The Clog

AdAge publisher Scott Donaton posted on his blog today, When Trains Fly, the concept of The Clog. The Clog stands for The Column Blog (which I suppose would further translate to The Column Web Log). Basically, Scott is bucking the argument that bloggers must constantly post, at least once a day, to keep readers. He argues that this leads to posts of, let's say, lower quality.

Scott's plan is to combine the idea of a magazine column with a blog. I think he came up with a great name; it's funny because, really, the aim is to unclog the blog. However, I don't think this is anything new. While it's true that the most successful blogs (Engadget, Mashable) have heavy post volume, others, like AdAge, use the blog platform as a publishing technology, but aren't really blogging in the traditional sense.

My point is, just because you're using a blog platform to facilitate posting, doesn't automatically mean that you have to be a blog or conform to the "blogger's code."

ROO Group

I recently started a new job at ROO Group. Family and friends have been asking what, exactly, ROO does and I thought this video of our CEO, Robert Petty, might help:

Google, Meet the MTA. MTA, Meet Google.

Read/Write Web is reporting this morning, via Bloomberg, that Google may be working with the Metropolitan Transit Authority and New Jersey Transit on incorporating New York City's subway and train system into Google Transit.

Google Transit currently covers 15 transit systems worldwide, which includes all of Japan and several major US cities. Google won't confirm that it's talking to the MTA and NJT, but both the MTA and NJT confirmed that they were speaking to Google in some capacity.

I say it's about time. They've been a little slow to the punch. Here are some sites that have done it already (or some variation of it):

Greg Brail's Interactive Subway Maps:
Java Version & Google Maps Mashup (My personal favorite)

onNYTurf

Eyebeam

Straphangers

Subway Navigator

New York On Tap: Bar and Subway Map

HopStop

The Seamless Web

Fred Wilson, a managing partner at Union Square Ventures, recently posted on his blog, A VC, about an OS X issue he was having. I made a comment that I found it funny that he would post an OS X question on his blog, which is primarily focused on venture capital. Actually, in all fairness, Fred posts a variety of topics on A VC, but that's not my point here.

Fred responded in a second post, saying:

Andrew asked why I posted this question on my blog instead of a forum designed for this kind of question. Well first, I figured there were a lot of readers who knew the answer. And I was right. There are some super smart people who read this blog. And second, by posting on my blog, I was able to post a couple screen shots of the problem that made it easier for me to articulate the issue.

This got me thinking about this idea of a seamless web. The idea of destination sites, niche portals, niche social networks, specialty content, etc has gained a lot of momentum and popularity in the past few years. We call it the "long tail," but I think it's a flawed system that facilitates the segregation information.

I would like to see an Internet void of landing pages. The idea is, in Fred's example, if you were someone interested in answering questions about OS X, those questions would naturally gravitate to you. Where it comes from, whether the Apple Support Forums or A VC, shouldn't make any difference. A content agnostic Internet, I suppose you could say, is my vision of Web 3.0.

There are already meaningful steps in this directions. Aggregation is a hot buzz word these days and it's what makes services like Google, PageFlakes and countless other aggregators a success. So, niche information will still exist, but it'll exist for you, not for a landing page or branded service.

The Husky Network: "a big static pop up on your page with a hole in the middle"

Online Video Watch is reporting that Heavy.com will be launching a new ad network called The Husky Network. The network consists of branded player skins sold on a CPM basis. I just love Online Video Watch's description as, "Heavy will be dropping a big static pop up on your page with a hole in the middle for the video to play in."

Over at The Husky Network site there are examples of what the skins look line. Fittingly, they are both heavy and husky. These things are huge, ugly and intrusive.

Brandframe Takes Product Placement Online

I ran across an interesting company today called Brandframe. I don't know anything about them or how successful they are (if you know, let me know), but I thought I'd share anyway. From what I understand Brandframe has created a marketplace where content producers and advertisers can link up and make offers to place products within video.

This is interesting because there are currently so many companies trying to figure out the best way to advertise against online video. ClickZ reported on an OPA study citing that 30 second ads are much more effective than 15 second ads. 30% on ad relevance and 23% on brand awareness, to be exact. So, what does this mean for product placement?

Obviously the goals of product placement are very different from other ad models. For one thing, product placement offers no direct response. The effectiveness is very difficult to measure and can usually only work for very recognizable brands.

One great thing about the Brandframe platform is its ablilty to open up that dialog between producers and brands. This will probably lead to very targeted placement - who knows the viewer better than the producer themselves? Hopefully this means that viewers will only see products they are actually interested in.

But back to the OPA study; if a 15 second ad is ~30% less effective than a 30 second ad, how effective is a few fleeting seconds of a product? Especially without any call to action. Is this a fair comparison or are we talking apples and oranges here?

It would be great to see Brandframe, or others, build a platform that matches product placement up with surrounding advertising. For example, if I'm watching a video of someone eating a Snickers, there should be a Snickers ad on the page and near the player. This is being done to come extent with contextual marketing, but I think this could be a profitable add-on service for Brandframe.

Blogger Doesn't Support Trackback

This site is being powered by Blogger (a Google product) and I noticed today that Blogger doesn't support trackbacks. Trackbacks, if you don't know, are an innovative way to link to posts on other blogs. Say, for example, you read a blog post somewhere that sparked an idea that you would like to write about. Instead of posting a long comment on the original blog you post on your own blog, use the trackback link and a link to your post automatically appears on the original blog.

The benefits are obvious: networking and blog growth, driving traffic, raising content value for both sites, etc. Blogger has a trackback-like feature called Backlinks, but this is specific to Blogger, so I can't 'backlink' or 'trackback' to blogs outside the Blogger network.

Why can't I use trackbacks? Seems silly to me, Google.

TheNewsRoom Embedded Video Player

I'm still in the process of defining exactly what I want this site to be. In the meantime, I figured that it would be a good opportunity to try out some new things. Yesterday I told you about BuzzFeed; today I've added an embedded video player from TheNewsRoom.

A few complaints right off the bat. For one, the player is ugly as hell. As far as I can tell, they don't give you many options on customizing the look and feel. You have a few templates to choose from (none of which fit in my sidebar), but no options on color or custom sizes. Because of this, I have to place the player in a fairly useless spot - at the very bottom of the main content page.

My second complaint is simply one of usability. After I signed up I wasn't sure what to do next. I ended up using code for a general technology-themed player, but I couldn't figure out how to customize the content. That's an issue.

I'll leave the player up for a little while and see how it goes, but I can't see how this would add any value to my readers. If there's no value to you then it shouldn't be there. We'll see though. If you want to keep it, make sure you press play every once in a while.

BuzzFeed

I've added a BuzzFeed widget to the sidebar. BuzzFeed is a fairly interesting concept, which I encourage you to check out. They have a hybrid system of editors and users who basically rank content up and down with the aim of measuring 'buzz.'

From time to time paid content is included (and clearly noted). What I really like about them is that they only accept clients with good content - meaning, they won't necessarily push your content, but they will help you track its viral success.

I think it's a good idea from the same people that brought you The Huffington Post, The Rejection Line and Black People Love Us, among others.

Disclosure: I recently interviewed for a position with BuzzFeed

Hello

Welcome.

We'll explore things here relating to online video, online media, new media, VC, M&A, New York startups and other topics of interest to me. I may also, from time to time, venture into my personal world. So, I hope you enjoy. Please free free to send any feedback.