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There are a couple of new tools out for bloggers that you may want to try out. The first is Zemanta, which is meant to help you generate content for your blog posts. The other is Echo. Echo is a brand new beta release that you embed in your site to replace the site's old commenting system.
Zemanta is a Firefox add-on. (Download the add-on for Firefox) It works with every blogging platform and in Gmail and Y!Mail.
When installed, a Zemanta pane appears next to your blog post window. As you type your post, relevant images, links or tags are suggested based on what you are writing about. You can also search Zemanta for images or articles.
There is no need to register to use Zemanta, but as you can see from viewing it in the Wordpress admin area of my blog, the Zemanta tools in the Wordpress Dashboard urge you to register and log in.
The image shows Zemanta in use. I searched on Hillary Clinton and found the photo you see. I simply dragged it from the Zemanta pane into my post window. You see other things suggested by Zemanta based on the words I was typing. It also suggests articles and tags. I didn't find the article links particularly helpful, but perhaps it was because of the material I was writing about or the fact that I hadn't entered much content yet.
When you use Zemanta, you must agree to display the Zemanta logo with the content you find through them. And you have to agree not to change the size, scheme or format of any content they suggest. I used the photo of Hillary Clinton in a post and didn't see any Zemanta logo, but there is a logo if you copy material to quote. For a post on my blog that was created while using Zemanta, my readers can now click the Zemanta logo (a small plus sign in a box) and use it to quote a paragraph from my blog.
Run your cursor over the paragraphs in A trial of the Zemanta Firefox Add-on and you'll notice the paragraphs highlighted in blue and a small Zemanta icon at the end of the paragraph. Clicking that icon allows you to "reblog" the highlighted text, with full attribution back to my blog. There's also a Reblog link with the Zemanta plus sign logo at the end of the entire post, which allows your readers to pick all or part of your post to quote. Readers can post (with a link and attribution) to their own blog automatically or can copy the HTML to paste into their own blog.
If you don't want to download and install Zemanta, you can try out the Interactive Demo on the Zemanta site. I pasted in the text of Old People are So . . . for a trial run.
The image results were pretty good. Lots of famous names and images available. The suggested articles were not helpful. The suggested tags were simply a rehash of the names in the post.
Here's how Zemanta appears in Gmail.
Easy, right? Now, who will save me from all the emails with LOLcats pasted into the mail with the help of Zemanta?
Some bloggers (and email users) are going to love this add-on. These are bloggers who write about politics, news, culture, and other widely-distributed and documented topics. Zemanta returns decent help for those type of topics. It turns out that the more you type, the more content you provide, the better job Zemanta can do to help you. Check it out for yourself. It's very easy to use if you find it relevant.
At Sherrisax is Out There, Sherri describes reactions of her students to Zamanta in With 100’s of social media platforms, which do you choose to use?
Zemanta: This free Firefox add-on download that offers related web content — both text and visuals — that can help bloggers link and use valuable online information. “Zemanta is a great assistant for bloggers because it is easy to use, cuts down research time and enables content producers to enrich their publications with just a few clicks.” — Alisa Guan “I’m interested in checking out Zemanta to help me upgrade my blog. The suggested articles could help me give a more informed and useful opinion.” — Angelica Maduell
