The April Fools Joke that Google put out was pretty damn funny. I can see why people love working at Google so much.

To me - these reports are evidence that the blogosphere is less about publishing and more about conversation. Yes - there are a small number of people that effectively use blogs as a publishing engine to project their voices and establish a leadership position within an area of experience. The vast majority of bloggers appear to use blogs simply to join the conversation, record and share their thoughts. Like Bulletin Boards and Instant Messenger it’s a communications tool that allows people to share ideas and get feedback.

• User Experience Magazine
• Digital Web Magazine - in particular the article on brand value and the user experience
  UPA’s User Experience Quarerly
• A review of the book “Elements of User Experience”
• Kottke.org

My understanding is that Jack Humphrey coined the phrase “Authority Site” and runs Content Desk. While reading his site I felt a disonnance that took me a while to resolve. The blog he writes is well written and feels pretty authentic. Once you go to his main site, however, the design immediately screams “SCAM”. Oversized red text, declarations of doom, and an aesthetically barren design…the site is focused on content publishers that are trying to make money with their sites - affiliate marketers mostly. There’s nothing wrong with that. At the risk of sounding elitist, it felt like I had crossed to the wrong side of the tracks. On my side of the tracks, clients are typically using their site to sell very expensive, complicated products - B-to-B - and the sites we design telegraph a more sophisticated stance. Jack Humphrey’s “authentic” approach to SEO made me wonder if we had some common interests and point of views.

The notion of an “Authority Site” does intersect with a lot of what we do. We usually call it “Thought Leadership”. New high tech companies often struggle to gain awareness in the marketplace. No matter how great their product or offering, it’s often difficult to improve awareness without spending a lot of money.

We know that awareness frequently begins when a B-to-B buyer needs to solve a problem. We also know that the first place these buyers look is online. The first stop is either a search engine or another trusted online resource. Eventually, however, they go to the search engines to see what else is out there and build their initial list of vendors. Attracting the attention of the search engines is vitally important to the sellers.

A clear approach to developing a site that simultaneously establishes a new company as a Thought Leader and a trusted resource is compelling. I took a look at his white paper, “The Authoritative Guide To Creating Profitable Authority Sites” and it appears to follow some sound approaches to SEO and building readership; Decide what the market wants (i.e. Pick a Niche), Communicate with and engage the market (i.e. Mini-Site Components), provide additional value and continue the conversation (i.e. Content Site Components), and then optimize and watch traffic come to you by way of search engines (i.e. Generate Traffic). The whitepaper and the Content Desk site outline a number of useful tactics for getting this all done.

ATM focuses on more than just creativity, we look at the effect our communications have on society and our culture. As facilitators, not judges, the creators of ATM have provided members with a few fundamental tools (view the video above) to help us do just that. The use of these tools earns users points, which are in turn redeemable for rewards.

People in advertising tend to be passionate about their profession and will have something to say about all the work featured on ATM. I’m eager to see how this site does and who gets involved with the conversation.

Catch some of the speeches at OMMA.

Others are blogging about the conference, too. I especially like Publishing 2.0’s commentary on the keynote speech. Another from Engagement by Engagement regarding the measurement of engagement from Media Metrix. And… coverage of the Fox Interactive Media keynote.

And some other bloggers:

• Creative Concepts
• Media Circus

• Search-based contextual advertising - Reach people that are searching upon a selected set of terms.
• Channel-based contextual advertising - Reach demographics defined by what sites they view. The definition of a demographic will tend to be less precise.
• Behviorally-based contextual advertising - Reach demographics that are defined by past interaction behaviors. Tacoda and Blue-Lithium are cited in the article.
• In-line advertising - cited as a “maligned” segment of contextual advertising because of its intrusive nature. Ads are treated as links in the flow of content on a page. These ads are reported to be very effective at engaging users. Companies like VibrantMedia offer this service.

There’s the familiar frenzy of money eager to be relieved of its value in a social media venture. There’s a lot of questioning of the business model for social media sites. There’s a lot of talk about being the first mover and grabbing as many loyal visitors as possible. It all sounds like the portal strategy of years ago. It’s even spilled over to the blogosphere. Blogs are even set up as portals. Magnets for all those people with very desirable demographics.

What I think is interesting is that there is all this room for the smaller niche companies that develop tools that are actually useful. Instead of sites that sell crap online because they can, we have companies that leverage component technologies to build tools that collect and synthesize information because someone thought it useful.

• Veoh
• metacafe
• Google Video
• Viral Video Chart
• Clipblast
• dailymotion
• ebaumsworld
• youtube
• videoegg
• dabble
• yahoo video
• msn video
• uncutvideo
• ourmedia
• videobomb
• blinkx
• fireant
• vimeo
• blip tv
• clipshack