Mysterious surge of page hits at Wordblog
There was a surge in page hits at Wordblog last week. That was pleasing but on examination a considerable proportion of them are for robots.txt.
In the past neither of the stats systems (one from my hosting company and the other a blog plug-in) on the site have shown much evidence of them. But last week both showed around 950 hits and they seem to have come after upgrading WordPress software to version 2.1 on Tuesday.
Is it a coincidence or is something else going on?
Davos defines social media
Being left behind on London during the Davos jamboree has “become a social blunder on a par with being caught in the capital in August,” says Ruth Sutherland in the Observer business section.
Yes, there is a touch of sour grapes and like her I would rather enjoy being there next year. Every blogger who can seems to have made their way to Switzerland.
Arianna Huffington gives us a taste of this up-market event which makes it sound like one of those giant Harry Potter fests they go in for in the US. She wrote: “There are hundreds of different “sessions” (including panels, workshops, and working lunches) taking place over the four and a half day conference — and that doesn’t include all the unofficial parties, dinners, and “nightcaps” that go on here until the wee hours of the morning.”
Daily Telegraph editor Will Lewis was there too, blogging: “Right now I am off to a drinks function hosted by Lakshmi Mittal, followed by a dinner at which Stern and Cameron are due to speak about the environment. Later on there are no end of drinks parties to attend. I am told that Guy Ruddle, head of Telegraph Talk and part of our Davos team, has volunteered to monitor and report on those late-at-night bashes.”
Jeff Jarvis took his Buzzmachine there and was able to give us his world view: “Reuters was holding a lunch party today up at the top of one of the mountains that lords over us here at Davos. I was looking forward to being there and seeing the view, shooting video, eating cheese. But I was not looking forward to the ride. I hate heights. But the promise of wine and cheese got me into the funicular railway and up and up and up we went.”
Tim Webber, at the BBC’s Davos blog, tells us: “Looking back at the past week, what was the hottest ticket in town? Undoubtedly the Google party on Friday night.”
Over at the Guardian’s Comment is Free, Larry Elliott tells us: “Davos is where you can see all the names in your contacts book – and the ones you hope to add – under one roof. Was that really Jean-Claude Trichet chatting to George Soros? Yes it was. Shall I accept that invitation to go to lunch with Bono? Only if doesn’t clash with my session with Bill Gates. Davos, believe me, brings out the groupie in all of us.”
So there you have it: Davos has defined social media.
Telegraph's Will Lewis at the blog front
Having revisited The Times blogs (see previous post), I felt it was time to take a look at the Telegraph’s, another of my targets last October when I asked what was the purpose of newspaper blogs. There I found editor Will Lewis busy at the Davos Diary.
He was tired of talking about blogging. He had gone to one of the high-powered meetings to talk about how traditional media has to adapt their business models to meet the challenges of the web and broader digital changes.
But he found it all got bogged down by colleagues, Americans in particular, who wanted to talk about the “meaning of blogging” and whether old media journalists should do it.
In his mind there was no debate to be had. “Blogging and enabling readers to interact and comment on our thoughts is part of what we do at the Telegraph,” he writes.
I still have not looked at changes in the paper’s blogs but I did find the editor leading from the front.
Times gets into the swing of blogging
The Times is really getting into the swing of blogging and having a conversation with its readers. Sometimes the frustration shows as in this post from India Knight on the Big Brother Blog (We watch so that you don’t have to):
Could we please desist from the embarrassingly babyish, inarticulate, mud-slinging posts? I’m personally disinclined to moderate anything this evening if I have to wade through any more of this BORING offensive crap – you know who you are. I’ve got a Ban button, and I’m going to use it. Allright?
Oh, and grow UP (unless, as I suspect, you’re 12, in which case I might tell your mummy).
Very human! This short-term team blog is getting lots of comments and linking to other newspapers including the Standard, the Guardian and the News of the World.
Another new blog, Alpha Mummy, is linked from the women’s section and is not even mentioned on the blogs home page. It is another team blog written by five writers — four mothers of two and a mother of one. It is difficult to describe but the phrase “eclectic mix” comes to mind.
Pieces about choosing schools are mixed with videos, including one from You Tube of a woman with no arms changing her baby’s nappy with her feet.
There has been a real change in The Times’s blogs since I counted 40 in October and questioned their purpose. Now the number linked from the blogs home page is down to a more select 22. They look good to me and I hope they are bringing in the visitors. With blogs accounting for 13% of visitors to the top US newspaper sites (I wish there were figures for the UK) their importance is becoming increasingly obvious.
A small hitch at Wordblog
An update of Wordblog’s software has caused a few problems including a rather messed-up blogroll. I am working to sort them out. Having failed to install a couple of security updates, I felt I should upgrade to the new version 2.1 of WordPress but it was not the smooth sailing I had hoped for.
Mystery of blog heads that work
Richard Sambrook tells us that four weeks after experimentally putting up the post heading “Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Exclusive!” it has not significantly boosted the hits on his SacredFacts blog.
He says: “Perhaps I should be heartened by the quality of my regular readers.”
I tried a similar experiment, putting “sex” in a headline. That too failed to bring in more readers. But words and phrases like “citizen journalism”, “religion” and “blog” seem to boost visits.
But the longest, thickest tail belongs to “Among the dinosaurs and evolvers of journalism“. It was posted back in early August and this month is still at number five in the list of most visited pages.
I really don’t know what heads are going to work best but I suspect that the rules people give for news sites don’t necessarily apply to blogs.
Five tests to avoid blog failure
The best thing that can be said about The Independent’s entry into newspaper blogging is that they are wasting very little time on it. Martin Stabe took a look just after Christmas and reached the conclusion that the paper’s “cringeworthy effort at blogging” needed sorting out. He was almost too kind.
You might have expected someone in Marsh Wall would have noticed his comments and made at least some effort to add a few posts. But no. The latest post, in the comedy section, is dated December 21 and promises a round-up of Christmas gigs after December 25. It tells us a review of Ricky Gervais is on the main site and, then, fails to give a link to it.
If this was some sort of subversive blogging joke it might be ok, but it is not. The home page of each blog has a blurb proclaiming that the paper is, “Proudly Independent by name and nature…”
It is particularly sick at the top of the Sony Technology Blog which would look as if the content was dictated by the sponsor were it better written. Each post has the same intro: “Welcome to Sony’s technology blog – the best way to keep up with the fast-paced developments in the digital age.”
I can only hope that the most recent post, on December 18, is accurate and it is the “third and last posting”. That would be merciful. The Environment blog has not been updated since they asked readers, on November 3, what they should be covering.
Maybe the editors took a look at the comments which centred on whether global warming was written in the bible and decided enough was enough.
All this brings me my five tests for a newspaper blog:
- Does it do anything which cannot better be done in another section of the site?
- Does it develop the paper’s interaction with the readers?
- Does it gain a valuable audience? (A particular niche, readers who are new to the paper etc.)
- Can you give the blogger sufficient time to blog successfully?
- Have you chosen a writer or writers who have the aptitude to blog successfully?
The tests are far from exhaustive but they should at least help editors to give the topic some thought before launching into anything like The Independent’s blog failure.
Millions are watching Saddam die. Should they?
Mobile phone video of Saddam Hussein’s execution has brought to the fore on the first day on 2007 the debate about how far availability on the internet should influence what is shown by mainstream media.
Writing in the Guardian about coverage of the execution on CNN and Fox News, Dan Glaister said :
But neither could keep up with the news. And the debate about the niceties of showing the stark images of death had already been taken out of the western media’s hands.
Like so much footage shot on the ubiquitous mobile phone, from acts of police brutality to misbehaving politicians, the raw information had circumvented the traditional instruments of control.
Most broadcasters have used some footage from the video which does not show the actual moment of death but has two shots of the dead Saddam with the noose still around his neck (one of them was used across the Guardian’s front page). The BBC showed the build-up but not the aftermath.
These arguments of taste have been rehearsed previously with videos of terrorist assasinations which have been shown in edited form by middle-eastern and western TV stations. The unedited versions have been available on small sites and needed some effort to find them.
This time the unedited version is available on huge new media sites which are effectively in competition with mainstream media. And it has been pulling in a huge audience.
A few minutes ago Google video was saying the camera phone video had been watched 884,657 times, Revver’s count was 182,115 and on You Tube it was restricted to registered users. The Anwarweb.net site from which many copies seem to have come was closed because of excess use of bandwidth. Saddam and his hanging was number 1,2, 3 and 6 on Technorati’s “most searched for” list.
This puts the self-censorship on the grounds of taste, which has long been a part of MSM, under extreme pressure. If people are going to get content from Google and others, why should it not also be available from traditional newspapers and broadcasters?
The counter argument is one of brand identity and trust. MSM is defined by editorial judgements which include whether it is right to show something which is likely to be offensive to some of the audience. There is also the question of appropriateness of material within the context of the whole story.
Google, YouTube and Revver provide no context and there lies another danger. How many are seeking out this video because they feel they are being deprived of an important part of the story and how many just want to watch a snuff movie?
Looking for a British site showing this video I came across a most unpleasant page called “beheading videos”. Part of a “disclaimer” reads: “We have not made this page to shock, but to inform you. Our main stream media networks are just the governments bitches. 90 percent of people believe all the shit in the papers. But an awful lot of stuff goes unreported. The videos/links are provided for informational purposes. To further discussion about thier authenticity (or the lack there of). We firmly believe that people should have the right to see the world as it is. Some places have censored these videos. We feel this hinders our ability to maintain a free society. We are behind our troops 100%, but Tony Blair must think we are a buntch of cunts.” An animated graphic repeated down both sides of the page is of a severed head from which blood is exploding.
This page is hidden — I found it via a Technorati link — behind a site devoted to magic mushrooms and cannabis. The caption to the video says: “Saddam Hussein’s neck appears to of snapped nice.”
When I find a nutty fringe site like this I usually remember there have always been such people around and pass on: when I find one putting out the same content as YouTube I get very worried.
Pausing for thought about media development
This year there has been almost a frenzy as mainstream media websites bring on the latest technology with video, podcasts, more blogs with talk of social media, conversations and communities.
Could this rush be a mistake. Two items in yesterday’s Guardian suggest it might be. First on the business pages, Richard Wray reports that the Upload 2007 conference on social networking has been cancelled because there was not enough interest to make it viable. He wrote:
Fashions change fast on the internet and the latest “new new” thing – online social networks – has already become passé if the surprise cancellation of a conference early next year is any indication.
In Media Guardian, Kim Fletcher reviews the year for newspapers, writing that while a digital strategy might not guarantee success, not having one is to look like a failure. But the race may not go to the first. He writes:
There is still time to get involved, for Associated is proving that you can build an audience even if you start late. The success of the expanded Mail website suggests that there is no overwhelming advantage in being first mover. The Mail’s online audience is growing fast, and management calculates that it can catch up with any rival initiative that is shown to work. It is not a bold or imaginative strategy, but promises a safe return at low risk.
There is a lot to be said for that approach. By watching the “beta phase” for new ideas in journalism many of the mistakes can be avoided. As I have remarked before there are some terrible newspaper blogs out there and others have made similar comments about some of the video newspapers have been putting up.
The Christmas holiday is a good time to pause and think about where we are heading as the inevitable development of MSM websites and media convergence continues at a bewildering pace.
Why do politicians blog?
Emily Bell, the Guardian’s director of digital content, takes a look at political blogging and viral video in the media sections opinion column today under the heading “separating the bloggers from the tossers”.
Her conclusion is: “No doubt between now and the next election the increase in politicians blogging will be like lemmings falling off a cliff, but a word of advice if I may. Unless you have and inner blogger — don’t bother.”
She castigates David Cameron who never veers into the “realm of conversation”. His posts do not refer to external sources, point to material seen or read, or link to people he’s talked to. “It is a one way diatribe of not-quite policies,” she writes.
There are resonances in Bell’s piece, of the discussion on why newspapers blog. Howard Owens has joined this discussion in his Media Blog and suggests: “All reporters must learn to become good bloggers. If you’re smart enough to be a good reporter, you should be smart enough to figure out how to become a good blogger.”
That argument could equally be applied to politicians but I am with Emily Bell: you need “the inner blogger”.
- In praise of Suffolk cheesesOne of the nice things that has happened in East Anglia this century is the increasing number of really good cheese makers. I enjoy surprising visitors from other parts with a fine range of local cheeses. Another good thing is that they are now much more widely available. Memorable Cheeses in Dial Lane, Ipswich is […]
- Three controversial donors backed Ben Gummer’s Ipswich election winThree controversial Conservative party donors helped finance Ben Gummer’s successful campaign to win Ipswich, 113 on the Tory target list, at the last election. Between them the three donors contributed £35,000. Two of them Andrew J. Clark (£25,000) and Abdul-Majid Jafir (£5,000) are listed without an address in Mr Gummer’s entry on the Commons register [... […]
- Donor who supported Tory campaign in Ipswich on Cameron’s guest listOne of the Conservative party donors entertained by David Cameron was billionaire businessman Michael Spencer who has a house near Woodbridge and is an associate director of Ipswich Town. The Ipwich Star picked up on this story today and went to local MP Ben Gummer for a quote in which he called for a £50,000 […]
- Suffolk libraries: let’s work together for best futureA call for the new organisation charged with running Suffolk Libraries to take a gradual approach to change is made today by James Hargrave on his blog. I entirely agree with his post which could serve as manifesto for most library campaigners in the county. Please read it. Following the resignation of the county council […]
- Don’t tell me pensioners have been protected from austerityIt is not so much the “granny tax” that is making me angry but the suggestion that pensioners have been protected from the worst effects of the nation’s austerity. We are paying heavily, will continue to pay, and pay more because George Osborne thought he could slip a nasty little measure into his budget. Pensioners […]
- How social media brought Trayvon’s shooting to world attentionThe fascinating story of how the shooting of a teenager in Florida became an international news story, is told by Kelly McBride, a journalist working for the Poynter Institute. She writes: Ten years ago Trayvon Martin’s family would have had a hard time getting the national media’s attention. But with the help of a […]
- Blogger told ‘we are monitoring you for defamation’For any journalist to get a message from an organisation he or she is writing about saying they monitoring what is written about them for defamation, is an endorsement. It usually means the journalist is getting things right and the organisation has poor media relations advice. And now it has happened to Suffolk “citizen […]
- Churnalism: fine example from Archant SuffolkChurnalism is the habit of some media of using press releases without much added. There is a fine example of it from the Archant Suffolk newspapers and websites today. The chairman of the new Industrial and Provident Society set up by the county council to run its libraries resigned yesterday and was replaced by the choice […]
- Daily Telegraph: awards dinner at the Dorchester expensive, shockThese days you can find a date, plan a weekend in Brighton, arrange your wedding, and insure your new house through the Daily Telecraph. OK, I invented the bit about arranging weddings. Every newspaper and magazine is searching for more and more ways of bringing in cash as they try to cope with with […]