BurstBlog: Publisher Edition

There’s been no lack of commentary in the blogs this past week about Amazon’s new Kindle reader, the new incarnation of the “e-book” (a device that lets you read books or Internet content like blogs wherever you go, and with a distinctly different feeling than a portable computer.)Surprisingly, almost all the commentary missed the point, focusing on the Kindle’s flaws (apparently Amazon did not spread the kind of usability love that Apple slathered all over the iPhone). OK, fair enough, most of the posts started as product reviews. But what about the real story? This paperback-sized reader could just change the way we read and write the digital word.

“Madness!” you cry. “Impossible.” Hang on, hear me out.

The big leap here is that the Kindle doesn’t use a traditional computer screen. As mentioned in another post, computer screens typically are low-resolution and flash at you some 80 times per second, all of which makes for a much more jarring reading experience than we all realize.

The Kindle, however, uses “electronic ink” technology where the screen you read is actually made of teenyweeny little balls that show up black or white (see http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/e-ink1.htm) — MUCH more like reading on paper than the screens you’re used to.

So what’s the revolution here? Simple: you can read much longer things. You can focus on text. You can read outdoors. You can even read a whole book on it. The more the world of the blogosphere and the Web moves to devices with non-light-emitting screens, the more chance that the written Web will allow for longer articles.

And in a world of bite-sized tiny info-tidbits, and Web pages that people scan instead of read, I for one think this will be a small revolution and a boon to writers. (Combined with more and more video for subjects that work well in that medium.)

Blog World Expo has posted some interesting blogosphere statistics on its Blog World & New Media Expo conference website:

• Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog.
• More than 147 million Americans use the Internet.
• Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
• 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog.
• 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
• 9% of internet users say they have created blogs .
• 6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog .
• Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs .
• over 120 thousand blogs are created every day .
• There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day .
• 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs .
• 120,000 new blogs are created every day .
• 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006 .
• 51% of blog readers shop online .
• Blog readers average 23 hours online each week.

The Blog World & New Media Expo conference occurs November 8-9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. BlogBurst members Debbie Weil (BlogWrite for CEOs), Aaron Brazell (Technosailor), Dawn Olsen (GlossLip), Matt Cerrone (MetsBlog.com), Mary Jo Manzanares (Flyaway Café), and members of the Blogcritics team are among this year’s lineup of keynote speakers.

Those of you tracking your Google Page Rank (PR) may be well aware of the huge pandemonium that arrives whenever Google is said to be “updating its algorithm” or “distributing penalties.” Google takes these steps periodically in an effort to provide the most relevant results and ensure that no dubious or “black hat” techniques are being used to toy with the system.

PageRank is Google’s patented method of measuring a site’s authority and popularity. If CNN links to your site in an article about the Middle East conflict, Google can easily assume that your site has some very good content that CNN recognized by linking to your site. Similarly, if your site about the Middle East conflict has dozens of links to Viagra, Make Money Fast!, or other spammy types of sites, Google will look very suspiciously upon your site.

The PageRank that is visible on the Google Toolbar is an approximation of the real PageRank that Google measures for your site. While the Toolbar PageRank changes once or twice a year, the “real” PageRank is always in flux and constantly being adjusted.

When Google updates its PageRank algorithm, their engineers are literally going in and making tweaks to the algorithm it uses to measure various components of a website and assign it Page Rank. Page Rank is separate from other measures of success, such as search engine results. There are other factors outside of links, such as terms and phrases within your content, that affect your ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Last week, a Google PageRank update occurred that was focused almost exclusively on those sites that were buying, selling, and/or trading links for the express purpose of artificially raising PageRank. Some sites may have fallen through the cracks, and some might have gotten unfairly swept up in the cleanup. We feel compelled to caution that if your site has fallen through the cracks, it would be a very good idea to clean up before the next Google sweep – remove irrelevant links, link swaps, and paid links that don’t use the “nofollow” tag. Google unleashes these new algorithms and spreads penalties a few times a year, so take this time to learn more about how to properly increase your ranking without breaking rules so you can make sure that your page rank goes up without Google coming down on your site. Following the “rules” put down by Google ultimately support your readers by encouraging you to rely on providing well-written, quality content and follow good practices to raise your popularity, rather than leaning on questionable “quick fixes.”

We’re thrilled to announce the entrance of the UK’s largest blog network, Shiny Media, into the BlogBurst network! Consisting of about 40 blogs from the UK, Shiny Media offers a wide range of topic coverage – from sports to fashion to technology. As we continue to see more and more prominent blogs and networks join our ranks, our publishers will continue to see the quality of the content they can access increase!

See the Shiny Media blog list (click on the arrow next to “Sources” to view the blog list.

It’s become abundantly clear that running a political campaign in the Web 2.0 era is a new game that requires a new strategy. We’ve already seen online debates, campaign websites, and endless comments and forums surrounding the election. The reach of all kinds of media also means that candidates have more exposure and more eyes on their every move than ever before. As a result, we’re seeing different ways that online publications are planning to handle the coverage of the upcoming elections.

BlogBurst is offering the 2008 Presidential Election Burstwire, which has been full of great posts for months, and will only pick up on quantity and quality of coverage from the blogosphere as we get closer to the election. We also anticipate the growth of creative and diverse interactive tracking tools and social media implementations to cover the political drama. This year, it’s not only about reporting on the election, but also about engaging your readers and pulling them directly into the discussion with you. We look forward to seeing what the coming year brings!