AdWeek: Brands Grab Web Video's Long Tail

Xeni Jardin isn't exactly a household name, but she has a sizable following. As one of the creators of the popular blog Boing Boing, Jardin's a bona fide Web celebrity. Now, Microsoft is hoping she can lend some small-wattage star power to its "I'm Initiative," which promotes Microsoft instant-messaging and e-mail by tying them to social causes. Through a deal brokered by Federated Media, Microsoft is underwriting episodes of a new Jardin-produced Web series, "Boing Boing TV World," which gives snapshots of international cultures.

Wired News: Harry McCracken Joins the Federated Media Family

"Harry McCracken, former editor of PC World, says he's starting a new site, Technologizer, which will be part of the Federated Media family. McCracken, who announced plans to leave last month, had his last day on June 2, which gave him very little time between gigs: He's rolling out a preview of Technologizer tomorrow and says he'll have the site up in full swing this summer."

Heather Armstrong of Dooce is making the rounds at the nation's major media outlets. Here's a great segment on Nightline. And here she is on the Today Show:

Times Online UK - Heather Armstrong’s blog splits family but wins millions of fans

"Armstrong’s readiness to air online the most intimate details of her family life have earned her the kind of following that many commercial websites would envy. With her site now recording 4m page views a month, she ranks 47th in popularity among the estimated 110m blogs on the internet."

Good Housekeeping taps Dad Gone Mad

"I was working for a Fortune 500 HMO when I started Dad Gone Mad, and I started it because I needed a receptacle for what little sanity I had left. After long days writing variations on the theme "No, we won't cover your perfectly reasonable medical procedures because one of our stakeholders needs a new yacht," I needed something for me. Something that reminded me I was human despite having sold out to Corporate America."

NPR: Digital DIY - Web Helps Do-It-Yourselfers Share Ethic

"Torrone says one aesthetic that DIYers embrace — in a big way — is re-purposing objects from every day life, often by modifying (or "modding") them. For this crowd, hacking involves hardware, not just electronics. 'If you just Google anything in your home, there's probably a hack or a mod for it,' Torrone says. 'And there's probably someone who's completely obsessed with it, there's probably someone who has completely taken something apart, completely tweaked it out, made it better.'"

MarketWatch Interviews Jimmy Wales

Guardian covers Boing Boing

"We started thinking about BoingBoing TV probably about two years ago, when a lot of the major networks and studios started calling us and saying they were interested in doing something," Frauenfelder says. "We talked to them, but we realised that, in fact, we had an opportunity to do it ourselves, because the costs are so low. You really can do online video for next to nothing, so why not try to do it ourselves first and see what happens?"

Conde Nast Portfolio Interviews Michael Arrington of TechCrunch

"TechCrunch is the talk of Silicon Valley. Now the founder of the blog talks about the battle between Microsoft and Yahoo, Barry Diller, and why he says Gawker Media’s Nick Denton is 'amoral.'"

Small Business Trends in the NY Times

"Those already running small businesses are the audience for Anita P. Campbell’s blog, smallbiztrends.com, which she began in 2003. It draws some 100,000 readers monthly.

Some of her most popular entries recently have been about how to avoid employee embezzlement, top marketing secrets and what to do if your Web site is hacked — like hers was once.

She also posts guest columns from small-business experts. But mostly Ms. Campbell, who operates from Medina, Ohio, tries to talk about 'real-life situations to make blogging more real and valuable.'"

The AP taps Celebrity Baby Blog

"Danielle Friedland, who runs Celebrity Baby Blog, said the craving for celebrity news is fueled by the tabloid media.'Celebrities always have children... it's just that we're paying so much more attention to them right now,' Friedland said. 'The more that we see of them, the more we want.'"

VentureBeat: Actually, social networks and their widgets are making money, thanks

"[Dell] is working with ad company called Federated Media and a Facebook application that lets you draw artwork and feature it on user profiles, called Graffiti... This campaign was a success because Dell both promoted something people cared about and reached out to them through a medium they cared about. The Graffiti application has more than 8.6 million total members and 253,830 daily active users (as of today)."

LA Times: Facebook's excellent graffiti epidemic

"Facebook's Graffiti application is wrapping up its "ReGeneration Contest," sponsored by Dell, where online artists were invited to use the app's painting tools to 'explain what green means to you.'"

Advertising Age: JCPenney Feels the Marketing Power of Link Love

"Federated Media and JC Penney teamed up to launch the Fall Shopping Guide, a collection of content from popular woman-focused blogs prominently sponsored by the retailer's Chris Madden Collection."

The Washington Post: Hey, Isn't That....

The Washington Post takes on the issue of private images being shanghai'ed for commercial uses, and a scandal involving Sweetney is the case in point.

AllBusiness.com: The Secret of GigaOM's Success

This business publication interviews Om Malik about how he took GigaOM from casual blog to full-time business.

The New York Post: Giving an Obsessive Baseball Web Site Its Due

"The Internet is not an artificial intelligence program, but the product of the work of billions of people, very few of whom receive their due. Among them is Sean Forman. You may not know who he is, but you should send him money.... Forman runs Baseball-Reference.com, which has for years been the single most valuable baseball Web site anywhere."

Wall Street Journal: Happy Blogiversary

Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the emergence of blogging as a notable cultural trend, The Wall Street Journal considers the elevation of blogs from nerd 'soap-boxes' and to a position on the must-read lists of celebrities. In a video feature, Dennis Yang maps out how his team of analysts puts together TechDirt (a favorite of Jim Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist) each day in their 'virtual news room'. David Pescovitz and Cory Doctorow discuss how BoingBoing draws an international audience (which includes actress Mia Farrow) by creating a "cabinet of curiosities".

Time: 25 Sites We Can't Live Without & 50 Best Websites of 2007

Time features Digg.com on their list of 25 We Can't Live Without, as "the leader in social news". Time also places Newsvine on their 50 Best Websites of 2007 list, as the place to "see what everybody is talking about right now, and add your two cents."

Times Online: Ten Ways to Get Rich Blogging

The Times Online knows how to get rich online: get sacked. And they learned it from Heather Armstrong of Dooce.

"In 2007, her site, Dooce, is still the only blog in the top 100 aimed specifically at women."

Newsweek: The Checklist: Our Top Picks for the Week Ahead

Newsweek selects NotCouture-- a new fashion website by NotCot-- for its picks of the week. In print, located on page 58, Newsweek advises readers to:

"SURF notcouture.com. Submit posts to this design-centric fashion Web site where editors pick the most stylish products for public viewing and voting and, of course, buying."

The Washington Post: 100 Blogs We Love

The Washington Post publishes PC World's blogroll and FM Authors comprise a whopping 15% of the editors' "favorite stops in the blogosphere...covering everything from high tech to low comedy":

TechCrunch, Ars Journals, ReadWriteWeb, GigaOm, Searchblog, Treonauts, Wi-Fi Networking News, Ed Bott's Windows Expertise, BuzzMachine, Cartoon Brew, Laughing Squid, Reality Blurred, Boing Boing, Make, 43 Folders.

USA Today: Tech Blogs Go from Hobbies to Businesses

USA Today profiles Michael Arrington of TechCrunch and Om Malik of GigaOm, chronicling the rapid rise of their sites from hobbies to must-read tech publications--and perhaps, someday, into mini-media empires.

ClickZ: Knowledgeable Ninja to Fans: Search at Ask.com, Get Bonus Clips

"What do you get when you cross a ninja with one of those live-read radio sponsorships of old?" asks ClickZ. "Answer: Ask.com's latest digital ad initiative." ClickZ profiles the integrated Ask.com sponsorship of Ask a Ninja and describes FM as a conversational marketing leader.

USA Today: See All Sorts of Moms in the Stars
USA Today asks Danielle Friedland, of Celebrity Baby Blog, to classify the mothering-styles of some super-star moms.

NPR: Got a Question? Ask a Ninja
NPR spotlights Ask a Ninja as the prime-time equivalent on the web. "If you've missed it, you haven't been spending enough time online. Ask a Ninja videos are viewed half a million times within two weeks of their release."

Puppet Vision Blog: Innovative Podcasting Sponsorship
A creative sponsorship, integrating Ask A Ninja video clips with Ask.com search results, earns the praise of Puppet Vision.

"This is a brilliant example of direct sponsorship because the promotion has viewers actually use the sponsor's product and immediately rewards them for their effort with a short video. It's simple, it's honest and a win-win for everybody. The Ask A Ninja guys gets sponsorship, Ask.com gets new people trying their search engine and fans of the show get a short bonus video."

San Jose Mercury News `Ask a Ninja' is a Web hit
The Mercury News follows "one of the most popular independent video podcasts on the Web," May 19, 2007.

Fark.com: Making Money Off of Goofy News
NPR presents a feature on Drew Curtis and Fark, aired May 5, 2007.

Time Magazine: The Style & Design 100
MoCo Loco gets listed on the magazine's top 100 list.

USA Today: 15 More Persons of Baseball Influence
Sean Forman of Sports Reference gets pegged as an influencer.

The next wave: Ex-WTAE anchor Scott Baker changes channel to run Web news site
A profile of Breitbart.com and the upcoming Breitbart.tv

NPR's Morning Edition: Are Any Podcasters Making Money?
Ask a Ninja (and FM) get a mention on public radio.

PC World: The 50 Most Important People on the Web
The article cites FM founder John Battelle, as well as authors Jimmy Wales, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, Michael Arrington, Kevin Rose and Drew Curtis.

Sports Business Journal: ProTrade Market Will Become More Lucrative (PDF)

Oakland Business Review: Royal Oak writer finds fame and - surprise! - cash in blogosphere
Features Suburban Bliss author Melissa Summers.

Editor and Publisher: Embedding in Second Life
Features New World Notes author Wagner James Au.

FastCompany: 12 Podcasts You Should Be Listening To
Features FM authors John Jantsch, of Duct Tape Marketing, and Om Malik, of GigaOm.

Today: Do playdates and happy hour mix?
Featuring Melissa Summers from SuburbanBliss.com.

BusinessWeek: How to Make Money With Videoblogging? Ask Ask A Ninja

Forbes: The Top 25 Web Celebs
Nine FM authors, and one fictional character, are represented.

USA Today: 'Hipster Dads' Trying Hard to Keep Their Cool
Quotes Jason Avant, of DadCentric.

BusinessWeek: Valley Boys
Featuring Digg founder Kevin Rose as leader of "a new brat pack of young entrepreneurs."