Remember MSN Spaces? MSN Spaces is set for a major upgrade to incorporate a revenue-sharing advertising option and a new partnership with Amazon.com. (link: eweek.com)

What BusinessWeek blogger Stephen Baker said: “This is the weirdness of blogging in today’s mainstream pubs.” (Pointing to former BusinessWeek Senior Writer Gary Weiss blog analysis of disappointing numbers at BusinessWeek.)

Technorati Tags: blogging, magazines

Why I am linking to this post on Guy Kawasaki’s weblog: In it, he speaks like a real, uh, guy. There are NO numbers in front of every paragraph. I like linking to posts with no numbers in front of every paragraph. All I can add is, laissez les bon temps rouler.

Technorati Tags: blogging

How to convince people your competitor’s new idea is better than yours: Yesterday, I was listening to coverage on NPR about how the new Steven Soderbergh film, Bubble, will be released in theaters, on DVD and on cable within a four-day span beginning Friday. From reading his blog, I knew that Mark Cuban is the connector between all of the pieces of this new strategy. What I noticed yesterday was that no one representing the traditional Hollywood studios or theater chains or directors who were interviewed said anything like, “Our way is better, so we don’t really consider this a threat.” It was more, “this is absurd.” I’ve never heard a more defensive crowd and the implication that “we’ll get them back” was thinly veiled in the comments.

As those who read Mark Cuban’s weblog know, he’s not one to hold back when he or one of his companies come under attack. His post today is a must-read on so many levels. Most importantly, it echoes something that Dave Winer wrote yesterday about how to respond to competition’s product or innovation. Mark and Dave both observe that when a product is challenged by something new, the natural reaction by a lot of companies (and the people who speak for them) is to attack “the new” (and even the individuals creating the new) rather than using the occasion to convince us of the superiority of their own product. How dumb is that? Such defensiveness only convinces customers that “the new” must be better.

Seeing the light? My, those guys at Forbes have come a long way in a couple of months:

Cover story, 11.14.05 issue:

“Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective.”

Online feature, 1.25.06:

“Blogs are a concrete new form of media and communications, as well as a new business opportunity…Over the next few years, businesses will figure out how to use blogs to develop whole new relationships between businesses and their customers and partners.”

Technorati Tags: blogging, businessblogs, smallbusiness

Understanding Wikipedia: via Dave, a belated point to a a Village Voice story on Wikipedia. It’s worth a read because it does not fall into the two clichéd camps of most coverage of Wikipedia: That it’s one of the following: 1. Nirvana (the state of being, not the band); or, 2. Evil. The article’s take (and mine): Like most things important in life, Wikipedia is both…and neither. (I’ll be adding more to this post later today.)

Technorati Tags: smallbusiness.com, wiki, wikipedia