I’m back from a very quick 36 hours away to make the most of the long weekend here.
While I was gone there was plenty of action around the blogging community. Here are a few of the stories that have caught my eye so far as I’ve scanned my RSS feeds.
- Andy Wibbels shares how to add Google Analytics to your Blogger Blog.
- One of the biggest stories over the weekend was Robert Scoble’s posts regarding big blogs linking habits. The story has been widely commented upon – follow it via Techmeme.
- Jeremy from Shoemoney is being sued for a comment that someone else left on his blog. This is an interesting test case that could have significant ramifications. Apologies/Update – Jeremy has ben subpoenaed to appear in court to testify in a case where someone else is being sued over a comment left on his blog.
- UK blog network – Shiny Media – has secured $4.5 million in funding according to Paid Content and their blog. Congratulations to the team – I’ve been lucky enough to meet some of them and they’re a great bunch of people.
- It looks like YouTube will be moving to a model where it shares it’s revenue with users uploading video (see video below). Those experimenting with video blogging might just have a new way to monetize their blogs in the coming months. (via Lifehacker and BBC.
The shoemoney case is very worrying. Are we to be responsible for the comments people leave on our blogs?
I can imagine that this will encourage more bloggers to moderate comments, and maybe even discourage some from allowing them at all.
Shoemoney doesn’t go into the details, but I do find it hard to believe that one blogger would actually sue another for something said in a comments section. Still, there are all kinds of people out there.
Please people… Jeremy *did not* get sued. He is giving a deposition in the case against the person who left the comment. The commentor is the only one legally liable for his own words (if in fact they constitute defamation, which is questonable in this case). Jeremy is merely a witness in the case.
You *are not* legally liable for what your commentors say! Let’s end this confusion now.
I think Scoble’s post is one of the more interesting and true ones I’ve read in a long while, that’s exactly how blogs in the tech industry work. I think I’ve said it here before, it was one of the reasons I find better traffic and cash rates in entertainment blogs, because bloggers in the entertainment industry have their feet on the ground and their nose straight forward.
Allen.H
I’m glad you said that Brian, it would be quite worrying if bloggers could get sued for someone else’s comment.
Getting paid for musical content on video sounds great although I feel it’s a long way off as the technology seems to be primarily for the benefit of record companies to be aware of where their music is being used.
Thanks Darren!
Shoemoney is not getting sued, he was subpoenaed to appear in court. As long as he shows up he is fine. They just want him to give a testimony in the slander lawsuit that happened in the comments on his site. Basically he didn’t want to testify, the court said cooperate or else.
Phew…!! Imagine you could get sued for something someone else said. That would be horrendous. Glad to hear he’s just a witness to it, and not the victim on an injustice.
ya man
it will really cool if you tube offer such a great thing
i will be first in making a billion from u tube if they start moneyizing there uploads with user.haha
Everyone may want to go to the Electronic Frontier Foundation for more information on blogger rights. It give a great overview on our rights and you can become a member as well. Just go to the link below.
http://www.eff.org/bloggers/join/
Brian Clark: Thank you for clearing up the confusion. I can blog more easily now.
[…] Darren Rowse at Problogger has stated that youtube could introduce revenue sharing with its users that upload videos. This also has positive implications for video bloggers to monetize their efforts. Darren has also posted a video related to it on this post. Check it out. […]
Way to go.