[epub] Re: Blogs and email

["Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian" <drmani@xxxxxxxx>]

> Will blogs replace email, or will they be the next version of push technology:

I think the more vital question is how can we use blogs to supplement
ezines, and work around the limitations and disadvantages of each medium.

For a while, I've been toying with the idea of running a blog-ezine.  For an
example of what I mean, see www.NextDraft.com

And then, a few days back, I found an innovative scripting solution that can
present the *same* content in the form of a blog or a discussion forum!

Yes, the feedback/comments in response to a blog post can be presented
in the form of a threaded bulletin board discussion simply by clicking
on a link which calls the script!

And my mind - always a busy one - is swimming with potential applications
mixing up various media - books, email, forums, blogs, ezines - all into
a POWER medium that can combine the best features of each.

>  than they should be. But in order to be successful a blog has to 
> develop a wide base of people who will make the deliberate effort to 
> go to the site every day or multiple times a day to see what's there.

Bloglet.com offers a nice solution where you can register to receive updates
to the blog - once a day.  I offer a sign up box on my blog, "remarkably purple
spots..." - and an automatically generated email goes out to my sign up list
whenever I update my blog.
http://www.ezinemarketingcenter.com/blog/

The email message can be customized to include a varying length of the post
(title alone, first 500 characters, or entire message).

Instead of viewing blogs as diluting the value or quality of my writing,
I see it as one more way to present content to a viewership - without
getting filtered out of their lives.  Journalistic standards can be kept
independent of the medium in which it is presented, I would think.

> And what about when the day comes that there are so many blogs that 
> they cease being the next hot thing, like email was?

The one constant is change.  Something new will come up at that time.

> I guess I'm just not ready to drop email despite its problems and 
> rush on to the next big thing, the way prairie farmers used to farm 
> a piece of land until exhaustion and then find a new farm.

But when the "yield" is higher, when (and if) the new land is more fertile, a
smart farmer moves on.  I'm not saying that's what I'd do TODAY, but I'll
certainly not let a certain degree of familiarity and expertise, not to
mention fond attachment, to email and ezines let me get bogged down when
I can get bLogged down - more profitably!

On my Blogathon, I'll discuss "memetic evolution" that includes
my thinking about ezines and blogs.  Check it out - and help support
an event to save children with heart defects.

Dr.Mani


--
Dr.Mani Sivasubramanian
Join our HEART KIDS BLOGATHON - 24 hours of
non-stop blogging on July 26-27th, 2003 ...
http://www.EzineMarketingCenter.com/blogathon/
==> Blogging that helps save a child's life!

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