Friday, October 16, 2009

Balancing Blogs And Twitter - WebProNews Video

Sites like Facebook and Twitter may receive more attention in some circles, but blogs aren’t going anywhere. At BlogWorld, Blogger Product Manager Rick Klau talked to WebProNews about the state of Google’s blog publishing system, along with blogging in general and how newer communications options come into the equation.


One big thing worth noting is that Blogger recently celebrated its tenth birthday. A host of fresh features were introduced at that time to both expand how people regard the service and thank individuals for continuing to use it. And use it is precisely what they’re doing.

Klau stressed that, with regards to blogs and Blogger, we’re not talking about a static or declining environment. In fact, he stated that 290,000 words are written on Blogger per minute worldwide, which represents an increase of 10 percent versus six months ago.

Klau said that Twitter and blogs “each have their place,” too, as blogging and microblogging aren’t part of a zero-sum game. If conversations are fragmented, that’s fine. That can even be good. Twitter became the second-largest source of traffic (after Google) to Klau’s blog when he implemented software that tweeted about his latest posts. He recommended this sort of service.

Another good idea to explore is using the new “share to Twitter” feature on Blogger.

As for what, precisely, to do with a blog (if you’re new to them or just looking for some expert advice), Klau’s advice was solid: “focus on the content.” Also, don’t imitate what other people have done . . . instead find what you’re passionate about and stick with it.

Friday, October 9, 2009

The Value of Video Branding - WebProNews Video

Although online video has been around for some time now, it has seen extensive growth in the past couple of years. Based on research from comScore, YouTube is even the second largest search engine following Google. According to Kevin Ryan, CMO of WebVisible, marketers have finally realized their need to utilize video.


He went on to say that they understand the importance of having their own YouTube channel. This allows brands to have control over the message they send out to the public. Another method for maintaining that control is hosting video on your own site, as we do here at WPN. With video hosting, there are costs involved as well as the need to provide high quality production to reinforce the brand.

Overall, people are beginning to take video a lot more seriously. Ryan still refers to the space as the “Wild Wild West” but says we are starting to see inklings of what it could look like in the future.