I am so excited as
Ian Kennedy was so kind to interview with me. Just as the title says...check out the about me widget on my sidebar and look at the last social network on the list...you got it..
.Activerain!
Are you the Tom (friend on everyone's MySpace) on mybloglog, what exactly is your job title and what do you do?
"I'm the product manager which to me is like the conductor of a very
talented group of developers that build and maintain the site. I try and keep my ear to the ground to get a sense of what our audience of users are looking for in the way of features and strike up a beat and tempo to meet their needs."
Can you tell us what you like to do for fun? A little personal info?
"If you look at the tag cloud on my profile
(http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/iankennedy/tags/) you'll see a couple of things. I am half-Japanese so enjoy keeping up with trends back home in Tokyo. I also enjoy cycling and once upon a time took six months off between jobs to ride across Europe."
What inspires you?
"Shipping cool features for
MyBlogLog users of course! I think we're in a very interesting time where the things we do on-line will allow us to connect in new ways.
Social Networks are breaking out of their containers so that what we do on-line spills over from one network to another.
MyBlogLog helps enable that. I live for the moments when people meet in real life and connect in a richer, more meaningful way because of how much they have interacted on-line."
A motto you live by?
"While it's important to listen to your customers and ride the wave of where the market is going, in order to build something truly transformational, you sometimes need to stick to your guns. My favorite quote along those lines is from Henry Ford, "If I'd listened to customers, I'd have given them a faster horse"
Your avatar....why the sunglasses?
"No reason really. I'm horribly camera shy so this is one of the few pictures I have of myself. It was taken by Todd Sampson, the co-founder of
MyBlogLog when we were out for a sail on his boat. I was very happy that day and this avatar reminds me of that day."
Any ideas for SEO on yahoo?
"Write consistently good stuff that people enjoy sharing and linking to. There's no shortcut to a good reputation on-line - it takes time, focus, and patience."
What do you like best about your job?
"The freedom to run a business and engage with my customers to build a great experience with the backing and support of a top-notch infrastructure group that is Yahoo!
What do you like the least about your job?
"Dealing with things that get in the way of the previous point."
We're also short a Community Manager because Robyn Tippins has left us to work on another project here at
Yahoo!
so until we find the right person to step in there, we're a little short on bandwidth for another contest."
The mybloglog contest...I noticed you were out and about and joining communities, what did you think about the top 10 that made the list?
"I loved the fact that winner
, Leo Gartsbeyn, shared some of his prizes with people that joined his community. "Sharing the love" is what we like to call it around here.
Successful bloggers are all about shining the spotlight on someone else and I'm really pleased that it worked for Leo. He wrote a great article about how he went about winning the contest which is well worth a read."
Why do you all offer the free version of mybloglog?
"The free version is so that the community can grow organically. Those that want a little more from the service need to pay a little more and that's really to keep a cap on too many people hitting our site with the advanced features which would make it very expensive to run the service."
What are the benefits of the paid version vs. the free version?
"Primarily it's the stats. With a PRO account ($3/month or $25/year per blog) you get intra-day stats and historical reports. There's more detail on our Help site:
If there is one piece of advice you can give bloggers what would it be?
Start out with a couple of things nailed down because it's hard to change course mid-stream.
1. Pick a
blogging platform you're
comfortable with and can customize as you grow more proficient.
2. Pick a domain name so that you can move your blog and readers along with you.
3. Pick a topic that's narrowly focused enough so that you can define your target audience.
Sorry, that's three pieces of advice but if you roll it up into one, it's making a choice and sticking with it. Unless you're an excellent writer, no one wants to read the Rambling Musings of. . . type of blogs.
What do you think of this whole social network thing...is it a fad?
It's evolving. Friendster begot
MySpace begot Facebook. I think people are starting to realize that no single service can contain someone's varied interest. We all have profiles spread out across the Internet. The next phase will consist of services that bring it all together around the individual, not a service. The internet should be about People, not sites.
Anything new coming up with yahoo or mybloglog you would like to share.
We also added fields where you can add pointers to your ActiveRain, Trulia, and
Zillow profiles which will show up in your email signature and
About Me widget.
As for the future, stay tuned for the New with Me feature which will aggregate your updates from some of the sites you've added to your profile's Services tab making your profile a more dynamic and relevant representation of what you and your contacts on
MyBlogLog have been up to.
One more important question Ian I forgot to ask you...can you explain the purpose of tags...and why its important to use them?
Tags are a way to quickly and easily add context to either a community or person you see on MyBlogLog.
We use the tags right now to help surface relevant profiles on MyBlogLog when you use the search box.
Try to search for "aviation" or "real estate" and you'll find that we have a rich community of sites that may get lost in the noise of a search on a more general search engine.
I need to explain why I thought he was the Tom on
Mybloglog, he does interact with the members, comments, visits and joins communities...You Rock Ian and love the new updated widget...and to think you remembered to add my Activerain!
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by The Activerain Network and it's members and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of Midori Miller and CENTURY 21 Sundance Realty. Midori Miller and CENTURY21 Sundance Realty are not responsible for the accuracy or content provided by The Community.
Midori Miller Daytona Real Estate Trainer CENTURY 21 Sundance Realty | Work: 386-756-6800 Mobile: 386-453-3236 midorimiller@yahoo.com |  |
transforming lives one person at a time! |
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