Rex Hammock’s RexBlog.com is my personal weblog. On occasion, I may write something insightful, but mainly it’s a place to share observations and arm-chair analysis of business or cultural trends and events I observe (or am involved with). It was created in the year 2000, but because of the Y2K bug that shut down the electrical grid and caused the internet to go offline for 14 months (you remember that, right?), I did not start blogging regularly (too constantly?) until January 1, 2002. The next thing I know, it’s ten years and 8,500 posts later. There would be even more posts, but my Twitter account, @R gets most of the one-liners that used to happen here.
Here are the answers to some questions I am ocasionally asked:
Who is Rex Hammock?
I’m founder/ceo of the customer media and marketing services company, Hammock Inc. Before starting it in 1991 in Nashville, Tennessee, I had stints as the founder/partner of a public relations subsidiary of one of the largest regional advertising agencies in the south, a congressional speech writer and press secretary. I’ve served three two-year terms on the board of the century-old association of business-to-business media companies, American Business Media. In 1999, I was a co-founder of the national trade association today called the Custom Content Council. My wife and I have two incredible children in their early 20s. We have a dog named Kate.
How does one contact Rex Hammock?
Email me at rexhammock@gmail.com or call me at Hammock: 615-690-3400.
How did you get the Twitter username @R?
I asked for it. Actually, the credit goes to a young member of the fictitious club called People Named Rex, Rex Pelcher. I got to know Rex through Twitter where he is (@rex). As I had tried to register that name when Twitter first launched and was unable to get a three-letter name, I asked Rex how he was successful in getting the name. He said, “I asked for it” and then suggested that I ask for “R” as it was still unregistered. And the rest is history. All this happened back when there were maybe five people working at Twitter and Oprah was about three years away from hearing about it.
Where can I find more about Hammock Inc.?
You can learn about Hammock Inc. at the convenient to remember web address Hammock.com. However, I can tell you this much without making you click over there and be disappointed: we don’t sell hammocks. However, I do recommend a camping hammock if you’re in the market for one those: the
Why do you (keep, have, do) a blog?
I see this blog simply as my base for my part of a bigger conversation that is taking place. To me, having a blog is like having access to a phone or to email. Except, with a blog, you have a platform to say your piece to anyone who wants to hear. If this isn’t a long enough answer, here is link to an answer to this question that will put you to sleep.
What is your business model for this blog?
Oh, you noticed! This blog doesn’t carry advertising.
In reality, however, this blog is advertising. This blog is like the telephone or email or any means I have to communicate with people who may turn into employees or partners or customers or referrers.
I do, however, have one direct means of generating revenue from this blog, but it rarely generates much…
The last time I checked, I directly earned about $30 a year from the affiliate account I set up on that I point links to if they are products that are sold there. Here’s a link to the Amazon.com affiliate commission schedule that I’ve never taken the time to read.
How do you find the time to do your blog?
Most of the time-stamps on posts are very early in the morning, or late at night. I used to post short items during the day. Those are now tweets. How do I find time to tweet? I don’t eat.
How much time do you search for stories to link to?
Again, I could not do this in the limited time it takes were it not for the amazing Goggle hacks and RSS tools that work in the background to keep me from having to search for news by going from site-to-site.
Is there an archive of this blog?
Look over on the right hand column. You can use the calendar to access specific days. Also, there is a search box in the right-hand column.
What subjects are covered by the rexblog?
Most days, I focus on topics of interest to me professionally: primarily, different ways savvy companies and other organizations use media (traditional and new) they create and manage themselves (or with help from companies like Hammock) to communicate directly with customers in all sorts of ways. I call this customer media. Others call it things like “content marketing,” a term I’ve never quite understood.
On another website, RexHammock.com , I write about and link to things that are not about any “professional” passions.
What’s the deal with you being the first White House blogger?
Rather than answer that here, I’ll just link to several posts on that topic .
Why don’t you run your posts thru a spell-check?
In the early days of this blog, my blogging tool had no spell-checker. I’m trying harder now that I use a tool that does. It still doesn’t always work. If the editors at Hammock weren’t busy working for and being paid by clients to edit their content, I’d probably run what I write here past them. (Those who actually read this blog are quick to IM me if they see something grossly screwed up.)
Why is there a picture of a lard can on the top of right column?
Because lard is the substance you are left with when you boil down hog fat, a fitting metaphor to what one has after spending time reading this stuff. Also, when used as a verb, lard means to enrich or lace heavily with extra material or to embellish. Actually, my wife found that neat Rex Lard can at a flea market in Maine and I thought it would look good up there. That was in 1999. Wait, there’s more written here about the Rex Lard can.
What are the copyright restrictions on using content from rexblog?
Rexblog is covered by the Creative Commons Deed called, “Attributioin-NonCommerical-NoDerivs 2.5 .” If you’d like to do something more than what is covered by that deed, feel free to contact me.
No one actually asked the question, but here are some places you’ll find me online.:
[Tumblr] RexHammock.com
[Twitter] @R
[Flickr] Flickr.com/rexblog
[YouTube] YouTube.com/rexhammock
[Delicious] Delicious.com/rexblog
[Google+] Google.com/profiles/rexhammock
