cybersoc.com

alternatives to typepad?

As many readers will know, I use typepad, a hosted blogging service, to publish this blog. I originally chose typepad over other blogging platforms because I thought they had nicer design templates and because I was hoping to, eventually, move off a hosted service and start using Movable Type. MT is made by Six Apart, the same company that makes typepad, so I figured this would be an easy and natural migration path.

Now I'm second guessing my choice to use typepad and, as it's a product of the same company, thinking I might not move to Movable Type either.

If you visited cybersoc.com yesterday you'll have noticed that several days worth of content had disappeared along with images and the ability to comment. What you might not know is that I was unable to get into the back end to post an apology, authorise comments, etc. These problems affected all typepad users, including an extremely high traffic experimental blog being written by a BBC presenter. If they can't keep typepad running, or even explain what happened, than what sort of problems can I expect if I move to movable type in future?

I realise it's not the end of the world if some of the content on cybersoc.com is unavailable for 24 hours but I'm paying for the service and expect 100% uptime. This isn't the first time that typepad has been beset with problems and, quite frankly, I'm fed up with their apparent inability to keep the service reliable. To add insult to injury, I've noticed that despite the intermittent problems with service recently experienced by their thousands of paying customers, typepad appears to still be paying for their link to appear at the top of the paid links on google searches relating to blogs. Clearly getting more customers isn't the right way to go about fixing performance and data storage related problems!

So I'm looking for a new blogging platform... if anyone would like to recommend a reliable, easy to use, attractive blogging platform please post your comments here.

top search terms for November

On the first day of each month I publish the top terms used in the search box on this site (top right of page) and the revenue generated by this and the google ads. Hosting this blog and my old site costs £18.25 per month. Last month, October, I came within 50p of breaking even.

In November, cybersoc generated £13.99 from Google Adsense - with almost the same number of click-throughs but with double the number of page impressions. Because I know it was popular with several readers last month, here is a list of the top search terms on Cybersoc.com for November:

transfinancial economics	21	4.884%
mihalache	16	3.721%
ideologies of welfare	9	2.093%
virtual corporeality adolescent girls reviews	8	1.860%
cybersex	8	1.860%
london+eye+centre+litigation	7	1.628%
online dating	7	1.628%
Autumn Marzec	7	1.628%
virtual corporeality adolescent girls article evaluations	5	1.163%
durkheim	5	1.163%
virtual corporeality adolescent girls and their bodies in cyberspace article evaluations	5	1.163%
what is the percentage of internet users who chat online?	4	0.930%
cyber sex chat rooms	4	0.930%
MOVIMIENTOS ETNICOS	4	0.930%
article reviews	4	0.930%
virtual corporeality reviews	4	0.930%
lack of physical connectedness in cyberspace	3	0.698%
london eye centre litigation	3	0.698%
Virtual corporeality: Adolescent girls and their bodies in cyberspace	3	0.698%
RESEARCH ABOUT CYBERSEX IN THE INTERNET	3	0.698%
snurb	2	0.465%
gun	2	0.465%
marx	2	0.465%
porno	2	0.465%
ajt	2	0.465%

By the way, google has now made it possible for interested parties (hopefully conferences and book publishers) to place ads on cybersoc.com. The link appears at the bottom of the google ads to the right.

AOL buys network of 90 blogs

BBC News is reporting that AOL has purchased Weblogs Inc, a site that pays bloggers to blog. What? Weblogs Inc has a network of 90 blogs that carry advertisements. Each of those blogs is written by a network of freelance bloggers who get paid for each entry they make. Engadget is probably their best known advertising platform… errr… site, but they have lots of others.

Surely AOL could have got this content for cheaper elsewhere which has got me wondering, what are they up to?!

user generated travel sites

When most people in the internet industry talk about cross platform we're talking about websites that can be viewed and/or contributed to via mobile phone or PDA. But not those of us who work for "old" media companies who are, increasingly, creating applicaitons and services that re-use content created online in newspapers and magazines (the old handheld!) or putting it on-air.

Because I live and work in London and simply can't bear to hear, yet again, about how the London bombings in July made "old media wake up to the value, power and immediacy of user generated content", I'll leave that discussion for another entry.

Instead, I wanted to point out The Guardian's excellent BeenThere. Essentially, it's a website where anyone who has visited somewhere on holiday or wants to share tips about a city and it's attractions for visitors can do so. But it's more than that. The Guardian takes that content out of the internet and re-uses it in a two page spread in the Travel section of The Guardian's Saturday print edition.

Lee LeFever (aka CommonCraft) has also recently set up a site, TheWorldIsNotFlat, where travellers can share their experiences with others. The site coincides with a round-the-world trip LeFever is planning to take with his wife. (Thanks FullCircle for the link!)

The other side of this is the growing number of personal blogs that bloggers use to keep in touch with their friends, relatives and the people they meet along their journeys. My friend Jody (and his partner Amy) just returned from an around-the-world-in-a-year journey and regularly blogged about their experiences, including being served Guinea Pig and surviving the Asian Tsunami completely unscathed, on their blog.

when you say "blogging" they hear "dogging"

BBC News reports on a survey that shows 7 of 10 adults don't know what a blog is and 9 out of 10 have never heard of podcasting. One of the authors of the report says:

"When I asked the panel whether people were talking about blogging, they thought I meant dogging. Our research not only shows that there is no buzz about blogging and podcasting outside of our media industry bubble, but also that people have no understanding of what the words mean. It's a real wake-up call."

I'm really going to watch how loudly I say "blogging" in public...

making money from blogs: what's with the ads mate?!

You might have noticed that over the past few weeks I've been experimenting with placing a few ads on this blog. This post both explains why these ads are appearing and provides links that other bloggers might find useful if they're thinking of trying to use advertising to pay for their blog host fees.

I'm currently paying £75 a year in typepad fees and £144 in hosting fees with Demon (that's about US $390 a year total). Regardless of the fact that I think that this is a small price to pay to be able to reach so many people with my work, I'm looking for ways to make this site pay for itself. I reckon I might just about be able to recoup 50% of my annual outlay...

I look set to make US $15 from Google's Adsense programme this month [Yahoo entered the market in August]. When you use the search box at the top of this page it takes you through to google's results and, if you click on one of their sponsored links, I get a percentage of their advertising revenue. The google links to the right work in the same way although clicking on them will take you straight to the site of the advertiser.  I don't necessarily endorse any of the sites listed by the search results or in the googe ad space.

I've also got some books advertised using Amazon's Associates. I've personally read each one of these and really do recommend them. I've also advertised ipods, powerbooks and other geek kit that I personally own and use. When you click through and buy something I get a small percentage of the sale revenue from Amazon.

Finally, you may, from time to time, notice links to various other products and services. At present those include Vbulletin, which is message board software I have used and recommend although I'd suggest potential purchasers also have a look at the very similar UBB. Vbulletin is a member of Commission Junction programme. I'm also advertising, via a service called Linkshare, two dating services at the top of the right side of the page, primarily because I still get a large number of site visits from people searching google using search terms like online dating, cybersex, online flirting etc. These visitors don't necessarily find anything of value here so I might as well point them in the direction of what they are looking for. I was once a member of lavalife, one of the two dating sites, and think it's the perfect place for visitors who want to chat, flirt and have some fun.

So that's the scoop on the ads appearing on this site. If you see an ad that looks interesting please do click on it as your doing so helps me pay the costs of running this site (I doubt I'll ever break even though!). As always, there may very well be other products and services that suit your needs just as well as those advertised here and, if you're really put off by the ads, you can avoid them altogether by subscribing to my RSS feed.

blogging conference: Our Social World

I nearly didn't hear about Our Social World, a a conference about blogging (and business) being held this Friday (09 Sept) in Cambridge, UK. Speakers include Tom Coates (BBC Radio and Music Interactive), Lee Bryant, Ben Hammersley, Julian Bond, Ross Mayfield (SocialText) and Loic Le Meur (Six Apart). You'll find more information and registration details at here. If anyone can blag me a free ticket, get in touch asap: robin at cybersoc.com

Geobloggers: Flickr + Google Maps

Take the API for Google Maps (other projects doing this), combine it with images on Flickr tagged with postcodes or longitude/latitude, and you've got Geobloggers .

I typed in the postcode for my office, W1A 1AA:

Doing this and pulled up dozens of photos of the local area:

Nice.

(Thanks to Simon and Jane for showing me this today - also nicely blogged on Tempus Fugit)

Localisation of search and online community

Reporting on the recent Search Engine Strategies 2005 conference, hosted by Search Engine Watch, Jane Wakefield of BBC News Online writes that:

"The battle is set to intensify as search becomes more relevant, more personal and more localised, representatives from Google, MSN and Yahoo told delegates at the conference."

And it's not just standard web searches that are being localised. Chris Sherman, Associate Editor of Search Engine Watch, notes that blogdigger has recently launched a search tool that "pinpoints bloggers by their physical location in the United States, with coverage soon to be extended to cities throughout the world."

But internet users themselves seem to be leading the way in organising themselves around geographical locations. In the UK, there is the UK blog RSS feed aggregator, a directory of British blogs called BritBlog, and Cal Henderson's (now working at flickr) London Bloggers which allows users to register a home and work tube station for their blog.

Earlier this week, USA Today (link credit: smartmobs) joined the slowly growing tide of publications joining the "localisation of the internet" bandwagon in an article about how people are using the internet to connect with their geographical communities:

"Five years after sociologist Robert Putnam documented the decline of community involvement in his book Bowling Alone, a new spirit of civic engagement is flourishing, largely because of 21st-century technology. cell phones, e-mails, instant text messaging and Blackberries are helping mobile, busy Americans link up with neighbors on their commutes to work, in the middle of the night and on business trips..."

USA Today interviewed Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, who added that "People are physically more connected to their community because of Internet use."

Local searches, like bloggers who share your geographical location, shops near your home, the local newspaper, the local news, etc are all more relavent, at least for most people, than geographically distant people, services, and information. Think globally, act locally.

Related Cybersoc Entries:

An Apology to the Internauts (the internet isn't all that exciting)

Global Networks Act Local

Mobile Communities: MEM 2005 (London)

There will be (just) two presentations and a panel discussion about mobile communities at Mobile Entertainment Market (MEM) 2005, a two day conference taking place at Earls Court, London starting on the 15th of June:

Generating revenues through community services: Olly Topley, Vice President, Strategic Marketing, Freever

Case study: How entertainment brands can use communities to build loyalty & reduce cost: Ray Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, Bango

INDUSTRY FOCUS GROUP: Chat, blogging & dating, what have been the driving factors behind today’s most successful communities-based applications?

Paddy Holahan, Chief Executive Officer, NewBay
Julian Swallow, Chief Executive Officer, Mobrio
Peter Larsen, Chief Executive Officer, Enpocket
Jurgen Galler, Head, Lycos Mobile

Let's hope someone blogs the presentations...