Commercial blog network research

GAWKER BLOGS: Lifehacker
The blog is about finding cheats to everyday technological and domestic problems. It is aimed at people who want to be more efficient. It is updated daily and it is updated 15-25 posts on average a day. It covers such dilemmas such as 'Turn Yoghurt Containers Into Sippy Cups' and 'How Do You Do Your Taxes'. The style of the posts are quite friendly and instructive, and are written by a team of writers. The only social interactions with the reader than I could see was the comments page and the Digg mark on one of the posts. Plenty of pictures and links are used. The design, whilst ok, is the best of a bad bunch of Gawker blogs, which in general are just wrong. I don't think the blog makes money.


WEBLOG BLOGS: DS Fanboy
This blog is all about the Nintendo DS. It is aimed at people who own one or are heavily into gaming. Or just nerds. DS Fanboy is yet another heavily updated blog, with lots of posts daily. It covers DS news, DS news that isn't neccessarily to do with the console or games and features. The style of the posts is quite subject-specific, adding to the feel that it is a hardcore site. The blog does use plenty of links and a wide variety of tools including embedded video, pictures and Digg buttons. The design is pretty decent, even if in places it looks somewhat cluttered. I don't think the blog makes money.

The tagline is also made of wrong.

FEDERATED BLOGS: Uncrated
This blog is all about looking at things that are aimed primarily for men to buy - a bit like Stuff Magazine. It is aimed mainly for the adult man and they would want to read it to see what items are available that are interesting, quirky etc. The site does not actually tell anyone the dates of post uploads but I wouldn't be surprised if it was like the two blogs mentioned above. It covers items such as Bacon cookbooks, cars, clothing and a wide variety of other things. The posts are almost very persuasive, in that they're giving them all a gleaming review and are recommended easily. There are links to buy the items but apart from that, there are no other stand out interaction features. The design is excellent - very slick, good choice of colours and properly organised. I reckon there is a deal struck with advertisers as a source of revenue.

What planet is Arsene Wenger on?

Just when you thought there would be a landslide in the opposition against the Premier League's doomed plan to take the competition abroad, someone decides to stick their neck out and side with them.

That person just happens to be Arsene Wenger.

To be fair to the Arsenal manager, he is not just defending the FA for the sake of defending the FA. Instead he's tried to base some sort of argument for the idea of expansion. He's basing this said argument on his experience as a manager in Japan in 1995 (which came as news to me - the things you learn every day!) He likes it for two reasons:

1. It shows a desire to innovate.
2. It is good for the fans of the Premier League abroad.

Adding further to his point about his time in Japan, he says that at the time he was managing, they had to play 20% of their games on a neutral ground to promote the game. Whilst he initally laughed off the idea, he came round to it after going through with the idea. In general, he also keeps on re-iterating that people are being too critical and dismissive far too quickly.

The interview clip is up on BBC Sport but he also talks about other things in the same clip, so I recorded the part where he talks about the expansion and I've uploaded it as a streamable mp3 rather than RealPlayer/Windows only.

Click here to listen to 'Arsene-Wenger-talking-about-the-Premier-League-expansion'

The problem with his point about it working in Japan is the timeframe. This was a plan that was in action in 1995. This, however, is 2008. And the neutral grounds idea is now dead in the water. What's more, the vice-president of the Japanese Football Association, Junji Ogura, has already voiced his disapproval, telling BBC Sport:

"In Japan, we don't allow anyone to play a match that involves only foreign clubs and no Japanese teams."

Not only do the presidents, vice-presidents and so forth of these international league organisations think that the idea is a problematic one, but they also do not want their own leagues underminded. This is especially the case in Asia, where football has boomed in popularity since the exploits of the 2002 World Cup hosts, South Korea and Japan. It's also exactly the same in Australia and in North America.

Regarding Wenger's point about this plan being good for fans abroad, I personally feel that countries such as the USA and Asia get a good fix of the Premier League anyway with the several pre-season tours made by the bigger clubs. Last summer, Manchester United embarked on a heavily-promoted pre-season tour of Asia and Chelsea also embarked on a tour with at least equal amounts of promotion to the USA. I believe that alone is giving the fans of the competition enough of a chance to see the teams they follow each week.

Nice try Arsene, but you haven't convinced me to even think about supporting the idea.

FURTHER READING: The best article I read about the whole saga is this one on BBC Sport. Well worth a read just so that you can gather the complete international reaction.

Welcome To Our TV Show

Parts 1 & 2 of Welcome To Our TV Show

Welcome To Our TV Show popped up on YouTube in the middle of January and is a refreshing antidote to the music performance programs on television like Later...With Jools Holland and Transmission. The premise is simple. Jeremy Warmsley, who features himself as a performer as well the creator of the program, invites Mystery Jets, Laura Marling and Noah & The Whale to gather in the living room of his own house to play some acoustic songs and celebrate Christmas.

The last point I mentioned in the above paragraph is a problem. Yes, I can see why you wanted to celebrate Christmas in the middle of December but I think it was very lazy on Jeremy's part to upload this in the middle of January, when Christmas is all but a distant memory. Because of this, the video ends up being slightly dated.

However, this is the only real issue I have with Welcome To Our TV Show. The video captures perfectly the intimacy of the performances and the general DIY approach to the making of the video. It is obvious from the start that Jeremy isn't out to make a flashy program. The aim is to showcase talent, that would perhaps be shunned by the mainstream media, in a way that is simplistic to its audience, which is something he achieves here.

The artists themselves give sterling performances. I was a big fan of the first Mystery Jets album, Making Dens, and they didn't disappoint here with their performance. Laura Marling was also impressive and I'm starting to see why a lot of people like her music. Whilst the sound levels aren't perfect on this video, it does add to the raw and homemade style.

Overall, this is a winner. Whilst there are competitors in the field for creating your own music show (see Nigel Godrich's From The Basement series, which debuted online), this stands out from the rest of the crowd because of its laid back style, intimate feel and, of course, quality music.

Keeping a blog at university

In regards to the debate over students being encouraged to keep a blog whilst at university course studies and after they have graduated, I tend to agree with what Paul Bradshaw said and what Neil McIntosh said last month in their own respective blogs. I think it is more than obvious that whilst you are studying online journalism that you have to keep a blog of some sort. Otherwise, you're sort of defeating the objective of the course itself.

There's also other reasons to keeping a blog during the course. If you maintain a blog well over the typical three years at uni then you will:

1. Get regular feedback and suggestions to improve it.
2. The writing quality will get better and better.
3. As you find a placement, you will have a portfolio blog with lots of entries that show off your skills as an online journalist.

That's what I would like to get out of the course I am doing anyway - the oppurtunity to improve my skills and to be in a position a couple of years down the line where I am in an employable position. People like Dave Lee have put hard work into their blogs and have found ultimately found a new career, whilst studying at university. That is because they used their time at university effectively, and have thus built quite an extensive portfolio, which would easily impress any potential employer.

As for what employers look for, I still think that the actual writing side is the most important aspect. At least, that's what I'd like to think anyway. But other skills that they look for is:

1. Use of the media that is available to them (video, podcasts etc)
   
2. How aesthetically pleasing their blogs look
3. Blog maintenance skills (and by that I mean updating regularly, making sure everything on the blog works and isn't broken).

Internet statistics

From Internet Stats

• 1,319,872,109 thousand people use the Internet.
• 38.7% of users are from Asia.
• The word growth average of users across the world from 2000-2007 is 265.5%.
• 20% of users around the world use the Internet regularly.
• 71.7% of North American users use the Internet regularly.
• In Europe, Germany is the country that uses the Internet the most, followed by the United Kingdom and then France.

In the UK, according to National Statistics:

• 84% of households have a broadband connection.
• 65% of men and 55% of women use the Internet.
• Whilst a slightly higher proportion of men use the Internet for shopping, women buy clothes and groceries over the Internet more than men.
• Most UK users use the Internet to check their e-mail. Other main uses include shopping and just general browsing.

The net population has definitely grown considerably in the last decade, making the potential audiences for blog sites extremely substantial. However, the stats also show that the Internet is used for various reasons.

First ever blogger?

This site was created in 1987 and but the same site also claims that in 1983 'Mod.ber' was created by Brian Redman...

The Chicago Reader was created in 1985 according to this post...

This article claims that the blog is 10 years old, so, in effect, Dave Winer created the longest-running web log (Scripting News).

Halo research

Bad review
Bungie and Microsoft split
Church using Halo as incentive
Fastest selling game
First week sales
GameSpot review
Game rankings data
Halo in Japan
Halo Wiki page
Halo 2 Wiki page
Halo 3 Wiki page
Industry perspective
Video games as art