The Blog Police

Blogging is earning a unique place in the hierarchy of marketing tools. Not too long ago, a corporate blog was seen as something that that the kids were doing down on the first floor. The grey-beards were intrigued and impressed with the display of initiative, but didn't pay much attention to the activity.

Now the perspective is that a blog is a necessary ... even indispensable ... part of the overall marketing strategy. They create an informal and seemingly natural conversation about the company, which fills in the overall brand image in the consumer's mind. Blogs don't replace traditional media, but they help to complete the picture.

But even though blogs are critically important, there are thousands of smaller companies that don't produce them. Why? When they would stand to benefit the most from them? Simply, it takes time to write. I have barely written over the past 6 months. The firm I work for has amazing expertise and a remarkable breadth of knowledge across the team. Yet, there is no Hartman Blog. So it is no surprise that a micro-industry has risen up to fill this need.

But a blog posting has no requirement for accuracy in and of itself. And frankly, there are many, many bad writers out there.* So, a group of concerned - and self-interested - people came together to form the Internet Content Syndication Council (ICSC) back in 2007. Earlier this year, they published a document calling for some sort of reviewing authority that would certify blogs as being of acceptable quality. "Low-quality content can pollute the information ecosystem," as one of their members once said. They believe that this process will somehow protect readers from being misled.

But who will certify the ICSC certifiers? What gives them the authority to separate accurate opinions from inaccurate ones? How will they keep their personal biases - or corporate agendas - from influencing their decisions?

I believe that readers are smart enough to distinguish truth from fiction and facts from opinion. The internet needs no blog police to give their stamp of approval to my posts or to anyone else's. Bloggers who routinely lie lose readership. That's all the policing we need.

A related article at AdWeek: Council to Counter Web 'Content Mills'?
* On a scale of 1 to 10, I give myself, on average, a 7.5. I have definitely produced some high-quality posts, but I also have published more than my fair share of atrocious writing.

How to tell when someone is on the phone

You are driving down the road and the car in front of you starts ...

• slowing down for no apparent reason
• using up the entire lane, and maybe a little more than the lane
• then straightens out and speeds back up

Did you notice the driver's head, as it turned down and to the right?

Voice activated dialing will help some of this, but the caller still needs to pick which number to use, right? And when the phone rings, the caller-ID feature makes it very tempting to check the screen before answering the call, doesn't it?

Better Laptops are Coming

Last week, Intel announced a new line of processors built for the latest style of portable computer: Ultra Thin Laptops. The idea is to take the form factor of the netbook -- skinny & light -- and imbue it with the power of a modern laptop. The chips are the latest iteration in the ultrathin processor series that AMD pioneered last January. According to Intel, this chips require less power than traditional laptop processors. While they are not to be as powerful as a conventional laptop processor, they are expected to be more robust than their Atom processors, which are the chip of choice for today's netbooks.

This development is going to create competition for ... and the Windows-based answer ... to the Apple iPad. The opportunity, though, is for one of the leading laptop manufacturers to sell a touch-screen ultrathin laptop for under $1,500. I don't know if Dell or Lenovo or HP or Acer can pull that off. But if they can, then such a machine could be a category-killer for the traditional laptop. Most professionals do not need the power and capacity of a desktop replacement laptop. But the netbooks are just a bit underpowered for their needs. This machine would fill that gap. And the touch-screen would satisfy their desire to have a technologically advanced device on their desk.

For more, read ... ComputerWorld: Intel to launch new chips

The browser of the future

Google's Chrome browser hit the market just over a year and a half ago and it is fast becoming the replacement of choice for people seeking to break free from Internet Explorer. As the table presented here shows, Microsoft's flagship browser (regardless of version) has been steadily losing market share for a long time. Firefox had earned most of IE's losses by virtue of its superior interface, its innovative tabbed browsing, and - of course - all of those fantastic, free add-ons.

But while IE continues to lose ground, users are no longer defaulting to Firefox. Chrome gained a much larger slice of the market last month than Firefox. Certainly, Google has done its normal, excellent work of promotion. But there is more to the story than superior hype.

For one, Chrome is fast. Really, really fast. On every one of my PCs, Chrome launches and loads pages far more quickly than Firefox. Second, Chrome's exceedingly simple interface provides nearly an inch of additional rendering space on the screen. And of course, Google is encouraging their developers to make the application more useful everyday.

Firefox is still my preferred browser, but I suspect that may change in the coming months.

Credit where credit is due ...
Visit Net Market Share for more information about global browser usage.