Comments on: british blogging

By: Martin Stabe

Martin Stabe — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 23:57:12 +0000

British blogosphere behind, not just in politics

The state of the British blogosphere compared the the apparently more vibrant one across the Atlantic is back on the agenda. On the Observer blog, Rafael Behr muses: There aren’t all that many blogs in the UK, probably around 900,000,…

By: Broadband Stars - Covering the social media revolution

Broadband Stars - Covering the social media revolution — Mon, 23 May 2005 07:07:51 +0000

Britain’s Missing Bloggers

Looked for some British blogs about the new media scene and found them conspicuous by their absence.

By: NevOn

NevOn — Sun, 22 May 2005 00:29:20 +0000

Upcoming geek extravaganza in London

The last time I looked at the sign-up wiki for the London geek dinner next month, there were some 80 names. I looked again just now — and it’s 127. Wow! It would be an easy conclusion to jump to

By: Peter Cooper

Peter Cooper — Sat, 21 May 2005 20:51:32 +0000

Like some other bloggers, I don’t affirm myself as being English. I am, of course, but I tend to live in the American world when online. My first three years of blogging was on .com domains with little way to tell I’m English, and even though I’m now on a .co.uk, most of the stuff I rave on about is US-centric.
You’re right, of course, but I don’t think it’s blogosphere specific.. it’s specific to everything on the net. The US is the primary Internet culture for English speaking users, but I don’t mind it that way.

By: Barry Dorrans

Barry Dorrans — Sat, 21 May 2005 19:38:33 +0000

Is being an a-list important? Come on, the majority of us do it because it’s fun, not for marketing reasons. Well fun, or an ego trip (usually both — the same reasons I’m now coding for subText).
Is it really a blogging confab, or a meeting of people wanting to rub shoulders with Robert and yourself? (Personally I want to see how much I could get a custom blog card design from you for )

By: Paul Hannay

Paul Hannay — Sat, 21 May 2005 18:54:40 +0000

You make an interesting point Hugh.
I’ve just checked my bloglines feed and of the nineteen blogs I subscribe to, only one is British — Johnnie Moore (who like yourself, I’m looking forward to meeting next month at Reboot in Copenhagen).
Coincidentally, I was working with an Ad agency in Edinburgh last week where we talked about the growing desire for customer experiences — especially when selecting between abundant me-too choices.
We all pretty much agreed that more and more people are looking for authenticity and meaning these days, and that blogs were a great vehicle for engaging authentic discussions.
Then the silence … as the great unspoken filled the room.
The current advertising model is of course based largely on inauthenticity.
Bugger. Totally fresh thinking required.
Having recently returned to the UK after living and working in little ol’ creative New Zealand for 10 years, I’ve noticed that not as many folk seem to get excited about the possibilities of fresh or disruptive business thinking here.
Of course it could be that I’m just hanging out with the wrong people, which is why I guess I’m looking forward so much to Reboot.
On a personal note Hugh, I am always inspired by the risks to your ego you take with your writing, and I hope you continue firing my synapses well into the future.
Warm regards,
Paul.

By: frosty

frosty — Sat, 21 May 2005 18:22:23 +0000

I think one of the most interesting things about blogging is how much spontaneous self-organization there is.
Take a couple of people with good and popular blogs, book a restaurant in a major city, throw together a WiKi for people to invite themselves — and wham, instant conference.
I don’t know if this is a first, but it could easily become a trend.
Consider this: lots of people make money organizing just such a thing. And lots of people pay to register and go; others are paid to go and speak; etc etc. And here you can get the same result (or maybe better) without those layers of expensive (dis)organization.
Now imagine this spreading beyond blogger meetups into industries that traditionally spend a lot of money on their face-to-face gatherings.
You’ll find out in June how serious this is, but from here it looks like you’ve hit upon something big. If I were in the UK I’d go for sure.