Hacks use blogs…
According to ClickZ… "more than half of journalists use blogs in the course of their work".
The Euro RSCG/Columbia study shows that more than 51 percent of journalists use blogs regularly, and 28 percent rely on them to help in their day-to-day reporting duties. By contrast, a recent Pew Internet and American Life Project survey showed that just 11 percent of the U.S. population as a whole reads blogs…
Journalists mostly used blogs for finding story ideas (53 percent), researching and referencing facts (43 percent) and finding sources (36 percent). And 33 percent said they used blogs to uncover breaking news or scandals. Still, despite their reliance on blogs for reporting, only 1 percent of journalists found blogs credible, the study found.
Countries Start Banning Skype Calls.
Oh well, no trips planned to Oman soon anyway. Or the UAE.
WSJ To launch weekend edition…
Another paper will thud onto my driveway on Saturday mornings… much to the despair of my wife who can’t fathom why I subscribe to four weekend papers as it is. According to the NYT:
Starting Sept. 17, The Journal will add a Saturday issue named Weekend Edition, with a new emphasis on softer features – entertainment, travel, sports, arts, books, real estate and, yes, recipes. The goal is to attract a more diverse base of advertising to pull The Journal out of its prolonged slump.
The Saturday paper, which will be delivered at no extra charge – at least initially – to subscribers, will have a more airy, more casual feel than its daily counterpart, but will still be instantly recognizable as The Wall Street Journal. – KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Community Activation
Skype is a brilliant example of the power of nurturing communities with a high-quality product, continued innovation and ease of connection. While recognizing that in this instance it’s also the essence of the product, that’s a sub-text.
Compare Skype to Vonage for a second and you will see what I mean. I "joined" Vonage about four months ago. They treat me just like SBC or Verizon. Every add-on costs more. I get a bill and little else other than the product. The quality is pretty suspect. And while cheaper than Verizon, it ain’t cheaper than Skype.
Then there is my Skype account. I get more and more value from neat add-ons developed by Skype and its community. The price and quality are much better than anything Vonage offers. And the community just gets better as a result of this innovation. Then vSkype comes along and adds to my Skype experience with video calling. Bam! The community activates and becomes more valuable – to Skype and to each other. vSkype’s CEO says in an email that in the first 36 hours they had 50,000 downloads while some 8 hours later they zipped past 100,000. That’s momentum.
Skype Journal has a terrific interview with Stuart Jacobson. In the Participatory Era Skype is establishing an incredible lead over Vonage – in participatory terms,
New Computerworld Blogs
- Another Ketchum thing… you can’t really offer a practice touching on stuff like blogs without doing it gang… more here
- Dan nails Scoble… I’m with Dan. You are either for free speech or you aren’t. By blocking the word democracy anywhere – in fact any word, anywhere… Microsoft is moving against freedom of speech.
- Penn State has initiated a pilot program of 10 wiki-based composition classes… They found that the self-governing ecology of the networked wiki format creates a fruitful environment for discussion and debate. – IfBook
- Sam Whitmore’s tech podcast
- More on open source analysts from the monkies…
- Lovely tribute from Dan Edelman to his dad Richard.
