In the interview Congressman Frank says he likes to read The Economist, The New York Times, The Hill, Roll Call and Politico as well as books on British history. Then he says this:

I don’t get news on my phone. I don’t use Facebook or Twitter. I want substance. I’m not betting on stocks. I don’t deal in emergencies and I don’t know CPR. There’s enough possibility of misunderstanding as it is without 140 character tweets. Of course, when you’re talking about somebody getting shot, tweets have been good. But generally, I want more than you can get on a phone.

Apparently Congressman Frank is unaware that he can read all of his favorite newspapers, magazines and books on his phone or that he is missing quite a bit of “substance” by limiting himself to outdated forms of media distribution.

Then he says this:

The trouble with new media is the fact that there’s no screen. Anyone can publish anything. We still have the notion that if it’s printed it has some validity.  Previously, you had to convince at least one other person that it was worth printing. Now, anyone can print anything in this medium. In general, there’s a lot more gossip and fragmentation.

Apparently Congressman Frank has never heard of The National Enquirer, The Sun and scores of other gossip oriented newspapers, magazines, TV shows etc. I assume he has forgotten about Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jack Anderson; whose political gossip segment was a feature on Good Morning America for nine years.

There is no arguing with Congressman Frank’s point that there is more gossip and fragmentation. What Congressman Frank fails to realize is that there is more of every kind of media available. In the same way cable and satelite opened up new distribution channels for radio and TV, New Media has democratized all media.

New Media has given us the most free, open and democratic media in all of human history. That is in direct keeping with American ideals. Our political leaders should be doing everything they can to educate themselves about it, embracing it and advocating for it.

***Update 6.6.11*** Weinergate is getting bigger. And with BlogWorld NYC keynote speaker Andrew Breitbart’ latest post you have to ask is the Blogosphere about to notch another politician resignation in its belt?

Thursday October 14:

• 8:30 AM: Opening Keynote: Stand Up, Stand Out, Stand Together Islander G
• 2:45 PM: Keynote: Convergence of Media and the Future of Unscripted Drama on the Web Islander G
• 5:15 PM: Keynote: Behind The Wristband: How LiveStrong Evolved From A Cause To A Movement Islander G

Friday October 15

• 8:45 AM: Keynote: State of Digital Communications in Politics Islander G
• 5:30 PM: The Future of Web Video Islander G

Saturday October 16

• 9:30 AM: The 7 Harsh Realities of Blogging for Bucks Islander G
• 5:00 PM: “New Media LIVE!” Talk Show – Closing Keynote Islander G

For more details on presenters, panel information, and the entire conference visit our online conference schedule.

And after the show, tune into our BlogWorld Ustream channel to view the keynote again or watch missed presentations.

The algorithms in this feature, built by our user relevance team, suggest people you don’t currently follow that you may find interesting. The suggestions are based on several factors, including people you follow and the people they follow. You’ll see these suggestions on Twitter.com and the Find People section. If you like a suggestion, click “follow”; if you don’t, click “hide,” and we’ll try not to suggest that user again.

The new features are also going to be available to developers via an API, allowing them to incorporate the new friend suggestions into Twitter clients.

I don’t currently have it available on my account, but look forward to checking out the feature. I find myself browsing through my friends’ follow list periodically, looking for applicable and interesting new people to follow. This makes it that much easier!

Read More:

• The Next Web: Twitter Rolls Out New Friend Suggestion Feature

• Techtree: Twitter will Now Suggest Who You can Follow!
• Mashable: Twitter Suggestions For You

I repeat: It is ok to make money online.

The general public seems to have this perception that everything online should be free. That’s slowly changing. While the Internet is a great place to find free information, people really will shell out money for quality. You shouldn’t feel bad about charging for this quality.

A few weeks ago, I asked bloggers on one of my mailing lists to fill out a survey about their biggest blogging frustrations. One of the questions directly asked bloggers to choose from a list of common things bloggers want (more traffic, more money, etc).

One of the people who responded…well, her response kind of threw me for a loop. In a very snooty manner, she said that it never even crossed her mind to care about money or traffic; she does blogging for the love of it. Throughout the rest of her responses, she kind of implied that it was a bad thing I was doing, encouraging people to monetize their blogs. Apparently some banner ads or the occasional promotion of an affiliate link when you do a review is ok, but anything other than that is evil. It’s apparently a disservice to readers to be concerned with making money on your blog.

Personally, I believe that she’s part of an old school way of thinking that is dying out – and thank god. I believe the exact opposite. If you aren’t concerned with making money on your blog, that’s a disservice to readers. Yes, there are some great hobby bloggers out there, but the ability to make money with your blog means…

• …you can quit your day job and devote more time to learning about your niche, providing better information to readers on your blog.
• …you also have more time to spend answering emails and helping readers, since you no longer have to work at a non-blog job to pay the bills.
• …you can offer readers multiple levels of interaction – free for people who just want basic information, and paid for people who want to learn more.
• …you have more money to spend on blog design, increasing not just the look, but also the functionality of your blog.
• …you are able to attend events in your industry, which gives readers a more direct experience on your blog, without worrying about paying the bills.
• …you can pay for better hosting.
• …you can buy items to review on your blog.

I read an interesting article the other day about paying for information, and although I’ve since lost the link, I can tell you this: The article compared websites to cable channels. No one expects cable to be free because it was never free from the start. People only expect information products online to be free because this form of entertainment and knowledge started out being free. More and more, however, the masses are understanding that you can’t get everything for free. Readers are becoming more accustomed to paying for ebooks, reports, videos, membership areas of websites, and more. At the very least, they’re starting to realize that if you buy products from affiliate programs, you’re supporting the website that you enjoy.

So if you’re a  new blogger, the point is that you need to stop feeling guilty for trying to make money online. Yes, there are scummy ways to go about doing it, but as long as you aren’t tricking your readers, you deserve to see some income from your website. You put a lot of hard work into providing useful information, so there’s no reason to feel bad when you start seeing revenue.

Allison Boyer is a writer for BWE’s blog and the owner/manager of After Graduation. She thinks it’s funny how people who don’t like monetized blogs would never imagine doing something (like writing professional blog posts) without getting paid.

Image credit: sxc.hu

So you’ve created a free product. You signed up for Aweber* or another list-managing service. You tweeted and emailed and otherwise promoted your product. Fantastic.

And then, crickets. Sure, a few of your friends signed up to get your ebook, and maybe even one or two readers took a chance and subscribed to your making list. But all in all, no one cares about the free product you gave out.

Why not? After all, it is free. Shouldn’t people be lining up at your door, breaking down the door even, to get a copy? People love free stuff! So why doesn’t anyone care about your product?

• Your product was pointless for your market.

You didn’t solve a problem or help your readers any way with the product you created. For example, I write about freelancing on my blog After Graduation. If I create a product called “What is Freelancing?” chances are that my market isn’t going to be interested. They’re already freelancers, or interested in becoming freelancers. They don’t need an ebook to tell them what they already know.

• Your title was vague.

I have a free ebook on After Graduation called The Rule of Three: How to Reach Salary Goals as a Freelance Writer. Initially, I simply called the ebook The Rule of Three. While this makes perfect sense if you actually read the ebook, it doesn’t tell the reader much about what they’re getting if they download it. If I could go back and do it over, I would name my product something better from the start, but the subtitle does get the job done.

• The information can be easily found on your website.

If you have the information available and they don’t have to sign up for a mailing list to get it, why would they sign up in the first place? People download a free product because they can’t get it elsewhere online. If you’re just repackaging something available on your own site or commonly available on someone else’s site, they’ll pass. It’s too much effort to sign up for the product.

• The benefit doesn’t justify the costs.

Your product might be free, but there is a “cost” – signing up for your mailing list. Some people just aren’t interested in getting a billion emails a day from you. If you’re not having luck getting people to download a free product in exchange for a daily newsletter, change the frequency of your emails to weekly or even monthly and make sure they know that unsubscribing is easy.

*Please note – this is an affiliate link. I really do highly recommend Aweber, though. I use this service, and so do many other experienced bloggers. It’s a great mailing list manager.

Allison Boyer is a writer for BWE’s blog and the owner/manager of After Graduation. Gratuitous linking to her free product in three…two…one…BAM.

Image credit: sxc.hu

Each year, BlogWorld features a “Make Money Online” Dream Team to bring you firsthand tips and tricks so you too can earn enough as a blogger to enable you to quit your dull office job. Each year, you tell us that it’s not enough. You ask questions and mob our superstars after each session. “Guys,” you ask them. “How can I be more like you? How can I get a $100,000 Adsense check?”

Monetization Track Leader Jim Kukral and I had a blast  putting together the monetization panel to end all monetization panels. “This is my favorite panel at BWE and it should be yours too,” said Jim. “How often do you get the chance to pick the brains of some of the most successful bloggers in the world about how they make money? Actually, I know the answer to that question… once a year, at BlogWorld.”

This year our dream team includes Jeremy “ShoeMoney” Schoemaker, John Chow, Anita Campbell and Darren Rowse … and guess what? The Monetization Super Panel will be an extended session, so you leave with your brain chock-full of tips and ready to take action. “Out of all the panels and speaking engagements I do a year I enjoy this one the most,” says, ShoeMoney. “Getting hands on with with  attendees helping them in the site clinic and Q&A is very rewarding.”

The panel includes:

• Tips from each blogger – John, Jeremy, Anita and Darren will each tell you about their best monetization tips and secrets.
• Blog critiques – Each blogger will critique blogs chosen from members of their community and discuss the best ways to monetize those blogs. The individual bloggers will most likely choose the blogs by hosting contests. Stay tuned to learn how to have your blog critiqued live during the Monetization Super Panel.
• An extended Q&A - Most panels include a 15 minute Q & A session, but we’ve come to learn that’s not enough time for  a super panel. At BWE10, not only will we have an extended two hour session but part of that panel will feature at least 30 minutes for a Q&A.

The monetization panel is a longstanding BlogWorld tradition, if you can consider two prior years to be longstanding. We’re proud to continue this same tradition and would like to thank all of our panelists, especially those who continue to come back each year so you can benefit from their wisdom.

“I love being part of the BlogWorld Expo Super Panel,” John Chow tells us.  “The enthusiasm of the panel and the audience are among the highest of any panels I have participate in. I am really looking forward to the 2010 session. ” So are we, John.

Considering the successful bloggers who are sitting on the panel, I’d say this is worth the price of admission in and of itself. However, it’s only a drop in the bucket. Stay tuned for more updates regarding speakers and panels for BlogWorld 2010.

Deb Ng is Conference Director for BlogWorld and blogs about blogging and social media at Kommein. Feel free to follow her on Twitter @debng.

“What can I do for you” commits you to action. The word “do” implies that you’re willing to work with the person – not just tell them that about tools and very general concepts. It implies that you’re willing to sit with the person face-to-face, show them how to set up a Hootsuite account, and then show them what the best possible way to garner a following for their niche industry is. And then – show them how you maintain a schedule for that routine. It implies you’re willing to put some skin in the game.

Here are some things you can do to break the ice for yourself and really truly do something for someone:

Find a business and give them a free business analysis

If you’re like me – you see the world with a Layar showing opportunity here and opportunity there. Why not take that to the next level? Is there a sandwich shop in town that uses Twitter but really can’t run a promotion? Give them an idea. Reach out and ask them if they considered offering their mayor on Foursquare a promotion? You know – something small that helps them. Don’t do it obnoxiously as an expert – do it as a friend helping a friend.

I remember, Matt Pinfield wrote something like “send in your requests” on Twitter – I went to his stream and realized he’d never @replied to anyone almost ever. So instead of writing him a tweet saying “I’m a tweeting expert and you’re doing it wrong” – I simply said what I felt – which was that I wanted to tweet @him, but it seems he doesn’t get back to anyone. The response was amazing – “well that’s going to change!”

Adopt a new service

It’s easy to be an expert awesomesauce human-follower when you’re the one-hundred-thousandth user of a service. But Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace were startups, too. Every startup needs to hit some sort of stride to stay afloat, and if a startup is worth anything – why not be a part of its beginnings? Scout out new awesome tools, new games, new ways of communicating. It won’t only do you good to be ahead of the curve. It will help startups and companies. They need you. They need you to tell them what you need from them. They need you to tell your friends that this great tool/service/site exists. Otherwise no company, no matter how great – can survive.

Be Useful – not “Inspiring”

I know a guy who’s name, for anonymity’s sake, will be Joe. Joe seems like a nice enough guy. He also has a big following on Twitter. But something I realized about Joe is that he’s not doing anything for anyone. What he’s doing is tweeting what he calls #Joeisms – tweets of inspiration he thought of while taking a shower. I spoke with Joe on the on the phone (see “Take it Offline”.) He’s full of himself. Now you might think that’s obvious, but when I saw his tweets at first I thought he was an amazingly smart and full-of-life-experience kind of guy. After speaking with him and listening to run-on sentences frequently dotted with “Me’s,” my switch was turned off. Don’t be that guy.

Take it offline

The Internet rocks my socks. And if you’re on the Blogworld blog reading this – it rocks yours too. But it’s no secret that the Internet makes things less personal. You can say lots without consequence, you can put on a persona, and you can fool everybody. Get offline. Go out for coffee with a potential client. Get to know the neighborhood of a local business you’re consulting for to understand what people in the area are talking about. Our jobs, no matter how geeky, are never always online. Even the most isolated programmer working on something all on his own has to pick up the phone to someone once in a while. So certainly you, as a blogger, marketer, or as a person have lots that you’re missing out on if you’re not getting up out of your chair and going outside. Meet face-to-face.

I really don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to understand the four principals above. But I do hope that for some it opened their eyes to what it means to be productive. In my experience, the most productive people I know use Twitter to tweet out their own blog posts and ones they find interesting, as well as interact with other friends. But for the most part – they’re not on Twitter. They’re … working!

Clearly I’ve left stuff out. There are so many other ways to actually help people. I’d love to hear what other ideas you have!

Itamar Kestenbaum is a blogger and Community Manager. He is currently Community Manager for Moishe’s Moving & Storage in NYC as well as Blogworld Expo. You can follow Itamar on Twitter@tweetamar or read his blog: ItamarKestenbaum.com.