Major news organizations like Reuters, the Associated Press, and the AFP are great sources of information; there’s no denying that.  Other people and entities have a lot to offer, too, though, and Google News is now making it easier to access these alternatives.

This is a topic destined for a courtroom one day, bitter enemies formed along the way: Can a blog publisher collect blog comments and publish them in a book? We addressed this topic weeks ago, with no definitive answer. The question arises again today as a result of simultaneous, otherwise minor, occurrences.

A federal lawsuit filed by a Kentucky blogger against former Governor Ernie Fletcher and the Commonwealth of Kentucky has been settled. Under the terms of the settlement, the Commonwealth agrees to apply a "viewpoint-neutral" policy to blogs and websites accessed by state-owned computers.

Over the last 3 years, UK internet traffic to blogs and personal websites has grown by 208%, according to new data from Hitwise.

The web intelligence company has just released new data on blog readership in the United Kingdom which shows 1.19% of all UK web traffic flowed to a blog. (Not a single blog–that would be a great site to own–but to blogs in general)

It’s a great time to run a UK-oriented blog.  UK traffic levels to blogs and personal sites have taken a couple of deep dips over the past few years, but according to new Hitwise data, visits have now risen and reached a record high.

One part I like about this digital revolution is that it takes a lot of the pretentiousness out of publishing. One part I dislike about this digital revolution is that it takes a lot of the pretentiousness out of publishing.

Actually, this article is more of a commentary on collective mental illness, exploitation and mountains made of molehills—no, that’s not a boob joke. It’s also about invented controversy for the sake of ogling eyeballs and links at the expense of a teenage girl who will be lucky if she’s not in rehab on her 18th birthday.

In the old days, reading a blog meant following the life of some random guy (or girl) who made ends meet through other means.  Now, it’s likely to consist of contributing to a major company’s pockets (or at least an individual’s main paycheck), and this has led to the iffy idea that amateur bloggers might be getting elbowed out of the way.

Ever since Google acquired blog analytics firm Measure Map, the product vanished with only an email signup form left behind for people newly interested in the service.

A little over a year ago, I asked readers to share their RSS feed with me.

I did this out of concern that my news sources would consist of nothing but “A-listers” and I’d miss out on the insights of those that wrote fantastic posts, but hadn’t yet found the spotlight.

It’s time to do it again!

SEG conducted their Small Business marketing Unleashed Conference in Houston this the last couple of days.

They posted recaps to a lot of the sessions. Here are the ones I found particular good and interesting:

1. Unleashed: Blogging for Businesss

on the topic of company blogging, thought this post fit well:

Examples of Great Company Blogs

Anna Nicole Smith’s mother Virgie Arthur is suing online celebrity news site TMZ.com along with a number of other media outlets alleging she was defamed.

Arthur alleges in a lawsuit filed in Texas state court on Monday that Smith’s lawyer and companion Howard K. Stern and others created a fictitious story that she was the mother of her stepbrother’s child to try and hurt her chances of getting custody of granddaughter Dannielynn.

The latest gaff in online journalism comes courtesy of prominent tech blog, emphasizing once again an important point: When bloggers are under pressure to be first and fast, the journalistic process is undermined and due diligence is neglected.

Blog search site Sphere and its widely used widget found a new home as AOL moved to acquire the startup.

Nick Denton gave Wonkette, Gridskipper, and Idolator their walking papers in paring his blog network down to an even dozen.

AOL has launched the AOL Technology Network, which includes the blogs Engadget, Switched, TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog), and the DownloadSquad.

AOL says its Technology Network will give users a resource to compile information about technology news and products. For advertisers it will allow them to integrate ad campaigns across the network of sites.

Blogs have been around long enough to become standard elements of the web landscape. They’re easy to construct and manage, they create fresh, user-generated content and, if well-executed, blogs draw crowds and the attention of search engines.

Whether starting out with a new domain name, or a domain that’s been around for a decade, you can rank your blog on Google if you just do what Google wants you to do. So here are 25/50 tips to get your blog ranked by the world’s biggest SE.

J.D. Power and Associates acquired Boulder-based reputation tracker Umbria to get a better handle on what people say about quality and satisfaction with products and services.

Last week, I posted an opinion piece about TechCrunch’s prominence on TechMeme. There wasn’t a lot of response—if that tells you anything about what my opinion’s worth—but there was a point brought out in the comments section of that post, and a blog post elsewhere echoing. So that’s good enough for me to do a follow-up and extend on a point.

The largest of stumbling blocks—well, more like walls—lain in the blogger’s path to journalistic credibility has been…journalistic credibility. That concern alone has been the traditional (read: now ye olde school) journalist’s trumping objection, a turned up nose progressively shrinking and less relevant. Until today, April Fools Day.

You’ll have to be patient on this scenic journey with me. We’re headed somewhere, I promise. Whether it’s some place cool remains to be seen.

There was a time when certain professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, did not advertise in a general way. In some arenas, advertising was looked down upon and considered to be below the standard. In others, particularly the law, advertising specific services was illegal. Once the ban on television advertisements was lifted, there were some lawyers who ventured forth to test the waters. Naturally, they were shunned by peers, relegated to the same category as ambulance chasers. That is, until the peers saw how the advertisements paid off in a very big way.