Janetnews.com Blog

In New Orleans, blogs become crucial decision-making tool

Bloggers said their fascination with the possibilities of using online networks to track the storm and help others was fueled by new technology available to them as well as lingering frustration over the response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

Kali Akuno, an education and training coordinator with the U.S. Human Rights Network, was part of a group along the Gulf Coast reaching out to African-American bloggers to help resettle hundreds of people displaced as they evacuated ahead of Hurricane Gustav.

Online followers as far away as Oregon, Washington and Rhode Island extended offers of hospitality, Akuno said. The group had already placed 150 people, and was looking to find shelter for 200 more who contacted it in New Orleans.

“People are definitely responding,” Akuno said. “The main thing we learned from three years ago was the importance of staying in contact with each other.”

Interesting article about Bloggers and stress in The New York Times.  Some bloggers have gained 30 pounds and had heart attacks.  I think I’ll stick to my day job of becoming a professor.  Professional blogging may be too dangerous for me.

In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop

Bloggers at some of the bigger sites say most writers earn about $30,000 a year starting out, and some can make as much as $70,000. A tireless few bloggers reach six figures, and some entrepreneurs in the field have built mini-empires on the Web that are generating hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. Others who are trying to turn blogging into a career say they can end up with just $1,000 a month.

Speed can be of the essence. If a blogger is beaten by a millisecond, someone else’s post on the subject will bring in the audience, the links and the bigger share of the ad revenue.

“There’s no time ever — including when you’re sleeping — when you’re not worried about missing a story,” Mr. Arrington said.

The Wall Street Journal makes a very good point that technology is here to stay in the political realm.

Does the Web Deserve The Power It Gained
To Influence Politics?

Suggesting that there is both good and bad with the Web and politics isn’t to say they exist in equal amounts. Say what one will about the shortcomings of blogs, I can’t imagine going back in time to a world where a relatively small number of newspapers and magazines — even though by and large they were very good ones — had an effective monopoly on what did and didn’t get printed about a campaign.

The Web isn’t going away, and so its boosters should no longer feel defensive when its inanities are pointed out. The YouTube political debates where voters submitted video questions, from January, for example, were described as a singular chance for citizens to question candidates directly, which sounded good until one of the questioners presented himself as a snowman.

Because it’s such a vastly powerful network, the Internet has the ability either to elevate or to debase the political discussion. Both will be occurring between now and November, though with a little luck, not in equal amounts.

From the Washington Post:

There are more blog posts in Japanese than any other language, according to Technorati Inc., which tracks nearly 113 million blogs globally. Last year, Technorati found 37 percent of all postings were in Japanese _ about 1.5 million per day. Postings in English _ from Americans, Britons, Australians and people in many other countries _ accounted for 36 percent of the total.

I agree, unless you have a name and a good following, your blog is just taking up “cyberspace”.

Political bloggers reach is limited

What the blogging world lacks, it seems, is people who want to read all those blogs, especially blogs on politics.

In a January poll conducted online by Harris Interactive, only 22 percent said they read political blogs “regularly,” meaning at least “several times a month” and only 7 percent said they read them several times a week or more.

Campaign U 

As Newsweek and The New York Times wrote more in recent days about Barack Obama’s efforts to rock the youth vote, John McCain has gained some support of his own in appealing to the under-30 crowd.

His daughter Meghan, who recently graduated from Columbia University, and some of her friends have started a “McCainBlogette.” As they travel with the Republican senator’s presidential campaign, they plan to blog about “musings and pop culture on the political trail.”

So, if those policy planks and town-hall Q&A’s are a bit too wonky for you, the Blogettes may have what you’re looking for in a political blog. The young women promise a “behind the scenes” account of a presidential campaign, including details on “notoriously cramped quarters, stale donuts, and the fabulous shoes!”

The article in Telegraph.co.uk talks about how the U.S. has made online campaigning an art form.  But, in hte U.K. people gather in their communities more so than in the U.S.  How many people can say they know their neighbors really well these days?   

Political blogs: Why the internet frightens politicians

So if the political parties are failing to use the internet to open up democracy to the masses, who is? The answer is: you. Individuals all over the world are discovering that they can make their voices heard, whether to protest, educate or inform. Gone are the days when the only way a citizen could be heard was to write to a local newspaper. You want to protest at the failure of the Government to hold a referendum on the EU constitution? Sign the petition on the Government’s website (petitions.pm.gov.uk) or join the Telegraph’s online petition (tinyurl.com/2v4yrt). Online democracy is here, and here to stay.

Here’s an interesting article about job seekers using blogs to find a job.  But, how many employers will search technorati.com to find the right employee?  It might be a good way to catch the eye of an employer when you print your blog link on your resume.  Blogs are great writing venues.

Blogs Recommended For Job Seekers As Best Way To Stand Out - WCPO.com | Cincinnati breaking news, weather radar, traffic from 9News

Experts say blogs can give employers insight into your writing ability and how you think. Plus, a more in-depth look at your qualifications than a standard resume.

Weil says, “There’s so much more you can put on a blog. You can put video, you can put pictures, you can write in a much more expansive way about who you are and what you know about.”

And with more than 75 million blogs on the web right now, recruiters and employers are using these online journals to search for talent.

Russell Glass of ZoomInfo says, “Blogs are a great way to find employees.” In fact, Russell Glass has hired people for his hot, new internet search engine.

Here’s proof that people do know what a blog is…

Americans Love Blogs | WebProNews

It’s official. Americans love blogs. According to a new Synovate/Marketing Daily survey out today, 8 out of 10 Americans know what a blog is–and just about half of us have visited a blog.

This new study polled 1000 U.S. adults using Synovate eNation and took place between July 30, 2007 and August 1, 2007. The survey’s results prove that blogging has now officially entered the mainstream.

Not only do Americans know what blogs are and have visited a blog in the past, blog loyalty is strong–46 percent of those who read blogs said that they visit the same blogs on a regular basis–versus 54 percent who surf the internet for new and different blogs.

Are we getting out of hand with blogging? I’ve never heard of tumbleblogging and I think I’m pretty “hip” on the newest Internet trends. 
Don’t think about it, just write

Weblogs? Been there, done that. Facebook? It’s full of kids. Twitter? That’s so 2006, darling. No, the smart thing to be doing online these days is tumblelogging, which is to weblogs what text messages are to email - short, to the point, and direct.

Tumblelogs are so named because they’re much more akin to a stream of consciousness. They represent the thoughts of the tumblelogger more or less as they happen, tumbling out of their brain, into a computer, then on to the web. Having a traditional weblog means having all the extras that go with it. A snazzy design, a searchable archive, links and widgets and comments and trackbacks and all that fluffy stuff that makes the front page of most weblogs look so busy.