Blog It would be very cool if it allowed you display all of your information on one page as well as update it all from one page, which would in essence “eliminate the middle man” of the various social media sites and make it extremely convenient and less time consuming for users to update and display their info. I can’t imagine the Twitters, YouTubes and WordPresses of the world would be too pleased with this service, but really, it’s only a matter of time, isn’t it?

Executives would grumble. After all, good reporting costs money. The infrastructure that supports the production and distribution of news, be it print, radio or television, is extremely expensive – It’ll be impossible to compete when everyone is a reporter and can instantly broadcast or publish around the world. Plus, there’s only so much ad money to go around – if advertisers flock to the little guy, that’s fewer ad dollars for the big companies! Not to mention the loss of revenue that comes in from the “for sale” and “want” ads!

The time traveler, if he were savvy, would agree, but with a few caveats. While it’s true that things will change a great deal in the next quarter-decade, he’d say, you’re missing the big picture. Wouldn’t you want your content distributed instantly and inexpensively, all over the world? (I can travel to Europe and still read live updates of baseball games at the Web page of my hometown newspaper.) Despite the new influx of opinion leaders and “new” media personalities, don’t people still need and crave local news? (All news is local news, after all.) Won’t new means of content distribution provide new ways to deliver advertising? (There’s a reason Google wants in on the mobile phone market, and it’s not to sell handsets.)

Finally, don’t you realize that quality reporting will always cost time and money, something usually out of the reach of everyone but news organizations that can afford it? (People can only have an opinion about the news if there’s news to opine on.)

After leaving executives with those thoughts, when the time traveler returned to the present day, would anything have changed? Could the big media companies have figured out how to leverage all of these opportunities, or would we continue to hear stories about major media outlets, from those with national reach to those in major local markets laying off personalities because of the rise of the Internet and social media?

I wonder sometimes.

This is a situation that we’re bound to hear more and more of, and while I think it’s great to keep a blog about your career, the burden rests on the employee to only post what she wants her co-workers and bosses to read. If this employee in question was really frustrated or overwhelmed with her workload, then there’s nothing stopping her from letting her manager know her feelings. To post about it instead seems more passive-aggressive than anything else.

There is also nothing private about blogs, especially when you make your co-workers aware of them. In this case it’s perfectly acceptable for the boss to take the employee aside and address what he read, with the assurance that he would rather hear it directly from the employee in the future rather than reading it online.

In the 90′s it seemed like everyone had a personal home page with pictures, interests and links to other pages they liked. The social network has largely replaced the home page, and many people maintain blogs and accounts with any of the countless Web 2.0 services that compete for our attention.

I would really like to figure out how to include all of this information on one page, with each aspect featuring its own RSS feed. Facebook has come the closest to this idea since it opened up its API, but users there are still stuck, in many ways, within a walled garden. Web widgets are also progressing in this direction, but don’t offer the essential ability to customize.

Looks like I have some research to do.

New regulations require soldiers to clear content of blogs and e-mails with a superior officer, Wired said. The directive, issued April 19, could lead to the end of military blogs — known within the military culture as ‘miliblogs’ — observers told Wired.

Military officials have wrestled for years with striking a balance between the need for discretion in wartime and the benefits of allowing troops in the field to connect personally with the public, the magazine said — especially since the troops are often seen as among the most effective advocates for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I understand that some of the information coming out of the war is extremely sensitive, and the military needs to ensure confidential information isn’t accidentally distributed. In the real world, though, the majority of superior officers will simply not have the time to go through each and every blog post for approval, and blogging will shrivel up. It’s a shame, because most milbloggers strongly believe in their mission and are able to articulate their hopes and successes. They’re a rare source of positive PR in the war.

I would have really liked to have seen the military adopt a blogging policy similar to some large companies (such as IBM) which outlines what you can and cannot say, what information is confidential, and so on, and possibly require milbloggers to simply alert their superior officers to their blog’s presence. They would have the best of both worlds in terms of accountability and freedom, and I’d still be able to look forward to stories from the front lines.

A paradigm shift of this nature requires a 180 degree shift in approach. Businesses must resort to influence now, and understand that controlling the message is a luxury of times now gone. Further, this influence is based on trust, so more than ever true relationship building is thrust upon corporate America. This means they have to be honest, communicate, give as well as take (value for $), and be prepared for feedback.

The real challenge for those who provide PR counsel is to convince clients that this is an area worth participating in, and then allocating the proper resources to do it right. Not only do we need a 180 degree shift in approach, but a 180 degree shift in perception, as well.

I’ve tried to explain the usefulness of RSS (aka: “The new, fast way to read news and blogs”) to people unfamiliar with the concept, but usually end up mired in technical geek speak. From here on out, I’ll just ask them to take a look at this. (H/T: Open Culture)

The Low Authority Group [D-List Bloggers]
(3-9 blogs linking in the last 6 months)
The average blog age (the number of days that the blog has been in existence) is about 228 days, which shows a real commitment to blogging. However, bloggers of this type average only 12 posts per month, meaning that their posting habits are generally dedicated but infrequent.

Niiice.

Today we’ve got video from TV recorded to DVRs, ripped to hard drives and uploaded to YouTube for everyone to view, share, and embed. Local newspaper stories are available to a global audience in an instant. Millions upon millions of people are sharing thoughts, photos, video and other information via blogs and social networks. What was once the domain of professional broadcasters and public figures has now trickled down to anyone with an internet connection and a Blogger account.

Yes, now we all have the opportunity to put our foot in our mouth and have it broadcast, so to speak, around the world.

Everyone’s heard horror stories about someone sending an embarrassing e-mail to an unintended recipient. Or, for that matter, everyone in the office. New job applicants fresh out of college are inadvertently sharing their compromising spring break photos with their future potential employers via their MySpace pages. Add in message boards, social networks, blog comments… And so on. Plus we have to remain transparent, so when we screw up we’re not supposed to (ahem) quietly sweep our comments under the rug. It’s tough.

The sheer number of opportunities we have to communicate on a widespread scale means we’ve got to be extremely careful in what we write or say. Seeing as how we’re the first generation to face this responsibility, there are bound to be some growing pains. The best we can do is try and not write anything online that can come back and bite us, double-check before hitting “save,” and have mercy on those who slip up.

Doc Searls has eleven insights for saving newspapers, and includes comments from Web luminaries Dave Winer and Tim O’Reilly. Much of his advice seems to borrow concepts from blogs and social media, such as linking out, ceasing charging for news online, opening up archives, and partnering with bloggers.

Some “old media” giants are slowly opening up to new ways of reporting the news- USA Today recently adopted several “community” features, such as allowing readers to vote on stories (ala Digg). CNN launched I-Report, a call for citizen journalists to send them stories. While it’s been good for topics like reporting severe weather, the full potential hasn’t come close to being realized.

I know it’s cliche, but it’s a changing media landscape, and newspapers are beginning to feel the heat. I look forward to seeing how newspapers can adopt new strategies and innovations to “adapt and thrive,” as Doc Searls writes, in such a world.