I love wordpress, so I thought this post from Mashable was a great resource to learn of new wordpress plugins. There’s tons of plugins on the list that I’ve never heard of, but seem to be great tools to help build a rich & fully-featured wordpress blog.
I’ll be in the Bay Area Tuesday through Friday of this week at the Real Estate Connect conference & the Bloggers Connect pre-conference. I’m participating in the early morning panel discussion on Wednesday at Bloggers Connect titled “Finding Your Voice.” The other participants in the panel are:
If you live in the Bay Area or will be attending the conference and would like to meet-up, drop me an e-mail (address is in my right sidebar). I’d love to chat about Zillow, social networking, web 2.0, or just shoot the breeze.
Matt Goyer from Redfin makes a good point — where do all the young seattle entrepreneurs hang out??
He also made a couple more good points — yes, Naked Truth was a success. And yes, those tequilla shots were fun.
Thanks again to Redfin (and all the others) that sponsored the event and made it happen.
I came across the “Bloggers Bring in the Big Bucks” BusinessWeek story the other day — some bloggers make A LOT of money. For instance, it’s estimated Pete Cashmore at Mashable earns $1666,000 $166,000 per month from advertisers. That’s a lot of money. But could they make MORE?
It got me thinking — what would happen if 10 high-profile tech/business bloggers joined forces on a multi-author blog? Not that they would, but imagine Michael Arrington, Robert Scoble, Om Malik, Pete Cashmore, Jeremiah Owyang, Darren Rowse, Jeremy Schoemaker, Fred Wilson, Jason Calacanis, and Rand Fishkin all wrote 1 post a week on 1 blog?
Would you read it? I probably would.
I guess the big question would be whether or not it would cause some of their readers to stop reading their other blogs? Or would it take too much time away from the content they would have created for their personal/business blogs?
I know I would not stop reading their other blogs and I think they could manage another post a week somehow — if there is money to be made, they can probably find the time. How large of an audience could they draw by combining forces?
Now — imagine if they created a bi-weekly or monthly magazine out of that content for people who didn’t want to read the content online? I’d gladly pay a small fee (not sure exactly how much) to have compelling content delivered to me in print from blogs that I like to read, but don’t necessarily need to read everyday.
As an example, I care about what is happening in this country’s political system. I read political blogs like the Huffington Post, CNN Political Ticker, and DailyKos every now and then. The reason I don’t read them daily? TIME — I don’t want to spend the extra time on my computer reading more RSS feeds (I read enough feeds as it is). But I’d LOVE to receive a selection of political content from a variety of popular political blogs in print on a weekly or bi-weekly basis so I can keep up on the latest developments. Then I could read that content on the bus to/from work, or sitting on the couch, or sitting on the beach having a beer (this is the ideal scenario!).
I imagine there are lots of people who suffer from this same problem. They read online news daily in one or two fields relating to their jobs all day long and the absolute last thing they want to do when they get home is — read MORE online content, even though they’d like to read about two other industries that interest them.
Not everyone wants to spend all day, everyday on the computer (me included). Print media is NOT dead. The difference between traditional magazines/newspapers is that the content would not be created without the paying subscribers. However, bloggers are writing all this great content anyway — why not generate some additional revenue by selling it in print? I’m sure the 10 business/tech bloggers I mentioned at the beginning of this post could benefit from selling their content (which they are writing anyway) to an audience who doesn’t have time/energy to read their online blogs on a daily or weekly basis.
It seems there is a business model connecting blog content with those who wish to read content in print for someone to take advantage of. Any takers??
I’ll be at the Naked Truth (along with several other Zillow employees) tomorrow night in Capitol Hill, an event put on by Madrona Venture Group and Redfin aiming to connect entrepreneurs with journalists. They’ll be some big names for the panel discussion to kick it off — Rebecca Buckman from the Wall Street Journal, Fred Vogelstein from Wired, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, John Cook from the Seattle PI, and Tricia Duryee from the Seattle Times.
The details:
When: Tuesday, July 24, 2007. The panel starts at 5:30, the party starts at 6:30.
Where: The Havana Social Club, 1010 East Pike Street, Seattle
Who: every entrepreneur, dreamer, procastinator, narcissist, coder, starter, joiner, flim-flam man, gonzo PR guy, bigshot, littleshot and networking twizzler in town… please come!
See you there! There’s more details on the wiki.
I said I’d give an update when I found a business to lend to on Kiva.org. I’m actually a bit disappointed in myself for taking this long. However, this morning I was listening to some interviews on the From Scratch radion show from NPR and found one with the co-founder of Kiva, Matt Flannery, and decided to finally take the plunge. 
So, which business did I choose to lend to? Kodjovi AZIAKLO from Microfund Togo. Here’s the description of his business from the Kiva website:
Kodjovi Aziaklo is 41 years old, married, and father of seven children. His three wives are all farmers and are not able to help him support the family financially. Obliged to drop out of school after the eighth grade, he worked for many years making palm wine. Nowadays, he has opened a little store at Gapé Nyassivé. Since he is the single provider for his family, it is hard for him to make ends meet.
A dynamic and honest man, Mr. Aziaklo has already taken one loan which he used wisely and repaid in a timely fashion. He is now asking for a loan of $1200 to expand his inventory so that he can better satisfy his customers’ needs. Given this loan, Mr. Aziaklo will be able to improve living conditions for himself and his family.
I’d encourage everyone to go lend to an entrepreneur in need — the minimum is only $25. And if you find some really compelling businesses worth funding, please let me know with a comment or e-mail.
I stumbled upon a great post titled 101 Tips to Improve Your Web Presence that is probably worth taking a look at. I thought this was a pretty basic one that not enough people utilize – “Ask your friends to give you honest feedback on your site.” DUH — ask everyone you know; the more honest feedback, the better.
At least according to Seth Godin. Social networking and online communities are exploding & many companies are banking on their community to be a differentiator from the competition. Communities do NOT build themselves without some human nurturing; someone has to be there to moderate SPAM, encourage early users, listen to user feedback, answer questions from users, relay relevant product suggestions to the product team, help resolve disputes between members, and spread the word to potential new community members. So, I certainly see how Seth can say online community managers are going to be in high demand in the future.
I guess this bodes well for me, since I’m already in a community organizer role at Zillow.
It’s one of those mornings where I’ve been up since 4 — so I decided to just bite the bullet and get out of bed. A pretty revolutionary service awaited me on Techmeme. Maybe NOW, Comcast will get the memo that their revenues from selling home phones are toast.
Why? Ooma, which launched a free consumer phone service this morning. With free phone service (all you need is the hardware & a broadband connection), there is absolutely zero need to pay for a traditional home phone line. Walt Mossberg mentions that the hardware will go on sale in September.
Not sure how many of you have read the latest coverage on Techmeme of the 3-year old lawsuit against Facebook. There’s also the question of whether the lawsuit will affect a potential Facebook IPO. For a summary of the lawsuit, I’ll take a page from VentureBeat and post the great summary at Portfolio:
The lawsuit, filed by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, accuses Zuckerberg, Facebook’s 23-year-old C.E.O, of stealing the source code, design, and business plan for Facebook in 2003 when he briefly worked in the Harvard dorms as a programmer for their own fledgling social-networking site, now known as ConnectU.
The plaintiffs have demanded that Facebook be shut down and that full control of the site – and its profits – be turned over to them.
But what I really wanted to focus on is the fact that business really is all about execution. Ideas and code don’t make successful websites. Cameron, Tyler, and Divya should just accept that Mark made one kick-ass business out of their idea and move on to their next venture.
So, what stopped the original HarvardConnect team (now ConnectU) from succeeding? Business know-how & instincts? Maybe. Not building a community of passionate users? Maybe. Not listening to user feedback early on? Maybe. Wrongly prioritizing features? Maybe. Not getting the word to the right people? Maybe.
But coding ability? No. The idea? CERTAINLY NOT.
This is also why I don’t quite get why so many start-ups remain so secretive. Face it — if your idea is a good one, there are probably at least 10 other people thinking about it. It all comes down to execution — solving real problems, listening to users, getting the word out to connectors and mavens, making the right strategic decisions, hiring & retaining the best and the brightest talent, etc. It’s not about the idea.
I think it is pretty pathetic that Cameron, Tyler, and Divya are just trying to latch on to Facebook because they failed to make a business out of their idea, while Mark Zuckerberg succeeded. Companies/individuals that fail with their idea shouldn’t bitch and moan about how unfair it is. They should learn from their mistakes and do better next time.
Dave Winer has an interesting post wondering how much Facebook is worth. My thinking is a LOT.
Update: Also relating to Facebook, I just read Scoble’s “Why Facebook, Why now?” that was super interesting. Oh yea, they’ll make $100 million this year.
So, Zillow (my employer) is at it again — and I’ll be keeping track once again.
Make sure to tune into the Zillow Blog for updates.
Update @ 9:42: Zillow is now live again!
Update @ 9:57: Check the Zillow Blog for an overview w/ links!
There are a couple primary features being added to the site tonight (site should be live shortly):
Here’s the RE.net play-by-play for you Zillow fanatics out there:
I was just reading this post (which I found on Techmeme) on the Google Public Policy Blog — and realized there were comments! I didn’t think any google blogs allowed comments??
How long ago did they open it up?
In case you were not aware, Zillow is undergoing a remodel…stay tuned for what’s behind the curtain.
First of all, let me say that I love the new CNN site re-design. Take a look (after you read this post). I particularly like the new video features, primarily since I don’t have cable. But that’s not the reason for this post.
The real reason I’m writing this is because of the ad I saw on the frontpage of CNN. The question, “What would happen if everyone cared?” is certainly a legitimate one. The ad links to a section of CNN titled “Impact Your World.”
In my opinion, there are way too many people who have their heads buried in the sand about real issues. Healthcare, the federal deficit, poverty, AIDS in Africa, crime, the Iraq war. It doesn’t take a huge amount of effort to make a difference. For instance, you can join the ONE campaign (ONE.org) and make your voice heard. You can donate money to Kiva (let me know if you happen to know of any extremely intriguing business to invest in on Kiva – my friend and I are looking for one that sparks our interest). I covered Kiva previously here. Volunteer with United Way. We can make a difference. As Bono says, “we have the technology, we have the resources, the know-how…if we have the will”
I know I won’t make friends with everyone by saying this, but the media spends way too much time covering celebrities like Paris Hilton, Terrell Owens, Anna Nicole Smith, and Britney Spears. And the reason the media does it is because people watch it. I did a search for “worthless celebrities” and found this poll. What the media should really be doing is covering the real issues that matter. Personally, I don’t really give a crap who the latest celebrity fling is, where their wedding is, which club Britney Spears visited last night, who Terrell Owens taunted in his last game, or which baseball player just got arrested for steroid use……but maybe that’s just me.
Hats off to companies like CNN bringing awareness to real issues.
Seriously — what would happen if everyone cared?
Darren Rowse from ProBlogger is bringing some attention to a new service called BuyBlogComments (I’m not going to give them a link) that is aiming to sell blog comments with his “Buy Blog Comments – A Sick New Comment Spam Service Launches” post. 100 comments for $20. 500 for $99. 1000 for $19.99. The site speaks for itself by saying -
We dont use people who cant even speak english. It is important to have well written blog comments so that they wont get deleted by the blogger. All of our trained staff are currently from the USA and Canada and speak english very well.
The fact that they are aiming to create blog comments that “won’t get deleted by the blogger” is just pathetic. Doesn’t that just scream of SPAM? I’m with Darren and Josh Catone on this one — this is the worst damn business idea I’ve heard in a long time.
This is the kind of crap that ruins the blogosphere. Bloggers shouldn’t have to spend time deleting comments from services like this, but I think companies that use this service will get what they deserve. I almost feel sorry for any company that doesn’t understand social media & actually pays BuyBlogComments for comments. I sure wouldn’t want to be the 1st company caught using BuyBlogComments — the blogosphere is going to tear whoever it is apart.
Update: Mashable! covers the service by saying “This business model rarely works out in the long run”.
So, I got some more SPAM mail recently (so annoying) – this time from Comcast trying to get me to switch to their internet, cable, and phone services. The real key for them is that, to get the great deal ($33 per month), you have to sign up for all THREE services. That means $99 per month. I pay $50 a month for internet alone from Qwest right now. I would definitely switch if Comcast gave me internet for $33 per month, but not if I’m forced to sign up for the other services.
The point is not the cost — it’s that I have absolutely zero need for a home phone, yet they try to cram it down my throat anyway. I get free long distance on my cell phone. I have voicemail. My cell phone is always with me. I can send/receive text messages. What can a home phone provide that I don’t already have with my cell? Nothing.
People don’t need home phones anymore. Even my parents cancelled their home phone line. Telephone providers need to get over it and find a new stream of revenue, or face extinction.
I’m always an advocate for anything and anyone that brings attention to the real issues that this world faces. Climate change is certainly one of the issues that needs to be brought to the attention of the public, which is why I think Live Earth is so cool. What is Live Earth?
Live Earth is a monumental music event that will bring together more than 2 billion people on 7/7/07 to raise awareness about global warming. With 24 hours of music across 7 continents, and performances by more than 150 of the world’s top musicians, Live Earth will engage, connect, and inspire individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve the climate crisis.
Head on over to Live Earth and watch some of the live concerts being broadcast today. Hats off to MTV for supporting this cause. Zune, Phillips, and Chevy are also sponsors.
And by the way, I think it’s pretty cool that I learned about this event via my facebook “newsfeed.”
I got to thinking about a pretty cool Facebook app idea at Seattle Mind Camp today. Here’s the idea:
Merge a calendar application with Facebook. The use case I’m thinking of is for organizing trips.
For example, say I am going to San Francisco at the end of July (which I am). I want to put my travel schedule into facebook and have it show all my friends in San Francisco that I will be in town the week of July 30-August 3rd (for Blogger Connect and Real Estate Connect).
Another useful feature would be the ability to see what trips my friends were planning. For instance, show me everyone who wants to visit NYC – I’m been meaning to visit New York City for quite some time, but it would be great if I knew if any of my other friends were also planning on going to New York in the near future. Then we could potentially plan the trip to all be there at the same time.
Also, display the dates when out of town friends are planning on visiting Seattle.
Let me know if someone has already done something similar. Or if you’re a developer that wants to build something like this, let me know.
Update: My colleague found the TRIPS app, which seems to be aiming to do much of this.
If you have questions or suggestions, please e-mail me at meyers (dot) drew (at) gmail (dot) com.
Or you can reach me on Skype - my screen name is drmeyers2001
I'm going to need good contacts in all these areas at some point in the future, but nothing is immediate. When I get to the point where I need these services, I'd rather use someone I've known and trusted for awhile rather than having to go seek someone out. But if you want my business and to be recommended by me, don't pitch me; build a real relationship and the biz will come later. You can start that process in the comments here (or on any of the blogs I write), via a personalized email, or on Twitter
