Top 10 Web Brands in the U.S.

Odds and Ends

1. "Obama: $60M in February?," by Patrick Ruffini.

2. "One Mission, Two Newsrooms," by Erik Wemple.

3. "E-mail Newsletters Seek Riches in Niches," by Alana Semuels.

4. A Brown University study from April 2007 found that blacks make up less than one percent of the political blogosphere.

5. "Fred08.com: An Outside Insider's View," by Michael Turk.

6. "The Years of Experience Myth," by Jeff Atwood.

7. "LiveNewsCameras.com," by Steve Peterson.

8. "CNN Really Wants iReport.com," by Steve Krakauer.

9. "Using Images in E-mail," by Todd Zeigler.

The Role of Bloggers in Crisis Communications

Q: [I]f bloggers have picked up that you are having customer service issues, but these issues are going to take a little while to fix, how do you keep a lid on the grumblings in the meantime, before they take on a life of their own?

A: The key thing to do is to make sure that the bloggers who are grumbling know that you are listening and you're doing everything in your power to help them, even if it's going to take some time.

How many times have you been at the fast food counter and watched someone get irate? They rant and rave and scream until someone with authority at least listens to what they have to say and then begins to act on it, even if it takes time. Then they calm down. This is the same in the b'sphere.

"Blog Buzz" [Washington Post]

How LinkedIn Compares to Facebook Compares to MySpace, Etc.

LinkedIn: 15 million users. 4,000 new users a day (10/07).

Facebook: 55 million active users, who, on average spend 22 minutes a day on the site. 200,000 new users a day (11/07; 10/07; 10/07).

MySpace: 110 million active users (2/08).

Twitter: 340,000 users. 2,000 new users a day (7/07).

YouTube:

Why Your Nonprofit Organization Should Embrace Social Networking

If only because all 501(c)3s can avail themselves of these free programs:

1. YouTube.

2. MySpace.

3. Facebook.

4. Google. Google Grants provides free Google AdWords advertising to select charitable organizations. This program is designed to help organizations extend their public service messages to a global audience in an effort to make a greater impact on the world.

84% of Facebook Users Are Between the Ages of 14 - 26

According to its official "Statistics" Web page, Facebook boasts "more than 64 million active users." But the devil, as always, is in the details.

As Facebook itself reveals in its process for creating an advertisement, of these 64 million people, only 24 million of them are in the United States:
















Moreover, 84% of these 24 million are between the ages of 14 and 26:

















Hat tip: Marketing Hub.

Which Bloggers Should You Invite to a Conference Call?

Last year, I compiled a chart showing which presidential candidates had hosted conference calls with bloggers. (Then, as now, John McCain toped the list.)

Yesterday, Mitt Romney joined the pack. Rob Bluey runs down the good and the bad in his typically comprehensive and fair-minded way:

Jennifer Rubin of Commentary, who reports daily about the presidential race, thought Romney’s outreach to bloggers stood out in stark contrast to McCain’s operation. McCain holds calls every other week, invites a variety of bloggers (some of whom openly disagree with the candidate) and usually takes every last question.

“It seems apparent that McCain’s team has a far more sophisticated and more inclusive new media operation,” Rubin told me. “The frequency of the McCain calls, the length the calls, the opportunity for substantive follow-up questions and the number of invitees dwarfs anything the other campaigns have done. Perhaps it has something to do with the results McCain is achieving.”

In fairness to the Romney campaign, I asked [Stephen] Smith [Romney's online communications director] to explain the campaign’s rationale for limiting the number of participants on the call.

"The selection process was more art than science,” Smith said, “but we considered factors such as the size of the blogger’s readership, the geographic location of that readership, and the amount of influence that each blogger has within new media generally or within more particular audiences (former supporters of Mayor Giuliani or Senator Thompson, for example).”

The result was 14 bloggers who called in to chat ... [most of whom] have either endorsed Romney or are publicly working against McCain. Romney’s outreach strategy appears to be somewhat similar to the approach of Huckabee’s blogger calls. The last time I attended one, I was the only blogger who wasn’t backing Huckabee.

Here’s how Soren Dayton of eyeon08.com described the Huckabee calls: “Every question, except mine, started with an expression of support or love. This is not how it works for Rudy Giuliani or John McCain. The people on those calls are high-traffic national blogs focused on politics. The people on the Huckabee call were, at least, local blogs, often focused on things other than politics.”

Romney’s campaign was apparently trying to find something in the middle: high-traffic blogs favorable to Romney. Apparently, it worked. Smith told me “the invited bloggers asked meaningful questions and gave fair reports of the call.”

Kudos to Romney for finally doing a call with bloggers. It’s just too bad the campaign limited its impact by selecting such a small group of participants.

My take: Obviously, and rightly, candidates will invite their biggest supporters and fellow-travelers, so the real question is, Who else should you invite? Stephen's criteria—readership, geography and influence—offer excellent parameters.

To wit: Phil Klein, one of the participants, has written posts that have broken news, has written articles that RealClearPolitics has linked to on its home page, and writes for a blog whose Technorati authority is 1,799.

Did you miss the ASY summit?

Here's a brief slideshow:

Odds and Ends

1. Last year, I wrote that I was "expecting big things from TheAtlantic.com." Eight months later, the big things have materialized, as the NYT noted earlier this week:

A year ago, the Atlantic’s Web site was, to put it gently, weak—in content, staff, traffic and advertising.

Today, with big-name bloggers and video, it barely resembles the same site, having evolved into one of the livelier places on the Web for public policy debate and news analysis. And the number of readers going to the site has quadrupled.

2. “If you tell people how to consume their content, they will ignore you,” he said, a truism that experience had taught new-media executives. “Let people do what they want to do and try to be in their circle of choice.” —Josh Tyrangiel, managing editor, Time.com.

Congressional Press Release Contains Hyperlinks

I'm sure there are other members—though not many—who use hyperlinks in their press releases, but Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA) is the first I know about.

For example, this release from December includes links to the congressman's dear colleague letter and the legislation in question—and not as additional reading at the end, but integrated into the text.

(Hat tip, in a roundabout way, to Congress 2.0.)

Tagging Videos on MySpaceTV

For some reason, MySpace automatically alphabetizes the tags for videos uploaded to MySpaceTV. Thus,

Paris Hilton Britney Spears Jennifer Love Hewitt

becomes

Britney Hewitt Hilton Jennifer Love Paris Spears

This is obviously problematic, since it breaks apart phrases.

After perusing some of the top videos on MySpaceTV, two solutions became apparent: (1) Deleting spaces among paired words ("JenniferLoveHewitt"), or (2) using underscores among paired words ("Jennifer_Love_Hewitt"). I opted for the underscores.

This isn't perfect—ideally, tags would permit spaces—but it's an easy and explainable workaround, the need for which is ever-present on the Web.

Who in Corporate America Is Hosting Conference Calls with Bloggers?

1. The American Petroleum Institute. See this recap from Outside the Beltway, 1/18/08.

2. Exxon-Mobil. See this recap from Wizbang, 5/3/06.

Related: "Which [Presidential] Candidates Are Holding Conference Calls with Bloggers?"

Public Affairs. Public Relations

public affairs: mobilize allies around certain issues

public relations: generally improve public perception

"Wal-Mart Blogger Relations—More Public Affairs Than PR" [Bivings Report]

The Library of Congress Is Now on Flickr

Check out the collection here and the official announcement, by way of the LOC blog, here.

Why Support the Troops?

You stay up for 16 hours. He stays up for days on end.












You take a warm shower to help you wake up. He goes days or weeks without running water.















You complain of a "headache," and call in sick. He gets shot at as others are hit, and keeps moving forward.













You put on your anti-war T shirt, and meet up with your friends. He fights for your right to wear that shirt.















You make sure your cell phone is in your pocket. He clutches the cross hanging on his chain next to his dog tags.














You talk trash about your "buddies" who aren't with you. He knows he may not see some of his buddies again.



















You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls. He patrols the streets, searching for insurgents and terrorists.













You complain about how hot it is. He wears his heavy gear, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow.














You go out to lunch, and complain because the restaurant got your order wrong. He doesn't get to eat today.














Your maid makes your bed and washes your clothes. He wears the same things for weeks, but makes sure his weapons are clean.


















You're angry because your class ran five minutes over. He's told he will be held over an extra two months.













You go to the mall and get your hair styled. He doesn't have time to brush his teeth today.











You call your girlfriend and set a date for tonight. He waits for the mail to see if there is a letter from home.














You hug and kiss your girlfriend, like you do everyday. He holds his letter close and smells his love's perfume.











You roll your eyes as a baby cries. He gets a letter with pictures of his new child, and wonders if they'll ever meet.



















You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything. He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people, and remembers why he is fighting.













You hear the jokes about the war, and make fun of men like him. He hears gunfire, bombs and screams of the wounded.














You see only what the media wants you to see. He sees the broken bodies lying around him.















You are asked to go to the store by your parents. You don't. He does exactly what he is told even if threatens his life.










You stay at home and watch TV. He takes whatever time he is given to call, write home, sleep, and eat.














You crawl into your soft bed, with down pillows, and get comfortable. He tries to sleep but gets woken by mortars and helicopters all night long.

Who's Running a Freedom Award Ad?

Here's a sampling:

1. The Military Family Network:
















2. SpouseBUZZ:
















3. MilitaryConnection.com:
















4. Military.com:

























5. Google:







6. Facebook:














7. MilSpouse.com:

On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog?

As Slate's Paul Boutin observes,

Nearly a decade ago, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy snapped out a warning to the worriers of the Internet Age: "You don't have any privacy. Get over it." McNealy's words look more prescient every year. In 2006, AOL unwittingly divulged the personal lives of 650,000 customers by publishing their search histories as research data. Despite AOL's attempts to anonymize the info, the New York Times quickly outed a 62-year-old lady in Georgia whose searches revealed her dog was wetting the upholstery. The Justice Department has subpoenaed Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and AOL for lists of search queries. More recently, Facebook employees were caught reading the customer logs.

Corporate America Is Now Advertising Its MySpace Profiles

Check out this ad, from Anheuser-Busch, promoting its Positive Parenting campaign:

Joe Klein Salutes the Troops

From his year-end column:

And finally, I'd like to thank the men and women Gates leads, the members of the U.S. military, especially those I was privileged to meet in places like Baqubah, Yusufia and Baghdad this year. We are honored by your courage, your determination—your all-American informality and good humor—in the ultimate bloody, dust-blasted arena. Please be safe over there, and in Afghanistan, too.

Blogvertising

From Clive Thompson, 2006:

For advertisers, the whole lure of blogs is that they’re cheaper than regular newspapers and TV. Plus, blogs offer tightly focused niches, which advertisers love. “You wanna reach New York, you buy on Gothamist. You want to reach mommies, you buy on Busy Mom. How does traditional media match that?” asks Brian Clark, an ad buyer who orchestrated Audi’s blogvertising last year. The Audi campaign—which ran online for three months, and got 68 million page views, and cost only $50,000—was cheap compared with the $500,000 for a Yahoo front-page banner that runs for only one day. . . .

Perhaps more important, blogs are buzz-creation machines: If an ad campaign appears on the blogs, it’ll often become a subject of conversation among the bloggers. “They’re social connectors,” Bassik says. Yet each blog has a different sphere of influence. To get a message out widely, he’ll buy on Daily Kos because it has the largest readership of any liberal blog (though it’s also the most expensive, at $4,000 a week). If Bassik needs click-throughs—someone who’ll click on a candidate’s ad, visit his site, and perhaps make a donation—he might buy Talking Points Memo instead, which has a smaller audience but a much higher click-through rate.

Since blogs set their own ad rates, each one offers a different value proposition, [Henry] Copeland [founder of Blogads] explains. A gossip blog like Perez Hilton has a huge readership—220,000 page views daily—but since the audience is broadly based, the rates are very low, costing $202 to run an ad for one week. Meanwhile, a smaller blog might have only 10,000 visitors daily—but if it’s a lucrative, tightly focused niche, the blogger could charge much higher rates per visitor.

Using CC Instead of BCC

From last week's Post:

A security meltdown the likes of Three Mile Island hit the ABC News morning tipsheet yesterday. The Note's "Must Reads" e-mail was sent out at 5:30 a.m. to an elite group of what presumably are the touted "Gang of 500" opinion shapers—the people who count in the world of politics and media.

No one, absolutely no one, is told who is on this famous bcc ("blind carbon copy") list. Well, that was the case until yesterday morning.

Despite our constant admonitions to be very, very careful before hitting the "send" button, a young ABC-er hit it—accidentally, we're told.

Not a minute later came the "would-like-to-recall" message, trying to retrieve the five-page list of the e-mail's recipients. Too late.

Now everyone on the list knows who's in the gang and who's not. There are about 524 addresses, but many are duplicates, leaving perhaps a few hundred in the coveted category.

The list includes the usual pols—Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.), Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Sue Myrick (R-N.C.)—lobbyists including Tommy Boggs, Dick Armey and Linda Daschle; Hill staffers; campaign types; White House aides; and, of course, many reporters.

Related: "Gossip Columnist Forgets BCC, Angers Anonymous House Staffer on Way to Post."

What's a Widget?

From Henry Copeland and Megan Mitzel, "The Huge Opportunity for Online Political Ads," New Politics Institute:

Widgets are small modules that can be ... "adopted" independently by users. Widgets blur the line between an ad and a personalized service ... Because a widget provides a service—information, game, tally or newsfeed—users are more likely to interact with it longer than a regular banner ad, thereby increasing brand loyalty and longevity. Allowing users to share the widget with others provides free distribution and placement.

Why Advertise Online?

Henry Copeland and Megan Mitzel, both of Blogads.com, highlight the reasons:

1. pay as little as $5 per day, and 5 cents per click
2. target niches/categories that your competition can’t imagine
3. experiment easily
4. further target your market so that only people from zip codes you’ve specified can see your ads

ATTN: Guard and Reserve Members

Time is running out to nominate your employer for the 2008 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award:

Update (12/5/07): Check out this 30-second PSA, which resides in the just-created ESGR YouTube channel:

Social Networking in Plan English