Entries for February 14 2008
The Void Between Blogging and Building
[SUMMARY—It exists.]
(WORLD) I bet you didn't even realise there was a void, hey?
Introducing Hubpages. Nothing new about that. It's been around for a bit. However, it has only been brought to my attention due to a rather attractive competition they're offering for valentines day, whereby you can win a MacBook Pro, iPod Touch, Sony Handycam and Canon EOS 30D. Nice.
For any other reason I wouldn't have even looked at the site. But the compo did get me trekking around their pages wondering what on earth is it. Is it a wiki? A blog? A web page creation tool? Well, yes and no. In a way it's all of these. The idea of a Wiki is you create a 'page' on a chosen topic. Same with Hubpages, however other people won't be editing your page. As with a blog, you can write multiple entries, and visitors can read all others you read. And finally, as with a web page, you can monetise it with adsense and others, revenue split with Hubpages 60/40 in your favour.
OK, so assuming I've got all that right (I haven't signed up yet), then the big question is "why, would you want to sign up exactly, when there's plenty of other services out there that offer pretty much the same thing?."
But the clues in the question (or rather the answer is in my paragraph above). Not everyone wants a blog, they might only want to write a few articles, or maybe aren't technically turned on enough to want a whole website dedicated to themselves? maybe people just want to know that their words are going to get search indexed and be available to all the blog sites?
It appears that the selling point of Hubpages, is really that you're building something simple. It's a step up from a simple blog post, minus all the commitment, yet its nowhere near as much hassle as creating your own website, but with all the benefits of generating revenue from it.
Selling the idea of creating a blog or a website to those that don't have the motivation or interest to build on it continually, might just find this site 'the' page to get them started on sharing their knowledge.
So without further ado… Hubpages.com—quite a good idea actually.
Filed by Mark on February 14 2008
UK Politics
[SUMMARY—New media vs old politicans.]
(GBR) Your guess will be as good as mine as to why DK wanted me to write an unbiased report on the launch of UK Politics YouTube channel, and more specifically Gordon Brown's less than enthusiastic statement that politics and new media should mix. Not too long ago, I wrote an article on younger generations and new ways of communicating politics from fear of being ridiculed by their politician peers, however, this new venture using YouTube to promote awareness and opinion on politics seems pretty good. The question now is two-fold.
Firstly, will the quality of the content be provocative or propaganda? Gordon Brown's robotic voice churns out a spiel of jargon that he's been told to say and probably has no idea what he's talking about, however the concept is actually very encouraging. It's supporting free speech and pushes people to mould their own views and develop a standard of how they want their country to be run. It is getting rid of the "not now, I'll do it later, I can't be bothered" stigma that is attached to a lot of things that need to be fulfilled in life (washing dishes, cleaning bedrooms, election voting…) and getting young people to take an active interest in wider issues than just Facebook notifications. Political parties should not use UKYouChoose as a platform to push their policies onto unsuspecting, easily influenced young people, but to open their minds to an important aspect of society.
Secondly, will young people know that this platform exists? The concept is great, but unless people know that it's out there, ready and waiting for them to manipulate and connect with others around the world, it's a wasted entity. Marketing and advertising is needed. It's great that they've got YouTube on board, so the branding is already there. I'm sure if people have the equipment, the motivation, the know-how and the judgement, they will exercise their right to express their opinions.
DK asked me, "Why can't Gordon Brown look into the camera?"—does he want to fuel my dislike for GB even more? Here, Brown is attempting to 'engage' with the youth of today, he is addressing US (hence personal pronouns) yet is not looking at us. Fair enough, he could have been asked to look at the interviewer, however I believe this is unlikely—GB wants to include and encourage us. Is DK trying to goad me into saying Brown has a heart of stone, no charisma, no warmth and should have stayed Chancellor? That he is an economist and not a politician? Why, I would never make such slanderous a statement.
Posted by Jess
Filed by DK on February 14 2008
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