Intelliseek blogging white paper

Intelliseek and Edelman partnered to create a white paper on weblogs. The white paper, available as a PDF file, is targeted at marketers yet provides a good overview of the world of weblogs to any business professional.

Topics covered

  1. Introduction to weblogs
  2. The impact of weblogs
  3. Quotes about weblogs
  4. What makes a good weblog?
  5. The Edelman & Intelliseek Trust MEdia Blog Directory
  6. How to contact a blogger
  7. Do’s and don’ts of blogging
  8. Blogging glossary

The blog directory lists top weblogs based on traffic and influence in consumer technology, health care, marketing and advertising, and public relations.

I do not agree with the paper’s statement about A-list bloggers such as Glenn Reynolds having typically a low posting volume: Instapundit has 20 postings today as I write this post. I also disagree with the suggestion that weblogs must only be short posts. I do not want to see a short post about a car engine or all the great new features of my favorite software product. I subscribe to the partial marketing weblogs for the inside scoop, and the inside scoop is often lengthy, as Microsoft OneNote product manager Chris Pratley and Fog Creek Software founder Joel Spolsky have shown so well.

Overall an interesting white paper, and if you are interested in how corporations perceive weblogs today or in the future it is definitely worth checking out.

Matt Mullenweg on the WordPress hosting issue

Matt Mullenweg posted his side of the story regarding the Hot Nacho partnership and content placement on the WordPress.org domain.

The sad part is geeks need a vacation too. When I travel abroad I leave a phone number or two with a few close people who can monitor my world and let me know if anything really big happens that needs my immediate attention. That way I can have a small piece-of-mind and know if something big was going down, it would be pretty easy for people to reach me.

Matt, when you get back we should get some hot chocolate. I know just the place for a mini vacation of chocolate decadence.

WordPress community issue with hosted content

One or more WordPress administrators decided to partner with a targeted content company to host almost 120,000 articles on high pay-per-click topics such as mortgage, asbestos, and diabetes. The articles section in question is linked off the WordPress home page and hidden from most web browsers using CSS. This content partner pays WordPress a flat fee for placement on its highly ranked site.

WordPress is a GPL-licensed product covering server and hosting costs mostly through user donations. Some WordPress developers are working on creating a WordPress foundation with non-profit status, applying for trademarks, and I am sure there are other project costs I am not aware of.

In a now closed WordPress support thread lead developer Matt Mullenweg comments on the issue raised by a member in February, noting WordPress receives a flat fee for the articles section.

Andrew Baio at Waxy jump-started the conversation around this issue.

I am personally not a fan of this method of raising funds for the development of WordPress and its foundation. I admire the success of organizations such as Wikipedia and Mozilla and their fundraising efforts. I just donated to WordPress to show my support for community-focused foundations and open-source projects.

Guinness event next Wednesday

Guinness

You know it is going to be a good day when you receive an e-mail from Guinness inviting you to an all you can drink party to learn more about your favorite beer and give the company some feedback. Brilliant! I know it is a marketing event, but I’m excited anyways.

I will take pictures and blog the Guinness event. I did not see any restrictions on the invite, so if you are in would like to attend a Guinness event in San Francisco or another city visit the Guinness Believer web site and use password “BELIEVER” to enter the site. I am attending the San Francisco event the evening of Wednesday, April 6, if you would like to join me.