There was a time when commercials were just another form of mass-marketing and were used to sell stuff. But times have since changed and commercials have become content on their own.

The Apple ad changed everything. It was now commercial as content, commercial as event. The Apple ad was seen by more people after the game via free media than saw it during the game itself.

While millions across America watch the Superbowl for the game, there are millions more over the world that could care less about the game but sit through it just to see the advertisements. Even more interesting, and further proof of what Seth is talking about, are websites like this, that bypass what is supposed to be the content (in this case the game) and give you access to what are supposed to be commercials (but may as well be content under our new definition).

Being from Pakistan, while I am completely oblivious to everything related to American Football, I am aware of the Superbowl advertisement phenomenon and I too bypassed the programming and just looked at the advertisements. Who would’ve thought that people would voluntary go looking for ads?

Originally posted on February 5, 2007 @ 12:05 am

Want a quick way to show your readers how long you’ve been blogging? Just add the following code to the sidebar or footer of your blog and you’re ready to go.

(click image for text code)

Be sure to replace January 7th, 2006 with the date you started your blog.

With age comes wisdom. How (blogging) old are you?

Originally posted on February 5, 2007 @ 9:35 pm

Are you tired of Snap Preview Anywhere popping up all over the Blogosphere like a plague? Well, don’t worry, 901am comes to your rescue with the following gem, hidden in the depths of Snap’s FAQ:

Snap Preview Anywhere Deactivation

Deactivation requires the use of cookie technology. If you should delete your cookies, please note that Snap Preview Anywhere will be re-activated for all sites automatically. Click here to disable Snap Preview Anywhere. Please note, you must refresh the affected pages or clear your cache for these changes to take effect.

via downloadsquad

Originally posted on February 3, 2007 @ 10:33 pm

We all love 901am for the content, but ever wonder about the software that powers this site, and why we use WordPress instead of Moveable Type? Here’s why:

Setup and Installation
WordPress is much easier to install. The only part where you have to any work is setting up the MySQL database.

Speed and Efficiency
WordPress generates pages dynamically, which allows flexibility in both design as well as maintenance.

Cusomization
While the default installations of both systems are quite powerful, tweaking Moveable Type can be quite a pain, while themes for WordPress can offer a reprieve. Especially when you get Pearsonified.

Pricing
Wordpress is free.

Digital Dreams has more in-depth comparison of the two platforms.

Originally posted on February 5, 2007 @ 9:30 pm

Brian Clark at Copyblogger has an incredibly useful post on how to “blog to persuade”:

The 5 laws appear as follows:

1. The Law of Value
2. The Law of Headlines and Hooks
3. The Law of “How To”
4. The Law of the List
5. The Law of the Story

The applicability of these laws isn’t limited to blogging. I, for example, find myself applying them when crafting a submission to a socially driven or social bookmarking site.

Head over to Copyblogger to learn more.

Originally posted on February 1, 2007 @ 4:08 pm