TechGazing

Journalists and Communications have always had a close relationship; with the recognition of Blogs as an important form of media in society, the time has come to connect news sources and these independent publishers too.

PR and Corporate Communications have had a close working relationship with traditional journalists and media companies for a long time now. However, the media landscape is undergoing a change with the emergence of blogging as a new and independent form of media.

Being early days, PR and Bloggers have not yet got a total handle on how to engage with one another. For instance, bloggers are in the need of news and information which may be different from the what a newspaper would seek, but not always. This means PR has to send releases drafted differently, and arrange interaction with people who may not be the spokespersons in the traditional sense. The CEO or Marketing Head may not satisfy the blogger as much as the Product Manager who is more hands-on and will speak with greater passion and authority than even those higher up in the organization. Continue reading about this unique service

The Indian Blog & New Media Society is organizing a 3-day Blogging workshop at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi. Following up on the previous month’s BlogCamp, this is another effort by IBNMS to enable blogging enthusiasts - both rookie and experienced - leverage this medium for both personal and professional reasons.

All sessions will be highly interactive, allowing participants to raise specific queries and also to try their hand at what is being discussed. Read on for more information

If you are not aware already, I also publish a blog based on my travels in India called Kunzum. I am on the road most of the time, covering the length and breadth of India creating content for this blog as well as for some planned travelogues. I invite you check out my experiences on Kunzum.com, and even join me on any of my trips. The blog if full of the written word, photographs and videos.

And if you have anecdotes, pictures and videos of the kind I have on Kunzum, I would be happy to consider them for publishing on the blog.

The first ever Blog Camp is being organized in New Delhi by the IBNMS, or the Indian Blog and New Media Society. It is open to all to attend (for free) as well as deliver presentations and talks; it follows the unconference style of Bar Camps.

To know more about the event and to sign up for it, visit the wiki.

Some of the sessions that have been already listed are:

• Beating the Spam on blogosphere- Looking beyond Akismet
• The 4Ps of Marketing Your Blog
• Open Access - What it is and why it is required for scholarly community?
• Corporate Blogging Strategy - Abhishek Kant
• Blog Branding - Turning Blog into Business
• How to monetize a blog effectively? How to enhance earnings from a Blog?
• Setting up a new blog and various tech options

The Indian Blog and New Media Society (IBNMS), in the making for many months, is finally a fully functional body. And is now inviting everyone concerned to take up membership (free) of the same.

The IBNMS is a not-for-profit grouping of all stakeholders in the blog and new media space from India – but open to membership from all over the world. These include those related to blogs, podcasts, internet TV and radio, online news and entertainment, on-demand videos, photosharing, social media, internet art, user generated content, PR 2.0, digital advertising and marketing and more. You could be publisher or consumer of these media to be a member.

The basic idea behind bringing this grouping together is to enable all stakeholders to collaborate and learn from one another, growing together by creating greater relevancy for new media forms and in the process gaining greater visibility to be able to make these publishing platforms more impactful in the Indian and global context.

If interested, visit the IBNMS site and sign up now.

Martin Bossman, who runs a very useful and interesting podcast show at Inquire Online, interviewed Ajay Jain on his recent book, Let’s Connect: Using LinkedIn to get ahead at work. If you want to listen to it, click here.

To know more about the book and to order, click here.

I am happy to announce the launch of my long planned travel blog, Kunzum.com. Named after the Kunzum La, or Kunzum Pass, located at about 15,000 feet above sea level in the Lahaul Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh in India, I was inspired by this beautiful and lonely spot through which I drove last year.

The blog is primarily going to be focused on travel related stories, anecdotes and reviews from India, but a bit extra would be thrown in too.

Why don’t you check out Kunzum.com? The content is limited as I have just started but you can expect more in the coming weeks. But do read the story of Lakshmi, the leopard cub, from Ranthambhore.

If you would like to be kept updated on some scintillating travel stuff, you can subscribe here, take a RSS feed or follow my Twitter Feed.

With blogs and social networking sites becoming a part of our daily lives almost as much as emails, it may be tempting to be an active participant on these. For professionals, it may be both interesting and rewarding to seek out conversations related to their work. And why not? It is a sure way to network and expose oneself to new ideas and thoughts. But is your company management open to you engaging in the same?

Yes, a few companies are quite liberal in their outlook but most continue to keep a tight leash on what and where their employees talk. Not only in India, but all over the world including the US and UK, the two most mature Web 2.0 societies. Are the companies right in playing it safe, or are they losing out on benefits and opportunities in the process?

[This article was written by me and published on Rediff and can be accessed here.] Or continue reading the full article here

Arianna Huffington needs no introduction – as co-founder and editor of The Huffington Post, Ariana has created a place for herself in the short history of new media, giving traditional media a run for their money in the process.

I got an opportunity to listen to her and subsequently interact too at Ad:Tech in New York which I covered. Excerpts from her talk/ my interview:

Should a blog or a site focus on a single theme to appeal to a specific audience or be everything to everyone?
We started as a political blog, but realised even the most passionate of our readers have other interests prompting us to launch more verticals. The key is also to make your platform interactive to get them to spend more time on the site. Last month alone we had 250,000 comments. Depending on your business model, both specialist and general can work. Continue Reading…