This week, I've seen a few links to SCOUT's tips for corporate blogging, which was a nice addition to the usual rigamarole of things that we've seen of late. (Although Waltham is spelled w-a-l-t-h-a-m, you've got your "h" and "t" flipped - just joshin' with ya)

While those ten suggestions are very solid and I'd echo a lot of what was said there, I'd have to add some more thoughts to this, such as:

• Be consistent - which doesn't mean you can't retrace your steps if you own up


• Be a good blog citizen


• Transparency will bite you if you are all talk


• Add value

Back in November, I remember writing about how I thought it was a solid suggestion that if you're trying to get bloggers to link to you, perhaps those on the "A list" or whatever it is being called at the moment, that getting linked to by bloggers that those folks read is a good thing. I still agree with that. Taking that a step further, I'd have to say that most bloggers, especially those who have more than one gig, are working a full time job totally unrelated (or related, even) to his or her blog, are in the same scenario, getting too many "link to me" emails. I mean, most of us are beyond spam at this point, for the most part - I probably get 100-300 spams per day that Gmail takes care of nicely, for instance - but between the main blogs I write for on a regular basis, I'm probably getting anywhere from 15-30 pitches from PRfolk (on a good day), plus a ton of link emails from other bloggers, plus general correspondence. On top of that, I have godknowshowmany RSS feeds in FeedDemon (once it got beyond 500 I stopped counting), and my IM is on blast all the time. I still read all my emails, even if it takes me until midnight or beyond. It's not about anything except being interested in keeping up with what is going on, doing my job(s), attempting to keep up with the blogs I read (and write), and ensuring that various relationships built are able to grow. Multitasking in this sort of world is an obvious need as an ability. And yet, I just don't get why there's a need to talk about being on any particular "tier" or whatever. The *moment* any blogger thinks they're more important than any other one, irrelevant of how many links in that blogger may have is the moment the whole thing turns into a house of cards. Oh, wait, the whole important thing has already happened. My bad.

(Wondering what my point is yet? Keep reading, it's in here somewhere.)

Back to the consistency thing and favoritism. Lots of people like to talk about how they "don't care" who's on what list or whatever (I'm breaking a journalism rule here by not giving more background, but you can find it if you do a little basic searching), and how things like blogrolls are "on the way to extinction." But something I saw over at Steve Rubel's blog (and have discussed with others offline and on) kind of bothered me. A commenter on Rubel's site, Mike Driehorst, said something about the lack of blogroll that was responded to with the fact that the blogroll at Micro Persusasion had been removed some time ago. Then, when Technorati Favorites showed up on the scene, Steve added that. What I'm wondering here is - what's the difference? Is it some nifty functionality in that the Faves rotate based on update timing, etc.? It looks, smells, feels, and tastes like a blogroll to me.

In some ways, I don't mean to point one finger in general here, but it just seems to be working out this way based on where the conversations are "taking place" to some extent. Want to criticize me and say that I'm attempting to starfuck (Heh @ Lauren) by linking over there? Sorry, I've got better things to do, and will play Internet Famous with you anytime (Thanks, Irina & Co.). If anything feels like the obnoxiousness of what was Bubble 1.0, it's what is happening in today's world of blogging.

Clearly, people like Scott Baradell know what's up with this stuff. If anything, things like this are what disprove the value of a tool like Technorati's Faves (or Technorati in general - which I use all the time), because a blog like Engadget is 8th on the list at the moment, when it probably has more combined pageviews - sans Boing Boing - than most of the blogs on that list, combined.

If you want to be base about it, then it's kind of like this - there are two types of hot guys & girls in this world. Those who know they're hot - and tell you about it - and those who know, but it doesn't make them any different.

Just read at CNNMoney.com that Ted Turner will not look for re-election to the Time Warner board of directors. In some ways, he's already exited stage left some time ago. In other ways, this is kind of a momentous moment for those of us who enjoy the world of media.

Over at the Fast Company blog on Thursday, Kevin Ohannessian posted his criticism of Wednesday night's coverage of craiglist on ABC's "Nightline" program - which he felt was unjustly critical of the Web service. Ohannessian even calls it a "sad defense of old media by old media."

You can read about it here and see a video of the segment at ABC News here.

Congrats to West Coast pal Irina Slutsky for snagging a title (which comes with an editor gig) at Top 10 Sources. Good stuff!

From my pal Notorious MiG comes news of a fun headline from this particular story from today's Lenta.ru.

He informs me that the headline translates to "Russia makes Gretzky cry" - NICE!

Additionally, MiG points out that "lenta" means "tape." More specifically, the tape used to print out the news. So, it's "The Tape."

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, then you'll recognize the name Debra Galant as someone I've mentioned before - she's one of the names behind the super fun local news and commentary site, Barista of Bloomfield Avenue, based on the goings-on in Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, and Montclair, NJ. In case you haven't heard, she's got a new novel out, Rattled, and it appears to have made Deirdre Donahue at USA Today happy with her debut book.

Huge props to Deb on her book's launch. I haven't been able to check it out for myself just yet, but will definitely have my say when I do. For more info, check out Deb's site at debragalant.com.

This morning, Chris Thilk alerted me to this article over at MediaPost where John Wolfe wrote about a move by the Dallas Morning News to add a new magazine - on a DVD - into its Sunday editions later on this Spring. It looks like some mix of advertising and content - we'll call it advercontent for the moment - that will show up on the screens of those receiving the paper.

What's interesting here is that most of the materials of a disc variety have been aimed at computers users. While DVDs will work just fine on your laptop or desktop computer, this is targeted at people who are going to pop the DVD into a set-top player, and watch in the comfort of a living room or other space, probably for the most part. Now, if only we could get an idea on the "open rate" for this thing.

W00t!

Chalk another one up for iTunes, as it was announced that it would carry highlights and other video content from NASCAR through its Music Store, writes News.com's Greg Sandoval.

Had a great time at the GETV Turns 1000 event last night in San Francisco. In case you're not familiar with GETV, or Geek Entertainment Television, it's a pretty slick videocast / vodcast / whatever we're calling it today that is put together by Eddie Codel, Irina Slutsky, Jennifer Myronuk, Sarah Pullman, Violet Blue, and whoever else they pull in to work on it. It consists of interviews covering anything from what's new in the Web 2.0 world to helping geeks get dates.

Was great to meet with Irina, Jeremy Pepper, Phil Gomes, Corey Denis from ioda, Caterina Fake, TailRank's Kevin Burton, and a number of others. So check out GETV when you have a chance. It's another fun addition to the world of video online. And plus, who else has random game shows where you get to quiz Eric Rice on operating systems?

Looks like Oprah is, yet again, extending her reach. This time, she's made a deal with XM Satellite Radio to start a new radio channel later this year, according to the Associated Press.

The AP's Gary Gentile writes that Univision Communications Inc., a prominent (if not *the* prominent) Spanish-language broadcasting company, may put itself on the market. In the article, it's suggested that some media conglomerates - News Corp. and Time Warner, namely - might participate in the bidding. IMHO, they're off their rockers if they don't.

In case you're looking for me, head on over to AdJab and see what Chris Thilk and I are doing with regard to the Super Bowl commercials. We'll have a ton of great coverage, links, and obnoxious commentary having to do with tonight's spots - and it's already started with the pregame show!

Additionally, the two of us will be on the Sports Bloggers Live show later on tonight, sometime after 10:30p.m. Eastern.

Over the weekend, the AP reported that Rozel Lee, a Tampa Tribune reporter, had been fired after stating that she "intentionally" voted one way in a contest for the best local football player so that the favorite would lose. Will this change how reporters are able to vote in contests like this in the future? The Tribune appears to be reviewing that, according to the AP piece.