Clearly this blog is hosted on WordPress so I’m partial to the environment, but I’m playing around with Tumblr a bit and liking the format. As far as usage, they are neck and neck – as reported by Technology Inc. – both closing in on 20M users rapidly.
Many users prefer Tumblr due to it’s ease of use, ability to ‘quick publish’ via email, and it’s design flexibility. WordPress seems a bit more robust on the customization front to me, but may be more than most simple bloggers need.
In the news lately is a guest post by Steve Rubel (Twitter) on the The Next Web, on why he “….adopted a scorched earth policy, dismantled two blogs and jumped to Tumblr“. Basically saying that he feels Tumblr is at the center of the ‘Media Cloverleaf’ (image courtesy: Mashable) and is uniquely positioned to take advantage of a highly social, extremely engaged audience with the ‘connective’ tissue that ties in the major social hubs (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) with those traditional media outposts (CNN, BBC, etc) and emerging ‘tradigital’ pioneers (The Next Web, Sports Blog Nation).
Others – like John Battelle – renowned for his prolific blogging on his Searchblog, have chosen to stay true to their original blogging platform but add in a layer like Tumblr for specific purposes – in John’s case – photo posting. Judging by the photos John posts – he’s having more fun than all of us, and has one hell of a wine collection to choose from each evening…
What’s right for you? I’m experimenting – ala John, but have not made the bold move Steve made with his personal social platform of choice – yet. Stay tuned and please weigh in with comments.
David Veneski Blogging Battelle, Rubel, Tumblr, WordPress
Last month, I blogged about a program that we were doing with Maggie Mason of Mighty Girl. As you may recall Intel is helping Maggie cross a few items off her Life List of things she’d like to do before, as she says, ‘die – peacefully, in my sleep, of extreme old age’. I think Maggie is safe from that fate anytime soon and it’s been fun to watch her make progress on whittling that list down. So far, with our help, she has redesigned MightyGirl.com, taken tap-dancing lessons, and swam with bio-luminescent plankton in Puerto Rico. Soon, I am going to be taking a quick trip to San Francisco to teach her how to roll in a kayak – which I am very much looking forward to. My kayaking buddies might be cringing right now because there are times on the river where my roll is not the greatest. Don’t worry Maggie – I have a bomber roll in the pool!
Maggie’s list has inspired an exercise where many of my co-workers, our agency, and our friends at Federated Media have taken on the task of writing down their ‘mini’ life lists. We had an amazing response when we polled the list above and we thought it would be fun to share those lists with our friends and families. I’m not shy, so I’ll be the first to roll mine out for all the world to see….. here goes nothin’!
- Successful and loving marriage with my wonderful wife
- Have and raise @ least one healthy child and be blessed to watch them grow up and have a family of their own
- Ride 3 of the hardest mountain stages of the Tour de France – Mont Ventoux, Alpe d’Huez, and Luz Ardiden
- Complete an Ironman triathlon (why just run a marathon when you can suffer through 3 disciplines?)
- Renovate one final house – maybe our ‘life house’ with my wife
- Fly Fish in Montana
- Finally learn to play the guitar, and play it well
- Write a book about something I am passionate about
- Take my father to Poland before he can’t make the trip
- Go to at least one Summer Olympics
David Veneski Blogging, Social Media Life List, Mighty Girl
Youth love social networks. Apparently so do the baby boomers and those baby boomers are making a big splash. This IS your mother’s social web and our parents are adopting it at a rate that is far out pacing the 20 and 30-something crowd. According to a study from Accenture, those born between 1946 and 1964 are
‘…the fastest growing users of social networking sites…’
Pair this with the new Nielsen information about Twitter growth being the largest in the 35-49 y/o age group and we come to the conclusion that the social web is getting older – by it’s own standards, and those using it. Steve Rubel expands on his Micro Pesuasion blog.
David Veneski Blogging, Social Media Baby Boomers, Blogging, Social Media
Michael Jordan did it for Nike, Gatorade, and Hanes (the list goes on and on). A celebrity lending their likeness, their name, and their affinity to a brand. Athletes have a long history of being ‘pitchmen’ as do movie stars, former politicians, and even now with the eruption of reality tv – everyday, normal people who have had their 15 seconds of fame are getting the chance to be the ‘face of the brand’.
Why not bloggers? Arguably, with the meteoric rise in social media, these purveyors of information have a far greater reach and more penetrating influence on those that look to them as ‘trusted advisors’ in consumerism. Companies are beginning to take notice of this level of influence and are tapping into a resource that has exploded on the scene. Take Audi and Guy Kawasaki for instance. Must be nice to be him, rolling in his new A8.
There are different levels of ‘promotion’ associated with the blogosphere’s superstars. At my company, we have our Intel Insiders on board and they are “helping Intel learn how to better connect with online audiences interested in technology and innovation“. That’s smart – what better way to connect with an audience than working with a group of folks whose job it is to do that every day – on their terms, and on their turf? Other brands approach it with a different eye as is depicted in this AdWeek article where my professional collegue, Chas Edwards, is quoted on the need for advertisers to become publishers:
“….the reality of digital media means advertisers will need to become publishers. While they can create their own content, they are more likely to both aggregate content from professionals and pay for exclusive content.”
David Veneski Blogging, Digital Marketing Audi, Chas Edwards, Guy Kawasaki, Intel Insiders, Michael Jordan
Yes, I admit it – I read the mommy blogs. Dooce (Heather B. Armstrong) is my favorite. ‘The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) runs a close second. There are a few others that I read, but none with the regularity of those two. I find their approaches uniquely different, but both quite appealing with their own ‘voice’. Dooce pounds the keyboard with a sardonic wit that may offend some (see her description of herself here as an example), but feels very real and natural in her approach to everyday life with her husband Jon, daughter Leta, and that ‘SuperMutt’ – Chuck (that was the original cast of characters when I started reading her blog years ago – they have since added a mini Australian Sheppard Coco and have another baby on the way)…..
Ree, is quite different in her tone and tenor. She literally lives in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma and to quote her “I love it. Don’t tell anyone.” Her passions include digital photography, gardening, cooking, and home improvement – and that’s how she connects with her audience – around her passion points. Which leads me to an interesting article posted on the MediaPost Blogs specifically addressing the power of people like Ree and Heather to influence purchases among the mom market. Considers this stat pulled from the article:
“There are 35.3 million moms online with children under the age of 18 — a number projected to reach 36.9 million by 2012.”
That’s a huge total available market for companies to tap into online. Another interesting factoid pulled from the article addresses the notion of trust:
“Studies show that moms are increasingly losing trust in established “experts” — institutions and the like — while trusting more in what other moms have to say. That trust extends beyond members of their family or immediate community to other moms — strangers — they meet online.”
How, as marketers, do we work with these powerful mom’s with such a large halo of influence, to be a trusted advisor to those that follow their adventures online? In my opinion, very carefully because if that trust is broken – so is their influence.
David Veneski Blogging, Social Media Dooce, Mommy Blogs, Pioneer Woman