BlogTelevision.net :: Interesting Site, Community…
Update: I should have started this post with an explanation. The following post is an informal review of a site. My students will be asked to do the same kind of exercise in their blogs during Spring semester. My intention is to be fair and critical. I believe that was achieved in this post. Comments are enabled (although moderated due to spam) and I encourage feedback. Please read the post and the accompanying comments. Thank you.
Sam from BlogTelevision.net commented in infOpinions? about his new blog/site. Sam’s domain was “Created on: 06-Oct-04″ and seems to be getting some traffic.
I responded to his comment. Then – today – I thought I’d give the site another look from a PR/Marcom point of view. Hmm? Interesting findings.
BlogTelevision’s Purpose
Now, here is the kicker. “BlogTelevision.net is a project of Odin Metatech, Inc.” The BlogTelevision site is actually a ‘sales tool’ for “the Odin Organic Framework content management system” – a CMS platform. We must give Sam points for demonstrating his product with a fun content idea which is likely to draw traffic. Good job!
But, there are problems. The Odin site offers six case studies highlighting current sites using the CMS.
Of the six, one is the Odin corporate site. Read on for the entire review.
Cross-Browser Compatible? It is not Firefox friendly. Using an ‘off the shelf Firefox install’ the site rendered skewed and without the Flash banner. It works in IE.
Text Sizes? The text sizes are too small. When using the Ctrl-+ function to increase the text size, the CMS template falls apart with gaps exploding out all over.
Using Flash for aesthetics only? As for the Flash problem, I’ve surfed other Flash enabled sites without error. Don’t know what the problem is re: Flash. But, the Odin Flash banner doesn’t add anything special to the site.
Another of the ‘six case studies’ is FreshJive. Their Flash text scroller doesn’t even load in Firefox or IE. That site seems to be only partially finished. Finally, the third site I checked was DVDreams. It doesn’t even exist. The link from Odin takes you to a ‘Kenyatech’ domain seller with a placeholder search engine site.
The other three case studies? The Mien Shiang Institute was “created in 2000 to teach the ancient Taoist technique of Facial Diagnosis.” The site is pretty. Next up is Yo-san University. Become an ‘acupuncturist’. That site is sort of pretty, too. Not very dynamic, though. And, they have black text on a dark red background in the Alumni Newsletter section. Finally, there is the Worldwide Shopping Network. Uh, they still have their ‘order early for Christmas’ message up. Not too dynamic there, either. And, their banner stating “Writing for order status info will not increase your chances of shipping sooner” doesn’t exactly scream – Buy From US!
Overall Impression
I give Odin a D+/C- for the launch of their company’s promotional effort. Their CMS comes with a price tag ranging from $75/mo (Educational) to $100/mo. for non-profits. Businesses? They give a $100/mo. starting price for ‘Small Business’ and ‘Enterprise’ – well, you have to contact Odin for that quote.
I looked over the Odin site. It appears to be about 80-90% complete. Some key areas – like FAQs – are not sufficiently populated. Why would a business launch a campaign when they are clearly not ready?
Odin’s OOF CMS is described as “ASP Hosted Cost Effective CMS Solutions.” (Do a view source on their page.) Don’t you love how we got all those acronyms in there together? Well, the Odin site is filled with a bit of that. ‘Ontology‘ is one of their favorite buzzwords. And, as for ASP – Microsoft’s Active Server Pages – why use it? All that VBscript/javascript. Slow page loads. Go with PHP/mySQL. It is much more flexible. Easier to use. Much faster. Some businesses rule ASP out as an option due to “security and reliability” issues. It is just too confining. (See this .) And you are not tied to Microsoft.
Can you tell I’m not a fan?
Viable CMS Alternatives?
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out to people that they can get their own free CMS (like ‘nukes’, Mambo, Plone, Drupal or e107) at OpensourceCMS.com or even by visiting SourceForge.net. For the types of sites Odin is representing on their case studies page, PHP/mySQL is more than robust for the tasks and will handle their needs quite well.
About BlogTelevision: The Site
Back to BlogTelevision, there are many offerings from around the globe. Recent contributions include a pretty good video illustrating how tsunami’s are created.
Trying to come up with a recognizable description for BlogTelevision.net, the best I can muster right now is: the poor man’s ‘AdCritic’ version of blogging. Another comparison would be FlashKit.com where Flash enthusiasts post their creations for others to see and download. I can’t really compare BlogTelevision to ITConversations. ITC has so much original content and their interface is easier to use.
The blog offers everyone the opportunity to sign up and post their favorite videos. There are movie reviews, too. Thomas R. Wiles posted “Tom’s Video Review of Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow…” complete with original spinning graphics and movie stills. I think this might be the ‘vidcasting’ aspect that best compares the site to podcasting. Rather than hosting their reviews on their own sites and trying to generate traffic, BlogTelevision has provided a clearing house for film fanatics to get into the fray. Also, the site has provided a wide variety of RSS feeds so you can keep track of new posts.
As the site grows, BlogTelevision is in need of volunteer ‘Editors’ to help check contributions before they are posted. The site says, “BlogTelevision.net needs you! Due (to) the overwhelming number of videos identified each day we’re actively looking for volunteer editors.” So, BlogTV is recruiting volunteers to run a site designed to showcase the Odin CMS platform. Hmm? Well, I won’t be surprised if people join in. Like I said, the video aspect probably carries a good bit of appeal. Hey, LiveJournal has been quite successful in bringing in volunteers. Of course, they have an incentive to participate. I think BlogTelevision might get some volunteers.
The Interface :: GUI
It is a new site. Nice ‘skin’ layout. Fairly easy to navigate. Being new, there are some problems. The ‘Watch Video” logo prominently displayed on each post is not clickable in IE or Firefox. You have to click on the post’s title. File sizes range from less than 1 MB to a 22.97 MB ‘Fatal Attraction Trailer’ … uh, I didn’t wait for that one to download. With contributors posting in a variety of languages (and no translations or cues as to which language they are posting in) it makes reading the blurbs about the videos rather frustrating. I tried the Firefox translation extensions on two posts (going through all 13 available languages) and could not get a translation of the text.
Now, the videos are fun to watch. The goofy polar bear commercial (from who knows where, for who knows what product) was … er, cute. Be warned. There are some risqué/racy bits on the site, too. Well, I don’t exactly know ‘if’ they are risqué/racy bits, but there are two categories named ‘Porn’ and ‘Sexy’ – so, I’m guessing those are PG-13 up to XXX. No, I didn’t watch any of them. Surfer beware.
Files I found were posted in .mov, .mpg, .wmv and .avi formats.
Overall, I’d give the BlogTelevision site a C/C-. Don’t get me wrong. It is a creative idea. It does offer a community/conversation environment. This could take off. Participants can rate the videos and comment on them, too. Registration is required.
BlogTelevision carries Google ads and advertising.com ads. There is also an affiliate ‘Partners’ section which is lightly populated.
Finally, there is one other aspect of this endeavor. It is called Organic Broadcast Project (OBP).
The OBP is a free searchable streaming video based news and information service covering a broad base of topics. News and information is aggregated from various news sources. OBP is powered by Odin Organic Framework v3.5.
Not much there right now. Might be a good idea. Currently, there are more ads than content on some pages.
The Moral
I wouldn’t even be writing this had it not been for Sam’s comment in this blog.
When you begin to try and create ‘viral buzz’ for your site, take that extra time and check out the details. If you are not ready – don’t force it. Another month and BlogTelevision would probably be all ready with the kinks worked out. The same could be said for the Odin corporate site, too.
I don’t see any problem with Odin using the site to promote their CMS. It is a good idea. It is the ground work/foundation and the implementation that needed more work.
I wish Sam, Odin and BlogTelevision luck. They may need it.
Interesting comments you have, apparently you have a fair amount of time on your hands.
I’m sorry that you felt I was trying to create a viral buzz. I wasn’t, to the contrary I felt the comments were appropriate as a track back. I’m pretty surprised you took it to heart and attempted to review a few unrelated sites .. but I will pass your comments around the development team as the entire team always appreciates any useful constructive criticism.
FYI ASP in this context stands for Application Service Provider, not the Microsoft scripting language. This means the CMS is a hosted offering ie we manage the servers. As is clear on our product information web site we use PHP/mySQL for almost our entire system, in a few cases we take advantage of c++. One fact you neglected to mention is that all web sites are client maintained. We simple offer a CMS product. We can’t really be accountable for a clients design or implementation.
Contrary to your description, BlogTelevision.net is not a “poor man’s ‘AdCritic’ version of blogging.” It is not even a blog. BlogTelevision.net is an automated mining application. It scans blogs and extracts video clips from references within the blog posts.
In any case. It seems I really ruffled some feathers by using your track back feature. Maybe you should consider disabling it if you dislike on topic discussion so much?
Best
Sam
Hello Sam,
Thank you for re-visiting.
Honestly, Sam, I was not trying to be unduly critical or unkind regarding you or your sites. I feel we’re both being kind and professional here.
I did not set out to hurt anyone’s feelings or intend to “ruffle some feathers.” You didn’t ruffle mine. I was happy to receive your comment. I am sorry that you were not happy to read my post reviewing your sites. I hope we may continue to have a friendly conversation over time.
Re-reading my post, I feel it was equally critical and complimentary. The BlogTelevision site is, as I said, a good idea. I just think it needs some work (just like my sites). I, however, am not promoting a business. You are.
I seem to find errors on my own sites quite often, Sam. I’m not perfect. Don’t claim to be. And, I’m reminded of those flaws daily.
I am not a self-appointed site basher.
Yes, I do have some time on my hands right now. I teach. This is the break. I have a cold and am a bit housebound right now. This ‘between semesters’ time is used to begin preparing content for my students to use during the coming semester. Reviewing sites and trying to be fair and critical is one of those tasks I ask them to undertake. Your site was used as an example.
Having blogged for awhile now, I believe it was wrong to not ‘precede’ the post about BlogTelevision with an explanation of what I am doing. I get into the flow and forget to clarify. I apologize. That has now been corrected at the top of the post.
My students are required to blog and write critically. Your BlogTelevision site review is, again, an example of that practice.
Also, I note that you seem to like people with spare time on their hands. In your site’s pitch to recruit volunteers, I find this: “Do you find yourself sitting around at work or home with nothing to do and broadband connection at your disposal?”
Viral buzz was my attempt at a buzzword. Sorry. But, one aspect of viral campaigns is the trackback/comment/email conversations that serve to spread the word. Your comment in my blog (not trackback) was one example of that. Your intention may not have been ‘viral’, but the result is the same. Your “comments were appropriate” and I appreciate them.
Regarding your statement, “took it to heart and attempted to review a few unrelated sites,” I must disagree. The sites are not unrelated. In fact, your effort to use BlogTelevision as an example of OOF is transparent. I truly appreciate that fact and will point it out to students. However, the sites are not unrelated. The “Odin Organic Framework” and “Odin Metatech, Inc” links are liberally spread throughout the site. So, any pages in those sites are certainly related, aren’t they?
You tout six case studies. They should be good cases if you want to use them to promote your OOF CMS. Now, I did find the Powered by OOF page with 4 dozen or so OOF powered sites. Frankly, some of those are much better than the six case studies you offer. Perhaps you can use those to promote your platform.
You write here that “As is clear on our product information web site we use PHP/mySQL”. Yet, your Odin site states: “Odin Metatech, offers a completely managed web based content management system”
I apologize for the ASP confusion. I do find “OOF even supports embedding small PHP based script-lets as Objects” There is no mention of PHP/mySQL on the Base Featureset/Base Hosting Featureset pages. Perhaps it could be better displayed.
There may be other references, but I do not find them. We’re talking about clarity here and I’m only suggesting that this could use some work. No harm intended.
As for your comment:
Sam, you call it BlogTelevision. Yes, I do think it is more portal and forum/community – less directory/search. But, it does have many aspects of a blog. BlogTelevision contains many of the elements described in John C. Dvorak’s article “Understanding and Reading a Blog (for Newcomers).” How about if we settle on a ‘blog-hybrid’ or something like that. By the way, the “poor man’s” reference wasn’t intended as a slap. I subscribe to AdCritic. I just meant that your site is free and contains videos. Hey, with comments/ratings I think you’re one up on them.
BlogTelevision’s process of ‘mining’ video clips is not clearly explained on your site. The ‘About’ page gives little info and you strike-through the statement “we are a 100% automated website” … as in, there are real people categorizing and posting content as editors. Well, that could be described as a group blog, couldn’t it? I’d love to hear more about any bots you’re using to glean these video clips from the net. That would be interesting info (without revealing anything proprietary) for your visitors to read.
Sam, this response is not meant to be adversarial. I truly hope you will respond. I want to learn more about BlogTelevision. The more I look at the site (I joined, by the way) and interact with you, the more I’ll like it.
All the best.
I realise I’m late to the converstion and that neither you, nor Sam probably track this anymore, however Sam has really irritated my sensibilities. Aside from your own insights, Robert, I would like to add the following information.
The immediate annoyance is that Sam says:
“We simple offer a CMS product. We can’t really be accountable for a clients design or implementation.”
Perhaps that is true, however he *is* accountable for showcasing sub-standard sites as the “case studies”. If there were better sites using that CMS, why not use them as case studies?
The other thing Sam spouted that really made my blood boil was this:
“It is not even a blog. BlogTelevision.net is an automated mining application. It scans blogs and extracts video clips from references within the blog posts.”
Firstly, it is a blog. If Sam can’t comprehend the definition of a blog he certainly shouldn’t be running one.
Secondly, what on Earth is Sam thinking creating a site designed to steal other people’s hard work and content with the only reference to the original content being a piddly little link on a page you have to click through to? I can’t believe you actually have to click a button entitled “Block My Domain” to stop a leech like Sam from stealing bandwidth from legitimate blogs – not to mention the fact that he is republishing other people’s work without permission.
I find the concept reprensible and would never use a CMS that thinks this kind of behaviour is so acceptable that the offending site is showcased.
Hey Carla,
Thanks for writing. Your comment started me thinking, so I revisited their site and followed up on some questions I had – especially since they’ve had a few months to further develop their site.
Some other aspects of BlogTelevision that I checked on after reading your comment will add further insight into what the site is really doing.
There are at least two sites, really. First, there is http://www.blogtelevision.net and then there is broadcast.organicframework.com
You see, what they are doing is using both to feed links to one another. If you took out the self-created reciprocal links, the site would hardly show any significant following on the web. In fact, this lil’ teeny blog would likely beat it.
BlogTelevsion, despite their 40+ thousand MarketLeap links, only receives a Google PageRank of two. infOpinions? (which, yes, does have some reciprocal links from our family of sites/blogs) has a Google PageRank of 5. That’s likely because, of the 17+ thousand MarketLeap links this blog has, most of them actually come from other independent sites. If you went through BlogTelevision’s links, probably less that 10% come from legitimate independent sites.
At Technorati, BlogTelevsion has 41 links from 27 sources. This lil’ teeny blog has 173 links from 83 sources. Now, admittedly, this isn’t a blog powerhouse of popularity, but by comparison it ‘might’ just show that WordPress (which is free), plus the writings contained in the site, have gained more attention than BlogTelevision using their CMS. Well, except for the attention they’ve aimed at themselves.
So, not only is BlogTV aggregating content (and we have no idea if they are contacting those sites and asking if they can do so) – they are putting Google Ads on the content, too. Now that is not a very good ‘transparent’ and ethical practice, in my opinion. Using other people’s content, playing it on your site – not their’s – and trying to gain from the Google Ads BlogTV places on it? Not good.
One such example of a link directly from the site, as Carla stated was happening, is
http://www.startrek.com/videouploads/200505/ent-097-098/300k.mov.
Want to see more? Well, if you do a “View Source” on each page, you’ll see that BlogTV is actually taking from other sites and, while not specifically passing it off as their own, they are trying to reap rewards from the advertising initiative.
I guess the only bit of good news, as is noted above, rests in the fact that they are getting very little link love and probably not much traffic, either.
BlogTV | BlogTelevision |
Featured Video
So, you want to know what teachers make? This says it well. Meet slam poet Taylor Mali.
Media Coverage
Categories
Archives
Most Commented
Facebook Connect
AuburnMedia Sites Search
Most Viewed
Feedburner
Switch to our mobile site
Powered by WordPress | Log in | Entries (RSS) | Comments (RSS) | Arthemia theme by Michael Hutagalung