Lifestream All of Your Social Network Activity With New Widget

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So many social networks, so little time. Even if I wanted to follow the online trials and tribulations of my favorite Web personalities, with the birth of new online communities everyday, keeping up is a full-time job.

Registered users of BlogCatalog.com, a social network for bloggers, has just released a widget that will indicate all of your social networking activities in one place. Or, in fancy Web 2.0 terms, you can set up a “lifestream.”

Among the major networks currently available on the widget: Digg, Facebook, MySpace, StumbleUpon, Twitter and YouTube. A handful of others are also options, and more are expected to be added on a regular basis.

The BlogCatalog social network aggregator can be displayed anywhere and is completely neutral, not favoring any one network over another.

Just in case you have information that is the same across several networks, you can manually remove items.

Over 100,000 approved bloggers interact on BlogCatalog every day.

O2 launches Bluebook: mobile phone backup and blogging service

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UK mobile network O2 has launched a free service for its customers, allowing them to backup all of their contacts, text and picture messages, and create online albums and blogs.

Anyone with a compatible phone and either a monthly contract or pre-pay account with O2 can set up a Bluebook account. Within this, an unlimited number of Blueblogs can be created.

Blueblogs are intended to be used to document a person’s life, and can be created from the content already stored on a mobile phone, as well as from a PC.

Blog entries can be created directly from a mobile phone, and it’s as simple as sending a free text or picture message to the short code “40202”, starting with the word “blog”.

All blog entries and comments are moderated by O2 — it’s not clear whether this is an automated or human process, though I’d suspect a combination of the two leaning heavily on automatic filters — so it can take up to an hour for them to be published once sent. This would make it difficult to “live blog” an event — best use Twitter or another microblogging service for that.

Blueblogs are either published (globally accessible) or unpublished (private) — there are no other security levels. O2 suggests that if users want to create content only for a selected group of contacts, they should use the Albums module instead.

O2 says that an unlimited number of Blueblogs can be created, though I’m not sure whether O2 is using “blog” and “post” interchangeably, as there’s no obvious way of selecting which blog to publish to. However, if a user sends a message via the phone, it automatically goes to their primary blog.

Blogs can be keyword tagged, and comments can be deleted.

The system sounds like a cross between Twitter and regular blogging. I can imagine that it will be easier for many people to write micro-blog posts, given the nature of text messaging.

The moderation delay could be a pain — even if someone commented straight away on a post you’ve published it could be two hours from the time the article was sent to the time the comment is published. That could lead to slow conversations — if conversations take off. Hopefully O2 will work on speeding this up, though I understand their reluctance to allow self-moderation or a free-for-all. O2 does state that the maximum time for moderation should be under an hour.

I’ve signed up for the service but haven’t yet tried out a Blueblog. Hats off to O2 — I had some problems registering on Wednesday, but O2 actually sent me a text message to apologise and asked me to try logging in again. Very nice bit of automation there.

Anyone in the UK with O2 can sign up at bluebook.o2.co.uk

EBay Tries to Mend Fences; Hires New In-House Blogger

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Can a social media veteran help improve eBay’s relationship with its users? The company certainly hopes so.

After years of being unresponsive to eBayers complaints, the company has plans underway to open the lines of communication in order to quell seller rebellion. At the center is eBay Ink, an “unbiased” internal blog written by new staffer, and former Podshow alum, Richard Brewer-Hay.

From the company’s finances to future plans, Brewer-Hay claims to have an all-access pass to everything eBay, and will blog it as he sees it.

Interestingly enough, according to an interview with FORTUNE Small Business, eBay’s new blogger isn’t a “Power Seller.”

FSB: Have you ever sold anything on eBay?
RBH: I’ve never sold anything on eBay but I’ve bought on eBay.

Can one of the world’s top, publicly-traded Websites truly be authentic and transparent? We’ll have to wait and see. However, the fact that they are attempting to make inroads with embittered users is a good sign.

7 Types of Comments that Matter

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We talked about how comments matter in conversational marketing. While we all acknowledge that time is probably one of the biggest constraints we face, including comments in our social media marketing strategy can make a big difference. Why?

We are more comfortable hiring someone who engaged with us actively. While weak links in networking do help a great deal, direct recommendations and referrals come more readily after some interaction. In that, content in the way you think and articulate your expertise is still king – in the posts and in the comments.

In some cases, building credibility with other bloggers through thoughtful comments can help you launch your social media activities with a bang. People already know about you and your content. This of course works best when you’re willing to give away some ideas for the good of others.

There are 7 types of conversational marketing comments that matter:

Responding to a question in the post. This is pretty obvious, I know. It is however, the easiest way to participate by showing you are listening and are willing to give away information. Have you noticed also how responding to questions is becoming prominent in your LinkedIn Profile?

Adding a thought provoking question of your own. You are showing that you have considered the information provided and are willing to build on the idea by sharing your experience. I’ve seen lots of smart questions asked on Twitter, too — either to begin or extend a conversation that is then captured in a blog post. This is an example of integrated marketing in social media.

Making an open ended statement as additional thought. This is one of the best known forms of solicitation for further thinking and discussion. It works so well because it gives the other party(ies) the opportunity to add more information as you broaden the scope.

Pointing to other resources. Let’s face it, we don’t all have a full research department at out beck and call. When you offer knowledge to others, you not only look good, you build a reservoir of good will in the process.

Extending the conversation to other applications. This will definitely raise your profile with the blogger and all the other readers. And it may establish you as a knowledgeable source. Show them how something could be employed elsewhere. You may raise the question of why give away so many ideas. Trust me, the money is in the implementation. Ideas are free – or they want to be.

Providing an example as a case study. This will highlight the possibility of an interview as part of a subsequent post at that blog. You are establishing yourself as a domain expert in a particular field or for a topic.

Offering to co-author a subsequent post on a topic. It’s a more direct way to go from comment to a blog’s main real estate – the post – without saying you’d like to take over. This is especially useful if you don’t already have a blog of your own but have been very active and generous in the comments to other blogs.

I categorized them as conversational marketing because they show a degree of high involvement and can lead to establishing and deepening a relationship. What other types of comments worked for you?