With just over a week left of 2006, Google has released the top 10 searches in 2006. A bit premature perhaps, but sure, not much is happening online after this week so OK.

Topping the list for regular search is “bebo”, followed by “myspace” and “world cup”. That third one could be a number of things, but it’s probably the Fifa World Cup that brought it up there, right.

1. bebo
2. myspace
3. world cup
4. metacafe
5. radioblog

Google News was dominated by celebrities. Hurricane Katrina made it to number 5, and at 4 we have podcasting which was a bit of a surprise to me.

1. paris hilton
2. orlando bloom
3. cancer
4. podcasting
5. hurricane katrina

For 6-10 on the lists, visit the Google Zeitgeist page for 2006.

Originally posted on December 20, 2006 @ 7:28 am

Darren “Problogger” Rowse found himself as number 2 at TechMeme on the recent Time story, thanks to his humorous take on the matter probably. While this wasnt his intention, it sparked a great post on how to cut through the clutter of an overly blogged story.

1. Find a Fresh Angle
2. Be Fast
3. Be Controversial or Humorous
4. Use Striking Images
5. Promote Your Post

I�d like to add that you actually need readers if you want to cut through, which of course kind of goes hand in hand with promoting your story. Its easy for Darren, having a more than solid reader base, but if youre a small blogger youll find that being early on a story wont guarantee making the big headlines. Then again, it just might, if not too many bloggers have access to the original source. Thats the blogosphere for you.

Head over to Problogger and read the whole post.

Originally posted on December 18, 2006 @ 2:00 am

Republican Tom Delay has been blogging for a little more than a week. Or has he? According to a quote from an interview done with MSNBC (found by Bloggers Blog) he has someone else who does his dirty work for him:

During an appearance last night on MSNBC, DeLay was asked about the mechanics of writing for his new blog. “Well, I’m not a very good writer,” DeLay acknowledged. “I have the ideas, and I have somebody else put the words together.” Apparently he still isn’t interested in doing research on the Internet.

Ghost writing is nothing new, but using it in the blogosphere seems foolish to me, with so many people crying about transparency. However, it would seem that some posts are actually Delay�s work, since he puts his name on them in one way or another.

I have no idea who this Tom Delay character is, not being very well versed in local American politics. However, I do know that if youre going to use blogging as a means to reach out, you sure should know what youre doing.

Gracious hat tip: Bloggers Blog

Originally posted on December 18, 2006 @ 2:15 am