Reading and Learning about Blogging and Podcasting - "Naked Conversations" - Part I
In our May 15, 2006 blog we mentioned the book Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. In our view, it is truly one of the very best books on the topic of blogging.
Without a doubt, an important starting point for the whole blogging process is to understand its underlying concepts. Blogging begins with the old-fashioned media known as the printed word. In Naked Conversations, the authors state that the book is all about how and why you should join the conversation of blogging; in addition, the book also tells you how to "blog smart" in order to succeed.
In describing the blogging phenomenon (at page 5), the authors talk about the fact that it is aptly described by the Author-philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who once observed that, "All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; second, it is violently opposed; third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
The authors believe that, at this point, blogging has passed the denial and most of the anger phase.
Perhaps one of the most telling quotes referred to in the book is at page 7, where the authors' cite G.W.F. Hegel and remind us, as Hegel did, that "Nothing great has been and nothing great can be accomplished without passion."
In the first Chapter of the book, the authors point out that perhaps the most telling acceptance of blogging in the corporate world arises out of the fact that Microsoft has embraced the technology. It is clear that the culture of blogging is huge in Microsoft generally and, as a result, a growing level of transparency has been created through the blogging process. The number of visitors that were attracted to the various Microsoft blog pages as of the founding publication of Naked Conversations in 2006 was somewhere between 10 and 10,000 per day.
We plan to continue a further comment on this great book in future blogs. As for other books about podcasting, we suggest you also consider:
- Podcasting for Dummies: A Reference for the Rest of Us, Tee Morris, Evo Terra, Dawn Miceli, Drew Domkus (For Dummies, 2005)
- Podcasting Hacks: Tips & Tools for Blogging Out Loud, Jack D. Herrington (O'Reilly, 2005)
- Podcasting Solutions: The Complete Guide to Podcasting, Michael W. Goeghegan and Dan Klass (Apress, 2005)
- Podcasting: The Do-It-Yourself Guide, Todd Cochrane (Wiley, 2005)
- Secrets of Podcasting: Audio Blogging for the Masses, Bart G. Farknas (Peachpit Press, 2005)
All the best, Suzana and Ian.
Todd - thanks for picking up our typo. And to anyone who's interested, we highly recommend Todd's book.