Day: October 20, 2004

Using Web 2.0 for an instant storefront

Richard Soderberg writes on a quick and easy way to tie together a number of web services to build an e-commerce site.

  1. Using Blogger, get a blog (and configure it to use your FTP server, if so desired).
  2. Using Picasa, create a new Hello account and configure it for the blog.
  3. Using PayPal, get a merchant account.
  4. Using Picasa and Hello, send a merchandise photo with a short description to BloggerBot.
  5. Using PayPal’s merchant tools, generate an “add to cart” button for the item.
  6. Using Blogger, edit the new post to include a title, a description, and “add to cart” and “view cart” buttons.

Guarantee that this will be an a-ha moment for many. Let one thousand business models bloom!

Somtimes a bumpersticker is better than a blog

Chris Shipley writes on her experience trying to use blogs to move opinions and gain awareness on a local political issue. Conclusion? For local politics, the old methods do work better, for now.

And in the last week, my No On Q blog has had 178 hits, six comments, zero trackbacks. In that same time, I’ve received no fewer than eight pieces of mail in support of Measure Q and four postcards from the No headquarters. More yard signs on both sides of the issue are going up around my neighborhood. I’ve reached more people leaving No On Q pamphlets at Starbucks in the morning.