The winner gets a full editorial briefing from the company, followed by a weekly 250 word article written and uploaded to the winner’s blog for 52 consecutive weeks.

According to Emily Hill, Managing Director of Write My Site, the competition was designed to remove the key barrier to many brands launching and maintaining their own blogs: lack of time.

“With the guarantee of a weekly article, the winning brand never has to worry that their blog will look out of date”, she said.

The winning brand will own full copyright to the content and will be able to add their own material if they wish.

Search and digital agencies are also eligible to enter the competition. If successful they can use the prize for one of their clients, or for their own blogs.

Launched at Marketing Week Live 2011 event on 29 June, the competition is open until 31 August.

To enter, follow @writemysite and write a tweet containing the hashtag #yearblog or like the Write My Site fan page on Facebook and post an entry on the wall containing the phrase ‘yearblog’.

The winner will be announced on 6 September 2011.

Inspired by the recent invention of being able to transmit proper holograms in real time, Brooker takes aim at 3D technology in general, declaring it extremely underwhelming and confusing.

In his article, Brooker complains about the few options currently available for 3D (including Are You Smarter Than a 10 Year Old? hosted by Noel Edmonds) as well as the physical difficulties of watching 3D TV.

“Oh, and forget lying sideways on the sofa while watching the bloody thing”, Brooker writes.

“Doing that knackers the picture up, too. Instead, you have to keep your head level throughout – sitting there, bolt upright, like an obedient prisoner, watching Noel Edmonds ask quiz questions in 3D.”

And apart from the technology itself, Brooker also slates one of its most known ambassadors – the Avatar film.

“A humourless fable about a bunch of sanctimonious, stand-offish jungle-smurfs who spend their days running around in thongs, attacking explorers, interfering with sky-horses, and obstinately halting the march of progress for the sake of a poxy tree. Watching the Na’vi (see? even their name is obnoxious) mope and moan in three dimensions simply made them more real, and therefore more objectionable.”

Read the full article from Brooker’s blog.

Profile

Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. is a Cuban-American blogger, TV personality and the man behind the famous celebrity blog Perezhilton.com.

Born in Miami, Florida on 23 March 1978, Lavandeira studied at New York University graduating in 2000 with a BFA in Drama.

Before his blogging career, Lavandeira tried a career as an actor. He also worked as a receptionist, freelance journalist, media relations assistant and was briefly the managing editor of gay magazine Instinct.

Currently living in Hollywood, Lavandeira has said he started blogging as a hobby because “it seemed easy”. Since launching in 2004, Perezhilton.com has become one of the most visited blogs in the world, attracting millions of readers a month.

A Guardian News Feed plug-in, released on 2 July, enables WordPress users to search and browse for Guardian articles and publish them on their own blog with added commentary.

Bloggers are allowed to publish the articles in full with images with only a few restrictions. No changes to the text are allowed and additional commentary will have to be clearly separated from the original article.

The move will further strengthen The Guardian’s position as one of UK’s leading news websites. It will increase the visibility of the website itself as well as the online presence of its advertisers. Naturally, the ads come with the articles.

To read more and install the plug-in go to:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/open-platform/news-feed-wordpress-plugin

CNN is planning to integrate social media as a more substantial part of its website, Mediaweek reports.

In addition to new blogs being launched on food and health, regular columns from tech experts, such as Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore, Farhad Manjoo from Slate and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, are set to be kicked off.

Already up and running are ‘This Just In’ and ‘Afganistan Crossroads’, the first featuring the most immediate information on breaking news whereas the latter offers an in-depth in look into the ongoing war and its impacts.

The channel is also looking to introduce a new feature, dubbed ‘Trending Now’, to help visitors find the most commented-on topics both on the site itself and on social networking sites.

The future plans also include a full integration of Facebook as a permanent part of the site. CNN has already utilised the social media giant successfully, for example in its coverage of President Obama’s inauguration.

Source: Mediaweek

The Huffington Post launched in 2005 aiming to provide a commentary outlet for liberal viewpoints. What started as a project for a few enthusiastic writers is today a social hub with, according to the co-founder Ariana Huffington, an active community of over 20 million web users.

The monthly visitor numbers don’t fall too short of those of other media outlets either. According to the web researcher comScore, The Huffington Post had about 9 million unique visitors last November. In the same month, NYTimes.com, one of the biggest news website in the US, recorded 16.6 million unique visitors.

The Huffington Post offers a good example of how Web 2.0 gives anyone a chance to get their message heard – and to make money.

According to The Guardian, The Huffington Post had revenues of $12m-$16m last year. In total, the publication is estimated to be worth over $100 million.

So what was it that made the site such a hit?

Ariana Huffington herself believes that blogs appeal to a desire of the public to engage and comment, rather than just consume news.

During the BBC programme Virtual Revolution Huffington also stressed that transparency is an essential part of new media. Perhaps it is this openness and accountability to its readership which has made The Huffington Post a leader in its field.

Have a look at The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Feature article

With Web 2.0 no longer a cryptic name, blogging is as popular as it ever was. Thanks to the huge popularity of social media tools like Twitter, people seem to have got past the final remnants of web shyness and blogs are blooming.

Read our feature article – ‘Why do we need blogs?’

Blogs were first published in the mid 1990s, but it was the introduction of simple blogging tools a few years later that really triggered the masses to join in.

According to BlogPulse, there are currently over 126 million blogs in the world. Some of these have gone from humble roots to being fully fledged, authoritative news websites. Blogs like Tech Crunch, Huffington Post and Perezhilton can all be found in the top 10 of the Guardian’s listing of the 50 most powerful blogs in the world.

That’s all great, but what really interests us is the grass-roots level. Why do ordinary people and small companies start blogging? Where does the time come from to update them and is it worth all the trouble?

Real value from the community

Steve Boneham, a Consultant Trainer at staff development organisation Netskills, teaches about the social aspects of the web – and does what he teaches.

Steve updates his blog regularly but blogging is something he sees as a personal reflection and a clarification of ideas – writing is something that forces you to format your thoughts.

He said: ”The blog is a key part of my online presence – a place where I can aggregate and curate content, both my own and from around the web, for discussion with people in my network or community.”

According to Steve, the community is also the thing that generated the value of the blog.

He said: “It’s certainly nice to see stats that show people are visiting, but real value comes from those who contribute to the conversations through their comments.”

Online presence is something Steve sees as vitally important. However, a fully fledged blog can be a big commitment, especially on top of a number of other social media activities.

But there are ways to tackle this, Steve reminds us. Aggregation services such as Flavors.me,  FriendFeed and Tumblr help in creating a website from personal content across the web.

Full control of content

Jason Falls, US social media expert points to a key difference between blogs and other social media outputs.

He writes: “You can control your blog completely. Focusing that content on winning search results is easier to execute than on Facebook or Twitter.”

Controlling your online reputation is something that makes social engagements less attractive for companies. However, Falls also points out, that blogs can be a hub for connecting with customers and therefore they are an opportunity not to be missed.

He writes: “The more search traffic you can drive, coupled with the social media traffic you move from your outposts, the more your efforts are optimized.”

Case Study:

The Huffington Post – Blogging turned into a (multimillion!) business

What started as a project for a few enthusiastic writers is today a social hub with, according to the co-founder Ariana Huffington, an active community of over 20 million web users. Read more…

Quote

A blog is a message in a bottle, both in purpose and likely readership.  ~Robert Brault