I stumbled across this a couple of nights ago while mindlessly surfing the cable channels. A fascinating documentary on the Sundance Channel. In Blog Wars, filmmakers James Rogan and Phil Craig examine how online democratic activism is shaping important elections by focusing on the decisive Connecticut senate race and Ned Lamont’s challenge to incumbent Joe Lieberman.
Henry wants to know my ten favorite podcasts and blogs. I read a lot more than 10 blogs a day, but if I had to pick 10, they would be:
Scripting News, Boing Boing, Dilbert Blog, Doc Searls, Jeff Jarvis, Mark Ramsey, Micro Persuasion, Podcasting News, Seth Godin, and GrowLearfield.com + all of the Learfield blogs. Links to the right.
As for podcasts, I don’t think I listen to 10 on a regular basis, only because I don’t have time. I sample others from time to time bu the ones I listen to regularly are:
MacCast, Keith and the Girl, Podcast 411, This Week in Tech, Diggnation, NPR Technology, This American Life, Cutting Edge (Business Week).
All are weekly except Keith and the Girl which is daily. Usually an hour.
“It’s a whole new generation of lawyers out there. Many younger lawyers feel more comfortable online than anywhere else. Law firms who hire some of the brightest and talented young professionals in the world have a hidden treasure of innovative Internet marketing ideas in these young people. It’s time to unleash the talent you have. Law firms who do so will be rewarded in not only increased revenues but also in their recruiting efforts to land the best and brightest.” — Kevin at LexBlog
He links to some very good examples to support his position.
Disclosure: Life-Partner and Best Pal Barb is a lawyer. No interest in blogging. And, as far as she knows, none of the three or four hundred attorneys in her firm are blogging. At least not professionally.
One of the things I find most interesting about bloggers is their willingness to share very personal feelings. I came across two examples of this last week.
My friend Chuck wrote about his daughter who was left paralyzed from an auto accident seven years ago. He links to her blog post which is very moving (and inspirational).
Equally touching was Everett Mobley’s memories of his mother who died last week following a long battle with cancer.
They both felt moved to share very personal thoughts and feelings and their blogs offered a means for doing so. I’ve seen this time and time again.
I’m not sure what the point of this post is. Perhaps that there’s something about the blog format that almost requires an openess and honesty.
I made the jump from Blogger to Typepad a couple of years ago because Blogger was driving me nuts. All kind of problems and missing features. A number of Learfield bloggers and friends are still using the service so this link is for you. It’s an interview (video) with Eric Case who works on the Blogger team at Google. I’m posting here because it’s easier than trying to remember who to email.
Steve Rubel points to an article in The American Journalism Review about how bloggers are changing journalism in the US. This should be required reading for any working journalist. The AJR piece concludes with some blogging tips from Dallas Morning News Editorial Page Editor Keven Ann Willey, who led her staff in launching the nation’s first editorial page blog. Here are her excellent suggestions:
1. Be brief and informal. Breezy, conversational tone is good. Two hundred words is too long. Go for the quick hit, light touch, witty aside. Attitude required.
2. Don’t be too proud to blog.
3. Respond to previous blog postings. This is about conversation, after all. It’s the back and forth that makes a blog engaging.
4. Vary your topics. Don’t be a wonk.
5. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want your mother to read in the paper.
6. Use hyperlinks.
7. Incorporate interesting, provocative reader e-mail. The best blogs are two-way streets.
8. Be quick to correct yourself.
9. Don’t feel obligated to answer all blog-generated e-mail.
10. Don’t over edit; but designate a blog boss.
That’s the name of Kevin O’Keefe’s blog. He chatted with me today about blogging and lawyers and I could kick myself for not asking how he came up with “Real Lawyers Have Blogs.”
The blog is part of LexBlog, a consulting company that helps lawyers with Internet marketing and business development puts a strong emphasis on blogging.
Kevin was a trial lawyer for 17 years but stopped practicing in 1999 and founded an “online law community” called Prairielaw.com (which was later acquired by LexisNexis).
Kevin is my kind of blogger. He thinks every business should be blogging and says all lawyers will have blogs by the end of the decade (even though less than 1% of attorneys currently have blogs).
LexBlog has created some really nice looking blogs for their clients. These are some of the best looking websites I’ve seen and they got all the blog tools and features.
Kevin pooh-poohed my suggestion that blogging was difficult for some people. They either hadn’t found the right tools or weren’t ready to blog (yet). He’s right of course.
(audio no longer available)
After listening to Kevin for a few minutes and looking at and reading the blogs of some of his clients… I can’t imagine why every lawyer isn’t blogging. I guess the real ones are.
It does pain me to look at the little calendar to the right and see that entire days have gone by with not a single post here at smays.com. Four days last week! Cripes! What’s the point of living if you’re too busy to blog about it? What have I been doing that is more important than this?
We relaunched one of our websites last week. WRN.com is the online home of Wisconsin Radio Network. Our news network websites are among the oldest in the company. Almost ten years for a couple of them. Waaay overdue for an overhaul. RadioIowa.com is next and then Missourinet.com.
The Amazing Andy (Gestalt Inc) does all of our sites and he’s done a nice job with these. All sites optimized for blogging, RSS, podcasting, etc. Still miles to go but I’m hoping to have all three up and running before the end of the year.
Spending more and more time talking with clients about blogging and podcasting. The vast majority are still clueless about these tools but there are little flashes of “get it” here and there and we’re trying to fan these tiny sparks into roaring infernos.
But it’s all web-o-licious and I can’t remember the last time I heard the phrase “this Internet thing” at Camp Learfield.
Dr. Everett Mobley blogs at Your Pet’s Best Friend. He started in September and his posts just get more and more interesting and informative.
Now look at your dog. Notice the parts that look wolf-like and the parts that don’t. What kind of a wolf percentage do you have? Chances are that the lower your wolf-score, the more built-in problems your pet has.
You never know who’s going to be a good blogger. By “good” I mean someone who posts frequently and writes in an open and personal voice. I confess that I find it very gratifying to play even a tiny role in helping someone get started blogging. YPBF is a must-read for anyone with a pet.
Radio Iowa News Director (and blogger) O. Kay Henderson heard White House Press Secretary Tony Snow doing a radio commercial on a Des Moines radio station this week and found it blog-worthy. The New York Times liked the story too:
“Just imagine, you’re listening to the radio, Tony Snow has been speaking to you as the spokesman for the leader of the free world, and then a commercial comes on with him trying to sell you a window,” Ms. Henderson said Thursday. “He introduced himself as Tony Snow, talked about the travails of remodeling projects, boasted about the 30-year history of this business and delivered the 800 number of the business, twice.”
My favorite quote from the story was by Mr. Snow: “It’s like, you don’t have the White House press secretary flacking siding.”
I suppose Kay could have done a “human interest” piece for our network but this is perfect blog-fodder. Not a big deal, just interesting. And how many reporters heard the White House Press Secretary shilling windows on the radio and didn’t think to follow up on it?