Ampers & Dot

While working with people to better understand and utilize blogs, I am often asked about the requisite length of a blog post; often inaccurately phrased as “how long does it have to be?”.  The first answer to this is that if you think it has to be done at all, you’re going about it all wrong.  Blogging is supposed to be fun and enjoyable and if you ever feel burdened by it- don’t blog. 

Blogging has unlimited benefits, but if you aren’t enjoying it then, quite frankly, your blog will show it and you’ll be unable to reap the said benefits anyway.  For example: blogging well can build a community of conversation.  But if you don’t enjoy blogging and the posts suffer, then no one is going to be talking about it anyway.  So why do it?

Anyway- back to the length question.  The easy answer: not too much.  Far too often posts are longer than they should be and I can say with full confidence that it’s immeasurably better to have a shorter post than a post that runs too long.  Researchers recently determined that after 25 seconds on a page, people aren’t really reading anything anyway (only dedicating 4.4 seconds per 100 words, after the initial 25 seconds… that’s not good).  So it’s better to leave the post shorter and have that text read, than ramble on in a space no one is getting to anyway.

I usually like to avoid responding too directly to the question about post length, because then it is seen as an assignment.  If I say 300-500 words, then that becomes a goal to hit 400… when ultimately the goal should be to get the message across. 

My answer is as vague as possible: keep it between 100 and 1,000 words.  Introduce the post, get your message across, and wrap it up.  And it’s better to have a fun and interesting post with 100 words and a link, than a twelve page manifesto on your love of McDonald’s dollar menu (this is out there… I’ve seen it and it’s scary).

Ironically the point of this post was actually a test for me, to see if I’m actually able to just spit out a quick post about a topic I know.  Didn’t work.  Let’s just write this up in the series of “advice I’ll give on my blog about things I know really well but that I don’t do personally”.  I’ve already covered the blogroll and now length; next week maybe I’ll talk about how crappy my SEO is.

This short post: 411 words.

While reading the Boston blog aggregator/news/etc. Universalhub.com yesterday I came across an intriguing post on spam comments. In short, UH’s Adam noticed a few newly spammy comments on older posts he’d written. After a little digging, he learned the source of this mess comes from a company that basically sells comments.

For twenty bucks CommentHut will go around to 100 targeted blogs and post little spam comments that link back to your company. I know what you’re thinking: “wow, there’s a way to blow my company’s credibility and make us look stupid, and it’s only $20!? Sign me up!”.

Let’s talk about why this is stupid: as Adam points out, the spam comments he found on Universal Hub were on old posts and they were still pretty easily identifiable as spam. Even if the posts are indeed written by a human- they’re still fake and annoying. For example- take a look at this spammy comment that made it beyond my spam filter, but was pretty easily identifiable as spam.

This is inherently flawed for the following reasons

• Good blog admins are either notified of new comments, or check any new comment regularly enough to pick up spam
• Good spam filters will nab, or at least hold in moderation, comments with questionable links
• Posting spam comments on old posts only makes it look spammier, plus most blog sites have built in options to “delete comments on threads older than…”
• Fake comments stick out even more obviously when a site has a real community, like Universal Hub
• Readers aren’t dumb enough to click on fake comment links anyway

That last bullet is the most important: I mean look at the spam comment there- it’s horrible! “I’m at University…” oh, ok- I’d better check out your “credit-instent.cn” link! I bet it’s really good and can save me money… is there anyway I can just send you my credit cards and you’ll do the work for me? What if I also send you my passport, apartment keys, and a twenty dollar bill? Hopefully if you’re reading this, you are smart enough not to click on any link domain name that is spelled wrong… or links to Canada…

Seriously though, what does this accomplish? My thought: it’s a good way to throw away money and prove that you completely misunderstand social media.

The idea of comments section is that it’s an open dialogue between the author and the reader. It’s what separates blogs from news. By invading this conversation you are really only bound to piss off the author, disrupt the readers, and make a bad name for the company that paid you twenty bucks to spread the name around.

The first and foremost rule of social media is transparency. Let everyone know who you are and what you do. If you hide it, or fake it, you look just look dumb. So here’s my transparency disclaimer for today’s post: I help teach companies how to best utilize social media and I think fake comments are a horrible idea.

You might not have noticed, but I recently trimmed a bit of the fat from my blogroll (that little list over there- available about halfway down on the right there… for those who haven’t checked it out yet) in an initial phase of overall “blogroll rehabilitation”. This came about because it seemed hypocritical to have any blogs on there that I’m not passionately reading on a regular basis and as it turned out there were a few on there that I didn’t even read at all anymore.

What I realized was that in the first stab at creating my blogroll I reached a little too far and tried to include something for everyone. This is obviously silly because this blog isn’t for everyone, so why should I try to please those jerks who aren’t even reading this (obviously, I’m not talking about you).

Part of my day job is helping companies build better blogs, so it’s only fair that I have a good one of my own. In the coming weeks I’m going to spend some time redoing my blogroll and thought I’d turn this into a post about how to actually make one.

First off: what’s the blogroll all about? The way I teach the blogroll, is it should be links to other blogs that your readers will enjoy. If they like what they read on your site, they’ll like the content on the other sites too. It’s like Amazon’s suggestion feature- where they match up relevant purchases with the one you’ve already bought- “we see you just bought a Celine Dion CD; would you also like this handgun and bottle of booze combo?”

I use blogrolls every day to find new things to read. It’s a great way to learn more about an industry and it’s a perfect way find networks around topics you find interesting. So let’s just dive into it- tips to building a better blogroll:

• Relevance is bliss: The blogs you link to should first and foremost be relevant to the content you are publishing
• Relevant blogs, not relevant websites. A blogroll is a collection of blogs, who would have guessed. If you have a number of links you think your readers would also enjoy, create a “Links” section too
• Organize! Categorize the blogroll (or even links) into sections to give readers a better understanding. Boston blogger Scott Kirsner does the best job of this of any blog I know
• Use titles with descriptions help guide your readers. Hover works too, but give your audience a clue to what they’ll find in each link. A blog with a crappy name, like AmpersandDot.com means nothing- add a hover to explain the content
• Yes, we all think LOL Cats are hilarious, but unless your blog is about LOL Dogs or straight humor related, your readers are gaining nothing by linking to it. Same goes for StuffWhitePeopleLike.com
• Quality and relevance over quantity. If you have too many links then the relevance is drowned out by all the noise. Todd Defren and Josh Hallet, your blogroll reads like Con Von Hoffman’s category list (Important note: I love all three of these blogs and read everything that any of these guys writes. And you should too.)
• A mix of mainstream and lesser-known blogs (assuming they are relevant and you read them) will add a better variety. I’ve seen a number of blogrolls that only link Engadget, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, and Valleywag. This is lame (and I’m half guilty of it)
• Keep it current. A standard role in blog maintaince is to check dead links. A dead link on a blogroll is one that hasn’t been updated in a week
• Make sure the blogs on your blogroll are ones you read regularly. This sounds straightforward, but I think that once you link to a blog in your blogroll you should be accountable for knowing its content. Linking a blog in your roll is a compliment to the author that you want to give them traffic from every reader
• Hell, you should even be active on the blogs you list- comment on them and engage the author. Because a blogroll link creates a connection- on each page- not just a link in a post, but a static link for all to enjoy. And hey, if you comment on more blogs then you’ll be much more likely to get links back.

Blogrolls are an integral element to every blog. And sadly I haven’t been appropriately respecting the importance. Things I need to work on: a) more blogs b) categories (I’m thinking: Boston, Web “2.0″, Social Media, Tech Nerdery… but we’ll see what pans out) and c) better variety, not just Mashable and Engadet Mobile… ugh.

This weekend I’ll take my own advice and start working on revamping my blogroll. What else should be considered when blogrolling? What are your tips?

Last week I read a post from Chris Brogan, one of Boston’s superstar social media mavens, declaring April 28th as “Read and Comment” day. This seems like a great idea, because so often it seems the we can get so wrapped up in creating social media, that we ironically forget to maintain the “social” aspect of it all.

Over the last month or so I’ve been getting more and more into the Twitter community which has introduced me to a dozen or so new blogs to read (this is, in fact, how I found Chris Brogan’s blog). Twitter has allowed me to be in touch with the authors, send them messages and praise, and ask and answer questions. Basically Twitter has enabled better social networking around the blogs that I enjoy.

Twitter has been helpful for me because I’ve recently realized that I’ve been becoming less social online. Allow me to explain: in a given day I read around 1,000 blog posts (let me sub explain: I’m a Social Media Consultant specializing in blog tracking building a social media monitoring tool) and as you can imagine, the only way to keep up with that volume is through a RSS reader.

I have a number of ways to follow my blog feeds, through the new tool we’re working on, and also for testing: Google Reader. I can go through a hundred posts in about ten minutes now, flagging things to read later, posts to share, posts for clients, posts for the office… and so on.

What I don’t do that much, is comment. If I’m reading everything within a feed reader, I usually don’t even see the comments. And I’ll only follow through to the comments if I want to see what others are saying. This is wrong.

Basically, RSS feeds have taken the social aspect away from blog reading. And now with other feed readers like FriendFeed, it’s easier than ever to just passively participate in social media. Which ironically removes the social aspect. Since converting almost entirely to RSS feeds for blog reading I have to assume that my comment volume has dropped so significantly.

My goal today is to work on fixing this. I’m going to Twitter more, mainly with replies. I’m going to comment more on other blogs. Heck, I might even write on someone’s Facebook wall. The point of social media is to be social. So today, branch out, and say hello. Become part of the community and engage in the conversation. Or you could always just pick up a newspaper and read it. I mean, I think they still make those…

And hopefully this goes without saying, but feel free to add to the conversation by commenting below.

Facebook chat launched this week, giving users yet another way to communicate with people they do, and do not, really know. The little instant message feature is incredibly similar to Google Chat - in that it sits on top of a platform that you must already have open. In this case, Facebook is assuming that you have its website open at all times, and if you love buying people virtual drinks as much as I do, then you probably do have it open 24 hours a day.

I’ve expressed my confusion over the current state of Facebook before, but to reiterate: I don’t really understand Facebook in its current form. It’s trying to do too much too quickly, none of it with any real quality. So enter the chat tool. It is indeed yet another way for people to communicate. Maybe this is because I’m no longer a Facebook “power user”, but it just seems redundant and cumbersome. It’s yet another aspect of Facebook that bogs down the already cluttered social network.

That’s right: Facebook is cluttered. Admit it- the “feed” is annoying. Even if you set up the preferences and individually ignore some streams, there’s just too much work involved to manage it. And this is coming from a guy who reads 1,000+ items a day through RSS feeds and follows a good sized twitter stream…

And it turns out that I’m not the only one. Inside Facebook, a sight dedicated to discussing new developments within the social network, recently wrote about what people hate most about Facebook. Granted, this was targeted at Facebook applications, but it still ironically highlighted one gigantically flawed concept: people don’t like what’s going on at Facebook.

As the charts illustrate, there are many things people don’t like about Facebook apps, the least of which being the completely useless functionality. And with more and more clutter, invites, and indicators, Facebook is starting to look like a 15 year olds MySpace page. Needless to say- this is not going to be a successful “tool” for professionals.

Chat might actually be an ok feature- and honestly, if I were still a power user, I’d probably be psyched about the chat feature. But if Facebook is working to bridge its way into the business world it needs to realize that professionals are less keen to communicate in a place where they are being attacked by digital pirates or getting poked by someone they went to school with years ago… these are two very different worlds that will not naturally overlap.

But in the end- Facebook messaging might be really cool though- I mean, it’s going to be awesome to finally have a way to keep in touch with people, right? I’ve been waiting for a long time for technology to evolve to a point where I can communicate with other people…

So if you want to discuss this more with me then you can email me on one of my dozen email accounts, IM me on Google Chat, IM me on MSN chat, leave me a Facebook message, write on my profile wall, DM me on Twitter, Text me, call me at work or on my cell phone, message me through LinkedIn, Digg, or my MeetUp profile, or you can stop by my place and say hi. Or, of course, you can leave a comment below.

Just please don’t fax me. I don’t know how to use that thing.

Last week I read a pretty thought provoking post by Mass based Social Media Rockstar, Chris Brogan in which he answers answered the question “What Does Facebook actually DO for Me?“.

The answer, it turns out is “not that much”.

(Side note: if you find anything I write remotely interesting, you should also probably visit his site regularly - actually, you should stop reading my blog now and just go read his instead. Admittedly: he’s much better at all this than I am.)

I found the comments to his post equally interesting to his original question. Scroll through them and you’ll find that very few people are actually that happy with Facebook these days, nor do they find it incredibly useful.

Similarly, last week another Boston based blogger wrote about the (all too common) comparison between Facebook and AOL- claiming that “Facebook is a fad” (read that post too, he comes to a pretty similar conclusion that I might eventually get to). The point is: the novelty is gone and the functionality is disappearing. Because no, I don’t want to buy a virtual item. And no, I don’t want to throw a digital sheep at someone.

And that’s the thing: I don’t really “get” Facebook right now. In its current state, Facebook is stuck in a state of preadolescence. Stemming into high schools, but still trying to be the cool thing for college students, and now branching into the professional world of office networks, job searching, and parents. In its attempt to impress too many people at once, Facebook is like an awkward middle-schooler, trying to run but stumbling over its recently lengthened legs. See, Facebook isn’t dying, it just no longer fits into its old clothes. (Hopefully you’re still with me on this puberty analogy, because it’s going to continue…)

If you remember, one day Facebook woke up and had an application platform. This growth-spurt made it looks really silly because just because there’s an API doesn’t mean people knew what to do with it. Of course the early apps were stupid - that’s just Facebook growing up. Maybe that whole zombie thing was just a voice-crack on Facebook’s path to becoming a man.

Do I think Zuckerberg has the idea of how to fix this? Actually, no - he’s dealing with his own development right now (note: I just pulled a Zuckerberg/puberty joke- it was way too lowbrow…). But if he keeps poaching Googlers then chances are the little $15,000,000,000 company might grow up and serve a real purpose after all.

As more developers have more time with the Facebook API, I can only assume something functional and interesting will come along. Right now it might be a gawky teenager, but with its strong financial backing and talented internal development staff, Facebook has the potential to grow into a fully functional member of our society.

The larger question, to which I’d love an answer, is: What does an adult Facebook do? And how does it make money? But that’s a topic for another day…

So during this awkward adolescence, what do I use Facebook for? Blog post material. And not much else.

This post should really be titled “why you should believe in me blogging again” but I didn’t want to have to read that on my Recent Posts section… it just seems sad. But yeah, I wanted to go through the reasons as to why I’m getting back into this- and more importantly: why you should care.

Oh, and before I get too far into this - if you subscribe to my feed- then I’m sorry for all the reposts you’ll likely be spammed with. I’ve been doing some site maintenance and recategorized some things for simplified navigation.

Ok- let’s get into this list. The question is: Why should you believe that I’ll be posting here again?

• I missed it (writing is fun, after all)
• I’m trying to get more involved in the local tech community again (like the the Web Innovators meeting last night, that I’ll hopefully discuss more soon)
• I’ve completely accepted that I’m a total geek (finally) and that makes it easier to “blog” (for examples on this, read the next two bullets)
• I’m going to be starting a nerdy Boston meetup group to play with gadgets… yep.
• I’m now on Twitter (there will be much more on this later- but for now - check out the widget to the right!  And please, please follow me- it’s embarrassing not having any followers…)
• There is so much going on in the tech world (I’ve got loads to say)
• This is my second post in one week! (And you know what- I’m not promising anything more than that either…)
• I do this for a living and should be better at helping myself do it
• I have some fun links that I want to share with everyone (like the one in the next bullet)
• For example: I needed an excuse to promote The Official Bi-Lingual Chivas USA Soccer Blog
• Now that I’ve allowed myself to discuss anything- I get to write about gadgets and video games, things about which I’m not an expert, but wish to be
• Microsoft’s Live Writer (that’s right, a desktop blogging client. Unbelievably cool and has changed my life. Seriously, I’ve increased productivity at work by about 40%)
• My loyal readers and commenters are going to keep me on the ball by writing me often…

So that’s it. I’m back. My posts will likely be shorter and less frequent than I’d like- but the thing I do promise is that I am going to find them interesting. Sound good?

Because it’s only appropriate that I triumphantly return on April Fools’ day… (and because it’s only appropriate to start a sentence, paragraph, post, blog with the word “because”…)

Let’s not even beat around the bush, let’s just dive right in, shall we?

General Excuses

• Been busy (everyone is busy, get over it)
• Traveling (this one is irrefutable, but email me if you want to see 250+ pictures of Japan!)
• The Hell-Flu of 2008 (fever over 100 for nine straight days… this was legitimately the sickest I’ve ever been in my life)
• I’m lazy (there’s really no explanation for this one- but I’m working on it)
• I occasionally blog elsewhere (there are some great posts there by some smart people- check it out)
• Work’s been time consuming (but great- this is the only excuse that I’m completely ok with)
• It’s been cold out and that makes me lazier (but it’s getting warm again!)
• My new computer that I got just for blogging is awesome… but tiny and not fit for blogging (there will be more on this later)
• I started forcing topics that I didn’t really care about (my message can only be what I really know- not what I’m supposed to know)
• I was avoiding topics I like (gadgets, video games) because I felt obligated to readers I don’t have (blog what you like and the posts will come)
• I like video games (and instead of blogging I’ve been dorking around)
• I’ve had some grand scheme of a big comeback post (screw that!)

So if there’s anyone out there still reading: hi… um- what have you been reading? There’s been nothing here.

Blogs are about sharing information and having fun. My goal now is to have more fun sharing good information. I mean, yeah, I’d have given up on me already, but if you haven’t- well then you’re obviously more dedicated than I am and maybe you should be blogging too.

And also- thanks for reading! Stick with me here- and expect some fun in the upcoming weeks. That is, until GTA IV comes out- then I’ll disappear again…

With the plethora of news on social networking recently, it’s pretty fair to say that it has truly become part of mainstream society. No longer just for IRC junkies looking to discuss last week’s Battlestar Galactica (although I’m sure there’s a channel for that), or hackers in their mom’s basement sharing conspiracy theories, (actually, you don’t even really need to be computer literate any more…) social networking is for everyone.

Let’s actually take this a few steps further. Facebook, which I was introduced to the spring of ‘05 and takes its name from the directories of students given to college freshman, is no longer just for college students; MySpace, usually known for its shadiness, is now a strong focus of some political campaigns; and during this time, LinkedIn, generally known for being the most “professional” of the social networks, is doing everything it can to keep up with the less-than professional networks.

Everyone is social networking now: from kids to parents, students to grandparents. They’re all out there.

And that’s the probem: growing popularity only means growing risk. Sure, there were a lot of people who got away (or didn’t) with terrible and illegal activity on the early days of MySpace, mainly because no one was watching. But now there is such a large web out there that predators (not just the type that Chris Hansen catches) are flocking to social networks in search of new pray. As much as “authorities” are trying to monitor what’s going on online, there is only such a finite amount that can be done at this p0int.

Let’s site some examples I found around the web during the last few weeks.

• Facebook found (and subsequently fixed) a gaping security hole opening up account settings
• Facebook’s  development API  was  utilized to create the social network’s first Malware (that actually took a month longer than I would have guessed)
• CrimeinCharlotte.com, a well titled site, collected images off of local teens’ MySpace pages which depict gangs or illegal activities. Seriously, are people that stupid?
• If you haven’t heard of the Megan Meier saga, read about it here.  It’s sad and disturbing- and shows how MySpace can be horribly exploited (though I still completely side that myspace did nothing wrong and this mom should be in Jail for doing that to a 13 year old girl)

Well here’s where this rant takes strange twist, which is actually the point to this entire post: MySpace is actually the responsible one in this story.

Today, MySpace announced that they will be spearheading a new “industry wide internet safety technical taskforce”, aimed at making it safer for people of all ages (primarily minors) to engage in the participatory web.

This taskforce is targeting age-verification, alternate social media sites to deter minors from the masses, stronger parental involvement, and better education on online risks and avoidance.

TechCrunch has a great piece on what this taskforce will mean to the other networks beyond MySpace.  And you know what: I’m impressed.

This needed to happen.  As funny as Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator” is, you have to remember that for each online sexual predator they catch, there are probably a dozen they didn’t.  That’s just scary.

Although I’m obviously skeptical of where this will go and what will truly come of it, someone has needed to step in for a long time.  This is going to be the starting point for the future of social networking regulations- which is a strange and uncharted area and I can only say that I’m ambivalently interested to see where it goes.

Now if someone can only explain to me how they’re going to improve age verification, I’d really appreciate it.  And just remember that “A parent’s approval” is easier to forge online than in person…

LAST NOTE: MacWorld is tomorrow.  I’m not a crazy Apple fan- but I love watching what Jobs pushes out each year.  12pm Eastern Time is when Steve’s keynote begins.  Check out Gizmodo (biggest apple fanboys?) site- they’ll likely liveblog it.

Ok, I’m back in town just in time for another long weekend! So, sorry for the lack of posts, but I’ll just stick to quality for the time being and hopefully we’ll end up calling it even. So let’s just jump right into it.

Today’s post is packed full of great links and it’s going to be a fun one: Online Social Shopping.

First off- what is online social shopping? These are places online where you can communicate with others to get shopping tips or advice; such as product reviews, suggestions, or complaints as well as tips on bargains, sales, or coupon codes. Ever gone on Amazon.com or Epinions and read user reviews? That’s online social shopping.

I can’t even remember a time when I bought something on amazon without reading a review first, or purchased electronics without going to CNet and looked up a video review. I don’t even book hotels without checking TripAdvisor first to see what other people thought about their stay… I mean, this information is out there- why not take advantage of it? This is the entire idea behind the social web: people have experiences, they share them for others to read. This is most applicable for consumer items or travel.

Second: why now? Because this is the single greatest week for online shopping. The deals are the best of the year right now and I want to help you find them.

So let’s begin.

Last week I showed you Woot.com, well it’s also worth checking out SteepandCheap.com, which is the exact same thing, but with different products (thanks Jammo).

How about Amazon.com - they have everything in one place… well, to find the best deals check out this page, which outlines current markdowns. You can also use Jungle Search to find deals through a search engine.

There’s also Bargainist.com (where you can find deals like the 60% off sale at Restoration Hardware, with an additional 10% off Coupon Code), slickdeals (where you can find a coupon for 20% off of any Linens and Things order, to go with the big year end sale), dealhack.com (where I found out about the post-xmas sale at The Gap), or DealNews (which highlights the ) which are all worth checking out daily for special online promotions. And to fully utilize the “social” aspect of this- most of these sites have their own forums, for discussing new deals and coupon codes.

There are a few great specialty sites for deals too, such as CheapAssGamer.com (or check out Gamefly’s gigantic sale) for video games, BlueFly for clothing, J&R or TigerDirect for electronics, or ChefsCatalog for 70% off of kitchen gear.

Other big online sales worth visiting: Buy.com, Half.com, or Overstock.com (with an additional 10% off anything).

Ok, last note: make sure to utilize google for coupon codes. This is an amazingly easy, yet often overlooked resource. Almost every online market has a section in their checkout stage asking for “Coupon Code” or something. Google the store name with its term for a coupon and you’ll be all set. For example: take a look at what comes up for Target (where I may have just visited for some post holiday shopping…).

Alright, that’s it for me today. This weekend I’m going to start working on my “Wild and Crazy Predictions for 2008″ - so that you can all laugh at me in a year for how incredibly wrong I can be. Trust me: that’ll be fun.