Come back up already!

Yeah right. You've been down for five hours now.

Notes on Corporate Blogging: MAS' Blog

Read this story yesterday in The Star. So what did you think about our national airline launching what's possibly the first local company employee advocate blog in Malaysia?



Sounds like a step in the right direction for the corporate acceptance of new media if you ask me. But a closer reading of The Star's headline "MAS blog to push sales" is more telling than perhaps its meant to be.

The following is just my two sen as a consumer and I'd doubt if it was sage or expert advice. I couldn't help but notice how most of the posts seemed to be about:
1. Rising costs of living - thus tied to how MAS is helping people save money.
2. Internal programmes and how helpful and interesting they were.
3. A post about MAS' current promotions

I'll say this as constructively as I can: As a reader I felt that the content on the blog (which may have really jsut been honest postings by MAS staff) sounds like cleverly orchestrated topics meant to tell the story that MAS would like to tell.

Now, that's not a wrong objective to begin with; in fact, that's precisely the point - the blog is an outlet to tell consumers your story and make us understand you better. But I'm trying to say it reads like it was cleverly orchestrated and not organic enough.

Why? Because your average reader doesn't want to hear how fun an internal training programme was. We want to hear views on issues, internal programmes that translate to external results, sneak peeks of your upcoming products etc. etc.

Secondly, I would also like to see comments turned on with minimal moderation (except for abusive flaming).

In both respects, I think Dell does a great job with its direct2dell blog. For one, focuses on the people inside Dell and gives them a free-hand in posting topics that don't necessarily relate back to the companies' products. Of course, when it does have to do with products, we get additional thoughts and notes on Dell's thought process. More importantly, consumers have the opportunity to write back to the company and have Dell respond directly on the comment threads. To Dell's credit, they've not deleted many posts (evidenced by some nasty comments still online).

I particularly like how Dell responded to a rumour that it was phasing out its XPS line of gaming PCs earlier this year thru using the blog. Very web 2.0. Though I must say, Dell could do better in actually responding to the comments.

As more and more companies start adopting blogs and the like to engage customers and the public online, I think the early forays have taught us at least one thing. The blog is a big opportunity to actually engage consumers in a conversation; that means information flows both ways. Many corporates are still iffy on this as the possibility (and inevitability) of nasty comments are always present, but I'd say don't be put off. If people aren't complaining on your blog, they sure are complaining in other online forums. Ignorance isn't bliss. So kudos on MAS for the blog, but let's have some comments enabled!

Flackery or real conversation?

As both a guy with a blog and a PR dude in real life, I've had the incredibly joyful experience of pitching and being pitched to. Of course, I don't understand why some companies would want to pitch to a small fry like me whose got absolutely no theme to his blog, but, "hey!" if its an interesting product or thing, I'll listen.

The thing is more companies are beginning to see the importance of the blogosphere for their political marketing campaigns, thanks (in no small way) to March 8. But the attitude and reaction many marketers are taking towards engaging bloggers is summarised by the GMOOT syndrome - in the words of AdAge columnist Scott Donaton.

To paraphrase Scott, GMOOT is short for the "Get Me One Of Those" syndrome that company heads adopt when they don't really understand the new-fangled trends but want in on it for marketing gain anyway. Read Todd Defren's post on how dangerous but widespread this syndrome is.

But my point is this: more and more companies are now looking to reach out to bloggers. Each is doing this in a vastly different way and there are definitely more than one way to succeed. But then, you start coming across posts like this, this and this.

Did we miss the point?

So I was having a conversation with someone who works admittedly closely with the local blogging scene and he's adamant that blogs are the "new media." And that marketing efforts should be directed at bloggers as this is the new channel for clients to get the message of their products and services out. After all, teenagers a reading less and less newspapers these days (yes, US stats I know).

Yes, I'd agree that we should be talking to bloggers, but I'd also disagree that we see bloggers for anything less than what they are - people. Blogs aren't just a "communications channel". They aren't just media for you to push messages thru. They are people who have something interesting to say, the right tools to say it (the blog) and the audience who's interested in hearing what they want to say.

When I get pitched, I'm really interested in starting a conversation. I'd like to know what's great about your product or solution and why it would matter to me or people like me (who, coincidentally, might read my blog). I don't want to be pushed information and be expected to "publish." That's just flackery.

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean you shouldn't email me about your interesting product. It just means that you should:
1. Talk to me as a human being. Don't expect a bot on the other end that auto-publishes news releases as they are sent across. I've got feelings too. I've also got a healthy dose of opinion and common sense.
2. Understand what I write about and my motivations for writing. Don't assume. If after reading a couple of my posts you're still unsure, hey, just ask :)
3. Be prepared to dive into the conversation. Because what I'm going to want, if I'm interested in what you're saying, is to actually talk and discuss the subject matter with you.

If you're reading this and you've pitched to me before, I assure you, I don't mean you in particular. This post is a summary of interesting experiences past, present and possibly last week. Please do pitch to me again and let's have a proper conversation this time round.

davidlian live on lively!

Exit Second Life. Enter Google's Lively.



So Google launched it's Second Life would-be challenger Lively yesterday to much aplomb. I've taken it for a spin and I must say, it's actually pretty darn good. Leaps and bounds over the experience I had with Second Life in my first hour.

But whilst people are comparing Lively to Second Life, I actually wonder - is Lively more akin to The Sims Online (now called EA Land)? Simple interface. Effortless item placement and ready-made building templates. Numerous ways to connect with people and zip from room to room (so long flying). And thousands and thousands of people just waiting to be talked to (or not) and whom you'll meet just but once in your lifetime.

But by far, for me, the winning feature has got to be the fact you can install a widget to the side of your blog, and have people visit your effortlessly from within the same page as your blog. This has got to be the killer feature for Google.

Why? Well, quite frankly, because I've always hated booting up a programme to log-in to virtual worlds (life Second Life). Now that I can do it from the convenience of my own blog (or anyone elses blog for that matter), I AM fascinated by what virtual worlds can do. The number one hurdle has been cleared.

Am I singing too much of Lively's praises? Well, yes. I reckon as with any interesting new toy, the novelty will wear out soon and problems will surface. But for now, one hour's passed and I'm still loving it. That's quite a record, really.

About PR people dealing with bloggers

Sometime ago, Text 100 (that's the name of the agency I work for...there, it's out) conducted a survey in Asia Pacific amongst bloggers. Today, the survey results are out and if you're interested in reading the results, click on here.

I'm going to cop out, be a bit lazy, and post the below points taken from the Text 100 Social Media Release (click to see videos, pictures etc.) that's going out along with the survey:

• In what is believed to be the first survey of its kind conducted in Asia Pacific, this survey highlights the similarities and differences between bloggers across APAC and their preferences for working with corporations and PR agencies.

• In a positive sign for the communications industry, 84% of respondents welcome contact from public relations practitioners and the corporations they represent.

• Electronic communication is king for APAC bloggers: 58% preferred email, followed by online comments on their blogs, as the preferred means of contacting them.

• Similarly, emailing of press releases and interviews or discussions ranked in the top two as the preferred formats for receiving content (67% and 60% respectively).

• APAC bloggers are not particular about who they engage with, but prefer to talk with active bloggers and whoever is closest to the story – not necessarily the traditional spokespeople.

• Two thirds (67%) of respondents spend less than 8 hours of their working week on blogging.

• Bloggers concerns included receiving unsolicited spam from PR agencies, and were frequently critical of the content they received, feeling it was inappropriate and unusable.

• While most bloggers ignore traditional press releases, 88% were aware of so-called Social Media Releases and indicated they were in favour of using elements such as videos, quotes, pictures and links from these releases in their posts.

• Text 100 surveyed bloggers it knew and those referred by friendly bloggers, not wanting to spam people it didn’t have a relationship with. Text 100 feels the views of the survey’s sample pool are a fair reflection of influential news, technology and bloggers across Asia Pacific.

My personal two cents on the survey and its findings goes like this:

• The survey is not conclusive and it doesn't claim to be. But it provides a useful and interesting perspective on communicating with the blogosphere. Personal experience tells me that personal experience is still king. Different bloggers vary vastly in how they'd like to have you communicate with them - if you're a PR person like me, its your job to figure what's the best way.
  
• There are a lot of the opinions in the survey shared verbatim - they could be from one, two or ten bloggers. You cannot generalise these opinions, but you should make note of them as there will be bloggers you meet who may share or disagree with these opinions. Again, I personally think the fact that the blogosphere is vast, varied and plural means that there's definitely going to be difference of opinion, and often, a very sharp difference.
  
• What Shaolintiger said is useful. Above all, bloggers are human beings and the best way to treat a blogger (like myself and yourself) is to ensure you do so with a good dose of respect.
  

Unique cyberspace identities - an impending conundrum?

For some reason today I went and activated my myspace account again, and tried to claim my own unique myspace URL.

Barely, crossing my mind, I typed in: "http://www.myspace.com/davidlian" I tense up for a moment in anticipation... and am greeted with the reply - "URL taken."



What? Now, I'm not necessarily a narcissist but I guess I've come to take for granted that the cyber-moniker davidlian would be uncommon enough to be automatically mine. It's not like it's as common as John Doe, right? (anyone actually called John Doe out there?) But fact as it is, there are many other Davids out there, and Lians, and apparently David Lians too!

Here's the conundrum. As more and more social networks, internet services and things-to-sign-up-for pop up, do you find yourself more and more often using the same username / login? Do you start hearing people call you by your "callsign" / online-username / identity / cyber-moniker? (ST or FA anyone?) Have you come to identify with that one name?

If it's yes, yes, and yes, then you're just one more person that's part of the unifying-internet-identity trend. With open-source projects like OpenID, corporate driven unification programmes like Microsoft Passport or the YahooID, and alliances like Google's OpenSocial being drawn up, it seems everyone is driven to having just one ID and one password.

Here comes the cruncher, what happens when you aren't the first davidlian to sign up for that brand new OpenID account? Or that new OpenSocial account? Yeah, you'd end up adding numbers to the back of your username (like davidlian82 for my MySpace) - but you've lost the pristine-ness to your online name.

Will this lead to people then signing up for just about every service there is "just in case"? I just might - heck, the davidlian in OpenID is mine already. Will there be cases of ID-squatting just like cybersquatting?

Will this then lead to stricter policing of "dead" IDs? davidlian on MySpace hasn't logged in since October 2007. I haven't logged into my Friendster for ages. Should unused accounts that age for more than 3 years, be de-registered so that other people who may use the same ID can have a shot at having their preferred one?

On another note: does anyone realise myspace always tells you the person whose page you're visiting is in your extended network?

Socialising.

I got a tweet sometime yesterday saying:

PuppyL0ve @davidlian Hey David Lian hahahah, guess who this is?? GIVE UP? j/k I just saw your page and wanted to know if you would Follow me?

Okay, so I mused a bit and for the sake of curiousity, I clicked "follow" and checked out her profile a bit. There was a link to a manifesto on her site, and here's an excerpt:

Well; since many of my fellow twitters thought I was some kind of spam bot here is the YOUTUBE code I promised.

Now BEFORE I START - there is a difference between being efficient and being a spammer. I would like as many followers as possible, and in turn I will follow those people. I post interesting and helpful information about how to get exposure on the internet for FREE! No catch, no sale, no pitch - just providing helpful information.

So if you haven't yet "FOLLOW ME" and the tips & info will keep coming.

If you want to read the rest of it, click here.

It occurs to me that socialising today now more than ever is a numbers game. When I was a kid, the sole objective of school was to see how many friends you could get. Infantile gangs were formed to play 'catch' or 'police and thief' during recess.

Today, my friends have grown up to form gangs on Facebook so they can bite each other whilst at office or throw Jedi mind tricks around. And then you have the Fight Club where the more socialised you are, the better your chance of winning.

The numbers have crept up throughout the years. My meagre posse of eight in primary school days has now expanded to over three hundred people on Facebook and about a hundred or so on Twitter. Some of which I've never uttered a word to in person for over a year.

So have we turned the social into a mathematical race for increment? Quantity over quality?

Well, I've added Lisa Lange.

Geo-tagging and route-mapping in the Gold Coast

Before I left Malaysia I said I wanted to try out route-mapping in the Gold Coast with the help of the beta Sportstracker application. What I wanted to do was walk around the city, take some pictures, and have it recorded on a map so I could easily share some of that experience with you.

Click on the below picture to see the results:



Couple of notes I'd like to make here:
1. I turned on the GPS to get the initial lock and then for the most part of the rest of the trip, my N95 sat in my pocket. The magic is that with the initial lock, the application then uses the accelerometer to determine the direction and number of steps you took to 'map' the route. I did take it out two or three times again to get a re-lock, but as you can see from the route, the accelerometer was quite accurate.

2. I snapped pictures along the way and I think it's quite descriptive of what we did. Basically, this route was mapped when we to take a walk around to do some grocery shopping. Along the way, we passed some awesome sites and snapped a few pictures. There's another route that we took that I mapped with some pretty good pics as well. All the pictures snapped are compiled as media and geo-tagged to location by the Sportstracker application.

Overall, I had some fun doing this and it worked beautifully even without a Wi-Fi connection. Of course, the GPS took a little while to get the initial lock (about 4 minutes for me) without the help of A-GPS, but after that, the re-locks happened real quick. CNet's already predicted earlier this year that GPS-enabled cameras will be the next big thing and from my personal experience, they can't be far from wrong. What will rule, at the end of the day, is ease-of-use and the simplicity in getting the mass consumer to understand this new experience.

Okay, that's it for this update, I'm thinking of budget-travellers guide to Gold Coast as a future post but we'll see how that goes.

*For the sake of disclosure: I do work for Nokia as a consultant. However, the above opinions are purely my own, coming from the corner of my geek personality but probably influenced by my deep(er) knowledge of the technologies Nokia works on. Which often make me exclaim (cool!) anyway.

There be Bloggers

We all pay lip-service to it: bloggers are people of all sorts. Yet somehow, in the glitz and glamour of generating traffic, attending big events, raking in money and becoming celebrities in our own right, the picture we often get when we mention the word "blogger" is that of this star celebrity.

Yesterday's humbling Happy Moments event was a jerk back to earth for me. Often, communications people get caught up with a blogosphere that's only made up of popular reads. Yet sharing the table with some of the bloggers who came made me think: "these are just very regular people."



Mr. Lim and family were at the event because his daughter Jasmine, made it to the top ten with her blog post. Sitting down with the family was interesting because I discovered that Jasmine and her sister Jennifer, were both BRATS. So we chatted a bit about journalism and communication, with Mr. Lim being quite interested in my job. Of course, in turn, I was really interested in Mr. Lim's big camera and mentioned more than once - you should start a photo blog too!



Tham Wai Hon showed up with his family and really cute baby boy. He'd shot a video of his baby and posted up on his blog. It was really interesting meeting this family as they reminded me of the sort of family gatherings I get to experience with my own and somehow, with your family around, it feels like blogging is much less glamourous.



I've got a couple more photos to add to the event, some people were just good friends, others, though considered "famous" were tremendously down to earth.

In the end, bloggers are just people. Different people with different lives.

Addendum: Why was I at this Happy event? I helped organise it.

Let's start a conversation about Rakan Cyber.

This bit of today's page two story in the New Straits Times caught my attention:

[Besides that], said Ismail, a new arm called Rakan Cyber, would be added to the seven others in Rakan Muda soon.

One of the main reasons was to reach out to the new generation through cyberspace - a sphere in which the Barisan Nasional government has admitted it was lagging behind.

"A lot of blogs these days paint a negative picture. That's why we are coming up with these positive blogs," he said.

To counter blogs that are "negative" let's bring out some "positive" blogs?

In the age of the conversation, I can't just help but feel that these steps are anchored in the age where "media is propaganda."

Let's have a conversation. Your thoughts please?

So did you study blogging in Uni?

Read a funny story in the New Straits Times today about Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) might soon allow students to take blogging courses as part of their subjects.

Vice-chancellor Datuk Seri Prof Dr Ibrahim Abu Shah said something interesting, and I quote:

"Anyone can become a blogger now," he told reporters after a seminar here yesterday.

But this did not mean bloggers could write about anything, as they first needed to master several aspects of writing, such as language, ethics and accuracy of reporting.
Ibrahim said he supported any proposal to offer courses on blogging and that it was the most suitable time to do so.

I find this statement self-contradictory. First, Dr. Ibrahim is right by saying "Anyone can become a blogger now." That's absolutely right. Your plumber could be a blogger. Your mother could be a blogger. And don't be surprised if one day the pope starts a blog.

So if this is right, then why add requirements to becoming a bogger by saying that "they first needed to master several aspects of writing, such as language, ethics and accuracy of reporting?"

Does this mean if my English, Bahasa Melayu or Mandarin sucks I can't be a blogger?

Or if I don't hold on to the same "ethics" you subscribe to, I'm not credible (maybe in your eyes, not that of my fans)?

Or if I report on rumours and wild speculation, that I cannot be a credited as a blogger? Tell that to these guys - their blog is practically a rumour mill! And a very good one at that.

What does it mean to be a blogger? Some very enlightened people I listen to put it very well: blogging is just a publishing tool. Just like how anyone can write a book, anyone can blog.

Furthermore, not all bloggers are journalists. Some a diarists (they use the blog as their personal diary), some are story-tellers (ever read a blog that was pure fiction), some are commentators (they put forth their opinion on whatever subject they see fit), some are fanboys (they blog about their hobby, their pets etc) and very, very few bloggers will claim to be journalists.

Tom Merritt (links to episode 720 of Buzz Out Loud where comments were made) has a good solution for this. If a blogger wishes to be accorded the rights and pr0tection that's afforded journalists, then they must adhere to the same ethics and regulations that journalists adhere to.

If a blogger says, "hey, I'm not a journalist, just someone who writes!", then they are pretty much free to do what they want, but then they can't expect the protection journalists get (like the ability to "protect sources" even while subpeonaed).

One thing is clear though, this blanket definition of bloggers has to end. Not all bloggers are media. Certainly not some of our most famous political leaders (who have or recently started blogs).

(I mean, at least I won't consider those bloggers media).

Update: Thanks to the wonder of Twitter, some feedback with Twitter-people led me to this thought: Would being a degree-holding blogger entitle you to more money from blog-advertising?

What? You mean what I'm consuming isn't mainstream (media)?

There was a bit of interesting banter on Episode 139 of This Week in Tech revolving journalists who do shows on the internet (like on TWIT or Cnet or Tech TV in the old days) jumping over to "mainstream" media to make it big.

But would folks like Veronica Belmont necessarily need to get a job as a CNN anchor to make it big? I thought CNet and Revision 3 was as big as they come!

Though this has been discussed much, it still struck me that these were the shows I am listening to or watching more and more of, to the detriment of the more "mainstream" TV3 or newspapers. An oxymoron perhaps? Or is "mainstream" changing?

Not too long ago, it was widely considered by marketers that your average working class adult would consume media on a daily basis at routine intervals. The morning paper. 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. prime time TV. The breakfast show on the way to work. Sticking an ad into any of these slots would cost more simply because the stats show more viewers were consuming media at these time-slots.

Personally, for me, this has changed. Yes, I still read the papers every morning (to keep up with current trends, for job's-sake) but that's about it. I hardly watch TV anymore. Instead, my morning drives to work are dominated by catching up with the latest tech news, miniature gaming news or world news via podcasts. When i'm bored, I surf the internet with RSSed links to sites like Soccernet. More and more, I'm building an echo chamber of the news that I'm interested in and filtering out everything else.

I wonder how many people out there are like me? I'm guessing few, but growing.

Here's why:

1. Content Syndication technology (RSS)
Thanks to RSS, content delivery can now be automated, giving rise tonew forms of media like podcasting (sticking an Audio file to an RSS feed) that give people access to timely information that can be consumed at their own time. It's like choosing the channels you want to watch, and then watching them at your own time. The bad thing is, you'll be limiting yourself only to the type of news you want to hear.

2. More personal media players and multifunction devices.
All the best content in the world isn't going to do you much good if you're going to be stuck at home on the computer to consume it. The good thing is, more and more people are now carrying portable devices that are capable of playing media. It could be your phone, your MP3 player, your PDA. The option is now there for you to sync your favourite RSS-delivered content and consume it wherever you are.

3. Mobile internet getting better and better.
People a long time ago predicted the death of the newspaper thanks to the internet. As it turned out, those predictions were unfounded mainly because people didn't want to be stuck at home reading the newspaper on their computers. They rather prefer to read it in their toilets.

However, if you take my two points above and mesh it with the fact that now you can get a decent 3G / WiFi connection in the toilet and your mobile phone / device is most likely with you. Heh. You can easily see how a small device can replace that paper you used to hold in the toilet.

So, how much do you consume "mainstream" media?

Blogging: it's really social

Firstly - I'm back from Kuching! Really missed MSN and felt much much disconnected.

Well, surfed onto Innit today and wham!



Notice that all the top 10 posts on Innit share the same name (almost)? So I investigated by talking to David and Nigel.

In the abridged and summarised words of David Cheong (Not me, so if I got this wrong, don't blame me):

Basically, it started with this blogger pamsong blogging about a movie meetup for bloggers and everyone could self-invite. People started commenting and RSVPing to meet up and then the day came, they had 17 bloggers all come together to watch the movie Definitely. Maybe. Coming off the movie, this blogger Yatz (you know, we've met) came up with an idea that these seventeen bloggers go online, post about the meetup with small variables in the name of each post. Come today, the whole (innit) world knew they had gone out to have a quick meetup and this Definitely Gang, Maybe Bang has become sort of a little tighter group. About over 400 emails exchanged already on mass email chat.

What really piqued my interest was just how much social interaction is generated by this exchange that culminated in a real world physical outing. Being the social media freak that I am, I spent a while trying to figure these things out, but sometimes, the most important lessons are the most obvious ones.

The blogosphere (s) is social. And publicly social. What I mean by public in this last phrase is that virtually anyone and everyone can join in the conversation. The social part means you're stuck on the same rules like IRL when dealing with people. Different interests, different goals, different views, different personalities - and always that little potential for a little human chemistry.

Not to over-analyse a little get-together, but I'm just quite excited about the potential of communications here. Good job guys, you people are all inspirations.

All my posts are belong to me

There was a mini debate last week discussing blogging ethics following coverage in the Star over the PRCA Malaysia forum last week. Here's my personal viewpoint on the issues raised that have attracted more than a little discussion.

But before I proceed, I'd like to just remind everyone it's just this - a debate. There's no definitive guide to blogger ethics yet published, though I tribute Ed Bott's post on the topic as instrumental to helping me form my own views and approach - especially when relating public relations to bloggers.



Advertorial / Editorial

I was having a discussion with a blogger just last weekened about the issue of placing advertorials in blogs. Like any convention that's inherited from the institutionalised media, the concept of 'advertorial' has a rich history and many, many decades of refinement to reach the state it is today. Still, most print publications will still have varying interpretations as to what constitutes an 'advertorial'.

To save myself space (and not turn this into a lengthy article), I'm going to suggest you read the Wikipedia entry on this if you want to get the long explanation. I'm just going to borrow a couple of excerpts:

An advertorial is an advertisement written in the form of an objective opinion editorial, and presented in a printed publication — usually designed to look like a legitimate and independent news story.

Most publications will not accept advertisements that look exactly like stories from the newspaper or magazine they are appearing in. The differences may be subtle, and disclaimers—such as the word "advertisement"—may or may not appear. Sometimes euphemisms describing the advertorial as a "special promotional feature" or the like is used.

Many newspapers and magazines will assign staff writers or freelancers to write advertorials, usually without a byline credit. A major difference between regular editorial and advertorial is that clients usually have content approval of advertorials, a luxury usually not provided with regular editorial.

I'm going to summarise it this way: advertorials look exactly like editorial pieces except for one point: control over the editorial content is given over to the advertiser in exchange for payment. The advertiser gets to dictate what is said and the words used, and in return, the publication gets fair payment. With this in mind, most (but importantly, not all) publications insert the label 'advertorial', 'special feature' or 'promotion' with paid advertorials being published.

What about bloggers?

My personal conviction is that if I'm going to hand over editorial control of a certain article to an advertiser, I will mark that article as an advertorial. If I was pitched a review and given free rein to write whatever I want, then, even though I'm writing about a product, it won't be labeled advertorial. It really comes down to who has the control over how the article is written.

The case for credibility

Of course, the reason why many publications would place the label 'Advertorial' on an advertorial is to safeguard their credibility.

Back in journalism school, I was taught that the single most important value a journalist needs to adhere to is independence. My lecturer used to say: people read newspapers to get the truth - the unbiased truth.

Naturally, if newspapers or any printed publication start passing off paid-for advertorials as independently generated editorial content, the expected scenario is for that newspaper to lose credibility and readers. Why? Because those readers purchased the newspaper or magazine expecting to read the journalists unbiased report or opinion.

In the same scheme, tabloids don't get the same scrutiny broadsheets do simply because their expectations of independent reporting, source-confirmations etc. are set much lower than the daily broadsheets.

So how does this translate into the blogosphere (or the web 2.0 at large)?

Your own voice, your own space

I believe that credibility is still an important currency in the online world. But, in a peer-to-peer communication world where any consumer can communicate, credibility is going to mean a thousand-and-one things to a thousand-and-one different people.

Take a walk down the world-wide-web. We have on one hand, the institutionalised media - The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal - and they are the bastions of credibility. People expect to be given an unbiased view when they surf over to www.wsj.com.

On another hand, you have topic / product / brand-specific blogs where you can surely expect reporting to mirror to the disposition of the writers. I'll just reference two here: www.thenokiablog.com and http://www.applefanboyz.com/.

Then on your third hand (what? no third hand?), you have personal blogs or social blogs where the bloggers freely express their own views and opinions, unfettered. I think I'll just reference mine. (ed: on second thought, I think I'll just stick Ee May's blog here too.

The point is: all these blogs have a good amount of readers (except mine) but not all of them follow the same conventions of 'credibility' outlined above. Does this mean credibility is no longer consequential?

The short answer is no, it still is. The long answer is that it really depends who you are and what you're blogging about. I know bloggers who couldn't care less whether people think they are credible and I know some who'd pull an article if credibility was suspect.

What's important to you as a blogger becomes measured and balanced against what's important to your readers. If disclosure is a personal conviction for you, like me, then great. But if you have a different set of views and disclosure is really secondary, then that's great too. In the end, readers will read what they want from sources they trust.

Bloggers, on the other hand, will have the freedom to write what they want, disclose as they see fit, and basically own their own posts. Of course, the law of the land applies, and what's illegal offline is surely illegal online. But what I'm saying here is that each blogger as an individual will continue defining his / her own code-of-conduct. Some of these may be close to how journalists would act. Some of these may not.

But in the end: the key message is, all my posts are belong to me.