News

Categories For Blogs

by Marc Lefton
Thursday, July 14, 2005. 02:14PM

When we started the site, I don't think we even realized how integral and important blogs would be to the function of the site. In fact, the tight connection between blogs and networking on Adholes led us to coin the phrase "Blogworking" to describe it.

At the time, we left the blog categories on the default "news" "information" and "personal interest." Obviously we had no idea back then of just how diverse a range of topics our Adholes would talk about.

At last Tuesday's Adholes Advisory Board Meeting, we identified the relevance and categorization of blogs as one of the site's highest priority for attracting and maintaining membership.

With that said, we're asking intersted users to suggest topics that would best reflect how blogs are used on the site, and perhaps areas where we should be stronger.

We also encourage you to go out and find people who want exposure in the industry in specific areas and give your smart friends on here a nudge to be more than lurkers and participate. It's content--content which sometimes gets coopted by mainstream trade press that makes this site useful to everyone and as an Adhole, everyone has a duty to make it better if we want to make this industry better!

Here's a start on suggested categories:

Ad Critique Stupid Agency Tricks New New Media Trends and Forecasts Rants and Raves User News

(login to vote or comment.)
Thursday, July 21, 2005. 04:17PM by Dan Birlew
Branding. A section on Branding. What about a "Global" section to show international work or groups?
Monday, July 18, 2005. 12:44PM by Jon Michael Grusky
Great idea, MarC! How creepy.
Sunday, July 17, 2005. 11:33AM by Marc Lefton
Mark R: we are doing something like that we Talent Zoo...can't discuss the details yet. Re: Insane ramblings... we have a new rating system for blogs. Blogs are rated by owners and moderators and users on a scale of 1-10, with obviously owners having more of an ability to push things in the right direction faster. What's different about the blog ratings from before is that they are now tied to your profile. So, if an insane rambling person always gets voted a 0, their blogs will start out rated a 0 and may not even show up anywhere but on their own profile. We're hoping this means these types of people will go away quicker.
Sunday, July 17, 2005. 11:30AM by Marc Lefton
I agree with Kylin and Mark N about Pet Peeves---best not to encourage these sorts of posts.
Saturday, July 16, 2005. 08:34AM by Mark Roberts
Oh, and we also need an "insane ramblings from attention whore freakshows" section.
Saturday, July 16, 2005. 08:31AM by Mark Roberts
That makes perfect sense regarding the job opportunities, I didn't snap to that. Perhaps you could get with gigspy or talent zoo and set up a job opportunities page, with fields for all the pertinant information, but have it automatically portal over to one of them. Or even just email a rep. The reality is people are going to post jobs up so, perhaps, funneling them in the right direction should be considered.
Saturday, July 16, 2005. 01:38AM by Kylin Johnson
"We're all going to be dead before we know it" is not the most positive statement I've heard today but I do think Pet Peeves can fall into the first half of Rants and Raves.
Friday, July 15, 2005. 06:56PM by x x
I think Pet Peeves is made for negative people. One of my Pet Peeves is Pet Peeves. Not a good way to spend a lifetime. Be positive and make it What We Like...don't be negative, we're all going to be dead before you know it. Immediately trash that idea.
Friday, July 15, 2005. 06:54PM by x x
The blogs tab is important here because (a) it's another way to keep abreast of thoughts and trends mostly pertinent to advertising, and (b) it's really the only way to remind people you exist and get them to come to your page, which spurs networking for personal interests. One thing myspace.com adds to the mix is Bulletins, which can be whatever you want to say and then immediately showing up on your Friends' pages. It's not surprising blogs is important here, it's the main source of interaction and self-publicity.
Friday, July 15, 2005. 12:47PM by Noelle Weaver
I would also think about the things that influence advertising and communications - so maybe a tab called Influencers [where people can post technology, entertainment, etc. entries?]
Friday, July 15, 2005. 11:03AM by Marc Lefton
Branding and Pet Peeves are both good ideas.
Friday, July 15, 2005. 11:02AM by Marc Lefton
Kim--definitely looking to cast a wider net.
Friday, July 15, 2005. 11:02AM by Marc Lefton
Actually, job opportunities is a WHOLE other thread. First of all, while it's great for members of Adholes to have the opportunity to get a job through the site, the way they should be doing it is by networking with each other and asking the new friends they make on here. When someone posts a "help wanted" blog, it really takes away from the core value of the site.

Combine that with the fact that we will soon be partnering with the major ad industry jobs site to provide a way to pay to post jobs and see their jobs as well, posting job blogs would undermine our ability to make income to support the site. In fact, it quite infuriates us when people at large companies are posting help wanted ads when the same companies are paying $500 an ad to post the same thing elsewhere.

That said, I don't want to discourage posts like "I heard O&M is looking at books." But it's too much of a grey area to have to police it. Better yet, agencies should have their own groups on here to post their job listings. That would make things easier for everyone.
Friday, July 15, 2005. 09:59AM by Jeffrey Riman
Pet Peeves (with or without animals)
Friday, July 15, 2005. 09:55AM by MR SLAPPY
Propaganda
Friday, July 15, 2005. 08:01AM by Kim S
Love the brand, brand world idea, job ops is good too. Marc - are you more interested in an ad agency focus or are you open to the wide world of marketing and branding as well? I think we've seen some pretty compelling arguments / blogs on this site that tie advertising to branding... And there's also a few folks who live in the packaging world which in the end is part of the advertising world as well, is it not?
Thursday, July 14, 2005. 08:05PM by Mark Roberts
I would suggest Job Opportunities as well. I thought up some others but really this was the only relevant one. If you divvy it up too much it will get confusing.
Thursday, July 14, 2005. 05:41PM by Bonnie Natko
take this on for size: "it's a brand, brand world"
Thursday, July 14, 2005. 03:57PM by Jesse Tayler
HA! Blog-LURKING ! That's hilarious! Speaking of which...you are kinda cute lookin' there Jon! --
Thursday, July 14, 2005. 02:43PM by Jon Michael Grusky
Just say NO to BLOGLURKING!