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John Battelle's Searchblog

Danny on MicrosoftDecember 31 2008

The man makes some very good points.

15,000 Words You Might Have MissedDecember 31 2008

One of my readers noted that I've written a lot of off-blog stuff, and I'm rather proud of it. And I've noted (in my "How did I do 2008" post) that I did not really make the progress I wish I had on my book. But working with partners like Amex, I wrote nearly 20 column-sized pieces - around 15,000 words - and nearly all of them are sketches toward the book I hope to write. Here are some of the pieces I wrote elsewhere this year:

American Express Open Forum Blog

It’s Time to Put This Myth To Rest
In which I argue that marketing works in social media.

Leadership In Troubled Times
When things go wrong, take responsibility.

As The World Turns..Inside Out
My opening post on the economic troubles this past Fall.

Predictions 08: How Did I Do?December 30 2008

Related:

2007 Predictions
2007 How I Did
2006 Predictions
2006 How I Did
2005 Predictions
2005 How I Did
2004 Predictions
2004 How I Did

Reading over my predictions for 2008, I was struck with one thing: It wasn't a list. It was more of a narrative, making decoding how I did that much more difficult. After the narrative, I focused on the biggies - Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft, AOL, and Newscorp/FIM. I'll have to keep that in mind when I post my predictions for 2009 on Jan 1 next year.

So to t

Top Posts 08December 29 2008

Here are top posts of 08 for Searchblog, judged by comments. As I review them, I realize that despite my endless complaining about not having time to write this year, I did get some riffs in. Not all of them made the top ten, so I added some of my personal faves at the end.

1. Considering Heresy: Buying a PC

I have an update on this coming, yes, I did buy a PC. Two in fact.

2. Google: Making Nick Carr Stupid, But It's Made This Guy Smarter

This was very widely picked up, and I still think I'm right!

3. A Brand New Searchblog

I forgot it was this year that Searchblog got a much needed update. Thanks again, Ivan!

4. I Support Barack Obama

And I'm proud to say it again. Amazing how many comments one gets if you write about politics or booze.

5. Danny's Right: Firefox Is Too Google Biased

This story is not even close to being over.

6. WTF?!

In which I discover I am the first John on Google. Well, WAS the first John.

7. Help Me With a Google-Backed Panel

On Marketing in Social Media, and MealsDecember 29 2008

Pete Spande, who runs the East for FM and therefore toward whom I am favorably inclined, has written a brief but very true post on the myth that marketing in social media should somehow be free. It's not free, just like throwing a great social event isn't free, but it can be very efficient and it can certainly help get marketers to their goals, if done right.

Social Media Marketing is like entertaining in the physical world. If you want to share an experience with a group of people (either personally or professionally) you need to go to where the people are and get their attention or entice them to come to you. In either case, you have to invest something to get a return.

Pete argues there are various ways to get this done. Many marketers take his first approach (pull out all the stops), usually by attaching themselves to well known celebrities (come hang with LeBron in our Officially Sanctioned NBA social media play! (ooops, this site is no longer active!).

This approach (have the Foo Fighters play! Let folks know Britney will be showing up!) usually fails, and has given social marketing a bad name inside many major brands. "Hey, we tried a deal with (Facebook, MSN, Google, etc) and while a lot of people showed up, no needles really moved, and it all seemed to dissipa