I came across this awesome visual presentation about the State of the Internet over at Brittany Bohnet. Scrolling down the Focus post, I saw the technological gap people are talking about, a gap that prevents some 2 billion people in the world access to information.
The internet makes our world more connected, leverages business opportunities and makes access to information much more easy. Still, internet usage is higher (no surprise) and more accessible (no surprise again) for people with some form of college education and >$30K yearly income. Only 39% of people with less than high-school education use the internet, and only 42% of people with under $30k income has broadband access.
Not sure who came up with this idea to begin with, but I must say it has a nice touch to it. Usually, what you know about a blogger derives from his/her posts and About page. Getting to know the personal stuff (7 of them at least) makes the bond between the blogger and the readers stronger, and in my opinion, improves the conversation.
In case you haven’t heard of ‘7 things you didn’t know about me’, the rules are simple: A person writes a post, with 7 things his/her audience didn’t know about him. At the end of that post he/she names7 other people and leaving a comment on their blog, to let them know. And from there the wheel goes round and round. Shira Abel, a friend and fellow-blogger, tagged me in her note, so here are ‘7 things you didn’t know about me’:
1) I’ve been on driving (officially 😉 since the age of 16, got a Tractor license, and actually owned one. It was my vehicle for 18 months, driving to high-school and stuff, until I got my car permit. No, I didn’t take it Friday nights… 😉
2) Had Asthma when I was a kid, the changing seasons were a disaster for me – held an inhaler in my bag. Starting swimming and playing ball (see thing #6), which eliminated it completely.
3) In a relationship for 5 years now, with the most amazing woman whom I love, respect and admire, that had taught me so much about myself. She’s at the last year of her Ph.D studies in Clinical Psychology, 2nd year resident at a mental health center.
4) I’m a semi-farmer, born and raised at Kfar Azar, worked the field on the weekend with my dad and little brother. Until I moved out, never knew what’s it like to live in the city – guess that’s why I don’t fancy it so much now…
5) Bought my first bike (50cc) when I was 22 or 23, working at Tel Aviv – was the smartest way to commute. With the third (and last) bike, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R, I crashed heading back from the Dead Sea, after an IBM event. First thing I did was rush to the bike. Only afterwords I realized I had sprained my ankle…
6) I love playing basketball. Been playing since I was 10 or something like that, was part of the High-School team (Blich) and IBM team. Still playing twice a week with friends (but open to suggestions ;-).
7) Spent a year at the army (as an officer) with foreign citizens who came for a 11 weeks boot camp program – met some great people from around the world (Australia, UK, Latin America, USA, Canada), who were willing to drop all formalities (Dr., Ph.D, MBA Executives) – just to be bossed around for 11 weeks.
Microsoft Israel Tech-Ed 2008 started today in Eilat, and as usual the event is set to be one of the biggest IT events this year. Every year Microsoft attract thousands of customers, analysts, bloggers, press and consultants – for an event mostly known for the party on the 2nd day.
What I wanted to share with you is the excellent work Microsoft Israel are doing with respects to viral marketing, led by Lior Zoref, Digital Marketing Group. The digital group, along with Tech-Ed staff, are using every web 2.0 medium available to convey the Tech-Ed spirit to attendees and people who couldn’t join in person: blogs, videos, audios, pictures and web.
Microsoft are also taking the blogging community seriously, and draws the equation blogger=journalist. The bloggers attended the press briefing Sunday morning, to get all the updates and guidelines. Bloggers even got some cute giveaways, such as a power expander (to charge more than one appliance), USB to Cellphone thingy, Energy Bar (to keep those fingers working) and more.
Although I compete with Microsoft on solutions, and not agree with all their tactics and strategies, they are doing an excellent job in adopting and embracing the community, which often lead to greater sympathy… and sympathy can go a long way…
With over 70 millions blogs out there it’s pretty hard to filter the good from the rest and the best out of the good. Idan from Anecdotot has written a brilliant post on the subject of journalists, journalism, bloggers and blogs. He says (and I totally agree) that the evolution of the web has brought us a gift – journalists writing blogs, seeing the web not as an enemy but rather as another tool to publish their opinions. Idan counts 4 reasons why journalism bloggers are successful:
Story telling: journalists are good at writing stories, and writing is like a muscle. The more you use it, the better it gets.
Knowledgeable in their respective field: when Ronen writes about sports, he knows what he’s talking about. The same for Raviv, Yuval Dror (technology) and others.
Involve their readers: a true social network. When ever they write, they’re plenty of comments. Yes, they are famous, seen on TV and all, but still – they involve the readers, and we all want that.
Crowd magnets: Again, relates to the last point. They bring new faces to the medium (web), and we all new the future is online…
It was Idan actually that got me subscribing to Ronen Dorfman (Sports) and now to Raviv Droker (current affairs). I’ve been a fan of Raviv Droker for quite some time now – a young, ambitious journalist, who made it to primetime TV (Friday at 8pm), along with Ofer Shelach (Sports and news – basically everything).
If you have some free time this Thursday (the 25th), head over to WordCamp Israel, the annual event of WordPress in Israel, dedicated to blogs and bloggers, from all platforms. With any luck you might just see me there, along with couple of other bloggers and media. You can see the full agenda here.
One last note, for The Daily Show fans out there: No more YouTubeing scenes from the show. The Daily Show has posted last week over 13,000 video clips, dating back to 1999, on the show’s official website. We’re not talking about complete episodes, only short clips from each show. Thank you! Now we can admire John Stewart each and every day…
I think this is the first Blogging convention ever held in Israel, and as a blogger and participant it’s very exciting. IDC Herzeliya is hosting the 1st Blogference on July 1-2 (Hebrew site, English site), with an impressive list of guest bloggers, led by Om Malik, from GigaOm. Also coming to visit our small and very hot these last days (over 30 degrees C = over 90 F ) country, are Kent Alan Nichols & Douglas Sarine from Askaninja.com, Justin Kownacki from somethingtobedesired.com, Jessica Ann Coen from Vanity Fair magazine, Andrew Baron and Joanne Colan from rocketboom.com and others.
The convention will span 2 days and cover some philosophical/social/psychological questions during the 1st day (Sunday, July 1st), while the 2nd day (Monday, July 2nd) will be devoted to hands-on workshops, over 20 of them. The first day will host 3 different panels on the implications of blogging on our world, from various aspects. An interesting panel, which I’ll try to attend, is the 2nd one, entitled “The Psychology of Blogging”, presented by Dr. Amichai from IDC. Dr. Amichai has written a paper on the effects blog writing has on teenagers. Should be interesting to hear. On the 2nd day, workshop day, Eyal Levin (colleague from SWG) and myself will be speaking at the 3rd workshop that day, entitled “Next generation of communications and information management – Web logging as an inner organizations tool”. We’ll be speaking about IBM’s role in bringing web 2.0 to work, and some of our recently announced Software collaboration products, mainly Lotus Quickr 8.0 and Lotus Connections 1.0.
So, if you happen to come to Blogference on Sunday or Monday, stop by to say “Hi” – although we’re on cyberspace, “pressing the flesh” has never hurt anyone.. See you there 🙂
Mobile & Media Consultant. I help startup companies launch products to the consumer market. Reach out: dvir.reznik [at] gmail.com Website About
This is my personal blog. The postings here do not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my past employers or of my clients. It is solely my opinion.
