Saturday, August 18, 2007

Now Read This!


Robert Scoble (he's on the right in the picture) is the Monday Morning Clacker of the Web 2.0/Silicon Valley world (sorta).

But a lot more famous. And rich. And widely read.

His blog, Scobleizer, has become a daily must-read for us. Even though his relentless self-promotion and back patting can get a little tiresome.

Like we said, "the Monday Morning Clacker of the"...

Scoble's book, Naked Conversations, written with co-author Shel Israel (on the left in the picture) discusses the way blogs are changing the world of business.

Naked Conversations is a quick read but absolutely fascinating. The book puts into words many of the thoughts that we have developed over the last 10 months. And gives us many new ideas to think about.

Take Scoble/Israel's "Six Pillars Of Blogging":

Bloggings's Six Pillars: There are six key differences between blogging and any other communications channel. You can find any of them elsewhere. These are the Six Pillars of Blogging:

1.Publishable.Anyone can publish a blog.You can do it cheaply and post often. Each posting is instantly available worldwide.

2.Findable. Through search engines, people will find blogs by subject, by author, or both. The more you post, the more findable you become.

3.Social. The blogosphere is one big conversation. Interesting topical conversations move from site to site, linking to each other. Through blogs, people with shared interests build relationships unrestricted by geographic borders.

4.Viral. Information often spreads faster through blogs than via a newsservice. No form of viral marketing matches the speed and efficiency of a blog.

5.Syndicatable. By clicking on an icon, you can get free "home delivery" of RSS- enabled blogs into your e-mail software. RSS lets you know when a blog you subscribe to is updated, saving you search time. This process is considerably more efficient than the last- generation method of visiting one page of one web site at a time looking for changes.

6.Linkable. Because each blog can link to all others, every blogger has access to the tens of millions of people who visit the blogosphere every day.

You can find each of these elements elsewhere. None is, in itself, all that remarkable. But in final assembly, they are the benefits of the most powerful two-way Internet communications tool so far developed.

Simple writing? Yes.

Scoble and Israel aren't (really) writers. They are tech evangelists/bloggers.

And they know what the hell they are talking about.

So sit back (maybe crack a beer) and think for 5 minutes about what the "most powerful two-way Internet communications tool so far developed" really means to business, politics and every other part of everyday human life.

It means transformation. Across the board.

So read the book.

And get ready to rock and roll.