The posts started in February and the champion isn’t even decided until April. This is the phenomenon we call March Madness.
BlogBurst bloggers have covered every conceivable angle, from workplace productivity (it’s down¦ way down) to the advertisements outselling the Superbowl. We’ve had analysis from the “bracketologists“ on Selection Sunday; true disappointment conveyed that the Sweet 16 didn’t produce a “Cinderella” team; and heartfelt agony of the oh-so-close games in the Elite 8 that ended two #1 seeds this season.
We’ve had mommy bloggers, left-leaning politicos and people who normally write about recipes express their opinions on who will win and who should win. Mainstream media can’t compete with the passion that the home team’s fans bring to the game’s coverage.
According to an article on CNET, blogs have been around for 10 years now, and there is some discussion around who was the very first blogger. It’s difficult to answer that, considering the wide range of definitions concerning ‘blogs’ and ‘bloggers.’ Should the first blogger be the one who coined the term ‘weblog’? Or someone whose personal journal looked most like an actual blog? The article’s a good read. Check it out.
Another year, and another SXSW Interactive/Media and Film conference goes by and Pluck was there! For those of you not from Austin or Texas, SXSW is one of the largest, week-long trade shows for all things cool in the Interactive, Media, Film and Music industries. The energy surrounding the show, the sheer number of people that descend upon Austin from all over the world, the creativity, ideas and boon to businesses as a result of the show cannot be beat.
As we did for last year’s SXSW Interactive Trade Show, Pluck sponsored a booth/exhibit where bloggers could visit our editorial staff for what we called, “Extreme Blog Makeover.†Our BlogBurst editors would take interested bloggers through the steps on improving the writing quality and overall design of their blogs. We also had an area for demonstrating all our Pluck products to trade show attendees.
The crowds were strong throughout the three days of the conference…and of course, we held our annual Pluck After Web Award Party at Club de Ville which was also well attended.
As many of you know by now, BlogBurst will be rewarding the top 100 bloggers who are picked up in the network each quarter with reward dollars that are based on a sliding scale model of payment. We call it the BlogBurst 100 Leaderboard.
What some of you may not realize is that we’ve designed the leaderboard to also act as a means of charity - for those bloggers who would rather donate their rewards to a good cause. The BlogBurst 100 Leaderboard charity recipient is The Periwinkle Foundation. For Q4 2006, we were able to donate $1,000 to The Periwinkle Foundation because bloggers in our leaderboard exercised their decision to donate their rewards.
A little about The Periwinkle Foundation: Their mission is to provide programs to enrich the lives of children with cancer and children with life threatening illnesses who are treated at Texas Children’s Hospital and their families.
We intend to continue the leaderboard charity option, and encourage our bloggers to continue to be generous with their rewards.
About The Periwinkle Foundation:
Continue reading ‘Generous bloggers - Leaderboard rewards recipients donate their funds to a good cause’
This week USAToday.com redesigned its site and has integrated BlogBurst blogs in several sections, including its front page. Here’s what some of our bloggers had to say about the new look and feel of USAToday.com.
Check the new site out and let us know what you think!
For one week in March, Austin turns into the hippest, tattooiest, spiky hairiest city on the planet. It’s SXSW Music and Media Conference and Festival and it’s one of the most well-known music, film and media/interactive festivals in the world.
Although, SXSW (also referred to as “South By”), is most known for its music showcase of the best in new, young talent, it has also featured a strong Interactive and Media component since SXSW began in 1987.
The show is particularly fun for Pluck because it’s in our backyard! So, we like to show attendees a good time - like last year. First, there is our booth on the trade show floor where we will be hosting “Extreme Blog Makeover” for bloggers interested in getting tips from members of the BlogBurst editorial staff on how to get more visibility for their blogs through focus, writing style and design. The booth itself will also feature some places to sit and take a load off and just blog about SXSW in general. And, not to be missed - we will give anyone who comes to the booth for a “makeove” some specially made Pluck silly putty. Yeah - you heard us!
On Sunday - the party! Yes, the Pluck party - the very same one we hosted last year as the premier Post Web Awards party at Club de Ville near the Convention Center with DJ Mel. Last year, this party outdid all expectations (it was going strong with dancers and tech merriment until 2 am) when the bar had to shut down. So you won’t want to miss it.
If you are in town for SXSW, please, please email tnelson@pluck.com because we are eager to show any of our BlogBurst members and anyone interested in BlogBurst a good time. Austin is our hometown and SXSW is one of our best events of the year.
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