Coldplaying a blinder

Coldplay have achieved the kind of success that breeds envy. With the launch of their new album, the amount of sour grapes in the UK media has hardly been surprising (international readers, how was it for you? Let me know in the comments section).

A fitting album title may have been 'Damned if you do, Damned if you don't' rather than the obscure chromosone reference of 'X&Y'. No wonder it took them nigh on two years to release the thing.

Perhaps the boys need a little praise to stem the flow of bad press.

As a subscriber to their 'In my Place' newsletter, I have been impressed of late with their understanding of how to operate in the digital age. Their website has been the epitome of talking directly with their fans and contains valuable lessons for those seeking to market on the internet:

• Early bird concert ticket deals for subscribers, so the fans get there before the e-bay touts
• Exclusive audio of the new single 'Speed of Sound'
• Exclusive video of 'Speed of Sound'
• Teasers for the album tracks
• Backstage concert footage
• 'What the band are listening to' featured on the 'Coldplayer'

The combination of teasers and exclusives worked a treat and they've managed to squeeze concert tickets and an album sale out of me (as well as this endorsement, non-paid unfortunately).

Remember people like to buy, they don't like to be sold.

Sipping Google Bourbon with GoogleGuy

No, not another Google Gulp drinks launch, but instead the latest algorithm update.

Within the search engine community the mysterious, yet knowledgable, GoogleGuy provides the kind of positive PR that Scoble has been doing for Microsoft. He demonstrates a degree of openness that can only benefit the SEO community and the perception of Google within it.

He has been commenting on the recent Google Bourbon update advising the SEO community that the update is not yet complete:

"Take a break from checking ranks for several more days. Bourbon includes something like 3.5 improvements in search quality, and I believe that only a couple are out so far. The 0.5 will go out in a day or so, and the last major change should roll out over the next week or so. Then there will still be some minor changes after that as well."
GoogleGuy has also demonstrated his openness in a new Questions for GoogleGuy thread with interesting responses on topics such as reinclusions (suggests allowing 4-6 weeks) and why they are not planning on going down the pay-for-inclusion route anytime soon (avoidance of conflict of interest).

After a mammoth Q&A session on the boards, he hints that maybe there's something in this blogging thing after all:

Maybe I ought to get me one of these blog things; I hear they're really popular with the kids these days. :)

No follow, no fair!

If I am discussing a point raised in another blog, I will try and be a good netizen and set up a trackback. These are by no means automatic for a Blogger.com user and require you to make the effort to perform a manual ping from the Haloscan website.

If blogs do indeed drive 'global conversation', then a blogger should use the tools available to them, such as enabling comments, trackbacks and maintaining a blogroll.

I have also noticed that depending on the calibre of the site you are linking to, trackbacks provide reasonable levels of quality visitors who generally contribute more than the average search engine visitor.

However, on a recent link popularity check of my inbound links, I was surprised to see that the trackbacks do not appear, even though the direct link to my blog appears in the source code.

A quick search of the source code on some of my blogroll revealed that the majority of trackbacks (including those on this site) contain a 'nofollow' tag which will prevent the search engines from following that link. Clearly, this is done to prevent people abusing the system to obtain 'free' links from high PageRank websites.

Trackbacks are a diluted form of link exchange and the 'nofollow' barrier doesn't exactly encourage you to link to others. The problem is that setting up a trackback whitelist would be more trouble than it's worth and the hassle of comment spam is worse than the joys of interlinking.

Perhaps it is better to give than to receive.

It's what you do with it that counts

Interesting statistics on Steve Rubel's blog about how many of those with a blog actually blog. These are the blogs that are not just for Christmas with figures from Technorati showing 800-900k daily posts and BlogPulse between 350-450k - quite a discrepancy and indicative of the need of more coordinated metrics (as well as their differing measurement methodology).

Irony aside given the recent squirrel posts, I would argue that it's not that you blog, it's what you do with it that counts (I'm looking forward to seeing the searches I get through on that phrase).

The real metrics of interest are those of conversation - both talking and listening: trackbacks, comments, RSS subscribers and, let's face it, recognition from the offline world. Now there's a combined metric I'd like to see...

May the Farm be with you

Someone mentioned something about a new Star Wars film being released...?

As ever with any major event, this provides the cue for individuals and brands to launch their own viral to try and piggyback the event.

Among the lettuces are a couple of gems:

• A surprisingly well produced Store Wars movie from The Organic Trade Association, featuring the likes of 'Ham-Solo' and 'Chew-broccoli'
• Burger King's latest viral smash the Sith Sense where a hilarious Darth Vader taunts you as he tries to read your mind
  

Let me know of any other (decent) ones in the comments section.

A guide for London's pedestrians

As someone who regularly scoots through London's West End, I am amazed on a daily basis by quite how little the average pedestrian values their limbs and lives.

So, in the interests of the public good, here's my green cross code for next time you cross the road:

1) When you're on your mobile phone, the world of cars and bikes goes on. I've lost time of the amount of times I've nearly ran into pedestrians staring vacantly into the distance as they waft across the busy roads.

2) Road users do not just consist of cars and buses. Bicycles are shooting up the inside lane and motorbikes and scooters shooting down the middle lane (most of the time). At least on a scooter you'd think people could hear you coming. Nope; they stride confidently through the traffic looking in the opposite direction leaving you with 3 options:

• Emergency stop and hope you can keep upright
• Plough into the oncoming bus at 30 mph. Ouch.
• Pedestrian meets scooter. Ouch all round.

3) When you cross at a pedestrian crossing, red man or green man, we can at least anticipate you'll do so. Cross at random and we have no idea you're coming. This is really important if you ignore points 1) and 2)

4) Note for our American cousins: we drive on the left, guys. Keep an eye out for those little arrows they paint on our roads and that's the way we're coming. Better yet, let's just all drive on the left, OK?

Friday rant over. I decided to get the train in today.

Squirrels - have I really gone nuts?

Yes, OK, the previous squirrel post was a very strange one, particularly after such a long time since my previous post. Time to come clean...

Statcounter has been revealing some weird keyword searches through to this blog. Who'd have thought that of the millions of websites out there, this blog would be site of choice for terms such as 'Google dot com', 'Janet Jackson's breasts' and most suprisingly 'Britney virginity'.

As a blog that primarily writes about online communications, with the odd celeb mention along the way, I'm sure there are better sites out there to provide the kind of details and imagery that I imagine those searching are looking for.

My view is that these kinds of visits are a result of the search engines' love of blog results. Think about it - regular content, keyword rich urls, inter-linking paradise and the kind of opinions that makes the web interesting. If you can add to this a decent PageRank, or equivalent, then this is one of the reasons that the humble blog can reach such elevated search status.

I will of course be keeping an eye out for squirrel-related visits after my previous post and if the number of visits starts to add up, I will be sure to keep my readers up-to-date with all of the latest squirrel news.

Squirrels on the line

No, not another rant about commuting into London, but instead it seems the Rail companies have been passing on some of their more dubious excuses onto a certain BT engineer. The 'squirrel problem' has resurfaced with the furry-tailed pranksters gnawing through phone lines and cutting off this blog's readers.

As a BT Broadband subscriber, with a garden full of squirrels, perhaps I shouldn't be tempting fate by covering this 'story'. However, according to Silicon.com, the culprit is an over-creative BT engineer and the rodents will be relieved to hear that they have been cleared of any wrong doing by head office and I can keep my fingers crossed that my current problem-free service will continue.

The Podshow must go on

Back in March, I suggested that Virgin Radio's pioneering, if flawed, Podcasts could be a major step forward for the nascent medium.

It looks like investing in that crystal ball was worthwhile with news that Podshows.com is launching offering the listeners the chance to pay (49p upwards) to download a custom show.

While the quality varies, with some dubious careers resurrections (literally in Kenny Everett's case), this is an interesting new model for radio, especially as, unlike Virgin Radio's Podcasts, you will be able to listen to most of the music.

However, the model does raise several questions:

- Can the public be persuaded to pay for a medium that has always been free (bar listening to a few ads)?

- Do the likes of Tony Blackburn and Terry 'The Word' Christian have enough of a cult following among Podcast users to pay for the service?

- Is there a big enough audience out there given recent debate over the actual number of people downloading Podcasts? Perhaps not yet.

- How long before they start appearing on the P2P networks? (That's a whole other question...)

As an advocate of Me, Me, Me media, I welcome such developments and expect this to be one of many models in the search for turning Podcasting potential into profit.

Arise Sir Webcam

Long the preserve of lonely souls and indiscreet soap stars, the humble webcam now comes with royal approval. This follows news that royal enthusiasts will be able to follow this week's second, or third, most important event live on the web.

Before you get too carried away at the thought of a CamillaCam or a Subservient Charles, the 'powerful' cams in question will be placed on the roof of the hotel across the street from the civil ceremony offering, I quote, 'the best seats in the house'. Let's just hope they're pointing in the right direction, after PigeonCam has finished with them.

As ever E-bay is getting in on the act with characteristic good taste by offering a Windsor shopfront up for hire, no doubt to sell all of that wonderful memorabilia.

There's nothing quite like a Royal wedding in the Internet age...

More April Fool you

A skirt around the main news websites reveals a worrying absense of the traditional April Fool's spoof stories. The BBC, Telegraph, Sun and Independent have either not yet bothered or have hidden them in the digital equivalent of column 5, page 17. This has made for an enjoyable guessing game of whether today's main stories are in fact made up by some enterprising hack...

However, the spoofs are slowly emerging, some admittedly better than others, as we have learnt today that:
- Furnitureless Steve Jobs of Apple is to join Ikea
- Towering Saints striker Peter Crouchinhio is in fact still growing and could top 7ft by the end of the year
- There will be a worrying new tax on blogging

And, to top it all, could Toon idol Alan Shearer finally be showing that he does have a sense of humour and is quitting after all (yawn)?