Links of Note: May 15, 2007
Social Media:MySpace News Brings Us Painful Screams of Silence (Online Media Cultist)
Eric Berlin of Online Media Cultist outlines three ways to save the trainwreck that is MySpace News. And yes, despite being less than a month old, MySpace News is a trainwreck. It's a ghost site ... a wasteland ... a Star Wars cantina minus galactic patrons.
Ultimately, MySpace News shows just how empty social media can be when the creators neglect the "social" part.
"So while getting even the tiniest of tiny percentages of MySpace users over to MySpace News would make the submit-and-vote news site appear to be rather bustling, this hasn’t yet happened. The front page of MySpace News looks very similar to the dozens of equally barren 'digg clones' out there that were quickly and cheaply built on top of open source pligg software."
If implemented, Berlin's tips would undoubtedly give MySpace News a chance at success. But here's the thing: Does it deserve a chance? Does the world need a MySpace-based news aggregator?
Future of Blogging:
Interview with Matt Mullenweg, Co-Creator of WordPress (Webware)
Webware's interview with WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg touches on a number of bloggy topics, including politics and the future of the Web, but revenue-minded bloggers should take note of Mullenweg's one key tip for monetizing blogs: Google AdSense.
Mullenweg breaks down AdSense's three core attributes:
1. It monetizes small amounts of traffic.That pretty much sums it up from a top-level perspective. The only thing I'd add is that it pays (literally) to understand your topic area's keyword value. The exact value of specific keywords is closely guarded trade information, but bloggers who have worked in different topic spheres know there's often a huge discrepancy between the value of one topic over another. For example, my entertainment oriented sites bring in far less per-click revenue than the consumer electronics sites I've been involved with.2. It monetizes international traffic.
3. Unlike offerings from Yahoo and Microsoft, regular people can sign up for AdSense.
Why is this important? If revenue is one of your goals, it pays to pursue targeted, high-yield content areas. Personally, I choose not to use revenue as my coverage catalyst, but if your passions lean toward the business/finance/purchasing side, it's possible to make decent side income through AdSense. So if you're in love with mortgages (freak), slap a few AdSense units on your mortgage blog and watch that spending money roll on in.
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