Sometimes technical, sometimes not, never a kitty

MarketingProfs has some good food for thought in their Q&A with Josh Hallett:

Q: We keep hearing about the growth of Facebook. For most companies, does it make more sense to use its blog, or social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as tools to stay in touch with its customers?

A: If we look at many of the "tools" of social media and social networks, the foundation is conversation and relationships. The majority of users are on the services to interact with friends. But can a corporation be a friend? Does a corporation really have anything of value to offer a customer in terms of conversation or relationships?

This is where the human element comes in (has DOW trademarked that yet?). I'm not going to "friend" a company, but I will friend somebody who works for the company. However, is that person able to speak on behalf of the company?

Ooohhh, that's good stuff.  I see a lot of companies--large and small--thinking they need to get into Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.  Why?  People are loyal to brands, but don't really relate to companies.  Now, the owner of a small business can build a cult of personality around themselves, but that makes separating oneself from the business especially tricky.

Read the full story at http://www.marketingprofs.com/7/social-media-qa-with-josh-hallett-collier.asp.

Following on the heels of my question Do We Really Want Open Search to Beat Google, one has to wonder how much of a problem vandalism and general inaccuracies really are in Wikipedia.

One example I mentioned was politicians and their staff and their detractors editing and re-editing the articles.  Microsoft didn't do any better when it paid a blogger to maintain the Open Office XML page.  A Wikipedia editor discusses these examples at http://searchengineland.com/070717-113550.php.

Recently, the same editor published an article about The Right Way To Fix Inaccurate Wikipedia Articles.  A politician did not correct inaccuracies because he feared a PR backlash:

The exact text as it appeared in Wikipedia was:

"A graduate of the University of Michigan, LaTourette studied law at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and had the dubious distinction there of disrupting a school assembly honoring Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. LaTourette was roughly removed by the Secret Service."

The really damaging aspect of that allegation is how it bears a tangential resemblance to the truth. There actually had been a student disturbance when Prince Charles visited that law school. LaTourette was enrolled at the time but had nothing to do with the incident.

A Wikipedia Scanner has also been developed to track who has been editing entries:

Every once and a while Wikipedia seems to get some odd editing's and phony entries. They get caught fast but are extremely annoying for people who rely on the tool for research.

More story at http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/08/15/want-to-see-who-s-editing-wikipedia/.

I got 3/10 correct.  I need to more closely scrutinize my colleagues:

Can you tell a coder from a cannibal?  Try to work out which of the following spent their time hacking computers, and which preferred hacking away at corpses instead.

http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/killerquiz/

In the beginning, Community Credit was fun.  Make some blog posts, answer some forum questions, and get a geeky prize (don't judge me, swag whores).  After a while, some folks figured out how to game the system a little, and some seriously major participants also signed up.  Not sure how some of these people got all those points.  It wasn't fun, because you couldn't even come close.

Recently, David has made some changes.  Some of the top contributors were promoted to the Hall of Fame, point values have been changed, and a negative curve is applied to winners for two months.  Suddenly, stupid prizes are readily available again.  I'm awaiting my 10th place from July.  Woot!

Friends Cindy Closkey and Mike Woychek are back in the saddle with another awesome opportunity to learn about blogging, podcasting and marketing in the "new media".  Sadly, I'll be on my way to Hilton Head Island this weekend.  But don't let that be an excuse not to attend--it will still be a great event.

In case you haven't heard, PodCamp Pittsburgh is coming back for a SECOND great year!

WHAT: PodCamp Pittsburgh 2 (or PCPGH2)
WHEN: August 18-19, 2007@ 9 AM - 5 PM
WHERE: The Art Institute of Pittsburgh (420 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh PA 15219)
COST: FREE!

UPDATED! The session schedule is open! Please visit the website to view the schedule or add your own if you want to conduct a session and share your knowledge!

Meet social media creators -- and fellow viewers / listeners / readers!

Exchange tips, build contacts and launch new ideas!

Learn how to integrate (or improve) podcasting, blogging and social networking into YOUR
business!

Questions? Sponsorships? Registration?

For more information, please visit our website:

http://podcamppittsburgh.com

You can also add us at Twitter: http://twitter.com/pcpgh

Looking forward to seeing everyone in August!

I’m excited to announce the re-launch of the Honda North Blog.  We changed the software from dasBlog to BlogEngine.NET, and I converted a skin from OSWD.

So, if you’re looking for a Honda in western Pennsylvania, check out Honda North, and their blog at http://www.hondanorthblog.com/.

SubSonic:
ProMesh.Net MVC Source Code
SubSonic: SonicCast 6 - LINQ, LinqToSql, and SubSonic

Membership:
Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Membership API Extended

E-commerce:
Amazon to take on PayPal and Google Checkout

Jasper:
Codename "Jasper": Rails or Django for .NET?
Build Dynamic Database Applications in .NET with Project Codename "Jasper"

Kevin Gearing of DotNetFreak has released an updated CAPTCHA control for .NET.  Not only compiled against the latest version, there are a lot of new features, too:

Version 2 of FormShield builds on the previous .NET 1.1 version, adding a wealth of new features, options and accessibility improvements. The most notable feature addition is the capability for FormShield to now automatically generate a spoken version of the value shown on the image to aid with accessibility legal compliance. This however is just one of a handful of major new features, not to mention the number of improvements and changes made since the previous version.

If you’re looking for an ASP.NET CAPTCHA control, this one is worth checking out.

Full story at http://dotnetfreak.co.uk/blog/archive/2007/07/13/formshield-for-net-2-0-released.aspx

If you’re interested in getting started blogging, but don’t really understand what blogs are, or what the fuss is all about, maybe the best idea is to wade into the blogosphere, rather than dive in.  A recent article at Marketing Profs includes this advice, from ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse:

Listen first, and then join the conversation.

What he means here is start by reading blogs.  Then, leave some comments when you feel you have something to say.  Once you’re comfortable with expressing your opinion, start your own blog.  And that’s where the rest of Marketing Prof’s tips come into play.

Full story at Blogging Baby Steps: How to Join the Conversation Without Starting Your Own

Subsonic (slow down Rob, I can't watch these fast enough!):
SonicCast #4: All About Rails
SonicCast #5: REST, LINQ (Beta 2), And Other Acronyms

Blogging:
Blog pirates on the horizon!
GTD Wiki for Bloggers by Gina Trapani and Barb Dybwad

Misc:
Friday Humour: Spinal Tap's set from Live Earth
Coding4Fun Developer Kit - Home

On Friday at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, Wikia, the Web 2.0 community builder behind Wikipedia, gave the world an update on its progress toward building a new search platform based on open-source software and human collaboration.
...
Wikia executives said that by combining Grub with the power of a wiki to form social consensus, the Wikia search project has taken the next major step toward a future in which search is open and transparent.  

Full article at http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=13200C4Q51SO&nl=2; additional story at http://www.linuxinsider.com/edpick/58567.html

At first blush, this sounds like a great idea!  But, where human input is allowed--especially when from anonymous sources--one must watch for agenda-driven results, rather than relevance-driven results.  We see this already with Google-bombing, Digg-ing, and even on Wikipedia itself.   Part of the death knell of DMOZ was ego-driven editors keeping rivals from the listings.  The directory was wildly incomplete, and its utility was limited and eventually surpassed by Google's* search abilities and completeness.

For politicians, their entries in Wikipedia are a constant tug-of-war between their supporters (or their staff) and those who oppose the politician.  Usually, the truth is somewhere in the middle, but depending on the moment you read Wikipedia, are you getting the full story?

User reviews have also become targets of "black-hat" techniques.  Recently here in Pittsburgh, someone rated six flower shops with almost identical comments (now removed) and 1-2 stars.  There was obvious malicious intent, possibly from a competitor.  The reviewer could not show she had ever been a customer from any of the shops she reviewed, which is why the reviews were promptly removed when pointed out to the review service.

Anonymous human collaboration has opened up an entire new industry known as "reputation management".  The mere existance of such an industry puts the lie to the idea that harnessing human collaboration is superior to cold mathematics.  I'd much rather have the scatter from mathematics than a single train of thought provided by the most active linkers/diggers/editors.

*Yes, I'm aware Google has human editors tweak search results, but I'm not sure to what extent, and from what Matt Cutts has implied, it's mainly to cull spammy and malicious results or confirm algorithms.

INC.com recently published an article with 10 tips for choosing a domain name.  All are pretty good, but this one needs some elaboration:

2. Short and easy to spell -- Shorter is better.  A short URL is easier to remember and less likely to be misspelled than a long one.  For obvious reasons, avoid any domain name that by its nature is hard to spell or confusing.

Not just easy to spell--easy to say on the phone or the radio.  I can't tell you how many times I hear domain names said on the radio, and have no idea how to spell them.  If you're buying radio advertising, include a clear spelling--accents (especially the Pittsburgh-ese in this area) make B and V, M and N difficult to discern.

Full article at http://technology.inc.com/internet/articles/200707/campbell.html.