WebRev Blog

Can you believe it's the end of 2010, already?!  In the spirit of online year-end wrap-ups, here is mine.  We had three major tech news stories in 2010 that I believe will be historical markers for many years to come.

The first, of course, is that I started writing for this blog.  Ok, ok, just kidding.  I did start writing for this blog this year, and am thankful to Tim and the folks at WebRevelation for the opportunity.  That was probably only major news for me, however.  Here are some things that affect all of us.

Stuxnet and Wikileaks

I'm putting the Stuxnet worm, and the Wikileaks phenomenon into one category, because they are part of a larger story - which is that terrorism and war are now being carried out online.  This is something that has been expected for a long time, but these two stories were really the first evidence that it is happening, world-wide.  "Cyberwar," and "Cyberterror," will soon be the new "war," and "terror."

Facebook

While most of my writing on this topic was either tongue-in-cheek, or complaining about Facebook taking advantage of the public's ignorance about protecting their online data, the important part of this story is that the traditional news outlets finally discovered Facebook, and took social networking went mainstream.  There's no going back, now.

Android

Google's Android became the best-selling mobile device in 2010 by working by working with multiple providers (unlike Apple, who had focused on exclusivity), and revolutionized mobile technology forever.  All Google needs to do now is buy Facebook, and they will have accomplished their goal of ruling the world.

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. 
 

If you know someone (or are someone) who spends entirely too much time online, chances are that you are familiar with the online "time sink."  These are activities that in and of themselves are usually not good or bad - but just like any other hobby, can become very time-consuming.  A few years ago, I fell prey to this, in the social news sites.  Digg.com was my poison.  I have no idea how many hours I spent in the political opinion and news sections of that site arguing over politics.  Most of the time it was fun, but it was also stressful, and I found myself checking it obsessively, to see if anyone had replied  to my comments, or "dugg" my stories.

I wasn't the only one.  Before long, I had a group of friends off-site, and we would e-mail each other, to let everyone know when we needed help dealing with a "troll," or cyberbully, or cyberstalker.  Then these friends were involved on other sites, (Twitter, del.icio.us, reddit, fark, stumbleupon), and several of us got hooked on more sites, which took more time. It all seemed so very important at the time, and I went on for a couple of years with a great passion for this activity.  Then one day, I was tired of it, and was simply done.  At that point, I began to wonder what all the fuss was about, and wish I had some of that time back.  Oh, I still participate in the social news sites, but for a few minutes a week, as opposed to hours a day.

So, this week, we're going to talk about some other time sinks on the web.  Tomorrow, we're going to address Facebook games.

This is the final in this week's series, types of blog posts.  We've covered the essay, search engine bait, such as reviews, lists, link posts, and polls. We also talked about some different types of media posts, and how to use controversy to attract traffic and generate discussion.  Now, let's put on our journalism hats, and talke about some of the various types of news posts.

Live Blogging

 

Live bloggers cover an event "live," by providing periodic updates throughout the event.  This can be done in the format of microblogging, or written blog posts, or through video updates, or a combination.  Sometimes bloggers team up, and cover the event from different perspectives.

 

(Also see:  Live Blogging Tips, by Lee Oden and ProBlogger - Tips on Live Blogging)

 

Aggregator

 

Some bloggers provide a customized aggregation of news stories for their readers, with or without editorial commentary or summaries.  The Drudge Report is a good example, as is Salon.

 

Punditry

 

We talked a little about op-ed (opinion-editorial) posts yesterday, when we were disussing "ontroversy."  Political pundits write op-eds about political news.    Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter are examples of political pundits on the right in the U.S., and Arianna Huffington and Markos Moulitsas are examples of pundits on the political left in the U.S..

 

Fake News

 

If covering real news and politics bores you, you can try making up your own news.  Just be sure that your readers actually know you're doing this for entertainment purposes.  We've previously talked about using satire in blogging.  The Onion (a fake news site that covers every topic imaginable) is a site that has done this successfully, as has The People's Cube (a fake communist site, mocking communists), and Scrappleface (a satirical press release site).

 

News Media Analysis

 

In lieu of reporting the news, commenting on it, or making up news, you can also analyze how everyone else is doing it.  There is an ongoing battle between the so-called "dinosaur media," (print media and network news), and "new media," (cable news, and online media), and this overarching dialogue provides a great basis for in-depth analysis.  One site that is very popular for doing this is Newsbusters.org.

I hope you've enjoyed this series.  If you have any comments on this series, or suggestions for future series, I'd love to hear them!

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is a trainer and tech writer in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. Her weakness is the mocha frappuccino.