The Line Between Blogging and RSS

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I recently received a series of requests from some traditional media outlets asking me to add their VoIP feeds to my Blogroll. After a brief exchange with one of the best bloggers I know, Bob Cox, founder of The Media Bloggers Association and TheNationalDebate.com I was able to better articulate what I felt when I read the request.

These guys are clueless.

There is a big difference between a blogger and media outlets using RSS feeds for distribution. So while the company which shall remain nameless goes out suggesting links to their feeds would be good for my readers, and I should add them to my blog roll, it became even cleared how big media is missing what Blogging is all about.

Blogging is about a personal communication with your audience. I often say it’s not how many, but who is reading your blog. The numbers only matter to advertising folks, not public affairs or PR experts. They know that influencing the right people is what it is all about.

Blogging is more like Direct Marketing than advertising. Since media companies are all about eyeballs, one needs to think more about the influence the blog has, than the traffic.

And to the company who asked for the "link," you’ll get yours, in the stories "I" choose to highlight for that’s why readers choose to use blogs. They want the filter and the insight that goes along with it.

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Viva La France

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It seems the French like VoIP based on this observation by James Enck. There is no question that the disruption level being casued by VoIP in Europe is at a fever pitch. Not only is Skype taking minutes away from the PTT’s, but as cable rolls out more are opting for the triple play type … Read more

Skype Wants to Own It All

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Mr. Blog finds out that the SKYPE API means those that develop with it shall give the ownership of the work output to Skype. And people call Microsoft draconian and monopolistic, this is one for the books.

Macromedia Breezes Into VoIP

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I sat through a demo today with some folks from Macromedia about their new Flash based Breeze VoIP powered web conferencing application. While a lot of what I saw was not what I would call breakthrough, it will put a lot of pressure on the WebEx market and Microsoft’s Live Office efforts to do better. … Read more

Small Markets Present Huge Opportunity

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Jon Arnold points to a collection of small wired markets which are gearing up for VoIP. While many of these operators have already been the target of Vonage, Net2Phone and others, none has really gained any traction that is of significance. These small regional local exchange carriers taken individually are a small market, but when … Read more