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Now It’s Easier than Ever to Build the “Brand Called You”

Posted on March 12, 2006 ·

Robert Scoble was apparently offered a job at a competitor… hm.. could it have anything to do with his recent post about compensation at MS?   Roberts response: “I told him I didn’t want any job that required a resume.”  Me neither. There is a better way. 

Tom Peters (wow, who’s that on the left sidebar?) has been preaching this for years: “Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You”  

What better way to building one’s own brand than through blogging?  Resumes are tailored for a particular job, and let’s face it, often “cosmetically enhanced”.  If you’ve been blogging for years, you certainly did not do it with a particular job in mind; your blog is likely to be a true reflection of who you really are, what you are an expert in, your communication skills, your priorities … YOU as a whole person, not as a candidate for a specific job. Noah Kagan says it perfectly: 
“You can learn SO much about a persons feelings, thoughts, actions, work ethic to name just a few things by reading a persons blog. I think more so than anything Resumes include so much bogus or ultra-fluffed information that it is hard to determine the quality of a candidate or get a good feeling of how this person will fit in your company. But spending 10-15 minutes reading entries about what they do or how they organize their thoughts/daily activities you can really learn a lot.”  He than goes on offering practical steps in 4 Easy Steps to Avoid Making a Resume.

I fully agree. In fact I am about to launch a test to prove this soon.  Robert, since the larger the statistical sample (in this case readers) the more reliable the results .. . I hope I’ll get some link love when the test comes … in the name of science.

Update (3/13):  Vinnie chimes in, it’s worth reading!

Update (4/17): The Boston Globe says Blogs are essential to a good career (hat tip: BL Ochman)

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Filed Under: Blogging, Business, Marketing / PR ·
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Anonymous Hate Commenter

Posted on March 12, 2006 ·

I’ve received a rather disturbing comment  to a previous post of mine.  It’s such a “marvelous masterpiece” that I decided to repost it in its full glory… be warned, the anonymous (!) commenter uses strong hate language.

“Re: Our Freedom of Speech Paradox
by Anonymous on Sat 11 Mar 2006 11:42 AM PST  |  Permanent Link
with reference to the prussian blue crap,

I am an extremely proud white (TRUE AMERICAN)man who happens to be quite educated and well off. My family were among the first from England to settle America. My country means everything to me, so forgive me for my rather strong opinion on this issue. i incidentaly happen to be a proud north-easterner. Listen up carefully all you scumtastic nazi-loving fascist hate-mongering “rebels.” We, and when i say we, i am referring to northerners, allowed you national traitors to fucking live after the great cival war. My great great grandfather personally cut down and sent to hell a veritable truckload of you bastards. Be grateful that you werent all rounded up and drowned in the damn ocean. Through years of struggle, war, and national conference we as American citizens have galvanized and made virtually permanent the values that regulate our society. Values like capitalism, christianity, freedome, liberty, and yes tolerance for our kind, many many of which dont happen to be white, Americans come in many races. Our national strength comes from our unity and adherance to our core values, not from the mindless divisive ignorance pawned off as pride by the likes of your kind. Damn, i kind of wish that a war would break out again, because it just might be time to purge all of you anti-american cockroaches out of our beautiful homeland. This is tha land of Washington, Lincoln, Luther King, Kennedy, and many more. This is not the land of Hitler, Mousillini, or any other sub-human force of medeocraty and national decline. I prey all your days come quickly so that my christian god will judge you good and proper”

Filed Under: Blogging, Politics ·
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TechDirt Greenhouse

Posted on March 11, 2006 ·

I’ll be at the full-day TechDirt Greenhouse event today.  I’m looking forward to meeting people, hearing of new ideas. 

Preliminary info from Techdirt:

While I agree with Mike that the value of an event like this not only comes from the presenter, but also EVERYONE else attending, I still think publishing a list in advance is helpful.. except that you don’t do it old-fashoned conference-style (polished pages with the presenters bio’s), but in the tradition of TechCrunch parties, and all the  *.camp events.  Perhaps next time (Mike?).

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Filed Under: Bay Area, Blogging, Social Networking, Startups ·
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Please Switch to FeedBurner

Posted on March 10, 2006 ·

If you are my subscriber, please change your feed from the default to:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/zoli

This service is more manageable than the one offered my blog host.

And of course if you haven’t subscribed yet, you can always do so by clicking on the  button in the upper right sidebar area.

Thank you for being my reader either way.

Filed Under: Blogging ·
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Google Calendar and the TechCrunch Babel

Posted on March 8, 2006 ·

(Updated)

Here’s proof  on how International TechCrunch’s readership is.  This morning Mike leaked some information about Google’s long awaited calendar,  which apparently won’t be called GCalendar, but CL2  (is that a chemical formula or what? ).

Before we lazy Californians woke up, he already had 89 comments, close to half non-English.  By the time I finished writing this, comments are up to 103.. see samples below.  (Update: the number is likely over 103 now, but my blogging platform is

down, who knows when I’ll be able to post it .. and in the meantime

TechCrunch appears to be down, too .. what a day!)

Btw., where is Chandler?

  1. Pingback by pixelschrubber » Blog Archive » CL2 — March 8, 2006 @ 12:59 am

    […] Schalalalala…er wir entwickelt: Der CL2, also known as Google Calendar. Mehr darüber hier: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/03/08/exclusive-screenshots-google-calendar/ […]

  2. Pingback by AboutDigital.ru » CL2 — March 8, 2006 @ 1:01 am

    […] Не буду переводить и комментировать эту стью в TechCrunch. Лучше посмотрите сами и оцените! Впечатляет! Тяжелые времена будут у других календарных сервисов… Google рулит! […]

  3. Trackback by techmonster — March 8, 2006 @ 1:04 am

    Google Kalender CL2…

    Schon lange wurde darüber geschrieben und es gingen auch einige Bilder durchs Netz – jetzt tauchen erneut Bilder des bald erwarteten Google Kalender CL2 im Netz auf. Michael Arrington schreibt in seinem Blog das er nun neue Bilder hat….

  4. Trackback by Julien Carnelos Blog — March 8, 2006 @ 1:20 am

    Le Google Calendar arrive……

    Vu sur TechCrunch,
    le calendrier google pointe le bout de son nez….

  5. Pingback by Luca Mondini » Blog Archive » — March 8, 2006 @ 1:30 am

    […] Sono disponibili in anteprima su TechCrunch, i primi screenshot di Google Calendar, applicazione di cui era previsto il lancio qualche mese fa. CL2, questo il nome del progetto, è invece ancora in beta e lo sarà, almeno secondo quello che riporta l’autore del post, Michael Arrington. La fuga di notizie, grazie ad uno dei 200 beta tester coinvolti, ci lascia intuire che CL2 sarà assolutamente integrato con GMail e permetterà la creazione, la ricerca e la condivisione di eventi. E’ probabile inoltre che l’aggregazione di eventi, in stile Eventful, sia implementata. Ai fan della grande G o delle applicazioni Web 2.0 non resta che aspettare, io continuerò ad utilizzare nel frattempo il mio D*I*Y Planner… […]

  6. Trackback by Abundando — March 8, 2006 @ 1:44 am

    Más pantallazos de Google Calendar…

    Podéis encontrarlos en un post de Techcrunch: Exclusive Screenshots: Google Calendar….

  7. Pingback by Details und Screenshots zu Google Calendar at RAINonline — March 8, 2006 @ 1:46 am

    […] Auf TechCrunch und GigaOM findet ihr die ersten Details und Screenshot zu “CL2&Prime – oder Google Calendar. […]

  8. Pingback by Textw�ste » Blog Archive » Google Calendar — March 8, 2006 @ 2:27 am

    […] Im Moment wehen einige Ger�chte �ber ein neues Google Produkt durch das Internet: den “Google Calendar”. TechCrunch hat jetzt Screenshots ver�ffentlicht und gibt auch sonst ein wenig Einblick. […]

  9. Trackback by meneame.net — March 8, 2006 @ 2:41 am

    Imagenes exclusivas del nuevo google calendar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…

    Primeras imagenes oficiales del proximo lanzamiento de google…

  10. Pingback by 还没想好 » 真正的Google CL2 — March 8, 2006 @ 2:44 am

    […] 更多图片 […]

  11. Pingback by Las capturas de Google Calendar — Proletarium — March 8, 2006 @ 2:48 am

    […] TEch Crunch es como el New York Times de internet, tiene acceso a cosas que nadie tiene, hoy han publicado las primeras capturas dignas de Google Calendar (¡por fin!): […]

  12. Pingback by BlueAce » Google’s Office komt dichterbij dankzij CL2 — March 8, 2006 @ 2:51 am

    […] TechCrunch heeft de scoop met nieuwe screenshots van een nog te releasen kalender dienst van Google: CL2. CL2 makes it easy — even effortless — to keep track of all the events in your life and compare them to what your friends and family have going on in theirs.    […] 

  13. Trackback by meneame.net — March 8, 2006 @ 2:54 am

    Anlise do Google Calendar…

    Ainda no abriu mas esta revista j fez a anlise. Parece interessante….

  14. Pingback by google calendar at quintal do xanato — March 8, 2006 @ 3:01 am

    […] jah ha algum tempo que os rumores comecaram a aparecer mas desta parece que eh mesmo a serio. podem ver com o que se vai parecer o cl2 (eh o nome da coisa e ainda bem porque nohs jah temos um cl), e sempre ajuda a passar o tempo ateh estar disponivel. […]

  15. Trackback by Error500 — March 8, 2006 @ 3:04 am

    Imágenes de Google Calendar ¿o CL2?…

    Primeras imágenes de lo que será el Google Calendar, aunque al parecer el nombre oficial será CL2. Las tienen en …

  16. Pingback by Desinformados » Primeras im�genes de Google Calendar — March 8, 2006 @ 3:42 am

    […] La gente de TechCrunch (c�mo no) se ha hecho con las primeras im�genes de Google Calendar CL2, lo cual est� creando un buzz impresionante. Al contrario que los anteriores fakes, Michael Arrington afirma que estos screenshots fueron filtrados por trabajadores de Google, e incluye todas las im�genes con que se ha hecho y una buena descripci�n del servicio. Puedes verlo en este enlace. […]

    Pingback by MTYBlogs » CL2 — March 8, 2006 @ 4:07 am

  17. […] Al parecer este será el nombre del Google Calendar que ya arrojó sus primeras imágenes que pueden ser vistas en Techcrunch y una explicación mas detallada la puede ver en Error 500. […]

  18. Pingback by .. — March 8, 2006 @ 4:17 am

    […] 然後文章中列出一些cl2的功能，看起來相當不錯，真令人期待 Exclusive Screenshots: Google Calendar […]

  19. Trackback by kbglob — March 8, 2006 @ 4:26 am

    Google Calender…

    Ya estan empezando a aparecer algunos datos adicionales y screenshots del Google Calender.
    Tiene la misma interfaz que Gmail, y la simpleza de todas las aplicaciones de Google.

    ……

  20. Pingback by .:: www.marlonguerios.com ::. » Google Calendar em vista — March 8, 2006 @ 4:27 am

    […] Para saber mais: Exclusive Screenshots: Google Calendar […]

  21. Pingback by Effair | Billet | Google Calendar — March 8, 2006 @ 4:29 am

    […] Des screenshots de CL2, le nouveau logiciel de calendrier de Google. […]

  22. Pingback by savek blog » Archiwum bloga » Screenshots: Google Calendar — March 8, 2006 @ 6:25 am

    […] Screeny z nowego narzędzia Google: Exclusive Screenshots: Google Calendar. […]

  23. Pingback by Macsira.com » Capturas de Google Calendar — March 8, 2006 @ 6:28 am

    […] Aquí podeis ver el resto « Instalar Linux en un iPod 5G   […]

  24. Pingback by Blog de Dr. Max Glaser » Blog Archive » Mas informaciones sobre Google Calender — March 8, 2006 @ 6:40 am

    […] Hoy dia, en el blog de techcrunch han aparecido una serie de screenshots de Google Calendar. […]

  25. Pingback by ENGRENAGEM – Media e Tecnologia: blog sobre jornalismo, citizen journalism, blogosfera e novas tecnologias — March 8, 2006 @ 6:55 am

    […] Uma fuga fez chegar � Web screenshots do Google Calendar. […]

Update (3/8): Related posts:

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Filed Under: Bay Area, Blogging, Marketing / PR, Software, Startups, Technology ·
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Watching wetpaint Dry :-)

Posted on March 6, 2006 ·

Wetpaint(Updated)

I know it’s a cheap shot,  but I’m impatient, so trying to watch the demo tour of wetpaint really felt like watching wet paint dry.  Perhaps everyone’s over there now, having read SiliconBeat’s writeup.  

Joke apart, I could not care less how slow the tour is, if it delivers.  I’ve written about the importance of mathching the right tools with one’s objectives, and how a combination of blogs, wikis and forums can create a dynamic, live personal webspace.  I’m using both SocialText and JostSpot, and while I find them easy enough, they clearly are after the corporate market.  Wetpaint says it will “to combine the community-building aspects of online forums with the publishing ease of wikis and blogs”.   If it really does (had no time to test it yet), it might just be the perfect tool for everyday individuals.

Update (3/6):  Wetpaint may not be the set of individual productivity tools I thought it was.  It’s part of a community-building effort, the currently available communities being: dogs, cancer, bird flu, Democrats, Republicans and Xbox 360. Hm… I think I’ll pass .. for a while.  I left my email address though, to be notified when it will become available to create one’s own site.  More info here and here.

Update (3/6):  Ahh, watch those servers guys,  you’ve just got TechCrunched

Update (3/7):  More posts, reviews:

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Filed Under: Blogging, Collaboration, Personal Productivity, Social Networking, Software ·
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Blogs To Replace Personal Websites

Posted on March 5, 2006 ·

(Updated)

I don’t think this is a radically new idea: personal websites are so 20th century – Blogs bring them to life, and they are easier to set up. As Don Dodge says, “Blogs are two way, in fact many way, communication where the readers create a conversation by leaving comments, trackbacks, and links. Web sites don’t lend themselves to leaving comments and starting a conversation.”

I think for most individuals a blog offers more power, flexibility, ability for self-expression and dialogue, than a static website. There are a few tricks, however, if you feel the need to have a permanent front-page. Several blog-platforms allow for “sticky posts”. Create only one sticky post, this will always stay at the top, i.e it can become your “static” home page. Smart use of titles, icons, graphics with URL’s in the sticky post, surrounded by categories, lists in the sidebars can turn the “sticky” into the point of entry for several parts of your blog – a’la traditional websites.

Some blog-platforms (e.g. Blogware by Blogharbor, the one I use) also cater for creating classic, static Web pages, allow you to FTP content up to your site, have photo albums ..etc. The static pages don’t automatically become part of your blog categories or your main page, giving you the freedom of freely mix and match with the blog. You could use the static page as your homepage (like the sticky described above) ,or you could call it from a link in a blog post – making sure that’s the only way to access it, someone cannot stumble upon the standalone page without reading the post.

The static page, the sticky post, or badges on your sidebar could also become the launching pad to a personal wiki (SocialText and JotSpot both offer free personal versions) , to your documents in Writely, or to any number of Web 2.0 app’s. It doesn’t matter that all these services are hosted on different servers by different companies, you can bring them all together on your launchpad page.

I recently wrote about using wiki’s to create an Instant Intranet for companies – if you have any projects that require collaboration with others, you can do the same, making it part of your static page.

With all these tools available, who needs a traditional web-page?

Related posts:

Update (3/22): Apparently not just personal sites: Steve Rubel reports Another Company Goes Blog Only

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Filed Under: Blogging, Collaboration, Personal Productivity ·
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Are we Men or Children? But Sometimes the Children are Men :-)

Posted on March 4, 2006 ·

This is one of those cases where I had the urge to quickly comment on a post by Ken; then all of a sudden I realized it has it’s own place on my blog.

Ken laments on how  “little blogospats that are popping up all over the Blogosphere sound more like my kids fighting over a Polly Pocket than anything resembling reasoned conversation.” 
He refers to “Roy Schestowitz, all worked up because Scoble can’t build a computer out of wood and pine sap”  Roy goes a step further though: “Scoble cannot tell his ass from his face”  Hm, I have to agree with Ken, “the second you stop talking about the issue and start attacking your opponent, you have lost. Game over.” 
Random Bytes comes to Scoble’s defense: “I’ve chatted with him and he definitely left me with the impression that he didn’t wear his pants on his shoulders … There are all types of geeks out here. Some of us, I guess, are just ass-faces. Others, like Robert’s reader, seem to be just mainly asses.”    On the pants, issue, let’s refer to the expert, who knows Robert doesn’t wear his pants on his shoulders. He wears no pants at all, everyone knows he goes Naked.:-)

On a more serious note, I have news for Roy (and others): Technology’s primary role is to advance the lives of all of us, and guess what, that means mostly for non-technologists. We need  the ‘hardcore’ technologists who create it, the non-techie users (the rest of the world, which happens to be the majority), and the in-betweeners, who explain it, help us select and use it.

Ken, on a brighter note, to your “Are we men or are we children”:  well sometimes the children are men.  Here’s a blog worth reading.  Ben Casnocha was definitely a child when he started his first business (see USA Today Article). His not some kind of business-whiz-kid only. He eats books for lunch, reviewing a hundred or so per year. He is Captain of his high-schools basketball team.  He turned 18 a few days ago, but as a new subscriber to his blog, I think I’ve uncovered a big trick: he really is 28. At least intellectually. 

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Filed Under: Bay Area, Blogging, Humor, Startups ·
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M-listers and Down-linkers

Posted on March 1, 2006 ·

(Updated)

Interesting discussion going on about M-listers – the middle crowd, somewhat known bloggers but not quite A-listers – crosslinking to each other, eventually elevating some to A-list level.  “In time the M-lister who is most prolific on this subject, but not necessarily the best writer or scobler, acquires even more links. Eventually this blogger becomes the authority on the subject, and even A-listers take note and deliver links. The resulting accumulation of links are enough to reach A-list status. Thus we have a slow bubbling up from the middle, rather than the overnight success story so often told by analysts.”

Let’s take it a step further: it “pays”  (the currency being links) to “link down” as opposed to sucking up.  Why?  When you link to an A-lister, and let’s be nice, it’s real reference, not just sucking up, your trackback may show up but you will likely not be specifically mentioned / linked, since you are one of the crowd. (Notable, original content  may be the exception: I had my content “lifted” without credit on top blogs, but I also got actively Scobleized for “discovering” a company first. Steve Rubel also tends to credit such posts.)  But back to  our subject,  a trackback on an A-list blog will likely result in a temporary spike in traffic for 1–2 days. That’s not too bad, but does not last.  Of course out of a few hundred extra visitors you may pick up a few subscribers, or a few links, so linking to the A-blog may indirectly increase your rank. 

What happens when you link down?  Let’s say you have 100 links and you link to someone with only 15?   For that blogger YOU are Scoble… chances are while you will not see increased traffic, the other person will actively link back to you.  So with a balanced strategy of “up and down” linking you build both traffic and links.  And remember, Daddy Technorati counts the number of different blogs, not the number of links.  1000 links from 100 blogs isn’t any better than 120 links from 100 blogs.

Tactics apart, the primary reason for linking should be to place your story in context, which may very well come from either direction.

And now I share my secret: I will always remain a Z-lister. Just look at my name.

Related posts:

 Disclaimer: in the course of writing this post I have committed the acts of sucking up, peer-linking, M-linking, Z-linking, Linking down.  My tag-list looks like major sucking up.  

Update (3/1):  The Z list helps with email overload  This  is an example of:  a different kind of Z-list; me sucking up; Scoble giving credit and link-love where it’s due.

Update (3/4):  Wow, my thoughts in writing… and I did not have to type it: Bloglogic and the Litmus Test for Link Love

Update (3/18): Here’s the post Guy refererred to in his comment below: The Art of Sucking Down.  – in the real world, not the blogospher. Unlike for the “sucking up” article,  I don’t think you’ll take any flak for this one, Guy, the world would be a more pleasant place it we all acted like your post suggests.

Robert Scoble agrees – I can attest, he is one of those often giving credit “down”, so he probably acts similarly in real life.  He has scolded Guy for his previous suck-up article, rightfully so, I migth add:-)

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Filed Under: Blogging, Business, Social Networking ·
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43 Wiki Prank and the Whiteboard Test

Posted on February 28, 2006 ·

Weblogswork is making fun of Ross Mayfield using a wiki for everything. Ok, so it’s really Alex Muse’s idea, check out his story. They set up and CrunchNotes announced the 43 Best Blogs page, which is open for anyone to edit. Of course Ross typically ends up selling / using / donating Socialtext wikis for the right purpose, while this 43thingie is just a mess. I could have my 5 minutes of fame by inserting myself in the #1 position. Not that being a mess is bad … I suppose it’s just a cool prank to get some buzz and attention – otherwise a digg-like voting system would make more sense.

Let’s use this opportunity though to make a point: wikis are a wonderful productivity tool, they help cut down on the flood of email we’re all buried under, reduce “occupational spam” (those unnecessary CC’s, even worse, BCC’s) ..etc…etc…etc. But most importantly, a wiki is for collaboration. Not everything we do is a collaborative effort, and as such, a wiki is not always the best tool to use. Key in picking the right tool is the intention, the desired outcome of the communication.

For ad-hoc, one-to-one, or one-to-some type communication email is still the winner. Blogs are the best for one-to-many regular communication and dialogue. When the value is in the individual contributions, preserving their original content and sequence, traditional forum software is probably the best. Movie-, book-, product reviews are typical examples, for example I would question that Amazon’s ProductWiki is such a good idea. (well, it is, if you enjoy wiki-wars).

The simple “whiteboard-test” helps determine when wikis are really helpful: if ideally you’d like to have all participants of your conversations together in a room, where anyone can walk up to the whiteboard, wipe off content, correct, overwrite what others done until the group collectively reaches the desired outcome, then you should use a wiki. In other words it’s not the debate, the process, the individual arguments that matter, but the synthesis of the collective wisdom. (actually, you get all the other stuff from the change logs). It’s clearly easier to use wikis in a self-controlled environment, like project teams, companies … essentially any team driving towards a common purpose, but Wikipedia is proof that collaboration can be achieved with Pigeonthe open community at large, too.

For everything else, there is always good old pigeon-mail.

Related posts:


Filed Under: Blogging, Collaboration, Social Networking, Software · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,
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