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Blogging in America. How blogs are shaping businesses and mass media in the US. Agenda. Introduction Quick background about blogs Impact on American Mass Media Impact on American Businesses Privacy and societal changes Q&A. About Mark.
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Blogging in America • How blogs are shaping businesses and mass media in the US
Agenda • Introduction • Quick background about blogs • Impact on American Mass Media • Impact on American Businesses • Privacy and societal changes • Q&A
About Mark • University of Michigan, class of 2003, B.S. Computer Engineering • IBM • Microsoft • Google • Plaxo
Components of a blog • Easy to publish web page • Comments/Trackbacks • RSS feeds • RSS aggregators • RSS search engines
Blog software/platform • Wordpress 2.0
Comments/trackbacks • plaxoed!
RSS Feeds • not that interesting to humans
Aggregators • the lazy way to get news
Blog search • who’s talking about me?
Why now? • Wide spread Internet access • Storage costs going down • Bandwidth costs going down • Makes business sense with Advertising • Power is limiting factor now, but not for long...
Some stats... • 200+ Million blogs worldwide • 105 Million MySpace accounts • 40% of American Internet users read blogs • Blogosphere doubling every 6 months
Blogging impact on American Media • Media is now democratized. Individuals are just as powerful as the MSM • New news hierarchy: MSM cues off of bloggers • Every major news area: technology, politics, music
Effect on MSM • Almost all American newspapers have moved online • Small newspapers facing trouble • WSJ and NYT doing well, they made good shifts to online • Magazines are facing really tough times
Case Study: Politics • HuffingtonPost.com, 750 Thousand unique visitors a month • Drudge Report, 1.8 Million unique visitors a month • InstaPundit, 3.8 Million pageviews a month • DailyKos, 4 Million unique visitors a week • George W. Bush and John Kerry used blogs in 2004 • Blogs have gone mainstream
What’s going on? • Blogging is growing at a breathtaking rate • General population in the US is starting to incorporate blogs as a main news source • Some traditional media outlets are facing extinction
who is mark jen • the 99zeros story
who is mark jen • the 99zeros story
who is mark jen • the 99zeros story
What happened? • I made assumptions about the culture at Google • Google didn’t have a policy about blogging for employees • Google made a business decision to terminate me • Turned into a PR disaster for Google • Legal action?
Free speech vs. Corporate strategy • US constitution provides for free speech • Only applies to government censoring • Ideology vs. Capitalism
Blogging and companies • Company perception is affected by blogs • Corporate secrets can be inadvertently leaked • Companies can get direct customer feedback • Anyone can start a grass roots campaign for something...
Privacy and Societal Changes • Privacy has always been a big thing in America • Blogs disrupt the traditional private mindset • New generations coming online are used to their lives being public • Blogs, photos, social networks - all recorded publicly
My opinion on Search Engines • I think Yahoo is the best
I got fired from Google • everyone knows this anyways
I went to Singapore • just last week!
I got baptized last year • I’m Christian
Effects today • Easy way to allow people to keep in touch • People getting fired for blogging • Interviewers always Google your name first • Facilitating community around special interests
Questions? • I might have answers...