Blog08: blogging, vlogging and rock stars

Even though blogging has been around for quite some time, it was the first time that Amsterdam played host to a conference dedicated to blogging, Blog08. An initiative of two enthusiastic Dutch youngsters, it  was mainly an inspirational event, disguised as a kind of rock show. Although there was a live band, the ultimate rock star was “bad mother vlogger” GabeMac who closed the conference with a rocking vlog performance. The audience joined him in singing “we will, we will vlog you!” But the major theme of this conference was being passionate about blogging, which also applies to people who are in it for the money.

Blog08 kicked off with a challenging question, asked by Internet entrepreneur Patrick de Laive, host of the show: “What year did you start blogging?” It made me realize that I actually started blogging on 30 July 2001. I had a homemade MyWeb homepage without comment option that later evolved into Comicbase.nl. I was a frontrunner, as many attendees started blogging in 2005 or even later.

Pete Cashmore (his real name), founder of tech blog Mashable.com has only been blogging for a few years, but he has a good excuse: he is only 23 years old. However, this young millionaire’s advice was right on the money: “be passionate about what you blog about, work hard, keep on going and analyze the results of your writing.” To market your blog, Cashmore prefers five social media: Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Digg and StumbleUpon. Here is his advice for building a rocking blog:

How To Build A Rocking Blog

Another influential youngster was Dutch lifestyle blogger Nalden who proudly told the audience that his positive approach turns lawsuits into advertising deals with companies like Universal. Visit Nalden.net to see his “new type of blog”: a rich media experience, created by Momkai, with continuously changing wallpapers. The smart thing is, Nalden sells these wallpapers for advertising purposes. “It is the best way to infiltrate a niche audience,” says the guy with the golden sneakers. Even Universal sponsored a wallpaper to promote N-E-R-D. “First they wanted to sue me, now they want to advertise on my website.” This is what Nalden learned from blogging:

What Nalden learned from blogging

Some of the speakers were more abstract. For example, Dutch serial entrepreneur Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten compared the Internet to God and concluded that bloggers want to become more divine. An amusing presentation, featuring a unicycle act, but not practical. The same could be said about cartoonist and marketing blogger Hugh MacLeod (Gaping Void) who talked amusingly about creativity, which he believes is the result of hard work and not of making a job out of your hobby. Oneliner of the day: “The guy marrying his mistress creates a vacancy.”

There were two panel discussions during which the crowd got angry. First, a couple of journalists held a very old-fashioned view of blogs (check out here, here, here and here for more details – in Dutch), after which three prominent speakers and a female British blogger got tied up in an endless discussion about the transparency of blogging.

The only funny thing in this second debate was the angry, Andrew Keen-like blogger Loren Feldman who criticized the majority of bloggers for being irrelevant and egocentric. Due to his colourful language, Feldman (they called him “fuckman” on the Twitter back channel) was of course exaggerating in order to push bloggers to do their best, but it didn’t really fly.

All in all Blog08 turned out to be a highly diverse rock show, with a great afterparty in a bunker in Amsterdam Noord. Maybe I’ll see you at Blog09!

See also my news article for Emerce.nl (in Dutch).

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15 Responses to “Blog08: blogging, vlogging and rock stars”

  1. Natalie Says:

    Goed verslag van een zo te lezen interessante dag. Misschien ga ik dan volgend jaar ook maar! :-)

  2. Jeroen Mirck Says:

    @Natalie: The organisers already claimed Blog09.nl, so who knows?

    I just added some more links to blogs that wrote about the event.

  3. Jojanneke van den Bosch Says:

    Hi Jeroen,

    Ha, bedankt! Ik had je blog al gezien, leuk! Maar wel pas nadat ik had gepubliceerd, anders had ik het nog wel kunnen aanpassen :-) Ik blog dus sinds 2003, maar pas traceerbaar sinds 8 april 2004. Nou ja, we hoeven geen wedstrijdje ‘wie-blogt-het-langst’ te doen ;-)

    Leuk je ontmoet te hebben!

    Groeten, Jojanneke

  4. Elisabeth Winkler Says:

    Wow, terrific – you’ve picked up loads of points and fleshed them out. I am reliving it all again. I just did my own round up of the conference. And used one of your pictures to head it up.

    The bloggers are covering BLOG08.
    What a fate.
    It’s great!

  5. Elisabeth Winkler Says:

    Apologies for l’esprit de l’escalier but I forgot to say:
    Your comment was really helpful and I made an amend.
    From the “female British blogger” (who is still waiting for video to download).

  6. BLOG08 - my round up « Real Food Lover Says:

    […] picture above was kindly taken by Joeren Mirck (see his rocking review) when I thrust my camera into his hands as I accepted my impromptu invite from BLOG08 to join the […]

  7. Patrick de Laive Says:

    Hey Jeroen,

    nice overview. Thanks for joining.

  8. Blog08: doodvermoeiend maar wel heel gaaf Says:

    […] UItgebreid verslag van Jeroen Mirck Enkele artikelen op Journalism.co.uk Een overzicht van bijna alle geschreven artikelen is gemaakt door Niek ten Hoopen […]

  9. Jeroen Mirck » Blog Archive » Backchannel is stoorzender bij congressen Says:

    […] op het podium van de blogconferentie Blog08 zijn of haar verhaal vertelde, was zich onbewust van een Twitter-feed die op het grote scherm langsscheerde. Het leidde tot de […]

  10. Elisabeth Says:

    My third visit, and this time to add – a blog requires dedication. And yours has been going since 2001. Respect.

  11. Jeroen Mirck Says:

    @Elisabeth: Thank you! Blogging since 2001 is al long time indeed. I regret the fact that I changed the blog domain and my focus too often, but I never stopped blogging. I am convinced to keep this blog with my own name for quite some time…

  12. Jeroen Mirck » Terugblik op het blogjaar Says:

    […] Want dat doe je als blogger met de jaarwisseling in zicht: terugblikken op het blogjaar, op de berichten die het meest gelezen werden of de meeste discussie teweeg brachten. And the winner is… […]

  13. JeroenMirck.nl » Bloghelden: win het boek! Says:

    […] Het bloglandschap werd geschetst door Anne Helmond (die er onderzoek naar doet) en Ernst-Jan Pfauth (die betaald blogt voor NRC.next). […] Pfauth, organisator van de conferentie Blog ‘08, vertelde een meer spiritueel verhaal over de blogosfeer. Hij legde de link met de hippies in de jaren ‘70, en met de geestverruimende werking van LSD. […]

  14. JeroenMirck.nl » Ernst-Jan Pfauth, chef internet NRC Says:

    […] Ernst-Jan Pfauth praat vol passie over bloggen. Zijn eigen ervaringen als professioneel blogger zijn een prima basis om handige do’s en don’ts aan op te hangen. Hij schreef er ook het boek Sex, Blogs & Rock-’n-Roll over, dat eind augustus verscheen. Persoonlijk hoop ik dat hij ooit nog eens een vervolg op Blog ’08 organiseert, maar daar zal hij nu wel geen tijd meer voor hebben. Blog on! […]

  15. Dog Door Says:

    You’ve a terrific weblog right here! Would you like to make some invite posts on my weblog?

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