Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Tag: blogging (Page 2 of 3)

Is Twitter Affecting Blog Frequency? An Excellent Discussion…

A question keeps popping up for me: is "micro" blogging (as in Twittering) affecting "macro" blogging (as in what you’re looking at here)? I say it definitely is slowing down the frequency of regular blogging, because people are just spending so much time on Twitter — well, the rabid early adopters, anyway. But many of these happen to be long-time bloggers, too. So, Twitter’s bound to have an effect on how often they blog.  I also touched on this in a post a few weeks ago: Blogging Less, Twittering More.
But then I saw a discussion on FriendFeed a few days ago, which you see here in the graphic. [Okay, it took me a few days to post it because I was Twittering….and FriendFeeding.]  Twitteringcutsblogging_2

The comments to this post certainly tell the tale, confirming my own suspicions. By the way, I don’t know any of these people, including the poster, Veronica — but, yes, through the magic of Web 2.0, they’re all my "friends" now… 🙂

The original blog post that Veronica dugg on Digg was this one from Ryan Block, the editor-in-chief of Engadget: Does Twittering Mean You Blog Less?

By the way, if you want to keep up with me on Twitter, just go here and follow me: www.twitter.com/graemethickins.  And to subscribe to my FriendFeed, go here: http://friendfeed.com/graemethickins. There quite a discussion now going on amongst the digerati as to whether FriendFeed will overtake Twitter, with all the downtime and scaling problems the latter is having.  I even questioned in a recent tweet whether FriendFeed might be bought by Google (which would be interesting, since it was founded by ex-Googlers).

What do you think? Do you like one over the other? Have you even tried either one? Does any of this matter, or it is all just about the kool kids trying to find the next fad?

This Blog’s For You, Bud

I love this blog post so much, from my other blog, that I just have to post it here, too.  Well, a least a link to it.  Put it up a little earlier today.  I’ve never done such a thing before, double up like this, but I just have to make an exception for this one.  I mean, how often does a guy get to talk about beer and blogging in the same sentence? Hmmm, I wonder how many beers the employees get to have every day at Miller Brewing?  Okay, excuse the day-dreaming….

Anyway, read the full post — it’s a great social media and marketing story.

Nmwthisblogsforyou

VCs Who Blog vs. Those Who Don’t

Great piece in the Boston Globe yesterday by Scott Kirsner: In Venture Capital, a Growing Rift Over Blogs. It’s the best look I’ve seen so far into why some VCs blog and why others pass. Makes some excellent points about the main advantage for VCs — better deal flow — and the main advantages for entrepreneurs — leveling the playing field, including from a geographic standpoint.  That latter point is one I’ve written about a lot, and a very real issue for founders not lucky enough to be located in one of the VC hotbeds.

I like the way Kirsner characterizes VC blogging as the "new parity in the world of venture capital."

The article quotes one of the best-known VC bloggers out there, Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures in NYC, a guy who’s invested in many Internet and Web 2.0 deals. Here’s an excerpt from the article that quotes Fred:

Venture capitalists who blog say it isn’t just about helping pump up
their firm’s reputation and show how market-savvy they are. Blogging,
writes Wilson via e-mail, is "the best tool for VC investing that I’ve
ever seen, and I’ve been in this business for more than 20 years."

Wilson
says his blog not only helps him meet more start-ups, but it brings him
companies that are "more targeted and more relevant" to the areas he’s
interested in. Wilson also likes it when his readers argue with him or
tell him about companies he might not already know; it’s not unusual
for one of his posts to attract 25 or 30 comments. "You can’t buy that
kind of education," he writes, "and I get it every day for free."

Later in the piece, an opposing viewpoint is put forth:

"My gut says that there’s no correlation between VC blogging and
financial returns," Spark Capital’s (
Bijan) Sabet says, noting that blogger
Fred Wilson has done well with his investments – but so has John Doerr
of the Silicon Valley firm Kleiner Perkins, who doesn’t blog but has
put money into Amazon, Google, and Intuit.

The trouble with that characterization, however, is that those latter deals were done long before blogging was popular. Granted, it’s hard to argue that big-kahuna KP needs to blog. But there’s a whole universe of newer, younger VCs out there who are finding it benefits them.

IDG Ventures’ Jeff Bussgang adds this great thought:

…as entrepreneurs increasingly maintain blogs of their own, Bussgang
says, "they want to see that the VCs are their peers and are wrestling
with similar issues and thinking through things."

I wonder how many VC bloggers will be at DEMOfall, starting later today?  I’m looking forward to talking with them.

What do you think about blogging representing "the new parity in venture capital"?  What are your experiences?

 

No Wonder Marc Andreessen Has So Much Time to Blog Lately

Marcandreessen
Seems a little deal has been brewing. He just got rich — again. This just in from the Wall Street Journal:

Hewlett-Packard agreed to acquire software maker Opsware for $1.45 billion as the PC giant continues to bulk up its non-hardware offerings. Opsware was co-founded by Marc Andreessen, the young brain behind Internet pioneer Netscape.

Not that he wasn’t already rich. Why does this guy even need to work, anyway? I guess he’s still too young to know any better…. 🙂

Here’s Marc new blog if you haven’t seen it yet. Where he reminds us that the deal was for all cash. Several bloggers, myself included, have been going on and on lately at how great a job he’s been doing with his blogging — really some nice, long, thoughtful pieces, tips about raising VC, etc. (I’ve cited them somewhere on one of my blogs — forget where right now). Suddenly he was being so generous with his time! Sure, he has a great CEO running his popular new firm, Ning (which, by the way, just announced a $40M+ VC infusion).

But I say, hooray! He gets richer, and we all get to benefit more from his great writing — his new career of blogging. Go for it, Marc….

I Can’t Help But Digg This One – ‘Content Producers: Write Articles, Not Blog Postings’

I always passed off Jakob Nielsen as simply a UI geek. No more — the man knows his stuff about blogging and writing, too. This latest essay of his is one I find very relevant in light of my own background as a blogger, and my previous considerable background as a published writer. I find it very hard to disagree with the case Jakob is making here. Reminds me of a piece I wrote a few years ago, for IDG’s Darwin Magazine, putting forth the notion that blogging was not soon going to be adopted by most mainstream businesses — which some in the blogosphere immediately (in the typical knee-jerk reaction it’s become known for) took as a negative attack on blogging. Of course, it wasn’t; for one thing, I said I felt blogging was great for certain kinds of businesses, both large and small, and gave examples.

Now, I feel an echo of sorts happening. Blogging is not a panacea, this essay also reasons — meaning blogging as most people know it: short posts that aren’t very well thought out. However, what will never go out of style, he says (and I wholeheartedly agree), is good writing. That is, lengthier articles actually based on thinking, preparation, and research — and, not unimportantly, that exhibit a real voice.

Here’s what the submitter on Digg (“spinchange”) had to say in his summary of Jakob Nielsen’s great piece….and do read the full piece if you’re at all interested in the topic of blogging :
“To demonstrate world-class expertise, avoid quickly written, shallow postings. Instead, invest your time in thorough, value-added content that attracts paying customers. Warning – this is a long article, stuffed with charts and statistical concepts – like standard deviations and utility functions – it flies in the face of guidelines for web writing.”

What are your thoughts on this topic?

read more | digg story

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