Internet

• TNS: Media Spend Declined 2% in Third Quarter
  Online remained one of the few bright spots, as display spending grew 7 percent versus the first three quarters of 2007.
  (tags: media internet web advertising study stats)
• Business Week: Only 16% Trust Corporate Blogs: Are They Worth Doing?
  Forrester found that 16% of the people who read company blogs trust them—less than every other form of content they asked about, including print media, direct mail, even corporate emails.
  (tags: corporate blogging study trends stats)
• Adotas: Online Ad Spend Predictions Slashed
  Publicis’ ZenithOptimedia Group has a sunnier forecast, with predictions that online ads will grow 18% in 2009.
  (tags: internet advertising web trends)
• ReadWriteWeb: The Business of Browser Add-ons
  Today's opening keynote at the Add-on-Con conference in Mountain View CA highlighted the similarities between monetizing add-ons and monetizing Web sites. Although distribution channels and products differ, according to moderator Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners, in general add-ons generate revenue through: "search, advertising, affiliate type commerce and APIs."
  (tags: internet web tools)
• Fast Company: 8 Experts Predict How Web 2.0 Will Evolve In 2009
  With the economy in a slump and budgets being cut in traditional print and TV advertising campaigns many will be looking to the Web 2.0 world to reach their constituents. So what should be on your Web 2.0 radar for 2009? Web 2.0 gurus give you the low down.
  (tags: print tv internet advertising online predictions web2.0 trends)

• Mail Online: Revolutionary plastic e-paper set to hit the high street
  The era of the traditional newspaper could soon be over as scientists launch production of a revolutionary electronic version - made out of plastic. The e-reader is the brainchild of students at Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory and will be developed by manufacturing plant Plastic Logic at a factory in Germany. The invention is due to hit the high street next year.
  (tags: newspaper journalism technology onlinejournalism ereader electronic future)
• ReadWriteWeb: First New York Times API is Live - Here's Why it Matters
  The much-anticipated first Application Programming Interface (API) from the New York Times went live today, according to a post on the company's blog Open - All the code that's fit to printf(). First up is a campaign finance data API and next is a movie review API. Also available is a database management program initially developed for internal use at the NY Times.
  (tags: journalism opensource future newspaper onlinejournalism api)
• Traditional journalists burning out on blogging | The Blog Herald
  Reporters working for traditional news organisations are becoming burned out because of the demands placed upon them to engage in new media and communications tools, according to journalists at the National Press Club forum at the University of Missouri.
  (tags: journalism journalist media blogging future onlinejournalism blogs)
• Webmonkey: The End of Web 2DOT0 Beginning of Web Infinity - Webmonkey
  As our economy sours, more and more nervous technologists are writing off Web 2.0 as dead. We believe web 2.0 isn’t on the decline, the economy is. The web is evolving. In fact, there’s no sign it will ever stop.
  (tags: web2.0 economy future technology startup innovation)
• Webware - CNET: 11 troubled Web companies: The next Kozmos? |
  (tags: internet startup economy article bubble)
• Journerdism: New journalism tools - Data analytics and social media tracking
  (tags: journalism media tools analytics tracking buzz socialmedia)
• LIFE photo archive hosted by Google
  Phantastic photo archive by Life magazine on Google
  (tags: photo archive magazine LosAngeles tools)

• 1,000 Twitter Followers: Lessons I've Learned
  How Brian Carter got 1000 Twitter followers in only six months.
  (tags: twitter microblogging tips howto)

• Kevin Kelly: Focus on attention - and the money will follow
  The new rules for the new economy can be summarized as: Where ever attention flows, money will follow. Almost anything else except attention can be manufactured as a commodity. Luxury goods are only luxuries temporarily. They quickly are counterfeited and commodified. Premium brands are only premium because they garner a surplus of attention.
  (tags: internet attention branding marketing blogging)
• Solid SEO Starts With A Solid Business Model
  Aaron Wall writes: Bob Massa, one of the original SEOs, always talks about SEO from a conversion standpoint, offering quotes like "traffic without conversions is the epitome of futility. The SEO space is a bit crowded right now. So many people are fighting for attention that it seems like people are fighting without purpose. There may be more people writing SEO blogs than there are reading them. That abundance of new publishers makes it easy for established authors to build links by re-spinning old phrases with new definitions, but if those links don’t create profit what is the point?
  (tags: seo searchengineoptimization blogs free Publishing)
• Micro-Site Strategy for Link Building and Brand Awareness
  Ann Smarty writes: Creating a network of micro-sites for the sake of link power manipulation is a controversial technique; hence it has become risky to interlink your own websites even for very “white hat” purposes (e.g. to let your readers know about your other relevant sites). Nonetheless, link building with micro-sites can be a highly effective technique if done correctly.
  (tags: linkbuilding branding seo sem microsites microblogging internet)
• WebProNews: SEO Marketing In An Uncertain Economy
  With the economy in limbo what should search marketer's focus on? WebProNews spoke to Milind Mody, CEO of eBrandz Inc, an SEO and SEM firm, about online marketing and advertising. He says he believes that online advertising is more recession proof than other forms of advertising and that research indicates that any decline in online advertising is because clients are slashing their overall budgets.
  (tags: internet sem seo search money future marketing)

The presidential candidate of the Democratic party, Barack Obama, is a online media phenomena. No other politician seeking the highest office in the U.S. has used to web so skillfully like him. He has a great multi-media website for raising donations and coordinating his 50 states campaign.

He also uses YouTube to get his message out and has a profile on all major social networking websites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn to raise his online visibility and reach out to communicate with his fan base and reach out to web-savvy people who would like to know him and his political ideas better. Between January and April 08 alone Barack spent $3 million for online advertising. Needless to say - the lion share went to Google.

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Having a presence on the World Wide Web is a must for everybody nowadays - whether you’re a job seeker, a small business owner or a boss of a large corporation. Not only is it crucial for networking, but also important in order to ‘control the message’ related to your name or business. Especially if you haven’t launched your own website yet and belong to a profession which is regularly discussed in online chat forums and professional rating websites (I recently wrote an article about doctor rating sites) - then you definitely need to become proactive.

Here are 7 tips what to do:

1. Reputation management in the internet age requires commitment, willingness to communicate and openness to new technology trends. Look at the internet and professional rating websites as an opportunity for an innovative dialog, not a threat.

2. Take the task of designing your internet presence into your own hands. If you don’t have a personal website, act now. If you are an internet neophyte, hire a professional web designer to develop one for you. This is not the timeto be thrifty: It takes a professional and visually appealing website to reflect sincerity and credibility.

3. Update your website regularly. Add new content at least on a weekly basis (news about your industry, for example, or an article discussing your specialty). Weblog software products, such as Wordpress or Typepad are user-friendly andtherefore ideal content management systems for your website.

4. Use the internet to advertise your services (free of charge). Many online directories and referral websites for specialists in your industry offer to publish your personal profile at no charge or for a fee. Take advantage of this opportunity. Don’t disregard directories and lists in your own region. All business is local!

5. Initiate a dialog. Address any negative comments you find about yourself on a referral website regarding your industry. Many opinion forums will publish your answer directly below the patient’s comment. Make sure your response is factual and refrain from adding personal comments.

6. Monitor the rating websites closely, but don’t let emotions get in your way. Although a number of legal issues in this context have yet to be settled, consumers are using their right to express an opinion freely on theinternet. The importance of the World Wide Web as a consumer empowerment tool will continue to escalate. Countless other service providers and product manufacturers have accepted this new reality and faced it head-on. As a representative of the medical industry, which is known to lack transparency, take a leading role and use the opportunity to create a positive image with existing and potential patients by developing a well-defined internet communication strategy.

7. Take legal steps only if a published patient review is obviously defamatory or if it has a damaging effect on your business. Before you take action in the heat of the battle, talk to your attorney or another legal advisor about your options.