Jia Lin’s Weblog

Links reminder

Alexa Web Search Platform (free web crawler) via Alex

Touchgraph (ego-centric network) via inforsthetic

brandimensions (marketing intellegience) via Datamining

Does Your Company Belong in the Blogosphere? via Kevin

Higlights:

**a Euro RSCG Magnet and Columbia University Survey of the Media in 2005 found that 51 percent of journalists view blogs regularly.

**Have a distinct focus and goal. For a (corporate) blog to deliver value, it has to be created with a specific purpose in mind.
“You need to set expectations very carefully as to what a corporate blog is going to be about. People will expect you to discuss everything about your company, but you need to stay on topic as explained and introduced,” says Michael Wiley, the director of new media at GM.
Robert Cox, a blogging consultant in New York, says that a company should carefully identify the corporate marketing objectives of any blog. “You need to ask: Are you trying to showcase your employees? Are you using the blog as a recruitment tool as Monster.com does with their blog? Or is it more of a product support tool? You have to determine what it is you are trying to get done.”
**”Don’t let the PR department write your blog. Bloggers will sniff it out, and when they do, you will lose all credibility”
In your blog, express your enthusiasm and passion for your work and your company’s product, with occasional asides on topics that reflect your personal interests. The latter will keep your voice authentic and increase the linkability of your blog.
**Permit both positive and negative posts on your blog, and reply to comments made on other blogs pertinent to your area of focus. Respond in a professional and businesslike way. If you don’t want to hear from your customers and critics in a public environment, don’t blog.

Da Vinci ain’t get no Ph.D

History channel is playing a documentary about Da Vinci. I thought he was most famous for his painting, but hack, that�s something he�s got so bored that he would rather be sued by his patrons than finish his commission. To escape the boredom he left for Milan and started his phase of military design for Duke Sforza. This is one of his designs that were so beyond his time that it was not realized until 400 years later. However, Duke Sforza was more interested in using Da Vinci�s artistic talent to serve his own pleasure and build his own legacy. So poor Leonardo had to paint such uninteresting objects as the Duke�s Mistress (The lady with the ermine) or the �last supper�. Because he tried to experiment some news painting material which turned out not that successful, �Last Super� had been dampened and disintegrated within the first decade of its completion. Sforza horse, the tribute to Sforza was destroyed by French while it�s still a clay mold. Fleeing from Milan, his military innovation, including the Diving suit, paddle boats, or semi-submersibles on water was not particularly interest to Duke of Venice neither. Finally appointed by Cesar Borgia as the Chief General Engineer (sounds not very artistic), Da Vinci however was repelled by his cruelty and left for Florence to explore gentle side of human nature. While Mona Lisa forever a work in progress, he switched his interest again to designed wings for human being, which by the way was the prototype of today�s airplane. And of course he did not make one it because he develop another new profession-autopsy�

As a tribute to the Great Da Vinci, I left this post unfinished� Poor Leonardo, he could�ve never get his Ph.D becourse he had nothing complete for his committee. Have I mentioned that he was blogging too (kinds of, he kept 15000 pages of notes, whose contents ranges from his design and the laundry he�d done) and they were in �mirror writing�?