The average viewer earns $218,000 annually with a household asset of $2.5 million. Plum woos advertisers with its quality, not the quantity of the viewership.

This summer as many as 457,000 viewers will turn on Plum on any given night. Plum follows a “by the rich, for the rich” philosophy. It makes a lot of sense to introduce new listings and to discuss recent real estate news to this very targeted audience on Plum TV. The network’s founders, Tom Scott (of Nantucket Nectars “Juice Guys), Cary Woods and Chris Glowaki say Plum’s advertising model is a more effective means of reaching consumers in a TiVo era, where commercials no longer exist.

This summer Jonathan Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels is appearing on “Open Exchange” on Long Island. It’s Wayne’s World for the superrich as highlighted in this “Newsweek Article, but Tisch likes the low visibility, the conversation is more intimate. Plum TV also features “No Place like home” Makeovers for the million dollar homes.

(CNN) — In 1994, most people had to call the bank to check their balances. Or inquire in person, or wait for a paper statement to arrive in the mail. Baseball box scores were found in the newspaper. Weather forecasts came over the phone from the weather bureau, or on TV. Back then, most Americans still had to lick a stamp to send mail. Then along came an experimental browser called Mosaic, followed by an improved browser from Netscape. And if you had a computer, you discovered a new way to this cool, new thing called the World Wide Web. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, fewer than one in seven Americans were online in 1995. Today, the majority of Americans are surfing the Web, exchanging e-mail, reading bank statements and ball scores, checking the weather. Today, two out of every three Americans spend time online. The audience for the Web numbers more than one billion and is growing. And they are just having more of their needs filled, whether it’s travel, shopping and all these other activities that didn’t exist to the same degree in the early days of the Web. A decade from now, who knows what statistics and functions they’ll be measuring.

Ten years ago who could have imagined getting a satellite image of Nantucket? Today the web has become a vital tool for listing and selling real estate on Nantucket and it will only get more exciting.

Read the full Internet transforms modern life article from CNN.com to learn more.

In its short lifespan, blogging has largely been a freewheeling exercise in online self-expression. Now it is also becoming a corporate job.

A small but growing number of businesses are hiring people to write blogs, otherwise known as Web logs, or frequently updated online journals. Companies are looking for candidates who can write in a conversational style about timely topics that would appeal to customers, clients and potential recruits.

Last year, Christine Halvorson was hired as chief blogger at Stonyfield Farm Inc., a Londonderry, N.H., organic yogurt company owned by Groupe Danone. She applied for the job after responding to an ad posted at Monster.com. A former freelance writer and Web content editor, Ms. Halvorson now writes four blogs for Stonyfield, including a blog about the company, the Daily Scoop, and Creating Healthy Kids, about healthy foods in schools. Her job entails researching, linking to news and providing personal insight.

For more on what Web professionals earn and other pay data, visit CareerJournal.com.

“It’s wonderful to write every day,” Ms. Halvorson says. “The only challenge is keeping up with this rapidly changing blogging technology, like audio and video blogging,” she adds. She earns an annual salary in the mid-$40,000s, she says.

Gary Hirshberg, Stonyfield’s chief executive, says he plans to hire one or two additional full-time bloggers within the next two years. “The blogs give us what we call a handshake with consumers, a bond of loyalty and mutual trust that’s different than the typical selling relationship, where it’s all about price,” Mr. Hirshberg says. “With the blogs, we are giving a little bit more access to us as a people with a mission.”

Mr. Hirshberg says he looks for candidates “who are comfortable writing in a colloquial voice and who aren’t overly programmed in their approach to writing.” He adds, “You have to be conversational, and that sounds simple, but it’s not.”

The notion of a corporate blog is a bit of a contradiction: Some paid bloggers get a long leash, as far as the topics and tone of their postings. Stonyfield Farms’ Ms. Halvorson says her job is unsupervised. “That doesn’t mean you can give away proprietary info,” she adds.

Even some independent bloggers think there is room for the corporate-owned blog. “If a company has a credible [blogger], whether or not that person toed the line for a company marketing message, that person reflects positively on the company,” says Paul Brown, author of pbblog, a blog on software-industry standards, and CEO of FiveSight Technologies, a Chicago technology company.

Heather Hamilton, who works for Microsoft Corp. as a staffing programs manager for marketing and finance, suggested that she write a blog to help in recruiting and has been doing it since last year. Hers is one of about 1,500 blogs written by Microsoft employees (available at Microsoft.com/community/blogs). She writes about what it is like to work at the company, jobs she is filling and hiring trends. “When I started my blog, I didn’t realize it would become part of my job,” she says. “I wanted to help people think about Microsoft as a career destination.”

Blogging as a job has emerged as companies of all stripes increasingly see the Web as an important communications venue. Blogs allow firms to assume a natural tone rather than the public-relations speak typical of some static Web pages, and readers are often invited to post comments. While some companies are hiring full-time bloggers, others are adding blogging duties to existing marketing or Web-editing positions.

Currently only 4% of major U.S. corporations have blogs available to the public, according to a recent survey by eMarketer, a New York research company. But ads for blogging jobs are popping up on online job boards in recent months. “Blogging jobs are growing in popularity,” says Jennifer Sullivan, spokeswoman for CareerBuilder Inc.’s CareerBuilder.com, based in Chicago. She notes that in March she recruited a communications specialist whose job includes writing CareerBuilder’s blog.

Flycell Inc., New York, an 18-month-old provider of mobile-phone content such as games and ringtones, posted an ad on the technology-job site Dice.com in April for a “blogger/copywriter/editorial-content producer.” The ad includes the following description: “Create, maintain and promote a blog that covers and reports about mobile-phone content and the marketplace … Must have experience creating and updating blogs, including creating links to other topical blogs … Blog savvy is a must.”

The annual salary ranges from $50,000 and $70,000. The job also includes duties, such as writing marketing copy and content for the Web site of the company, which currently has 15 employees, says Mark Lehmann, Web marketing director.

Dale & Thomas Popcorn, a Teaneck, N.J., gourmet popcorn company, is seeking an online-marketing coordinator to create and maintain a company blog on the love of popcorn, among other tasks. Paul Goodman, senior vice president of ecommerce, says he hopes a blog will enhance customer relations and help boost the company Web site’s search-engine rankings.

The new position, with an annual salary between $40,000 and $55,000, opened in April. Prior blogging experience isn’t necessary, Mr. Goodman says. “We’re looking for candidates who are good at expressing themselves. What they write doesn’t have to be perfect. It needs to be conversational and should translate our feelings to the community.”

He’s received about 100 applications, and is close to making a decision, he says. The blog will be subject to Mr. Goodman’s approval prior to publication, he notes: “This will not be an unauthorized blog.”

It’s hard to keep up with all the new developments in online advertising these days. We’ve just gotten the hang of selling and delivering Web-based advertising solutions, permission-based e-mail, search, and contextual ads. Together, these constitute over $10 billion in annual ad spending. Yet, the development community continues to deliver an ever-growing array of new interactive consumer channels and touch points.

Some recent developments aren’t surprising. Technologies such as addressable video ads, commercial SMS (define), and broadcast-quality streaming video are relatively straightforward and have been long anticipated. Others, such as blogs, podcasting (define), user-generated tagging, and RSS (define), were far less predictable, and their advertising applications are still much debated. Whether and how each will fulfill its promise as a powerful online advertising channel may not be determined for years… except for RSS.

Why RSS? Because consumer usage is already large and growing fast; more important, because RSS advertising effectiveness is finally becoming measurable.

RSS has been around for years. Developed by Netscape engineers in 1997, the technology permits users to directly receive content feeds from publishers and other content creators. It provides an open and efficient method for digital content syndication. It received little attention outside the hardcore Web content management community until 2001. It wasn’t seriously considered a major consumer distribution and contact channel by the online advertising community until 2003.

Analysts and pundits have predicted for years RSS use could eclipse the Web or e-mail as the primary method for receiving and viewing content by some consumers. Yet many in the industry haven’t paid those predictions much heed. Given RSS’ acceleration over the past year or so, those predictions may not be wrong.

read remainer of RSS Advertising Article

Online search engine leader Google has unveiled a new feature that will enable its users to zoom in on homes and businesses using satellite images, an advance that may raise privacy concerns as well as intensify the competitive pressures on its rivals.

The satellite technology, which Google began offering late Monday at http://maps.google.com, is part of the package that the Mountain View-based company acquired when it bought digital map maker Keyhole Corp.

This marks the first time since the deal closed that Google has offered free access to Keyhole’s high-tech maps through its search engine. Users previously had to pay $29.95 to download a version of Keyhole’s basic software package.

A more traditional map will continue to be the first choice served up by Google’s search engine. Users will have the option of retrieving a satellite picture by clicking on a button.

Founded in 2001, Keyhole raised some money in 2003 from In-Q-Tel, a venture capital firm backed by the Central Intelligence Agency. Leading up to the Google sale, Keyhole’s roughly 10,000 customers included a cross-section of government agencies.

Google believes most people will like the convenience of generating a satellite image with a few clicks of a computer mouse. The company envisions people using the service as a way to scout a hotel’s proximity to the beach for a possible vacation or size up the neighborhood where an apartment is for rent.

Google’s free satellite maps initially will be limited to North America, with images covering roughly half the United States, Hanke said.

Although Google is offering the satellite maps on a test basis, the feature will probably force its other online rivals to upgrade their technology, predicted search industry analyst Greg Sterling of the Kelsey Group. “To play in this space, you are going to need some robust mapping capabilities.”

Web logs or blogs are everywhere, with at least an estimated five million on the web and that number is set to grow.

These online diaries come in many shapes and styles, ranging from people willing to sharing their views, pictures and links, to companies interested in another way of reaching their customers.

But this year the focus has been on blogs which cast a critical eye over news events, often writing about issues ignored by the big media or offering an eye-witness account of events.

Most blogs may have only a small readership, but communication experts say they have provided an avenue for people to have a say in the world of politics.

The most well-known examples include Iraqi Salam Pax’s accounts of the US-led war, former Iranian vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi exclusive insight into the Islamic Republic’s government, and the highs and lows of the recent US election campaign.

There are already websites pulling together these first-hand reporting accounts heralded by blogs, like wikinews.com, launched last November.

Read BBC Article