Technorati recently released their 2008 State of the Blogosphere report. Richard Jalichandra, Technorati’s CEO, discusses the findings of the report, and his thoughts on the blogosphere in general, in the piece below. He immediately points something out that we’ve noticed as well – the line between blogs and other more traditional forms of digital media is becoming thinner and thinner as each adopts characteristics of the other.
From iMedia Connection:

iMedia: Four of the top entertainment sites today are blogs. Is there a difference between blogs and regular sites anymore? Will blogs morph into looking like other sites and vice versa in terms of design, staff, ad sales?
Richard Jalichandra: We’re already seeing this. It’s getting harder and harder to define. Many mainstream media sites are adding blogs and blogging styles into their mix, many of the larger blogs are taking on features of mainstream sites and some blogs have transformed into full-blown mainstream media sites themselves with editorial staffs and business functions. Also, some people use their social networking profiles to blog, and how do you categorize microblogging like Twitter? Think continuum versus category.

Samira Judeh joins FM as a Channels Coordinator. Samira is a Bay Area native with a strong background in Marketing and Customer Relations. She received her Bachelors of Science degree from San Francisco State University and plans to soon work towards a Masters. Samira is a self proclaimed “computer nerd” who loves startups and their vibrant atmosphere. Her previous experience at web startups includes working with both Slide, Inc and Glam Media. She enjoys the little things in life including catching up with family or friends, getting out some much needed laughs at comedy shows, and playing with her two adorable Chihuahuas. She has been an avid swapper for years with MakeupAlley, one of our authors, and believes that “Swapping is better than shopping!” Welcome, Samira!

Nick Kavassalis comes to FM as a Systems Administrator with an extensive technical background as both a software developer, and network and systems architect at several different ISPs and development houses. His career has taken him from developing radiology dosimetry software to building a datacenter from the concrete up. Outside of the tech field, Nick is an avid and compulsive video game collector, life long BBS scener, sushi aficionado, and hopes to one day become a Formula 1 race car driver. Welcome to FM Nick!

Check out the recently launched PopURLs Epson Edition, designed to “Feed your Epsonality” with “the latest and best creative news and content.” This is for all you creative types out there – DIYers, crafters, photographers, entrepreneurs and life hackers. Welcome!

Congratulations to all 2008 MIXX Award winners. We’re proud to say FM had a hand in two campaigns honored by the judges this year. Check out the entire list here and see below for our winning campaigns. Special congrats to the Digitas and GSD&M teams. Great work!
Gold, Brand Awareness and Positioning
American Express OPEN Forum
Silver, Social Marketing
BMW Graffiti Car Contest

Matt Timeberlake joins the FM team as an Account Executive for major accounts. Matt brings 14 years of advertising sales and marketing experience to FM. He began his advertising career in 1995 at Time Inc. in their “New Media” group called Pathfinder where he spent 6 years in various digital advertising posts with brands as traditional as TIME and as cutting edge as Business 2.0. Most recently Matt spent 8 years with CBS Outdoor where he started as an Account Executive and later was tapped to manage the Bay Area sales team, driving revenues from 19M to 39M almost four years later. After graduating from the University of Arizona, Matt began his career in the sales group at Oracle. A 4th generation Californian, Matt spends his free time with his wife and two kids in Mill Valley when he isn’t sneaking in a quick round of golf or battling the flames on his BBQ. Welcome to FM, Matt!

The “Future of Media Forum” brought together some heavy-hitters in the media business for this year’s Advertising Week in New York. “Trust” became a major theme – media brands that have a trusted relationship with their readers will win the day.
From MediaPost’s Advertising Week coverage:

By and large, the panelists suggested that publishers that have a trusted relationship with consumers will continue to carry the day by aggregating traffic allowing them to sell space to advertisers at a premium.
“Brands will stand out because information is non-stop, and now we need context,” Morris said.
“New brands are created every single day and need to be trusted,” Falco said.

While “upstart” just doesn’t seem quite accurate anymore, I do love this quote from AdWeek:

Upstarts like Federated Media and others have proven more agile [than Yahoo and MSFT] at constructing the kinds of deep integrations brands covet.

The west coast installment of the CM Summit is right around the corner and the office is abuzz with anticipation. We just announced the initial speaker list this morning. Check out the press release here.
What: CM Summit San Francisco
When: October 15-16, 2008
Where: Golden Gate Club, San Francisco, CA
Tickets are going fast. Be sure to get yours!
Speakers include:
- Jay Adelson, CEO, Digg.com
- Hashem Bajwa, Digital Strategy Director, Good by Silverstein & Partners
- John Battelle, Chairman & CEO, Federated Media
- Miles Beckett, CEO, EQAL
- John Byrne, Executive Editor, BusinessWeek
- Bill Capodanno, Director, Central Marketing, Microsoft
- Justin Curtis, VP Creative Director, Grey SF
- Laura Desmond, CEO, Starcom MediaVest Group, The Americas
- Mark Dowley, Partner, Endeavor
- Rick Farman, Principal, Superfly Presents
- Jeff Flemings, SVP/Renaissance Planning, VivaKi
- Gian Fulgoni, Chairman, comScore
- Porter Gale, VP of Marketing, Virgin America
- Seth Goldstein, CEO, socialmedia.com
- Greg Goodfried, President and COO, EQAL
- Scott Heiferman, CEO, Meetup
- Mark Rolston, Chief Creative Officer, frog design
- David Rosenblatt, Vice President, Google
- Marc Ruxin, SVP, Director of Digital Strategy & Innovation, McCann WorldGroup
- Dan Scheinman, SVP & General Manager, Media Solutions Group, Cisco
- Deborah Schultz, Strategic Advisor, Social Media and Emerging Technologies
- Michael Theodore, VP of Member Services, Interactive Advertising Bureau
- Joseph Turow, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania