The Ruthless Awakening of the Masses
(Migrated weblog post from LSR)
After all the hype that has been going on around the recent issues with Apple’s latest gadget, the iPod nano, and its final and happy resolution that, hopefully, will make everybody happy, I guess that things will never be the same again. I have mentioned it already before here in my weblog. For the last few months we are just witnessing the ruthless awakening of the masses who consume whatever the product. Before, we were in a situation where consumers just didn’t know how others were using the same products they once bought and if they would be malfunctioning they would hardly make any noise about it, get a replacement (If they were lucky) and move on.
However, all that has now changed drastically. It all started with the Kryptonite lock scandal and just recently, apart from the example from the iPod nano, we have got the issue with MasterLock mentioned over at BoingBoing. Weblogs are giving the opportunity to consumers to share with one another their good, or bad, experiences about the different products they may have recently purchased. And as you can see they are just not keeping it quiet. All the other way around. The more noise the better, it seems.
I doubt that any large corporation could afford ignoring this ruthless awakening of the masses, as failure to do so will certainly bring them into some huge trouble that will become rather cumbersome to bypass. More and more webloggers are realising about this new power. Maybe that is why almost everybody has got a weblog, although not everyone, that is also true. Either way I doubt that companies cannot longer afford watching out what is happening out there in the Blogosphere. We have seen cases where ignoring such events will only create many more problems; thus you would expect that they would be reacting quick enough, right? But are they really doing so ? I am not sure what you would think but from what we have just seen I strongly believe it is not good enough. We shall see how things turn out in the end for Apple and the iPod frenzy, whether it is the iPod nano or whatever other product. Something tells me that there is going to be a significant impact but we will have to see and watch what happens. Will you be there to watch? I bet you will and, even more, I bet you will all be weblogging about it.
It Is Just Another Blog Search Engine
Posted on Oct 21, 2005 | Categories: Metablogging | 2 Comments
(Migrated weblog post from LSR)
Disappointed ! Yes, a bit, actually. That is probably how I feel so far about the so-called search engine of all search engines. Apparently, Google’s Blog Search is not as good as we thought it was. And, of course, it is still Beta. Not long ago, I created another weblog post where I was commenting on the recent Google announcement about its Blog Search engine. And if back then I was rather content and surprised with the results I guess that was bound to change at some point. And by the looks of it I am not the only one, it seems. Check out the following news article by Stephen Baker: Google’s Lackluster Blog Search, where he more or less comes to the same conclusion I have about Google’s Blog Search:
“The Bottom Line: The search giant fails to deliver a KO. For now, it’s just another blog search engine”
Certainly, it looks like it is just another weblog search engine like most of the others. Over the last few days I have been checking out on the consistency of the results and I am finding out that what started as a really good option it is no longer the case. And if not, here you have got the example. Back then I mentioned how Google‘s search engine was able to locate 147 weblog posts from my Internet weblog: LSR. However, today, 13 days later, the count is now up to 149 weblog posts, according to the search results, whereas my current count of weblog posts is on 160 ! Thus where are all the others? Vanished into thin air ? I guess not, since I can find them with some other search engines.
That is why to me, and like Stephen Baker mentions, Google’s Blog Search engine is just another good attempt to provide us with some good results when search for content in weblogs but like many of the others it just dies there, a good attempt. But not to worry, it is still beta and I guess there is still lots of room for improvement. We shall see what happens next time I do a couple of tests, but so far I am just that. Disappointed.
Special: Lifehacker’s Guide to Weblog Comments
(Migrated weblog post from LSR)
You have got to love this. I am not sure if you have subscribed already to LifeHacker’s weblog or not, but if you haven’t, you do not know what you are missing. In another fantastic weblog post, Gina Trapani just details her Lifehacker’s Guide to Weblog Comments and I must say that although I have got a tendency to follow most of the tips she shares above at her weblog from quite some time now, I still have got that to do for my external weblog as I have not been able to engage very heavily yet with those weblogs I am interested in.
It may well be because I might be finding it somewhat difficult to bump into, appealing enough to me, weblogs around the topics I am passionate about. Anyway, I am sure that I will eventually find my way and my set of weblogs to participate in. So, if you are looking for an impressive set of guidelines on how you can engage with the weblogs you tend to follow on a regular basis Gina’s weblog post is a must read. As an excerpt, I am just going to list the different items she mentions extensively and then I would like to refer you back to her weblog post because she just puts it in much more effective words than what I could do myself trying to reinvent the wheel. Thus no need for that. Here you go with them:
“Stay on topic Contribute new information to the discussion Do not comment for the sake of commenting. Know when to comment and when to e-mail. Remember that nobody likes a know-it-all Make the tone of your message clear Own your comment Be succinct Cite your sources with links or inline quoting Be courteous Do not post when you are angry, upset, drunk or emotional Do not feed or tease the trolls“
Yes, indeed, a gem of a weblog post, right ? From the set of weblog comment guidelines, and I highly recommend you have a look into the full thread for some interesting reading, I have always tried to preach and lead the way in a number of those: staying on topic, contributing new information to the discussion and owing your comment along with citing your sources with links or online quoting, amongst others. Those, to me, would be the ones that would certainly get you off to a good start, but if you can go and apply all the others all the better. Either way, a BIG THANKS ! to Gina for sharing this great weblog post. Now it is time to engage with the Blogosphere out there !
