
and MTV Real World Road Rules News
35. Lauren Krause … Creative Curio
36. Mother Earth … Best of Mother Earth
37. JoLynn Braley … The Fit Shack
38. Alex Ramon … The Bicycle Tutor
39. isabella mori … Change Therapy
40. DB Ferguson … No Fact Zone
41-42. youlki22 … A Learner’s diary
and Reviews and ramblings around the blogsphere!
43. Lillie Ammann … A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye
44. Butterfly Media … Butterfly Media Romania Blog
45. Richard … bizRichard
46. Mayank Gupta … StudioWordpress - Best WordPress Themes
47. Benjamin Ellis … WOWNDADI
48. Thomas MacEntee … Destination: Austin Family
49. Cody McKibben … Thrilling Heroics
50. David M. Scott … Web Ink Now by David Meerman Scott
51. Melinda Seckington … Miss Geeky
52. Skip Lombardi … Almost Italian
53. CMcBrown … Branding & Marketing
54. Carla Chadwick … Vintage Holiday Crafts
55. uncle wilco … Shedblog.co.uk
56. Karl Staib … Work Happy Now
57. Mark Avey … FlightSimX
58. c.a. Marks … Alabama Improper
59. Lucy Nixon … Corporate Eye
60. Karl Edwards … Working Matters
61. William Thornton … HILL COUNTRY OF MONROE COUNTRY MISSISSIPPI
62. Aneesa … Love the Game, Don’t Like Puck Bunnies
63. Genie … The Inadvertent Gardener
64. durk kooistra … Fant00m
65. AEB Lemon … lemonologie
66. Amy Boyte … Amy’s Web Log
67. Jeremy Young … ProgressiveHistorians
68. Schelly Talalay Dardashti … Tracing the Tribe - The Jewish Genealogy Blog
69. Jon Peltier … PTS Blog
70. PAMIR KICIMAN … Reiki Help Blog
71. Chuck Frey … The Mind Mapping Software Blog
72. Mad Dog … Doggy Style
73. Chris Osborne … Sapid Existence
74. Brian … “Truth is Freedom”
75. Rose-Dewy Knickers … Flash Your Knickers Here
76. Jim McGee … McGee’s Musings
77. me.allen … Home Biz Notes
78. Becky McCray … Small Biz Survival
79. Katie Konrath … Get Fresh Minds
80-81. Rachel Smith … Bitten by Books
and The Pink Ribbon Review
82. Karen Lynch … The Pink Ribbon Review
83. Abhijeet Mukherjee … Jeet Blog
84. Pelf Nyok … pelf-ism is contagious
85. Scott McArthur … McArthur’s Rant
86. Josh Klein … Josh Klein Web Strategy
87. Tim Brownson … A Daring Adventure
88. wess stewart … [ ! ] The Sugarbuzz Project
89. Allen Lam … Fun And Educational
90. Lionel Valdellon … Acid42 is the Soft Asian Enemy
91. Miranda Marquit … Yielding Wealth
92. Derek Halpern … Prevential
93. Paul Singh … Results Junkies
94. Todd Eastman … Todd’s World In 3D
95. Keith Dsouza … Techie Buzz
96. Rick Wolff … Rick Wolff
97. C Wilkerson … iPentimento
98. SpaceAgeSage … SpaceAgeSage
99. Jon Gatrell … Spatially Relevant
100. Avani-Mehta … Avani-Mehta
101. Erica Ross-Krieger … WellnessCoach.com
102. Trisha … Ideas For Women
103. Simple Sara … On Simplicity
104. Steven Grossman … Why I Failed
105. Drew McLellan … Drew’s Marketing Minute
106. Maricris G … ZenVentures
107. Ma. Merdekah Ybanez-Delid … CustServ
108. Nancy Hudgins … Civil Negotiation and Mediation
109. Sunny Schlenger … SunCoach
110. Linda Abbit … Tender Loving Eldercare
111. Zan Nordlund … NoMoWally’sintheBag
112. Vered DeLeeuw … MomGrind
113. Sarah Parker … Going Bananas Blog
114. George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster … Bigg Success
115. Jon Burg … Future Visions
116. Claire Tompkins … Your Organizing Coach
117. Martin Wildam … One-Two-Solved
118. Muhammad Siyab … PuttingBlogsFirst
119. Luc Debaisieux … MINDBLOB
120. Hunter Nuttall … Hunter Nuttall . com
121. Scott White … The Branding Blog by Brand Identity Guru
122. Meg Guiseppi, MRW … Executive Resume Branding Blog
123. Wayne Hurlbert … Blog Business World
124. Michael Miles … Effortless Abundance
125. Thomas Clifford … Bringing Brands to Life!
126. Barbara Ling … Barbara Ling, Personal Edge Insights
127. John Richardson … Success Begins Today
128. Terry Dagrosa … Seduction Meals
129. Gerrit Eicker … Wir sprechen Online.
130. deafmom … A Deaf Mom Shares Her World
131. Liz Scherer … Flashfree
132. John Hoff … eVentureBiz
133. Evelyn Lim … Attraction Mind Map
134. connie ragen green … Ebook Writing and Marketing Secrets
135. Dan Schawbel … Personal Branding Blog
136. Matthew Stublefield … SilverPen Publishing
137. jerry, age 70 … drannaks dribbles
138. Dex … MetaMakeMoneyOnline.com
139. Todd Ramsey … The Todd Blog
140. Mark Yokoyama … Everybody Loves Free Stuff
141. Andrew Dlugan … Six Minutes Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog
142. Alexander Becker … WOW: Making You Look Even Better
143. Darla F … Ultra Beauty Boutique
144. James Chartrand … Men with Pens
145. Glenda Watson Hyatt … Do It Myself Blog
146. aschmittylife … It’s A Schmitty Life
147. Dave Weinberg … Jewneric
148. Deanna. … Soul Like a Spider
149. Kelly … SHE-POWER
150. lala … Coastal Commentaries
151. Thursday Bram … ThursdayBram.com
152. Ron Stainforth … Black Dogs
153. Amy L … Earnest Parenting
154. Jeremy Biser … Discovering Dad
155. Suzie Cheel … Law of Attraction in Action
156. Mike Templeton … Payment Industry Insider
157. Robin Dearing … The Hell?
158. Jacqueline Zenn … SEOGroup Blog
159. Rhett Soveran … Epiblogger
160. Marcus Taylor … Invisible Green Photography
161-162. Robert Neville … Stage3 Consulting
and RobNeville.net
163. Angie Trigilio … angie*
164. Laural … Mamasphere
165. Heather Rast … Insights and Ingenuity
166. Melody Platz … The Happy Wanderer
167. Tomas Custer … HispanicTips
168. Sharon Gibson … Conflict to Peace in Relationships
169. Kathryn Boyle … knittsings | Machine Knitting, Passap, DesignaKnit Blog
170. Jane Deere … Type-TalkTherapy.com
171. Douglas Bell … Webmacster87.info
172-173. Mark David Gerson … The Voice of Your Muse
and Mark David Gerson’s New Earth Chronicles
174. Jeff De Cagna … Principled Innovation Blog
175. Francie Stirling … LivingLeadership
176. Jay Heyman … All you need is a good idea!
177. Anne Glamore … Tales From My Tiny Kingdom
178. AgentSully … Life Learning Today
179. Miriam Robbins Midkiff … AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors
180. Brett Trout … BlawgIT
181. Michael Snell … New Gay Travel Guide
182. Randy Willis … Willis Wired
183. Bamboo Forest … Pun Intended
184. Mona Weathers … HerProBlog.COM
185. Angela Maiers … Angela Maiers Educational Services
186. Ricardo Bueno … Ribeezie
187-188. Derrick Sorles … Business Blogging Tips & Web 2.0 Strategies
and Life By Design
189. Linda Sherman … It’s Different For Girls
190. Jenny Stinson … Running 4 Your Life
191. Jamie … Wishcasting
192. Amber Naslund … The BrandBox
193. Marianne Thomas … Writer-Mommy
194. Jasia … Creative Gene
195. Jeanne May … Goals and Aspirations
196. Deb Boyken … Punctuality Rules!
197. Charlene Farber … Confessions of a Barista
198. David Murray … True Education
199. David Reynolds … Book Hotels Cheaper
200. Emily … Genealem’s Genetic Genealogy
201. L. Lee Lowe … Mortal Ghost
202. Victoria Pires … Glowstars
203. Karen Townsend … Pondering Penguin
204-205. Victoria Pugh … Help Your Child Become A Phonics Reading Pro
and I Am Free America
206. Josh Mings … SolidSmack
207. Jacqueline Hernandez … Tiny Décor
208-209. Yvonne DiVita … Lip-Sticking and Scratchings and Sniffings
210. Sandra Renshaw … Purple Wren
211. Mary, mom to 10 … Owlhaven
212. Robin … PENSIEVE
213. Wyliekat … Still Life With Wyliekat
214. Scott Fox … Scott Fox’s E-Commerce Success Blog
215. Dave Lucas … Dave Lucas’ Notes
216-217. Kirsten … Exemplify and Taste Buds
218. Angie … BlogCoach.org
219. Margaret Andrews … Nanny Goats In Panties
220. Dr.N.Venkatakrishna … Stock market guide
221. Megan … FriedOkra
222. Laurin Evans … Laurin and Kelly Talk
223. Theresa Zagnoli … Visual, Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
224. Renee … Cutie Booty Cakes
225. Marelisa Fabrega … Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online
226. Barbara … Blogging Without A Blog
227. Amy Lillard … Quiet Rebel Writer
228. PsychMamma … PsychMamma
229. Rosemary Davies-Janes … Miboso Training
230. Carol Solomon … Hypnosis And Diet
231. Davina Haisell … Loving Pulse
232. Ellie Mirman … HubSpot Internet Marketing Blog
233. Dee Langdon … BloggerNewbie
234. Jonathan Harada… Up-Starts..Buenos Aires, Argentina
235. David Wetzel … Freelance Writing: Word Solutions
236. Lawrence Chiu … We Lose Weight This Way….
237. Allison Worthington … Mrs. Fusspants Guide to Life
238. Old School Tim … Kickin’ it Old School
239. Rob … THE WEEKLY SONGCAST
240. Roxanne Darling … Bare Feet Blog
241. Princess Pointful … … and hijinks ensued
242. Jane … What About Mom
243. AL … 7P Productions
244. Bob Hill … Two Texans Down Under
245. Adrian Diaconescu … Rubiqube
246. Ulla Hennig … Ulla Hennig’s Weblog
247. Amber Stults … Amber Stults – Book Reviewer and Author
248. Terry Starbucker … Terry Starbucker - Ramblings From A Glass Half Full
249. Alessio Sbrana … Drink a Drink
250. Steve Sherlock … Franklin Matters
251. Sondra Santos LaBrie … HAPPY HEALTHY HIP PARENTING
252. Anne Wayman … The Golden Pencil
253. Heather Kitty Mak … Packaging Probe
254. Barbara Rozgonyi … Wired PR Works by Barbara Rozgonyi
255-256. Cathryn Hrudicka … What’s Innovation Got to Do with It? - the Creative Sage blog
and PR, Social Media and Marketing Mentor - the Cathryn Hrudicka & Associates blog
257. Crystal Unrau … Moms In A Blog
258. Nivas … Key Life Skills that make the most of your life |Personal Development through NLP
259. Kathy Hendershot-Hurd … Virtual Impax
260. Akemi Gaines … Yes to Me

Arianna Huffington on blogging on The Daily Show

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Arianna Huffington

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

I have just been watching the December 3 edition of The Daily Show with John Stewart. His guest was Arianna Huffington, the co-founder of the Huffington Post. She was there to promote her book The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging (which is authored by may, so is probably more a wiki then a blog - but you may wish to contest this interpretation).

However, her interview was interesting and amusing. Her view that blogs are the first draft of history seemed to make sense. And that blogs are best when they are fresh and unexpurgated. Write about your passions she says - your hidden passions even.

Stewart, quite rightly, points the fact that he has no need of blogging because he has an audience for his television show. Hard to argue with that. But for the rest of us the unmediated blogosphere gives us access to an audience which might otherwise not know we existed - if indeed we can find an audience online. Huffington says 50,000 new blogs are started every day. At that rate there will be more blogs than readers.

Then there are blogs like ThoughtSpurs, which simply record the trivial, the absurd and, yes, the thought provoking. In the years I have been adding to the archive I have covered terrain that I might otherwise have simply forgotten and in this respect I, like many others, may simply be my own audience (or, in the words of Neil Roberts) - the audient.

When my copy of the book arrives from Fishpond (NZ) I will deliver a full review.
If you are closer to the US the Amazon edition is here.

This from the, as yet, solitary review (5 stars) on Amazon:

The "Complete Guide to Blogging" is A FANTASTIC BOOK! Though it's hard for me to whittle down my list of favorite chapters to a choice few, I'll GIVE IT A TRY anyway:

3. You Can't Be Too Angry: "Think of something that makes you irrationally furious. If what results is something you'd never say to someone's face for fear of getting the living s**t kicked out of you, then IT'S PERFECT BLOGGING MATERIAL!!!!"

7. These. Are. Four. Sentences.

11. No Barriers to Entry: "Why be a low-paid hack banging out endless copy when you CAN DO IT FOR FREE?"

You can check out any time you like…

I was discussing a project with a client the other day. He runs luxury limousine transfers from Auckland Airport to the city and further afield. I suggested that starting a blog might be a useful companion for the web site we will build. The subject would be what is happening on his patch - in effect, while customers are aboard the driver is a mobile concierge.

I came across the blog of a boutique hotel in Portland Oregon. The Deluxe. Their blog is well written and full of interesting things to see and do in Portland.

To tell you the honest truth I'd never contemplated visiting Portland before but the blog has a charming way of inviting visitors.

Nicely done.

I'll refer it to my client.

(There are other hotels in the group that blog too … check them out:

Hotel deLuxe;
Hotel Murano;
Hotel Preston;
plus a Facebook page for Hotel Lucia. ).

Via AdPulp