The boom in social media tools such as Twitter, YouTube and, um, blogging was the hottest topic this week in ComputerWorld Canada’s Blogging Idol competition, which will enter its second-last week on April 18.
Front-runner Pedro Cardoso offered multiple posts on Twitter throughout the week, chronicling its rise in popular culture (including a Doonsbury comic strip) and interest from celebrities like Oprah. Cardoso also took a look at the changes in PC sales based on recent industry research, and the impact they could have on companies like Apple.
Chris Lau, who also recently wrote about Twitter, explored YouTube and the rising cost issues it faces in the midst of the global recession. Lau also analysed the state of the processor market, particularly industry rivals Intel Corp. and AMD, while responding to accepted wisdom about saturation in the desktop industry.
One contestant, Asma Rafi, decided to not only discuss the rise of Google, Twitter and other online tools but come up with a word to describe those with great Web exposure: “internetnal.” She also offered some tips on how to manage your online reputation.
Data Management Suite CTO Steve Harris took a different tack with a detailed post about domain name control, and lambasting the industry for passing on domain name registration to third parties.
Industry analyst Jon Arnold, meanwhile, recast Skype as a Web 2.0 service and examined its place within eBay’s empire, and what the future holds for the popular online communications service.
And finally, Don Sheppard took a more introspective turn by looking back at Blogging Idol 2009 so far, sharing five lessons learned since his return as a contestant.