Together with Jason Schramm from Shiwej, I’ve decided to start a guestblogging series which will run on both our blogs at about the same time.
Today (January 14th, 2006) is the tenth and last interview in this series, and to end in style we feature the famous Robert Scoble, Microsoft’s Tech Evangelist and Geek Blogger.
1. How did you get into blogging?
I was helping plan the 2000 CNET Builder.com Live! Conference and two of the speakers told me that we should think about blogging. They were Dave Winer, http://www.scripting.com, and Dori Smith, http://www.backupbrain.com. They didn’t convince me it was important enough for the conference to worry about (I could only find a couple hundred blogs back then) but they convinced me to write about my experiences behind the scenes.
2. What is your blog’s name, what is it about?
http://scobleizer.wordpress.com is just ‘the Scobleizer’ to most. Microsoft’s Geek Blogger to others. Anyway, it’s about the tech industry and what I am excited about. Often Tablet PCs, SmartPhones, Xbox 360s, and such.
3. Are there any policies you follow when reporting on an issue?
Be smart. I try to have my facts right, and if it’s something that could be explosive I get input from the people directly involved. Often, though, I’ll post something even before that just to show that I’ve seen the issue and I’m paying attention to it. I wrote a whole book, Naked Conversations, http://www.nakedconversations.com, along with Shel Israel, who was a PR guy in Silicon Valley, though, and it talks at length about policies and best practices.
4. What guidelines do you follow when linking to an outside source?
Link early and often. I link to everyone whether they are on our side or not.
5. Do you think you are trustworthy? Why do your readers trust you?
I try to be. Why do they trust me? I am not so arrogant as to believe that they do. A good reader will always get a few opinions on something and check it out for him or herself. That said, I’ve gotten a bit of readership because I’m not afraid to attack my own company when wrong, and praise a competitor when they do something great.
6. Do you think bloggers should be treated as journalists and be privy to the rights and protections that journalists enjoy?
That’s an interesting question. Should bloggers all get back stage passes to concerts? Some bloggers probably deserve that because they’ve gotten a large audience that cares about the band. But other bloggers shouldn’t. I hate entitlements. Just because you blog doesn’t mean you’re a full-fledged journalist who should get free passes to conferences. That said, I believe legal protections given to journalists should be given to bloggers. And, so should the legal consequences if a blogger slanders or libels someone.
Hope that helps!
Initiated together with Jason Schramm, this guest blogging series will continue to make people aware of the power of linking and the need to give credit to the people who earn it.
Together, we’re improving the Blogosphere, you can help too if you start linking here !
And be sure to check out Jason’s post here.
Note :
Jason and I are not related but have a common field. Jason writes for the BlogNewsChannel, and takes care of Apple Watch, very surprisingly the Apple section of Nathan’s network.
I sometimes write on Inside Google & Inside Microsoft.