Today’s been a fun day as a result of the Sydney Morning Herald article (it didn’t appear in the Age for those asking). I finally managed to get a copy of the hard copy and was amazed to see it as a half page spread on page 3. I was half expecting it to be buried in the technology pages (must be a slow news day in Sydney).
The results of the story are quite interesting so far. I was awoken this morning by a call from a TV station wanting to run a story on b5media (probably Monday) and have a lot of positive feedback via email from new readers during the day.
There’s also been a bit of a buzz around the Australian blogosphere as a result also today which is nice (here, here, here and here for starters).
I should also mention the author of the piece – Tom Burton – who I spent a couple of hours with this week in my favorite cafe. My time with Tom was probably one of the more enjoyable interviews I’ve done over the last year or two. He was genuinely interested in the whole topic of New Media and Web 2.0 and while he said he didn’t know much he has obviously done some pretty good research on the topic and knows his stuff.
It was a refreshing conversation having had seen a couple of instances recently where well known and respected Australian journalists have blown off New Media as insignificant. Perhaps these two people are in the minority they left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth. Tom’s approach to this article (and hopefully more to come) was quite the opposite and went a long way to restoring my believe that Mainstream Media and New Media can both exist side by side – and perhaps even work best together (as Reuters head Tom Glocer said a day or two back).
PS: A few people have asked about the picture. It was taken yesterday by photographer Justin McManus in the hallway of our house (lucky we finished the painting last week).
Pro Blogger Blogger in the News
If you haven’t heard all ready. Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.Net got written about in the Sydney Morning Herald.It is nice to see a cross over between the online and offline world. Especially in the media. I think that will be more of a crossover in the…
ROCK OUT!
Yahoooooo!! =) Good for ya, Darren!
Tell us, how do you feel about it? Do you see it just from a busniess perspective? Do you feel affirmed?
Where do you think this is going to have more impact in you? In your business (all tech blogs you have) or in your capacity as a problogger guru?
Josue – it’s always difficult to tell what exposure like this does as it seems to be different every time. I try to take the attitude of ‘come what may’ and try to ride whatever waves that come in.
My suspicion is that it doesn’t bring in a lot of new readers but is good for profile. It’s also just good for the industry as a whole here in Australia (something I’m passionate about supporting). The more people talking about blogging and new media the better in my books – we’ll all win when that happens.
I’ve also seen a little consulting and speaking work come in as a result of these types of things in the past – and have found that it can help with networking with other bloggers.
So yeah – it’s affirming but also a bit of fun. I’m making the most of it while it lasts and trying to build something that can get me through the down times that could lay ahead one day (ever the realist and conservative planner).
What’s those web thingies hanging in the hallway?!
brem – it’s fretwork. The house is a Victorian style (100 years old) – it’s sort of a wooden lacework sort of thing…. hard to describe but it’s purely decoration – part of the ‘ye oldie charm’ of the place – or so my more interior designing educted friends say.
Congrats Darren!
I’m going to be very curious as to how I’m going to be received when I’m profiled in my city’s magazine. It has a circulation of 700K, but unlike you, I prefer to remain anonymous (thus the use of nicknames and the like). We’ll see how it ends up in the summer.
Again congrats.
Anyways, also wanted to post about something I just stumbled across. Maybe you already know about, maybe ya don’t, but I just found The Greatest Thing Since… uh, Scrambled Eggs? The Crazy Egg Heat Map!
Anyways… It’s a REALLY sweet heatmap software (still in beta) that I just stumbled upon. I suppose it’s similar to Google Analytics, but since I don’t have it I have nothing to compare it to.
It creates a heat map using Javascript by where your visitors click, similar to the eyetracking study that was posted (except, uh, different with clicks vs eyeballs):
http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack…dvertising.htm
It’s like stat counter on steroids because now you know exactly where your users are clicking, can define those SWEET spots on your page, as well as the odd trouble area.
Board I saw it on:
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=356793
Someone’s blog on it:
http://mashable.com/2006/03/10/crazy…azy-delicious/
Their home page:
http://www.crazyegg.com/
I’m already a bit compulsive with my stats, but this is going to send me straight over the edge!
[…] Bubble Flashbacks (SMH reports “Online buying frenzy”) Published March 11th, 2006 in web 2.0, considering Darren Rowse with SMH image via ProBlogger […]
Congratulations, Darren!
Now it would be interesting if you posted the increase of Australian visitors to your site.
It would allow to calculate how much a third page exposure in mainstream media actually does affect traffic :)
b5media on The Sydney Morning Herald
'Just found out that b5media (the blogging network I run with 3 fab guys) --- has been featured in today's issue of The Sydney Morning Herald. The article, Online buying frenzy as big business swoops on sites by Tom Burton looks a…
Sydney Morning Herald profiles Bloggers
The Sydney Morning Herald published a story yesterday highlighting several bloggers, including Darren Rowse, Duncan Riley, and others at b5mediaRowse started blogging in late 2002 as a way of communicating with fellow believers from his experimental Ba…
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Congrats Darren, good to see that there can be positive publicity in the mainstream media.
Congrats again, that’s awesome. My parents got a huge kick when I appeared in the NY Times.
Like jim, I find that the main effect of things like this is to please one’s relatives. You can yap at them until you’re blue in the face about how you’re subverting paradigms and innovating business models, but get your mug in the paper and that is all they understand.
Web 2.0 , you mentioned that in this post. Just out of curiosity, do you support this regime?
Paul – very very true.
Congrats buddy! Even though I spent two hours with Tom as well, I don’t begrudge you the publicity. If anyone deserves it, it’s you! Love the above photo too. Nicely done!
Great Its Nearly Impossible For Some Peoples Round Here
I saw that in 2003, Gartner stated online shopping was a 12 billion dollar business. I imagine it has grown since then….