Community Broadcast Centre

Does business have to worry about blogging?

Steve Maich in Macleans dismisses blogs as a fad.

Snip:

This little comedy routine played itself out 143 times in a survey of just over 1,300 people. But that didn't stop the believers from trumpeting that blog readership soared 58 per cent in 2004. What they often fail to point out is that the overwhelming majority of blogs get almost no traffic. According to data from SiteMeter and other tracking services, more than 99 per cent get fewer than 10 hits a day. Even the ones that do attract readers don't hold their attention very well. The same reports suggest that the average blog reader stays on a site for just 90 seconds.....

Comparing the total blog audience to the circulation of major newspapers or viewers of network newscasts is a total sham...
Will blogs fundamentally change the media business, or any business for that matter? Well, did do-it-yourself wine kits change the wine industry? Think about all the homemade plonk you've had to drink over the years. Sure, everybody thinks the merlot they stirred up in a plastic bucket in their basement tastes fantastic. But try selling it.

Who is Mr Maich and who made him the "Jello Sheriff" at Macleans on the new media? I ask who he is because his article shows that he knows nothing about what is going on in the 'sphere. Mr Maich have a look at the 'Dell Hell' saga at Jeff Jarvis' site Buzz Machine. It would appear that he has read few blogs and has missed what is going on in terms of influence and how it works now. Do you know why a mass circulation is different in kind from a network? Do you know anything about networks? I have never met Mr Maich - who is likely a good person doing his best - so I have no personal ax to grind. I just don't understand how a national magazine can print a full page of such under researched bull. The issue is editorial.

My bet - in 5 years people will be reading my blog and Macleans will be a memory. By the way here is his snip back at his critics

China Last Month - Cheney this Month

American Vice-President, Dick Cheney, is visiting Alberta this September. The visit was announced by Ralph Klein at the Premiers' conference earlier in August. The agenda for the visit is to include a visit to the oil sands and a banquet with conservative think-tank Fraser Institute will be officially announced over the next few weeks. The Sierra Club and Raging Grannies are planning their protests and will announce their plans after Cheney's agenda is released.

Cheney was last in Alberta during the World Petroleum Congress in 2000 as the Halliburton Chief. Since then of course he has become Vice President for two terms and his government has acted on plans developed during Regean's era to start working on pipelines through Afghanistan and securing resources in Iraq, but China's interest in both Iran and Alberta has got the White House's attention.

However, the neo-conservative foreign policy of the US is not single-minded, as many would accuse. Dinner, fishing and hunting with oil executives, politicians, and friends from the Fraser Institute may work in Alberta, where a policy of fear mongering, threats, and ultimatums are more appropriate for Iran. Good to be a Canadian eh!

However, if dealing with the White House is anything like what I have learned from working with other passive aggressive personalities, remember life is great when you are on their good side - even hard work is easy, but boy get on their bad side...

When things are good we might not think about what it is like for the targets of a passive aggressive personality and may forget that we too can become targets of the passive aggressive behavior.

So, what can you do about passive aggressive? How should Canadians treat Cheney and his type?

1. Don't help them to target others. This is their game not yours.
2. Show deference and respect, but don't get personal - don't go to invitation-only dinners, hunting and fishing trips, don't even get in the elevator with them alone - do you want their legacy to become yours? Keep it to business.
3. Succession plan - the passive aggresive's role will change and loyalties evolve and sooner or later they will move on have a plan for when they do
4. Don't give them an exclusive on anything. They need you more than you need them.

CommandN Community TV

Amber dropped by yesterday to join the Queen Street Commons - One of our CFA members.

CommandN is great example of community TV. This show talks weekly about Tech. It is cottagy now but for those of us who are fans of the Innovators Dilemma - this is how great things begin.

Amazon review follows

School and Technology?

This year India will graduate 3.1 million grads. All speak English. The US will graduate 1.3 million and I don't know how many in Canada - let's say 130,000 (The usual 10% of the US). The New York Times leads off today with a plea for Americans to take technology more seriously by going back to school and taking even more courses thus widening their portfolio.

I wonder about all this school thing? All the most creative people in the field that I know started as teens and were self and group taught. Yes some of them latterly went to school but not to develop the skills that are now most differentiating.

I wonder is school in fact the problem - it seems to make almost any topic utterly boring to the more creative people? What is the global competitive issue anyway. Sure people have to be competent - very competent. But if the world is competent, then differentiating key is surely creativity and school tends to knock that out of us. Neal Stephenson describes a post Flat World America in Snow Crash where America only has the global edge in Music, Movies, Game Software and High Speed Pizza Delivery. Is this what is ahead of us?

It's so sad it's funny. Here we are on PEI and in the west generally lamenting the poor outcomes of our school system that cannot even produce a generation of industrial workers anymore and we are in the post industrial era where India and China will have the competence to take not only all the blue collar jobs but the white collar ones as well. Is any one talking about this?

An Amazon review of The World Is Flat Follows

Canadian Banks - the Future

This week the Canadian Banks report their quarterly results. CIBC drowns in controversy and will have to make substantial layoffs. How did CIBC get itself in this kind of mess and what does their experience mean for the other banks?

I see two systemic problems that affected CIBC and that need to be considered as you think about banking in general now. The issues as I see them are linked to Concentration and to Culture. I believe that we are entering a time when the underpinnings of banking are moving into dangerous waters where large corporations no longer invest in productive assets but in mergers. I see that even the retail sector is concentrated into a bubble - the real global estate boom. What stokes the fires of concentration risk is the deal focused compensation culture where the incentives are driving deals and growth rather than any other factor.

What do I mean by these statements and what can you do?