Feature Post
News, Notes & Dusty Bottle Items
January
4
2009
On Blogging, Twitter and Social Media in ‘09
Just as I start my Twitter account, my lingering and long hesitation to doing so being “something else to manage,” I begin reading multiple accounts of “lifestreaming” – the notion of simplifying social media engagement.
Great.
Now the flotsam & jetsam bumping around in my head will not have a righteous outlet in order for me to share the brilliance that many a boss has likewise failed to recognize.
Based on what I am reading, I would not be surprised to see FriendFeed have a meteoric rise this year along with more disciplined focus from bloggers who want to continue to use their blog as a personal branding platform.
Over the last week I began to make some slight changes to this blog –most will not be noticeable, but they were long overdue, and one thing I noticed while cleaning up links is the absolute massive turnover in wine related blogs that have been abandoned.
In the wine blogging niche, we like to talk about how many blogs there are as a signal of growth – what we do not talk about is how many crappy wine blogs there are and how many of them are abandoned after a short time.
Here is my prediction for wine blogging in 2009 – wine blogging has peaked.
We will not see as many new entrants, or good entrants as we have over the last two years. Many blogs will turn dusty and abandoned.
Social media like Twitter and Facebook is too easy to engage in the online wine conversational jetstream without having to do the messy hardwork of actually writing.
We will see a sharp contraction in the number of wine blogs and wine blogs will more clearly demarcate this coming year into unspoken, but known tiers based on traffic and influence.
As a sidenote, the best quote I have read that brings social media into focus is (paraphrased), “Social media is nothing more and nothing less than customer service – the only difference is the people you are interacting with aren’t customers yet.”
The Best New Wine Blog You Aren’t Reading
My predictions on wine blogging aside, there is one new entrant on the wine blogging scene that is doing a fantastic job with frequency, quality and authority.
Over two years ago, I wrote a post about who might emerge as a wine celebrity and I suggested that Alpana Singh, a Master Sommelier in Chicago, would be my bet – she mixes exotic good looks with serious wine chops.
Alas, that has not come true, just yet, but she is doing a fine job blogging, which she started in November of ’08.
What would Alpana Drink? is everything an engaging blog should be – light, pithy, funny, smart, educational, frequent, local, but national, slightly personal and non-offensively promotional, with a point of view.
Recent highlights include a Trader Joe’s wine review (from a Master Somm.!!), travelogue posts from a trip to Argentina as well as hilariously pointing out an absurd Sandra Lee video from the Food Network.
Thoughts on Things that are Interesting to Me at THISVERYMOMENT
The 2004 Dry Creek Vineyard “Endeavor” Cabernet Sauvignon is fantastic wine. Rich, silky, and balanced. It is a PERFECT combination of fruit and earth. If I drank it last week instead of this week, it might have been my wine of the year for 2008.
I received it as a sample, but for $55, this wine is a price performer. Not sure if there are any ratings on the ’04 as it was just released in December, but it is not hard to see this is a 93 – 95 point wine from Spectator.
Other bits of randomness from my “lifestream” are:
1) As much as I have tried to eliminate magazines from my life, it is a difficult habit to break. I have found that I now just want to replace the ones I cancelled with magazines I haven’t had before. Maghound.com at least lets me subscribe to “magazines” on a monthly basis, like Netflix … kind of.
2) Antennae magazine is a nicely produced magazine and not overwrought given its subject matter – trendspotting.
3) My wish is for every state to have their own guidebook to local comestibles. Homegrown Indiana is a nice book and inspiring to me to eat with a local bent because I can see how easy it can be.
4) The best new band I have heard in ages (two + years) is The Gaslight Anthem and their album “The ’59 Sound.” I love, love, love this album. It is impossible to listen to this album and not get a shot of energy. Plus, they cover a song from Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise, who are very underappreciated.
5) Not sure what to make of it, but the books that I am planning to read all center around three themes – digital marketing, self-discovery road trips and sustainable living
6) Saveur.com is an underappreciated magazine with a great web site – and the web site has a nifty winery directory
7) I am enamored with my new iPod Touch. I already have a iPod and a phone, but I got the Touch to see what the future of computing looks like. Yes, it looks like the future of computing …
8) I have always been fascinated with “scenes.” Right now I am reading Hotel California about the singer-songwriter movement in LA in the mid-to-late 60’s and early 70’s.
9) I am eagerly awaiting the annual release of “Hopslam” Ale from Bell’s Brewery on January 7th
10) The New York Times online archive is an underappreciated tool.
11) A couple of my resolutions for this year are to continue to try to eliminate as much fast food out of my diet as possible. That said, McDonald’s double cheeseburgers and Taco Bell are good … and nearly impossible to resist
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