Publishers Turn Internet Laughs Into Fast Cash

Blogging site to enforce new content policy

(NEWSER) - Tumblr is taking a stand against blogs that promote self-harm. When a new content policy goes into effect, likely next week, pro-anorexia blogs or others that urge readers to self-injure will no longer be allowed on the blogging site, according to a staff post today. The Awl and New York's Daily Intel blog note that the policy has divided users and will be difficult to enforce. The post itself notes that the prohibition "is intended to reach only those blogs that cross the line into active promotion or glorification," meaning that jokes about starving yourself are fine but advice about how to starve yourself is not. More»

Remember, it hasn't actually been announced yet

(NEWSER) - Rob Shoesmith is currently camped outside London's Covent Garden Apple store in a tent, awaiting the release of the iPhone 5. Not all that weird, except of course that the iPhone 5 hasn't even been announced yet. Why is he doing it? As a "marketing and PR experiment," of course, and the Los Angeles Times notes that he's blogging about the whole thing. More»

Young people turn from long posts to short tweets

(NEWSER) - Just a few years ago, blogging was hot enough to be Merriam-Webster’s word of the year—but as Facebook and Twitter have grown, blogging has declined, the New York Times reports. The trend is particularly notable among the young: between 2006 and 2009, a survey found, blogging’s popularity among 12- to 17-year-olds dropped by half, while between 2008 and 2010, it fell 2 percentage points among the 18- to 33-year-old set. More»

(NEWSER) - The blogger at the center of a lawsuit against Google has defended comments calling a model a skank, reports the New York Daily News. "I feel my right to privacy has been violated," said New Yorker Rosemary Porter, 29, whose identity was revealed under court order after model Liskula Cohen, 37, filed suit. "This has become a public spectacle and a circus that is not my doing. Before her suit, there were probably two hits on my web site." More»

Chinese graphic novelist tells stories from the disaster zone

(NEWSER) - A Chinese graphic novelist determined to keep the aftermath of last month's earthquake on the front burner is using her new blog to get the message out, and fellow citizen journalists on the other side of the world are catching on. "We love you, Coco Wang," a blogger at New York-based Jezebel writes to the Beijing-based artist. More»