Blogs to Riches - The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://newyorkmetro.com/news/media/15967/index.html' target='_blank'>http://newyorkmetro.com/news/media/...5967/index.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"By all appearances, the blog boom is the most democratized revolution in media ever. Starting a blog is ridiculously cheap; indeed, blogging software and hosting can be had for free online. There are also easy-to-use ad services that, for a small fee, will place advertisements from major corporations on blogs, then mail the blogger his profits. Blogging, therefore, should be the purest meritocracy there is. It doesn’t matter if you’re a nobody from the sticks or a well-connected Harvard grad. If you launch a witty blog in a sexy niche, if you’re good at scrounging for news nuggets, and if you’re dedicated enough to post around the clock—well, there’s nothing separating you from the big successful bloggers, right? I can do that...In theory, sure. But if you talk to many of today’s bloggers, they’ll complain that the game seems fixed. They’ve targeted one of the more lucrative niches—gossip or politics or gadgets (or sex, of course)—yet they cannot reach anywhere close to the size of the existing big blogs. It’s as if there were an A-list of a few extremely lucky, well-trafficked blogs—then hordes of people stuck on the B-list or C-list, also-rans who can’t figure out why their audiences stay so comparatively puny no matter how hard they work."</i><br /><br />It's a slow news week for Pocket PCs and PDAs in general, so I went digging through my list of recent off-topic articles. This article published last month in New York Magazine is an interesting take on the haves and have-nots amongst blogs, and what makes the difference. For every Engadget out there, there's 100 sites that try to blog about gadgets but get no traffic. I know what attracted me to Pocket PC Thoughts in the first place -- it was a niche I cared about, and a bunch of Editors that cared to post interesting topics and content on the subject. And almost 13,000 posts later, I'm now a veteran editor myself. 8O<br /><br />Anyway, have any of you tried to start a large-scale blog? And what draws you to Pocket PC Thoughts or other favorite sites of yours?

[paschott]

Well, I have no desire to start a large scale blog. Nor do I really have the time to invest in something like that. I'm content with a handful of postings that keep my family up to date - every now and then a deep thought or two.

As for what I tend to look for - depends on what I need. I have a lot of SQL Server blogs in my feeds as well as things around the GTD program. PPC, PC, etc figure in somewhat, but only from a handful of sites. I was sad to see PPCPassion dwindle as that was one of my favorites for a long time.

Other blogs of interest tend towards things involving worship or using technology in the local church. I'll find one link, that leads me to another, and so on. These don't tend to be huge blogs from what I can see, but the contributors are faithful. I've enjoyed www.worshipmatters.com quite a bit lately. Good material to think about.

I suppose I should also toss in UserFriendly and SlashDot - just for the amusement value. :-)


As for the sizing - it does depend on who you know and how you can get the word out. Getting mentioned on SlashDot or a large-distribution newsletter/blogsite will get you a lot of publicity pretty quickly. Otherwise, you'll be scrambling to get readership from other small sites. UserFriendly actually just ran a small series on this that was amusing at times.

-Pete

[kimylawson]

It keeps me in touch with other pda users and helps keep me informed about what's going on in tech world. I enjoy this site and others like it. Thanks guy's :lol:

[mhynek]

What draws me to Pocketpcthoughts is the volume and frequency of posts. Since I work at a hospital I usually have the opportunity to check the site in-between patients. This is how I satiate my desire for the latest and greatest pocketpc related news, software, and rumors. I enjoy the camaraderie here and the selflessness of the members to help the less knowledgeable. It is because of this I've formed a personal loyalty to this site. That loyalty also extends to the businesses that are affiliated with Pocketpcthoughts. I support the work here and respect the dedication that it takes to keep a site like this operational. That is why, IMHO, some sites make it, and some don't. It's not just the product, it's the people.

[kimylawson]

Very elequently stated Micheal, If I had a few your brain cells my reply would have been alot longer. You make my point as to why I am a member of the site. 8) Good lookin out.

Kimy

[AZMark]

Was the word blog even around when PPCthoughts started? At that time it was one of the very few sites to get information on CE devices. No support from Microsoft, Mfgrs just supporting the hardware and OS, very small software developers made integrating and solution finding very tough and created the need for a site with a good user community

[hamishmacdonald]

I second the other posters' sentiments. The editors and other contributors to this site have solved more problems for me than I can count.

This site is like the manual these devices should come with.

[paschott]

I'll second Michael's thoughts. Besides, being a subscriber, I get all of the alerts via e-mail so I'm always up to date.

As for how I came here, I was a regular reader in the msnews.microsoft.com Usenet group for Pocket PC's. I still remember the flame wars going on over this site and several others. :roll:

My favorite site before this was Dale Coffing's site - it was always up to date and had a great forum going. Once his server died, though, it just fell by the wayside. He never did quite recover from that as far as I can tell. :(

I think I finally came back to check this out (despite all of the flaming in the newsgroups) and was really impressed. Once I bought my iPaq 2200, I was impressed enough to subscribe (the discounts helped, too).

So Kudos to the editors, maintainers, reviewers, contributors, and all the others who make this site a pleasure to visit.

-Pete

[Kacey Green]

For about a year I ran a gadget blog, it got a fair amount of traffic. Pocket PC Thoughts was my inspiration.
I got hacked and didn't bother to restore the backups. It was many long hours and as we saw with Brighthand that can take a toll on you.
I since missed blogging, and relaunched my site under the same brand but with a new niche. I chose clean transportation because that's a niche I could get into for long hours. If you check out the new site (barely a month old) you'll see I occasionally post tech news but that's our off topic. I want to thank Jason for the inspiration, and for helping me launch that first site. The new site www.grlt.com will be an adventure.

Thanks to everyone here for welcoming me back after my long internet sabbatical.

[paschott]

On a semi-related note, does anyone know what happened to Dale Coffing? Can't seem to find any sign of him being active anywhere with PPCs.

-Pete

[BugDude10]

Perhaps I'm not properly interpreting the term "blog", but I don't consider this site a blog -- I consider it a news site. I consider a blog to be just thoughts and opinions, and not necessarily concrete information.

As for blogging in general, I understand the appeal for the bloggers (they get an outlet for their self-important and self-indulgent rantings) but not for the rest of us (who cares what 14-year-old Tiffanee thinks about Brittany's new hairstyle). Certainly there are many intelligent and entertaining people in the world who otherwise might not be able to share their thoughts and opinions with the rest of us without the blog movement; to me, though, it seems that so much of it is just the feckless meanderings of people with too much access to technology and too little access to intelligent or relevant thought.

(I skimmed an article in a recent Sports Illustrated about the impact of sports bloggers on sports reporting and opinion, and it pointed out that most bloggers never leave their homes (or, more likely, their parents' basement) to get information, whereas actual journalists investigate and interview and chase down stories. Certainly, Biff in Jersey is entitled to his opinion; I'm just more interested in actual news.)

I have lots and lots of brilliant and hysterical thoughts during the course of the day; I'm just not so full of myself as to think that anyone (other than the other voices in my head) will actually be interested in all of them, posted within moments of having them and kept for posterity in a chronological listing on the Internet.

Just my $0.02.

[mhynek]

Perhaps I'm not properly interpreting the term "blog", but I don't consider this site a blog -- I consider it a news site. I consider a blog to be just thoughts and opinions, and not necessarily concrete information.

I agree with your considerations/views. Just to alliterate further, the reason I opted to reply to this topic was to note why I frequent this site. The similarities drawn between "here", blogs, and other informational/perogatively motivated sites is the ability to draw readers as well as sponsors. Without a dedicated group of enthusiasts supporting a site and driving revenue to it's sponsors, it is only a matter of time before it becomes fiscally impossible to maintain the infrastructure necessary to "keep up with the Jones'". It's the similarities the individual sites share, in their goal to stay viable that I comment on, not the characteristics themselves.

[Jason Dunn]

Was the word blog even around when PPCthoughts started?

Yup. The first version of this was site actually called "Pocket PC Stuff" and was created using www.blogger.com. It was quickly re-named "Pocket PC Thoughts", but I stayed on Blogger for a while until it got bogged down and really slow, then moved to Greymatter...and the rest is history.

[Jason Dunn]

On a semi-related note, does anyone know what happened to Dale Coffing? Can't seem to find any sign of him being active anywhere with PPCs.

Dale is working as a pastor at his church:
http://www.calvaryabq.org/

And he (last I heard) continues to work with Microsoft's Windows Mobile team doing trade shows, demos, etc. So he's still working with Pocket PCs, just not on the Web. ;-)

[Jason Dunn]

Perhaps I'm not properly interpreting the term "blog", but I don't consider this site a blog -- I consider it a news site. I consider a blog to be just thoughts and opinions, and not necessarily concrete information.

Just WHAT a blog is has evolved - in the strictest sense, a blog is a reverse chronologically updated site, usually updated using a content management system that separates the form (the words) from the content (the HTML). So in that sense, yes, this is a blog. But I, like you, don't see it in the same way that a pure "here's my opinion" blog is seen - it has evolved over time to become a news site. On the other hand, many people define a blog by the links to external sites, which is certainly something we do - yet we also create our own unique content as well. So who knows...I gave up on trying to pigeonhole what we do here a long time ago. I don't really care what people call it as long as they like it and keep coming back. ;-)

[Jason Dunn]

I should add that, in relation to the topic of the original post, I strive to instill in all team members the value of linking to great content, no matter it it comes from an "A", "B", or "C" list site. We don't play favourites, though there are sites we won't link to if there are objectionable things on them.

There's a pattern I've seen over the years: most of the "A" list sites are popular because they post a lot of items/links to other content, but they don't always have the resources to create their own content. So that's why many link on Thoughts Media sites point (at least as far as content is concerned) to "B" or "C" list sites. And, in the grand scheme of things, why I'm perfectly happy with Thoughts Media sites being "B" list sites (that's how I perceive them at any rate) because it gives us the opportunity to link to other sites, but also create our own content.

[Patrick Y.]

Well, the awsome daily news and friendly staffs attracted me to PPC Thoughts.

[jerboa]

Anyway, have any of you tried to start a large-scale blog? And what draws you to Pocket PC Thoughts or other favorite sites of yours?

I've been running Gadgetorama.com (http://www.gadgetorama.com) for just over a year now. I would certainly not call it a large-scale operation - it's a one-man show.

I got my start over at iPAQabilities (sadly no more) and launched Gadgetorama (http://www.gadgetorama.com) to cover topics other than the HP iPAQs. I try to cover any toy, gadget or gizmo that I find interesting (or that I think readers will find interesting). There is no denying that it can be a fair amount of work (between staying on top of the news, doing reviews and any site administration that's needed), especially these days with 60 hour weeks for my real job. But it's also quite enjoyable.

It is nowhere near the scale of PPCT or other premier sites but I do hope that aside from being a hobby of mine, that others find some use in it.

As for what brought me over to Pocket PC Thoughts, it was one of the first sites I discovered once I got into the world of Pocket PC devices. I've been lurking about ever since!

[d-roC]

Nice subject. I tend to agree with the sentiment that there are different classes of blogs. Some of the more popular ones have basically become news editorials. While others are the collection of news from all over. I personally think that PPCT, Brighthand, Engadget and others like minded have become basically news sites with a blog format. While others such as Palm Addict and like minded are more blog sites with news content.

I also think that the best sites of either kind are best when they serve a specific market-focus and then having been established there, slowly reach out. That is where Mobile Ministry Magazine is focused on. While the intent is mos def Christians and tech, the reach and scope can (and will) reach further. Any website that wants to stay on the map (blog or news or hybrid), really should strive for a consistent build, and not just a "repeat of the best" kind of format.

[Souljer]

I'm new to the site and have recently started hanging out in these parts. I find the information fresh, enlightening and all in all an excellent. I'm a recent transplan from Treocentral (after purchasing the 700w).

D

[k1darkknight]

Like many here, I certainly don't consider PPCT a blog, as it does indeed contain what I would consider 'news articles'. Even if much of the content is quoted from, then linked to other sites, isn't that (in an offline sense) even what newspapers do, when they use the Associated Press for some article or other? In fact, the only time I even follow the links from PPCT to other sites is if there's some article that catches my attention, that either - 1) this is the first I'd heard of the topic, or - 2) it's a topic I've looked all over for info about, but have come up blank (or nearly so). I have a Dell Axim X50v, and I DO occasionally check out aximsite.com, but mostly just when I'm looking for info about some problem specific to Axims. Even then, I usually check PPCT first, since I'm familiar with the depth and breadth of the resources herein. (Wow, I said 'herein' (sp?) ! )

I think what sets PPCT apart from other websites that shoot for similar goals is that the editors are percieved as something of a 'team'. Besides, even if they don't actually discuss issues face-to-face very often, instant messaging and (gasp! primitive technology like) telephones have made such face-to-face discussions unneccessary. The other major thing that sets PPCT apart is that (from what I've seen, anyway), if any editor ever makes a mistake, they are VERY quick to correct it, and if a big enough blunder is made, they even post a whole new topic (/thought/whatever), rather than just making an edit to the erroneous entry. Granted, such 'retraction/correction' posts have been extremely rare, this is with good reason, as any information I've seen on here is very thoroughly investigated. For that matter, I wouldn't be surprised if there are, quite often, reviews, thoughts, etc. which are prepared in their entirety, but never end up making it to the site itself, just because the would-be poster found enough incorrect or conflicting information in their source(s).

I've been a PPCT reader for quite some time, and came across it, either via a Yahoo search, or another site found during a Yahoo search. I don't post as frequently as some, but honestly (blushing) quite a few of my posts have been this long winded. I just love PPCT, and how accessible practically the entire site is!

Keep up the good work, guys!
k1darkknight

[davea0511]

What draws me to Pocketpcthoughts is the volume and frequency of posts...

I support the work here and respect the dedication that it takes to keep a site like this operational. That is why, IMHO, some sites make it, and some don't. It's not just the product, it's the people.

Very well put. The administration makes a big difference. You need a critical mass of thoughtful people involved in the administration to insure that the ensuing discussions are civil. Nobody likes a forum nazi, and neither are forums that allow senseless bickering attract me. PocketPC thoughts has always been a good balance in that respect, requesting respectful language and responses (even from a civil person like myself) when necessary, but not trigger happy with restricting priveledges.