How Rafat Ali Found a Job (Part 2)

SM: The fellowship you received enabled you to attend Indiana University. Were there any requirements tied to that fellowship? RA: Two of us were given a fellowship, and our mandate was to create an intranet for the university’s professors to use. It sounded grand, but we could not achieve it over the year and a

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How Rafat Ali Found a Job (Part 1)

Rafat Ali is a journalist, pioneering blogger, and entrepreneur. Editor & Publisher has called Rafat “journalism’s poster boy for career independence from news companies”. I am very pleased to share his story of persistence and success. SM: Where are you from? Where did you grow up? RA: I was born in the UK, but my

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Top 8 Blog-related Startups

Blogs have clearly turned the media industry upside down,, with many providing coverage superior to that of newspapers and television. While most of them read poorly, some are excellent, and these are monetizing by quality ad networks with their content and traffic. Here are eight players in the blogosphere worth watching:

Oh My Blog: What’s the big deal about “new media” influence?

By Richard Laermer, Guest Author Buzz Bissinger is an investigative journalist and well-regarded sportswriter and author of the acclaimed football story, “Friday Night Lights.” Will Leitch was until this week editor of Deadspin, typically considered the country’s most influential and widely read sports blog. Several weeks ago Bob Costas invited them to appear on his

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Om Malik: Pioneering Blogs (Part 11)

Here Om and I discuss some the challenges of operating a blog. The industry is in its infancy. In particular, there are difficulties with advertising networks and lack of analytics. SM: Are you following what Time Warner is doing with companies like Adify? OM: I have not. There are several reasons for that, mainly I

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Role Model Interviews

Over the last few months, I have done a series of interviews with leaders – CEOs, Entrepreneurs, Innovators, Technologists, Academics, and Social Entrepreneurs – which offer insights to young and old alike about key choices – in business, in career, in life. * Jerry Rawls, CoFounder & CEO of Finisar * Philippe Courtot, Founder and

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Om Malik: Pioneering Blogs (Part 10)

Om discusses his vision for the company. SM: When you look at the scaling of the company, what is your vision? Where do you want to take it? OM: I want Giga Omnimedia to be a proper publishing company. Just like companies publish magazines and newspapers, we publish a web / blog hybrid. Just think

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Om Malik: Pioneering Blogs (Part 9)

Publication businesses earn their revenues through advertising. Running a blog requires a great Ad Network partner to achieve success. for Om that has been FM. SM: When did you sign up with FM? OM: Right out of the gate, before I even left my job I had already signed. I think it was the end

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