Toluu

Robert Seidman

Technology, media and sports

Some Thoughts on Blogger BurnoutAugust 5

Ah summer doldrums.Seeing how Mark Dykeman is apparently sending out an SOS, and Corvida isn’t exactly burned out, but just can’t find anything she feels like writing about (and oh man, I know that feeling) I thought I’d chime in with a little bit of perspective from the vantage point of someone who definitely has been through this and burned out.

I wrote and published on the Internet (e-mail and web) at times fairly prolifically from 1994-2000. Then I burned out. How bad did I burn out?Well, in some ways so badly that I let simple things slip (which is one reason why I can’t easily point you to the 1994-2000 archive).But it’s not exactly a cautionary tale of woe.

If you get completely engulfed by the flame, you run the high risk of burning up and burning out.By 2000 I’d hit that point and I shifted my focus heavily away from technology.When the new ballpark in San Francisco opened in 2000, I got seasons tickets and between the 2000 and 2001 seasons I attended over 100 games.Sure, they were all steroided up, but at the time I could relate to it well. I was on mega-doses of prednisone myself because I’d stressed myself out so much I had a program with chronic hives.

Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Blog About Blogging (Not!)July 28

The recent wave of popularity of making sure you write blog posts about something where you can put a number in your headline is starting to grate on me as much as “What do you think?” closings aimed at generating comments. From “Eight Ways to Tie Your Shoes Left-Handed” to “Six Things to Consider Before You Recycle” sticking a number in the headline is all the rage.

I don’t really have five reasons why you shouldn’t blog about blogging. I don’t even have fourteen reasons why you shouldn’t include a number in your headline. Obviously people are using it because it works in terms of getting people to click. But then again, so does “Miley Cyrcus Naked”. Just because something works doesn’t necessarily make it a good idea.

If it’s your passion to create “list” style posts that are helpful for people,the whole “5 Ways To Headline Your Blog Posts” approach seems just fine. But if it isn’t, it sure seems like deliberately coming up with content where you can use a number in your headlines will get old to both you, and your readers very quickly.

Internet Video Star: Bwana McCallJuly 20

Justine, Veronica, and Leah D’Emilio are all very beautiful and talented Internet video stars. But let’s face it, all three of them probably aspire (some of them already successfully) to actually be on television. While they’ve put their talents to good use, I don’t see them utilizing the new technology in particularly new ways. This isn’t a slam on any of them, especially as many of the old ways have been proved over time to be very effective.

For a whole variety of reasons that I’d wind up naming Justine, Veronica and Leah, is no surprise. But my favorite Internet video person, at least in terms of using the new medium as, well, a new medium, is actually a man. Sorry, Lon Harris, I'm not looking at you, though I do enjoy your videos too.

My favorite on the net, at least tech-wise is someone you’ve probably never heard of. His name is Bwana McCall. A few people apparently pitched in to buy Bwana and his wife new 3G iPhones. I know, yet another frakking post mentioning the 3G iPhone. It probably won’t stop un

Louis Gray Ponders Ethics. Again.July 20

Mr. Gray won a free 3G iPhone from the folks at SocialMedian and two things are clear:

1. Louis really, really, really wants the phone (me too, and I absolutely don't need one, but still, me too)
2. Louis is struggling a little with propriety and ethics, but not so much that he’s not taking the phone

Although I predict Louis will regret giving up his Blackberry (assuming he sends more than a couple of few word e-mails per day), I think he handled this situation appropriately. He thought about it, but still took the phone. I think it is important to think about it, but, in this case, I also think it is OK to take the phone.

It’s good for journalists to be pure. But bloggers aren’t journalists. I admire the ethics of Walt Mossberg and his purity comes in handy since he’s making purchasing recommendations, often on items costing more than several hundred dollars. But still, even Walt lets Kara Swisher trash Yahoo week in, week out (day in, day out) when Kara’s wife is an executive at Google. Kara refers to that in her disclosure every time she writes about Google or its competitors, so there's no issue as far as disclosure. If even Walt and the WSJ draw the distinction that blogging is not journalism that’s plenty good enou

“I wrote the same (thing), but in different words”July 9

My pal Ted Leonsis shared the link to this video on his blog. I’ve embedded it here. It’s an important message. It reminds me of those bloggers who are always struggling over how hard it is to make a buck via blogging. While one (often suggested) solution might be to get a job and not worry about making money via blogging, perhaps the approach of writing the same things you’ve been writing, but from a different angle will work out well for some.

Watch the video and decide for yourself. Note: the embed code does not seem to work in IE, though it is fine in Firefox, if you can't see the video below, you can get to it here.