Blogworks - Blog the Talk discussion series was conceived to feature the best of learning from the ‘live web’ through panel discussions, talks and one-on-ones – mostly conducted online.

Blog the Talk series is presented by Ideafarms, an IT smart-sourcing company, providing enhanced business value to its globalised clients, through disrupting thinking and innovation.

Growing ambitions of enabled writers who have emerged with the advent of blogs; prolification of digital printing technology; adoption of digital reading; a plethora of tools to disseminate, market and promote content online, among other things, have all led to the emerging phenomenon of 'self publishing'.

Having tasted popularity with their blogs, but not necessarily succeeded in monetizing their blog journals, or to seek even greater authority and stature as thought leaders, many are taking the natural next step by publishing a book.

However, most of the traditional publishing industry, particularly in the India context, continues to operate exactly like it has for years - submit a manuscript; they seek 6 months to revert - rightly so, given that they receive hundreds of unsought manuscripts and quality control is highest priority. However, there is no guarantee that your manuscript will even reach the right hands and be evaluated for its worth. Although some publishing houses have started to look at blogs for content/ writers, but publishing contracts have, so far, been awarded for 'popular' content.

Simply put, writing contracts are not easy to come by. What does an eager author do? Enabled Publishing, as I like to call it is the route that many are choosing.

Read this interesting piece published in Mint recently - large, new players are stepping in too.

Joining me today to discuss the phenomenon is my friend Ajay Jain.

A bit of a pioneer, Ajay has dabbled in diverse things including, IT hardware , sports management, dotcoms and real estate. He jumped into publishing after stint as a journalist with The Financial Express (graduated in journalism from the prestigious Cardiff University, UK) and published The Campus Paper : powered by his editorial team and hundreds of student journalists - and this much before the term citizen journalism became part of common lingo - he brought out a publication by and for the youth.

Recently he chose to go with enabled publishing, to publish his first book: Let's Connect - using LinkedIn to get ahead at work.

I wanted to benefit from the learnings and asked him...

All thoughts expressed by participants are personal opinion of respective speakers and do not represent the views of Blogworks or any other company/ organization.

Rajesh:Ajay, congratulations! Tell us about the book.

Ajay:In the world of social media, LinkedIn has emerged as the hottest professional networking site in the world leaving all competition far behind. And India is their third biggest market after the US and the UK.

My book talks of the principles of using this site to get ahead as a professional. This has been divided into specific topics like expanding your Rolodex, using it as a personal branding tool, for sales and marketing, tapping the inherent wisdom of the LinkedIn community through Q&As, for finding a dream job, for hiring people and a few other thought provoking suggestions. Major emphasis has been laid on interviewing existing users who have shared their experiences and opinions which readers are finding most useful; these include from the likes of Guy Kawasaki, well known author, entrepreneur and investor.

It is not a user’s guide; it talks of the bigger picture. So don’t expect screen shots, or tutorials on how to use the site. But it does cover the usability factor to the extent you generally know how the site works.

The following extract from the back cover of the book may be a useful read here:

LinkedIn has made the world of business a much smaller place. The contacts you seek are no longer separated from you by six degrees; the number is down to one, two or three in most cases if you are on LinkedIn, by far the most successful and vibrant of all professional networking sites.

And it has leveled the playing field in ways one could not have imagined. The community of LinkedIn users can now be used by anyone for accessing faraway markets, landing dream jobs, raising capital, attracting the best of talent, building corporate brands and more. What you can achieve is limited only by your imagination and effort. The ingredients are all there to whip up something profitable for yourself.

And it is not rocket science.

This book is full of ideas, real cases and suggestions on how to get LinkedIn to work for you. Because, as you will see, LinkedIn works for you even as you sleep.

Rajesh:Do share, why did you think about publishing the book yourself? Why not go with a mainstream publishing house? You have the necessary credentials, you write well – you would have found someone to publish the book for you.

Ajay:I figured this is not a book that can be sold through conventional means; key to its success would be a direct and social media marketing strategy. And there is probably no publisher in the world who would make such an effort; I know of publishers who have come out with books of a similar genre in the US but have asked the authors themselves how they planned to promote the book. In other words, the author has to be the CMO of such a book too.

It would have been fine to let someone publish the book, and I promote it. But the dampener would have been the commercial side of it. Publishers typically pay an author 10% of royalty, and that too after a lag running into many months. Neither the quantum nor the cash flow would have been enough to sustain any marketing campaign by me as the author. I thus decided to self publish it, keep a higher margin for myself and invest that money into marketing. I have already recovered the investment in the first print run by selling only 40 percent of my stock. This would not have been possible with a publisher where I spend on promotions and he keeps the cream of the profits.

Rajesh:So what were the various options you considered for publishing/ printing the book?

Ajay:I did consider print on demand offered by companies like Lulu. But this was an expensive option and would have turned away buyers. Yes, there is no initial investment here but the consumer is more concerned with the end price. Publish on demand works best for niche titles and coffee table books which have a relatively lower offtake. I decided to settle for self publishing by seeking out designers, editors and printers myself (I have considerable experience in such production) and made a go of it. I had to apply for an ISBN number which I managed; you cannot sell any book through trade channels without this.

Rajesh:So finally what happened?

Ajay:The book is out, in select stores but more importantly being offered directly on my blog www.techgazing.com/linkedin (where you can read sample chapters and get reviews, access the media kit and get ordering info) and Amazon. I have come out with an e-book version of the same, and have sold a substantial number of these too.

Rajesh:What were your key learning from the exercise?

Ajay:Lots. And some are still learning-in-progress. Here go some:

1. Setting up a distribution network through brick and mortar stores is a big challenge. I have still to overcome it.
2. A need to ensure the printer is an expert at cutting and binding books as it is a finer process than for a magazine or a newspaper.
3. Setting up online stores on Amazon.
4. Getting ISBN numbers and printing barcodes.
5. The economics of the game: Up to 55 percent of your cover price goes to the distributors + the cost of sending books to their warehouses. You can imagine how much money one is left with after sending books to the US to Amazon: they keep 55 percent + you ship to them at your cost. Add to this the cost of editing, design, printing, promotions etc and you realize why books are profitable only when they have sold a certain minimum number.

Rajesh:Ok great, now that the book is out, how are you planning to promote the book- online and offline?

Blogworks - Blog the Talk discussion series was conceived to feature the best of learning from the ‘live web’ through panel discussions, talks and one-on-ones – mostly conducted online.

The New Year brings with it a new association, Blog the Talk series is presented by Ideafarms, an IT smart-sourcing company, providing enhanced business value to its globalised clients, through disrupting thinking and innovation.

In association with IMPACT – the marketing, advertising and media weekly.

Joining me for this edition are my friends, Toby Bloomberg and Dina Mehta. This episode is 360 degrees for this series, where Toby is concerned. Regulars on this blog would remember that we started this series with her end December 2006. Toby has become a friend and guide in the year and a half since I first interacted with her through her Diva Marketing Blog.

Not that either of them need an introduction, but here goes anyway ;)

Dina Mehta, Mosoci: Dina is a qualitative researcher and ethnographer. One of India’s earliest bloggers, she has contributed to building several communities on the internet, such as Tsunami Help, Katrina Help amongst others. Dina is a regular speaker at top international conferences on mobile spaces in India, social collaboration technologies, social media and adopting online social tools for research. She runs workshops that help organizations frame research and strategy for a web 2.0 world. Dina is based out of Mumbai.

Toby Bloomberg, Bloomberg Marketing: Toby is president of Bloomberg Marketing, a strategic and social media consultancy based in the U.S. She has been a real live Blogger since the spring of 2004. As one of the most recognized consultants in this space, Toby's passion now is helping organizations navigate and developing social media strategies that support their business goals. Toby is based out of Atlanta, USA.

Like always, I will moderate the discussion. However, what’s different this time around is that there aren’t the standard questions and answers, but a free flowing conversation with perspectives on where we are, on the social media journey – in context of consumers, brands, organisations, markets and marketers.

All thoughts expressed by participants are personal opinion of respective speakers and do not represent the views of Blogworks or any other company/ organization.

Rajesh:I have been thinking, it's a great time of the year to discuss where we stand on the conversational marketing front. Is it really making an impact on the ground, to the consumer and to the marketer?

Dina:What it really means is brands are conversations - markets are conversations.

Toby: I like to remind marketers that people are conversations.

Dina: We were in a world where media was controlled by brands and managers or those who had money. Today, media is owned by the people who use it. There is no Us vs. Them.

Dina: WE ARE THE MEDIA.

Dina: People are conversations - nice Toby!

Toby: Actually, the secret is that the brands and advertisers never did control the message – they only thought they did. But with technology, WE are the media … makes it easier to understand that.

Rajesh: I had a wonderful experience recently, which I also wrote a case study about. I was looking at buying a bicycle and actually went through the entire process with the help of blogs, where a Google search landed me at a blog post with active conversations, negative and positive, taking place between existing users, potential buyers and as a pleasant surprise, the marketer too. The blog allowed me to make my decision.

Of course, the last mile of dealer interaction play the ultimate role on what I call the difference between “Sold” and “Nearly Sold”, but the entire episode convinced me about the impact of the of the social media layer, that is making a real difference on the ground.

Have you had any such instances?

Dina: Thanks Rajesh. I had a similar experience recently when I found a Rconnect USB modem driver for my Mac, not through the Huawei or Reliance websites (the latter, in incidentally said no Mac driver) but through a comment on someone's blog.

Toby: Very impressive, I am beginning to see more major brands comment back on their blogs.

Rajesh: Yes, brochure sites don’t really help and customers are usually wiser about the product than the manufacturer.

Interestingly enough, I have seen COO of a radio station jumping into conversations, but the tone has been all wrong – all attitude. Maybe it was done on purpose to actually flare up the conversation and get more people to tune in.

Toby: Rajesh, I just sent your link to my friend Tim Jackson of Masi Bikes in San Diego CA. He writes the MasiGuy blog and if Tim picks it up one customer service issue could be spun round the world.

Dina: Some of the things that organisations must start working on in this new brand 'operating system' - is first learn how to listen.

Rajesh: At one of the client meetings recently, one of the people from the public relations agency asked, WHO should comment on a negative comment – agency/ client.

My submission is shouldn’t someone RESOLVE the problem and then take the conversation back by commenting?

Toby: My $ would be on the client – its more credible.

Dina: Not the agency or the PR guys - they tend to mess things up. Remember the Silky Kumar case?

Rajesh: Yes, the client should take ownership of the issue and showcase participation. But to me, resolution is the important part and THEN comes the commenting bit.

Dina: It must be written into a brand manager's role - social media is not where spare cash is thrown.

Toby: Absolutely.

Dina: I think if you start the conversation - and work towards a resolution together with the blogger or reader, its so much more powerful.

Rajesh: You have hit the nail on its head.

Toby: Involve the customer in the process Dina?

Dina: Take Silky Kumar – had I been the PR agency or the brand manager, I would have asked that blogger “Ok, we messed up and we value your views, how might you take this forward. What are your recommendations?” I don’t think anyone should have 'solutions' – that’s again going back to a one-to-many world.

Toby: That said how many companies have a process in place to react to this type of new way to hear their customers?

Dina: The point Toby is how many are listening?

Rajesh: The issue is what is the value of the blogger, just the writing? Why not the inputs? Those are far valuable.

Rajesh: They are BEGINNING to listen, I can tell you that much.

Toby: I’ve been finding that more are listening but they don't know what to do with the information

Dina: I was with Mid-Day the other day and told them Rajiv at Watblog.com had written about some plagiarism their publication was caught out doing - they had NO IDEA.

Toby: I heard 2 F-100s, which have social media tactics in place, recently say they were trying to understand how to talk to the bloggers within the bloggers' world and that they are bringing in someone who understands the space- people who have experience in relevant verticals. For example, healthcare has been slow to enter this space, but at a conference I spoke at recently everyone a room of healthcare marketers knew what RSS was all about.

We had to change the session before we began. We built it too elementary :).

But at the same time I'm still finding that people in organizations where one would assume they have knowledge about social media do not.

Dina: The challenge I find here today is even more basic.

Even an organisation like Unilever, which tom-toms its success over something like Sunsilk GOG, do a simple search on 'shampoo' on Google.co.in and they don’t figure anywhere there.

Toby: I've been asked to speak to a marketing division of a Fortune 100 technology company. The CEO is blogging, but the staff people don't know anything about social media, let alone what RSS is all about.

These trend prediction things are scary I think. I mean how many of them will be egg in the face? :)

I was taking a peek at my first post of last year, summarizing possible online trends for 2007, to see where we stand - let me know your thoughts:

1. Online will gain ground rapidly - am I imagining it or so much really happened in just one year?
2. Marriage of mainstream and blogs - expect more of it this year.
3. Experts and thought leaders joining the blogosphere - too little really.
4. Aggregators will have an important role to play - expect more of it this year.
5. Human intervention to bring out what’s special - Mahalo - people powered search, is gaining ground; social bookmarking has gone mainstream.

   Sanjay Trehan, NDTV Convergence had an interesting comment at a panel discussion I moderated recently - a study suggests that usage of organic search actually declined by 6%, on the other hand people finding content directly or through bookmarking went up 4%.

Do you smell Mobile-Internet as the thing to look out for this year? Other than consumption of Internet via the mobile - I think we can expect more mobile friendly sites and blogs - mobile enabled communities might be the thing to watch out for.

I was chatting with Gaurav this morning to plan the next Blog the Talk discussion, which I thought should be around Mobile-Internet aspects covering micro blogging tools likeTwitter; community enablers likeSMS Gupshup etc. and how they will likely impact marketers.

My last meeting of 2007 was with a friend who runs one of the leading mobile marketing companies in India. We spoke about possible threats to the traditional short code business, and also the opportunities that the new environment promises for companies operating in the mobile space.

Blogworks- Blog the Talk discussion series was conceived to feature the best of learning from the ‘live web’ through panel discussions, talks and one-on-ones – mostly conducted online. Blog the Talk series is presented by HP India, Personal Systems Group– Commercial, which is responsible for HP’s range of business notebooks, business desktops and handheld devices; in association with Impact – the media, marketing and advertising weekly.

Guy Kawasaki on Internet, Investment and Investors.

How this edition of the discussion came about still seems a bit surreal to me, but the entire sequence of events again validated something that I have always believed – truly successful people are often very approachable; that they reply to their own mails - find time to do so, however busy they maybe; that there are no degrees of separation - that we really live in a connected world…

I discovered Truemors a couple of months ago, wrote a brief post about it and followed it with a mail to the Truemors team regarding their Truemorist programme. I got a reply back from Guy and that's how we got in touch. Won’t waste your time with details but I asked Guy if he would consider being on Blog the Talk, he agreed, simple and straightforward - tells me a lot!

Delighted to have Guy Kawasaki - successful entrepreneur, global investor, best-selling author and columnist. Guy doesn’t really need a formal introduction, but here goes anyway:

Guy Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Guy is presently located in Palo Alto, California.

The talk is typical 'Guy' - simple and straightforward; and a little different... this one was done over email so more like a Q & A. Enjoy!

All thoughts expressed by participants are personal opinion of respective speakers and do not represent the views of Blogworks or any other company/ organization..

Rajesh Lalwani: Guy, thanks for joining us on Blog the Talk today.

Web 2.0(!) - Blogs; Social Networks; Forums; Widgets - we have seen them connect people, add value at more than one level, but has the new Internet scene also become an information overdose? Do you think there would be consolidation? How would one simplify?

Guy Kawasaki:Thanks. There is overload, but that's what it takes to have a few winners emerge. There's no way to simplify - well, maybe there's one. Have ‘experts’ pick the smartest and dumbest ideas and then throw away the smart ones and do the dumb ones.

There isn't a way to predict the winners. It would be like being around billions of years ago and predicting what forms of life would survive. Only God would know, and we aren't God.

Rajesh Lalwani:Smiles.

The whole of the internet seems to be congregating on Facebook. There is a new application getting added every half an hour (figuratively speaking). One doesn’t really need to go anywhere else to do anything. eCommerce possibilities look immense. What are your thoughts? Is FB here to stay? What do you think is happening here?

Guy Kawasaki: Facebook is just-about the most exciting thing I’ve seen in years. The integration of its parts is so well done—for example, how it sucks in your Entourage address book to send invitations. It could become the way a large percentage of users interact with the Internet. In a sense Western Union should be PayPal, and AOL should be Facebook.

Rajesh Lalwani:Tech purists feel technology by itself is capable of achieving a lot of this simplification, what is the scope for human intervention - Digg; ChaCha and
many others are as much about people as technology. What are your thoughts about this?

Guy Kawasaki: Tech purists are the worst people to ask about this!

It's like asking a carpenter if everything can be fixed with a hammer and saw. Technology can accelerate, extend, supplement, but it cannot replace human interaction. Ever notice that the companies that spend the most on CRM have the worst customer relations?

Rajesh Lalwani:'Bubble’ is what one is hearing yet again - is it a bubble?

How will, in your opinion, these platforms monetize? Are the valuations going over the top again?

Guy Kawasaki: It is a bubble, and a bubble is a good thing.

It makes people want to start businesses. If we all carefully thought out every possible contingency, we'd never try anything.

Rajesh Lalwani :“The business plan will emerge!” Does that thought still hold true then?

Guy Kawasaki: Yes, more than ever though I think it was never true that people wrote plans and strictly adhered to them.

Companies that survive had plans that emerged. Companies that didn't survive didn't. I doubt that Steve and Woz ever wrote a business plan. What was YouTube’s business plan: give away infinite storage and bandwidth to copyright violators?

Rajesh Lalwani:What do you look at when you decide which new business your company will invest into? How important is the entrepreneur in this?

I was reading this TechCrunch post about Evan Williams, Twitter and Kevin Rose, Pownce - the comment about the fact that both were 'liked a lot in silicon valley' caught my attention - how much of the early adoption on a product would be basis such liking?

Guy Kawasaki:I look at a product or service and imagine if I would use it. Not a theoretical MIS manager, but if I personally would use it. If I wouldn't, then I probably wouldn't invest.

Being liked a lot in Silicon Valley isn't a prerequisite for success because popularity usually occurs after success. It doesn't cause success. At the start, most entrepreneurs aren't even known.

If I had to choose between being liked and having a great product to make a company successful, I'd choose a great product. If you become a billionaire in Silicon Valley, you will be popular-albeit with the wrong kind of people or for the wrong reasons- but people will suck up to you.

By contrast, if you have the greatest personality in the world but your product sucks, it will still suck.

Rajesh Lalwani:Indian software professionals have been on the technology forefront on the world scene and bar Hotmail, we haven't seen too many big Indian successes on the Internet. What do you think could be the reasons?

Guy Kawasaki: Maybe it's because Indians are too smart, too diligent, and too sincere. Maybe in order to achieve successful with ‘Internet companies’, you have to be full of crap.

Rajesh Lalwani:Are Indian investors risk averse in general?

Guy Kawasaki: There are lots of Indian VCs who are investing in US Internet startups created by Indians and non-Indians. I don't think race plays any role in investment decisions. Three things you can depend on from VCs are
color-blind and gender-blind greed.

Rajesh Lalwani:Would you consider investing into Indian entrepreneurs/ Indian companies?

Guy Kawasaki:Sure, why not?

In fact, I would prefer investing in Indian entrepreneurs and companies because they are smart, diligent,and sincere. We have:

1. simplyhired
Kaboodle
2. Xora
3. cFares

... already in our portfolio.

Rajesh Lalwani : Any current favorites of yours - technology products; companies; ideas.

Guy Kawasaki: I love "credit card" startups. That is, companies you can start with $25,000 or less. Truemors was my experiment in this. This is the Ycombinator theory, and I like it.

I certainly don't think that a company funded with $1,000,000 is forty times more likely to succeed.

Rajesh Lalwani:Any sectors that that you maybe specifically are interested in? Not interested in?

Guy Kawasaki:Garage is primarily a West-Coast, IT, software, and clean-tech fund. We don’t do life sciences.

We’re looking for companies that are raising $1-2 million in a seed or Series A Round.

Rajesh Lalwani: What would you expect as part of a proposal that someone may want to send and what criteria do you normally apply to selection?

Guy Kawasaki:The ideal proposal is a three paragraph email with a link that leads to a working prototype. End of discussion.

Rajesh Lalwani:Any investment limits Garage normally doesn't invest beyond?

Guy Kawasaki: We are a small fund, so companies that will require $10 million to break-even are not for us. I’d also like to be rich in this lifetime, so this narrows our focus some too. :-)

Rajesh Lalwani:Lol. Any plans to visit India soon?

Guy Kawasaki:No, sorry. I was in Mumbai earlier this year and loved it, though.

Rajesh Lalwani:Any of your current/ upcoming initiatives that one should be looking out for? What are the plans for Truemors?

Guy Kawasaki: Truemors is my baby.

I love the idea on two fronts:

1. The democratization of information so that anyone can be a journalist/editor
2. The blogosphere has universally condemned the idea-which makes me even more dedicated to make it succeed

Also, as you can imagine based on my earlier response, we’ve released a Truemors for Facebook so that people can create their own network of Truemorists among their friends.

Rajesh Lalwani :That is super cool. Yes, I already added the version ;) – the link's here.

Can't resist asking you this...

Are you an iPhone fan? Any experiences/ thoughts you want to share?

Guy Kawasaki:I don't have one. I can't stand AT&T's data network performance, and I really need Exchange server compatibility.

Rajesh Lalwani:Smiles.

Guy is clearly not buying an iPhone yet. Neither am I, for different reasons though :).

BTW - Do read this iPhone review by Guy, to get an update on his AT&T experience.

Thanks a lot Guy! Do look forward to having you here in India, sometime soon. Cheers.

Dear all, please take the conversation forward.

If you missed the update on my previous post, here it is, up and about. Coming up this Sunday - a Blog the Talk Exclusive! Guy Kawasaki on Internet, Investment and Investors.

Guy Kawasaki’s thoughts on today’s Internet scene; Facebook; Truemors; the ‘Bubble’ - and why is it a good thing; Indian entrepreneurs and whether he will invest into them – pretty straight! Hope you enjoy. See you.

Blogworks- Blog the Talk discussion series was conceived to feature the best of learning from the ‘live web’ through panel discussions, talks and one-on-ones – mostly conducted online. Blog the Talk series is presented by HP India, Personal Systems Group– Commercial, which is responsible for HP’s range of business notebooks, business desktops and handheld devices; in association with Impact – the media, marketing and advertising weekly.

Technology tips to get started with business blogging and more – the FOSS way.

How does one introduce someone who was on the Internet before the term World Wide Web was even conceived? Someone who has participated in the net scene when the total Internet population in the country was not in millions, but in dozens – ok, let’s make that a few hundred? When search was still about gopher?

Delighted to have Kishore Bhargava - the original geek; FOSS exponent, the guru behind Gadget Guru; I could go on…

It was in one of Kishore’s talks, about 2 and half years ago, that Blogworks really took seed. I have never believed in coincidences, so I don’t think it was one that I attended that talk. Since then, a dear friend, Kishore has been around to counsel & guide.

Today, on Blog the Talk, Kishore helps us understand some of the pertinent technology related issues that we need addressing when we think about business blogging. Technology issues in a language that’s friendly and English you and I understand.

I must point out that keeping with, not just the Blog the Talk tradition of conducting these talks over IM, which we did, this conversation was actually conducted in true Bhargava family style, over IM, but sitting face-to-face. Discussing ‘way forward’ across the table, but actually punching the Questions and the Answers over an IM. Fun it was… :)

Enjoy!

Kishore Bhargava, CEO, Linkaxis Technologies has assisted large global corporations, as well as non-governmental organisations, define their technology roadmap installing world-class solutions for their operations in India and elsewhere in the world – all of this using free and opensource technologies.

Kishore is presently based in New Delhi.

Yours truly continues to be based right here too, in New Delhi ;)


All thoughts expressed by participants are personal opinion of respective speakers and do not represent the views of Blogworks or any other company/ organization.

Rajesh, Blogworks: Kishore, thanks for being on Blog the Talk.

We have spoken about this earlier…

Among the most crucial aspects that need consideration following an organization or a brand’s decision to go forward with a blogging or a similar initiative is: Which blogging engine to use? Which technology platform? What are your thoughts?

Kishore, Linkaxis: Thanks Rajesh. That’s a loaded question – it will need a long answer.

- First of all, the important question to ask is why do I need to blog? If there is a compelling reason, coupled with a well thought out strategy, then setting up the technology behind it is actually quite trivial

- There are many options to choose from. You have a plethora of free sites which offer templates, plugins and all the stuff you need to get you started or you the have the choice of setting up/ creating your own

Rajesh, Blogworks: I hope you are not saying set it up on a free blog site, but that there are several free options available in terms of engines; management systems; templates that one can play with on YOUR server, right?

Kishore, Linkaxis: Yes, that’s the point; if you are serious about it, then you really need to setup a blog on hosted/dedicated server and certainly not on the free servers and free services available.

If you just want a quick and dirty job, then go to any of the free engines but if you want a real blog for your organisation, then set it up on the server, ideally where your corporate website is hosted, as blogs.mycompany.com or mycompany.com/blog. The idea is to never lose focus of your brand.

By hosting on a free server, you may still be able to do some amount of branding, but the real impact is when all the stuff resides on your site. Of course, there are tons of other advantages, which we will discuss as we go along.

But just to give you an idea, there would even be issues in legal position if the blog is not your property?

But, coming back to the question.

Rajesh, Blogworks: Please do elaborate on the legal bit before we move on…

Kishore, Linkaxis: Ok take a simple example, if I have a blog on a free engine and I place a company advertisement on it. If the provider says that you can't have advertisements on the site, then they can actually just turn around and shut the blog down.

This is known to have happened in the past.
Content on a free site will be difficult to copyright and protect. Disclaimers, Privacy Policy etc are all under your own control, if hosted on your server, rather than being the ones that the provider enforces.

There is also the issue of the total service offering on a free site, one will never be able to get access to the RAW logs of traffic, and therefore, never have accurate web analytics.

Rajesh, Blogworks: To me the most important part has always been just the message that we are sending out to the world on the seriousness of the initiative - the perception of a free blog site is so non-business like.

Also, forbid a service is down/ taken down for any reason (like it happened last year) you don’t end up losing your business blog, a very crucial piece in your internal/ external communication outreach programme now.

Kishore, Linkaxis: True. Ok so coming back to the question of which platform does the corporate use for a blog.

The answer is they host their own blog on their own server. In order to do this a corporate will need a blogging engine or platform. There are many options to choose from there.

This is where I tend to favour the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and community. There are commercial engines available, but the real innovation is happening in the FOSS world.

Take for example what would today be the most commonly used blog platform on the Internet – Wordpress (WP). Wordpress has tons of features, fantastic templates, and a vibrant community of developers and users supporting it

Rajesh, Blogworks:You mean ‘free’ software?

Kishore, Linkaxis: No free and open source. I mean, that which costs nothing as in ‘muft’ and that which is ‘free’ as in freedom or ‘mukt’

Rajesh, Blogworks:Freedom to do what?

Kishore, Linkaxis: You have the freedom to do pretty much as you please. You can share it with your friends, you can examine the code, and you can change the code to improve it. The list just goes on and on.

Kishore, Linkaxis: Apart from Wordpress there is also Moveable Type (MT), which is also a great engine.

Rajesh, Blogworks: Yup, we are on MT.

Kishore, Linkaxis: But at the end of the day, you need to ask, where do I get my support and where are the skills to help us manage the site?

Rajesh, Blogworks: Let’s just talk about these two, what are the key differences?

Kishore, Linkaxis: In principle the two engines are very similar. They form the basis of what are known as Content Management Systems. There are really several hundreds of such engines and the main difference between them is the platform or programming languages used along with the database used.

MT uses a great programming language called Perl, which was originally designed as a scripting engine for text manipulation and automation of mundane tasks by System Administrators but it is now used for just about any job. I have seen some amazing applications written in Perl.

The only problem with Perl is finding people who know it well and who can exploit its true power.

Rajesh, Blogworks:Why, is it a difficult language?

Kishore, Linkaxis: Perl is not really difficult, it’s just that not many current generation of programmers know anything about it so it gets ignored and used mainly by old-timers.

Rajesh, Blogworks:Hmmm, you just called Guru, an old timer!

Kishore, Linkaxis: You must also understand that a 30 yr old in the IT industry is considered an old timer.

Rajesh, Blogworks: You will have to explain this to Guru I think, lol.

Kishore, Linkaxis: Guru and I are about the same age.

Rajesh, Blogworks: Lol.

Kishore, Linkaxis: On the other hand, WP uses the one thing that really gave a boost to FOSS. What is popularly known as the LAMP - Linux Apache MySQL and PHP.

Perl is considered an old language and is just not used by most. Only the really, smart guys use it.

Rajesh, Blogworks: ;)

Kishore, Linkaxis: What is very popular today is this language called PHP. This was designed from the ground up to be a web language and is therefore just more suitable.

Kishore, Linkaxis: Wordpress is based on PHP and the PHP community world-wide is HUGE!

Rajesh, Blogworks:Is the technology the only difference between the two?

What about paid/ unpaid; what about the key area of support - as a business I need support, doesn't matter, many times, if I need to pay to assure that.

"When it rains, it pours!" Right!!!

We have an exciting line-up coming up in our Blog the Talk Series.

1. Check back from anytime late Sunday evening - 15 July - to read my conversation with Kishore Bhargava on "Technology tips to get started with business blogging and more - the FOSS way".
2. Then next Sunday we have an exciting talk lined up with one of the foremost names, globally, in entrepreneurship, venture funding, business blogging and what have you - "Who, who???", I hear you say? Yes, but wait a bit, a little suspense never hurt anyone. Promise to tell you Tuesday.

   We discuss "Internet, Investment and Investors".

UPDATED: 12.54 pm - 18 July 2007. Sorry, couldn't do this yesterday. So, here's the promised name. Joining us on Blog the Talk, Edition 4 is his straightforward self, Guy Kawasaki - an India first? Not sure but definitely a Blog the Talk first. Hope to see you then :).

Hope you enjoy.

Blog the Talk discussion series was conceived to feature the best of learning from the ‘live web’ through panel discussions, talks and one-on-ones – mostly conducted online.

It was to be a monthly discussion but its already been 4 months since the launch of Blogworks - between our new business discussions, talks & workshops, writing the blog; (and of course) meeting our work commitments & deadlines :), we haven’t been able to keep that promise. Do hope that the content from the discussion below will make up for the gap. We hope to be more regular though (there are a couple of discussion already in the pipeline).

Much has also changed in the last few months- just the term blogosphere has become partly redundant, it’s about Social Media or Live Web now, broader in what it covers. Social Networking and User Generated Content (UGC) have been gaining mainstream status. In view of that, it was pertinent that we discussed: Impact of Social Networks and User Generated Content – an India perspective.

How long is a week? Very long if you are talking about social media, UGC and SNS - in the days between we had the discussion below and actually took it up - Social Networking Site Minglebox has received $ 7 million funding from Sequoia Capital and YouTube has announced revenue sharing! It's not for nothing that I call social media the fastest running animal on the planet!

Joining me today are(alphabetically):

1. Alok Mittal, Canaan Partners – Alok, a friend, former client 2 times over, is a Partner with Canaan - an early stage venture fund with focus on internet, technology and BPO space. A first generation entrepreneur, Alok is also a founding member of Band of Angels India - an organization comprising successful entrepreneurs looking to invest in seed stage businesses. Alok’s community blog Venturewoods attempts to bring the Indian venture community closer together. Alok is located in New Delhi.
2. Amit Ranjan, Slideshare – Amit Ranjan, of whose product I am a great fan, is the co-founder & COO of Slideshare(www.slideshare.net). Amit keenly follows emerging trends in the consumer internet space in India and writes a blog called Webyantra about the Indian Web 2.0 space. Amit is located in New Delhi.
3. Prerna Gupta, Yaari.com – Founder & CEO of Yaari.com - a social networking site for Indian youth. Prerna has led Yaari through rapid growth and widespread media coverage since its beta launch in October 2006. Prior to founding Yaari, Prerna was an Associate in Summit Partners' venture capital fund in Palo Alto, CA. Prerna is an economics graduate from Stanford University and presently splits her time between India and the US.
4. Yours truly moderated and I am 'still located in New Delhi :).




5. Blog the Talk Edition 2 is in association with IMPACT - The Media, Advertising and Marketing Weekly, which will, starting this week, carry the text for its readers over 2 issues. Thanks Team IMPACT.
6. UPDATE- I am delighted to renew my association with HP - India (Hewlett Packard) . The Personal Systems Group - Commercial of HP India, which is responsible for business notebooks, business desktops, handheld devices and more would now be associated with Blog the Talk. Thanks HP ! :)

Hope you enjoy the talk and participate with comments and feedback:

All thoughts expressed by participants are personal opinion of respective speakers and do not represent the views of Blogworks or any other company/ organization.

Rajesh:Alok, first of all let me congratulate you and your colleagues on your new investment in iYogi! I think it’s an interesting next generation outsourcing concept.

Let me begin by asking you… networking on the net isn't new - sites bringing friends together, dating and matrimonial and even business networking sites have been there forever; but suddenly there is a lot of buzz about user generated content (UGC), content communities, social and business networking - communities are emerging all around. What brought about the change?

Alok: Thanks. I think the move towards consumer generated content has been gradual and limited on a geographical scale and people want to contribute quick byte-sized content - a la, discussion boards etc.

Myspace extended the frontier in terms of user expression. I think You Tube is perhaps the most extensive example of this, and driven by:

(a) Broadband

(b) Focusing on content which already exists with the users in a form that can be shared.

Prerna: The idea has been around for a while but I think what really brought around the change was when a few sites, mostly well-funded, executed the idea in very clear and simple way and had effective marketing to make their sites tip.

Amit: The community aspect being mashed up with the content is what seems to be spurring the growth at this stage. As Alok said, the content already exists; people are already creating it; now the ability to share that content in a social context has added the impetus.

There are pure SNS (Social Networking Sites) sites where networking is the end and there are content oriented sites where SNS is the means and not the ends.

Rajesh: Alok, how much of this unleashing has to do with the possibilities that Google AdSense and other contextual ad options brought along? That the owner of a community had, for the first time, at least a possible option of moving away from transactions or selling display ads, which may not always be a possible option?

Alok: I think that’s an interesting survival technique and helps in that context. However, that’s too small a stream for a reasonable business, especially as you get to rich media sharing, you definitely need something more as source of revenue/capital.

Rajesh: But do you think that to some owners it has given a dream to make it big.

Alok: I doubt anyone has made big with adsense…

Rajesh:(Laughs)

Rajesh: Amit and Prerna, how much of this SNS phenomenon of real people sharing personal lives and data is to do with a sociological change of a generation that has grown up with the net and doesn't much care about who is reading about them, their lives?

Prerna: I don't think everyone using these sites has ‘grown up’ with the net but people are adaptable and the freedom is addicting, especially when sharing information about yourself so readily gets you widespread affirmation from peers.

Amit: Psychological and cultural reasons have certainly contributed to this trend; also the fact that Internet adds a hugely convenience dimension to everything - be it ecommerce or friendship.

The convenience of interacting with people in asynchronous mode. Synchronous and direct interaction on a one-to-one basis is great but for many a people, it’s intimidating.

Alok: Ya, I guess that’s why I leave post-it notes for my wife (smiles).

Rajesh: (Smiles).

Amit: Good one (Smiles).

Been busy, trying to take care of some issues at home and am back. As a matter of fact, we have great action lined up Monday with launch of Blog the Talk - Edition 2. Discussing Impact of Social Networks and User Generated Content – an India perspective.. Joining me in the discussion are (alphabetically):

1. Alok Mittal, Partner, Canaan Partners
2. Amit Ranjan, COO and Co-founder, Slideshare
3. Prerna Gupta, Founder, Yaari.com

We concluded the talk a couple of days ago and just getting all other things in place. Like previous time, the talk is in association with IMPACT.

Exciting, I promise you ;)

Meanwhile, do read Edition 1, discussing impact of blogs and social media on business and marketing in India.

What's Blog the Talk - the discussion series was conceived to feature the best of learning from the ‘live web’ through panel discussions, talks and one-on-ones – mostly conducted online.

The launch of www.blogworks.in is a significant milestone in the ‘blogs for business’ journey that I embarked upon a couple of years ago – thanks to Prema,Kishore and Guru (who has also designed blogworks.in and this wonderful blog) - thanks all. I wanted the launch of Blog\Works™ to reflect the collaborative power that the Internet, and more significantly blogs - as the new flag-bearers of the Internet - empower us with. Blogworks™ - Blog the Talk discussion series was thus conceived and will feature the best of learning from the blogosphere and otherwise, through panel discussions, talks and one-on-ones – mostly conducted online.

Edition 1 discusses the Impact of blogging and social media on Indian business and marketing. It was remarkable that each participant, from the heavy-weight (figuratively speaking) panel, confirmed within an ‘Aye’, within hours of my writing to them. Thanks all. The entire discussion happened over an internet messenger – apt, wouldn’t you agree? – both, the message and the method. Our panelists -in no order of preference! :) -

1. Toby Bloomberg: "A real live blogger", "Business blog evangelist" that's what people have called Toby. Toby is president of a strategic and social media consultancy based in the U.S. She has been a real live blogger since the spring of 2004 when she launched Diva Marketing Blog. As one of the most recognised consultants in this space, Toby's passion now is helping organizations navigate the blogosphere and developing social media/blog strategies that support their business goals. Toby is based out of Atlanta, USA
2. Govindraj Ethiraj: Journalist-writer, a keen watcher of the social media and technology space, Govind is the New Media Editor for Business-Standard. A keen blogger, he writes a popular blog at Dateline Bombay. Govind is based out of Mumbai, INDIA
3. Anurag Batra: A dear friend, Anurag is the Editor in Chief & Managing Director of the exchange4media Group - a special interest publishing company which publishes five titles including three titles in advertising, marketing and media domain- Exchange4Media.com , PITCH , Impact and two consumer titles Franchise Plus and Realty Plus . Anurag is based out of New Delhi, INDIA
4. Yours truly moderated the discussion. I too am based out of New Delhi, INDIA.

Without any further ado, edition 1 of Blog the Talk. Cheers!