Blogs' Impact Still Unfolding

Several articles are showing us some of blogging's deeper business implications:

Pete Blackshaw looks at the impact of push-button publishing on traditional Web sites, corporate Web teams and interactive agencies in his ClickZ article, Creative Marketing Destruction: Add Water and Blog Disclaimer: I'm quoted in the article based on some e-mail dialogue Pete and I had recently.

Jason Calacanis opines on the Bloglines/Ask Jeeves deal and discusses how desktop search will ultimately prevail over Web-based RSS readers.

I'm in agreement and hope it is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to consolidation in this industry. BlogPulse, Technorati, Feedster, PubSub. A few things come to mind here: the IT teams developing these services need to have marketing in the room when they name their innovations (ok, at least the folks at Technorati); the space is crowded; one of the big three (Yahoo, Google, Microsoft) will ultimately wrap some of this blog/rss search functionality into their own offering.

In the race to be first and break news, bloggers are getting a reputation as being out for big media "scalps" and having a lynch mob mentality. The NYT reviews the issue that started with Dan Rather and now leads us to Eason Jordan. Jay Rosen, who discussed this very topic on last night's The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, puts a fine point on the topic at his PressThink blog.

Hmm, so PR and bloggers are taking a beating right now. Do I note I am in marketing for awhile until it all blows over? Nah.

Comments

[David Sifry]

Hi! Thanks for the kind words. I wonder what exactly you are referring to when you wrote:

A few things come to mind here: the IT teams developing these services need to have marketing in the room when they name their innovations (ok, at least the folks at Technorati);

I'm sorry, I'm sure that I'm just thick, but do you mind giving me some more detail on what you mean? Are you referring to any specific product or products? Or are you referring to the company name and identity? Or what?

Thanks, I appreciate it! Great post, and keep up the good work.

Dave

[Kevin Dugan]

David: Great to hear from you!

RSS inspired my joke about having the marketing folks in the room when a technology is named. My comment first came to me when I was preparing a presentation to non-techies. RSS is tough enough to explain without the acronym name. I referred to it as a Webfeed and went from there.

Then, as I was listing all of the ways to track blogs, I had the list of engine names in a row. It seemed like a good time to revisit the joke.

Looking at BlogPulse, PubSub, Feedster and Technorati names in a row I can see how the names connect in some fashion to the service they provide. This is not as obvious with Technorati. But this is simply for the specific purpose of explaining what you do to non-techies. Having a somewhat literal connection between the name and service makes that easier to do.

NONE of this matters! The technology is solid, you were first in the space and you have a ton of brand awareness as a result.

If anyone else quips about the name, tell them you are the Starbucks of Blog search engines.

By this I mean, Fast Company tells us:
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As Terry Heckler of Seattle's Heckler Associates recounts, the founders of Starbucks originally suggested the name Pequod Coffee Company, hoping to evoke the romance of the high seas with the image of the boat in "Moby Dick." "I said, 'People are not going to drink a cup of Pequod,' and suggested they look at adventure sites in the Northwest for ideas," says Heckler.

In researching old mining camps on Mt. Rainier outside Seattle, he happened upon one named Starbos and thought, "That's it!" When he took the name back to the owners, he recalls, "They looked at one another and yelled 'Starbuck!' -- the first mate on the Pequod, unbeknownst to me."

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/05/names.html
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At the end of the day, I see Technorati as a Starbos and not a Pequod. It tells a story. If you were the fifth name on the list above, I'd tell you to get literal like everyone else that followed you. When you are first to market, you can get more creative.