duncanriley.com

Category: Web 2.0

  • ABC Fucks Up Web Terminology Again

    And this time it doesn’t come from someone called Tony

    Hate site targets Trinity’s accused killer

    Queensland police are monitoring a social networking site set up to vilify a man charged with the murder of eight-year-old Trinity Bates from Bundaberg.

    Except it’s not a social networking site that has been set up, it’s a Facebook group. But wait, later in the article

    Within an hour of Slater’s court appearance, more than 300 members had joined the Facebook group.

    It’s one thing to completely fuck up web 101 terminology, but it takes a specially inept sort of reporter to contradict herself in the same article 🙂

    Of note: it’s a bit of a beat up to begin with. The Facebook group is here. It’s basically people talking about capital punishment for child killers, and a couple of nasty words…the same sort of stuff you’d hear after something like this on say…well…ABC Local Radio 🙂

  • If You Wan’t To Know The Relevance Of b5media Today…

    Hit Google News.

    Hit Google Blog Search.

    Over 50 bloggers were fired from what was once the third largest blog network, a network that has taken $8m in funding, and hardly anyone wrote about it.

    They’ve also launched a new site today. The interwebs are silent.

    A couple of people who did write about it
    Tyme White: b5media, Crushable, and protecting yourself as a writer
    Roberta Ferguson: b5Media opens fire on the entire entertainment channel, fires 50 bloggers
    Meida Bistro: B5Media Terminates Entire Entertainment Network; 50 Freelance & Full-Time Bloggers Gone
    Trus Hussey: How the Mighty Have Fallen: b5media Shutters a Prime Channel
    Gary Conn: B5media Fires 50 Entertainment Bloggers

  • The end of b5media

    Mass Firings At b5media: Entire Entertainment Network Shut

    I’m not happy about it. I’ve settled my differences with the other founders (well, the actual founders, not the interloper), and although there is the odd person who has been fired today I’m happy about, mostly I find the news sad.

    The thing is though: b5media is now terminally fucked.

    It has to be.

    Alexa rank:
    Bizzia 12,949
    Splendicity 16,648
    Blisstree: 12, 949
    Everyjoe: 13,282

    vs: Inquisitr: 7511
    Oh, and I did it on the smell of an oily rag vs $8m.

    Yeah yeah, Alexa isn’t accurate. But if there’s one thing former b5media CEO Jeremy Wright and I’ll both agree on, it’s that a high trafficked site will have a sub 10k Alexa rank. None of b5media’s sites do.

    And now, zero entertainment blogs. Problogger and Digital Photography School don’t count even if listed on the b5 front page; they are Darren Rowse’s blogs and I’d be highly surprised if they are owned by b5media today.

    I’m sure there’s a saying here about orgies in brothels and the ability to organize them…it will come to me 🙂

  • Why Can’t ABC Journos Get Simple Web Descriptions Right?

    Or maybe it’s just ABC Journalists with the first name of Tony?

    On Q&A last week (the school children vs the PM episode) Tony Jones fumbled the name of iiNet, and suggested that people had been downloading pirated movies from “iiNet’s website.”

    The biggest copyright case in Australia in years, and he doesn’t understand that iiNet is a carriage provider and was not providing the content at all.

    Then this morning, Tony Eastley on AM…where do you start here (transcript here.)

    Police in Queensland are working with Interpol to investigate a website that was set up after the stabbing death of the 12 year old Brisbane boy.

    Um, no, it wasn’t a website set up, it was a page, or specifically a group on Facebook. One page on a website of hundreds of millions of pages.

    Overnight Queensland Police began an investigation and officers worked to dismantle the site.

    What, QLD police worked to dismantle Facebook?

    Emily Bourke with that report and Queensland Police have told AM the website has now been taken down.

    What, Facebook has been taken down. OMG.

    Side note: the report claimed they had no idea who had made the attack; without having checked, it doesn’t take an expert to guess that readers of a certain website did it for the lulz.

  • Back In The Top 10 Australian Startups

    When Kim Heras moved the Top 100 Australian startups to Younoodle, we completely disappeared, not helped by the fact that we didn’t even have a Younoodle listing.

    New year and finally we’re back in the Top 10.

    Top 100 Aussie Web Startups

  • LOL: We’re Apparently a Scrapper Site

    There’s been lots of lulz following my reply to Media140 a couple of weeks back, but the best came from one person who claims that The Inquisitr is a scrapper site who copies and pastes content that isn’t our own.

    Let me say up front that roughly 20-30% of our content (sometimes less) is most definitely copied and pasted.

    But here’s the fact that is left off that allegation: we pay for that.

    That is, we pay to syndicate content from AllHeadlineNews and Bang Showbiz.

    Just like a standard newspaper pays to syndicate content from AAP, AFP, AP, Reuters or others.

    Far from an issue that apparently calls The Inquisitr into some sort of doubt, those deals actually represent our maturity as an online news source, in that we happily pay to compliment our original content…just like Newspapers do.

    Going forward, I also won’t rule out that we won’t sign more of these sorts of deals: it’s not as if they replace what we do in house (which drives most of the traffic), as opposed to compliment it (and particularly help us achieve most days 24/7 content.)

    Naturally we’d love to bring on new writers, but likewise money is like a rollercoaster of late (not helped by the GFC): we have never booked a loss since December last year, but likewise some months are spectacular vs others.

    The positive note is that going into December that November is on track to be our best month $ wise on record, be it not the best traffic month. Half time of year, half focus (particularly on tech.)

    If some doubt me, ask our suppliers, or see our long standing text on the copyright page here

  • Did I mention I like the New Technorati?

    And not only because they’re selling more of our ads at late 🙂

    Technorati Top 100: 50-75.
    Top 100 Blogs - 51 to 75 - Technorati

  • Inquisitr case study on Problogger

    Duncan Riley of The Inquisitr Shares a Popular Post Case Study

    The questions were set, so the responses to fit the questions.

    None the less, doing a Q & A like that forces you to think about what you did right and wrong. I actually enjoy it, and some might actually find value in what we’ve revealed.

  • Blue moon and praise for Conroy

    Epic Win: Australian Government to force wholesale separation of Telstra

    This is so much win. It’s win x 1000.

    I don’t believe I’ve been more excited about a Government decision for a very long time.

    Did I say win already?

    Previous notes

    January 2009

    Structural separation, as I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve always argued is the only solution. Telstra retail and wholesale must be split for the common good. If we have the capacity to provide 100mbps connections in capital cities now, it SHOULD BE PROVIDED NOW, not in a year or two when Telstra decides to use it to undermine the competition.

    June 2006

    February 2008

    Solution: structural separation of Telstra. Tax breaks to those offering true high speed internet access. Consider making internet access a tax deduction (which I think in part the Government is already doing)

    March 2007

    If Labor came out and promised this tomorrow (and dropped their ISP level censorship policy) I might even go a spend a couple of hours handing out for them at the polling booth come election day, and that from a 12 year member of the Liberal Party and former Liberal staffer. Here?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s hoping, certainly the ALP is making all the right noises for the IT vote.

  • Quest to 100

    June 22 was a blip, but Technorati has sorted it out ever since, at least we’ve been steady for over a week. Quest to 100.

    The Inquisitr: Blog Reactions on Technorati