TechFold - Bold tech & web commentary

Bold tech & web commentary

TechFold is technology discussion, commentary, reviews, and opinions from well outside the valley. There's no koolaid to drink here, and TechFold is not in SL, or on Twitter.

For love of money: the death of the blogosphere

Scobleizer chimes in after the Federated Media / Microsoft dustup over the weekend, asking why its “ok” for some tech-pundit types to sell their voices and not for others. Roberts asks the key question: would Leo Laporte be talking about GoToMyPC if they weren’t paying him? Likely not.

Blogging and the blogosphere began with an implicit promise: that those who participated did so for the love of their community and interests, not for a paycheck, and that what they wrote was an honest snapshot of their opinions.

That promise defined the blogosphere: it created a fifth estate characterized by passion, opinions, and a chorus of overlapping, contradictory views - all in marked contrast to the dry, “objective,” produced mainstream media. That promise has encouraged millions to join “the” conversation as authors, free to be honest to themselves; those honest author’s personalities, opinions, and insights have created the world’s biggest reader base.

There are successful bloggers out there, however, that seem to have lost sight of what it means to be a blogger - presumably swept up in the opportunities of success. Can Leo Laporte sell his voice? Sure - I consider him MSM, living principally in TV and Radio, and thus compromised by the very nature of those industries. Can Michael A. and Om Malik shill whatever they want? Sure - go ahead. But when you do, your failing yourself and your readers, breaking the promise that you made to the blogosphere to speak your mind - not advertiser’s. Its disappointing to see.

blogging, blogosphere, blogs, federated+media, fm, gigaom techcrunch

Rolling Stone Social Network: Born to gather moss

Om lets us know that Rolling Stone Magazine is creating a social network. So - a sixties brand with little relevance to the social-networking MySpace & FaceBook generation is attempting to gloss a layer of hipness over their decaying empire: I don’t see much good coming from this.

Rolling Stone has two options:

CURRENT PLAN = BAD IDEA: Increase brand penetration in their traditional target demographic: the 30+ aging hipsters crowd is where Rolling Stone finds its readership. By launching their own social network, they are taking on the challenge of converting this demographic - which has largely ignored the phenomenon - into social networkers. Whatever gains they expect to get in brand awareness, online presence, or physical circulation will be challenging to come by in a conceptually hostile market segment.
Increase brand penetration in new demographics: If Rolling Stone really wants to expand into the burgeoning, music-obsessed youth/college market, they should go where they go: FaceBook and MySpace. Create a co-branded special content area and/or group membership features around the Rolling Stone brand and content.

This whole thing looks like CEO “Gotta Have It” effect, sold up by hyperbolic consultants. Time for Rolling Stone to pause and re-think.

facebook, gigaom, myspace, rolling stone, rollingstone, social social networking