Google's Blogger refresh: too little, too late
It's easy to forget that more than a decade ago, when 'blog' was still a nascent buzzword, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams launched a service that would help propel blogging into the mainstream.
That service, Blogger, was acquired by Google in 2003, and a year later, Williams left to pursue new opportunities.
Microsoft outsources blogs to WordPress.com
Microsoft has largely been absent during the rise of self-publishing and social media. But that doesn't mean that it hasn't tried to compete. In 2004, it launched its own self-publishing/social networking platform, MSN Spaces. Today, that platform is known as Windows Live Spaces. Or, more appropriately, is not known as Windows Live Spaces.
That, of course, is because Windows Live Spaces is hardly a prominent platform in a world dominated by more successful publishing and social networking platforms.
Amazon boosts affiliate social media push on Blogger
Amazon wants its affiliates to be more social. Recently, it launched a Share on Twitter feature making it easy for affiliates to tweet affiliate links.
The push to make its affiliate program more social is no doubt based on the idea that social media and shopping have what it takes to form a long-lasting friendship. The logic: you'll trust a product recommendation from someone in your 'social graph' more than you'll trust an ad from some anonymous marketer. This isn't a new idea, but it is increasingly gaining traction.
Socia media wars - mommy bloggers vs PR
I was surprised to hear that one mommy blogging community (Momdot) has called for a PR blackout for a week in August.
"MomDot is challenging bloggers to participate for one week in August in a PR Blackout challenge where you do not blog ANY giveaways, ANY reviews, and Zero press releases. In fact, we don't want you to talk to PR at ALL that whole week. We want to see your blog naked, raw, and back to basics."
What software should you use for your blog?
The Technorati Top 100 consists of the internet's 100 most popular blogs as measured, of course, by Technorati. The blogs on the Top 100 list cover topics from technology to politics to celebrities.
But while the topics covered by the internet's most popular blogs may be diverse, the software that is used to run them isn't.
