In the wake of the recent New York Times story on how blogs are starting to attract advertising dollars - $50-million to $100-million this year, according to Forrester Research - I wrote a column in yesterday's Financial Post looking how this market's going to evolve and who's going to get a piece of the action. Essentially, I think large media organizations will take a big piece of the advertising pie because they have the infrastructure to go after it. There will be exceptions to the rule but probably the best tactic for individual bloggers with good traffic is to join a federation such as the one being operated by John Battelle. You can find the column here.

I'm having a terrible 1970s flashback to Rachel Stevens' hit song "More, More, More" after hearing John Chambers' aggressive view on the Internet. Speaking to analysts this morning, the Cisco CEO said he expects Internet traffic to grow 300% to 500% a year over the next decade. That's astounding given growth has been about 100% in recent years. Not surprisingly, the biggest driver will be video as Internet-based services such as IP-TV, video-on-demand and mobile TV become more popular. Cisco, of course, stands to benefit from this explosive growth as the need for routers and switches within networks will likely surge, as well devices within the home (routers, set-top boxes, etc.) to handle more traffic after it leaves the "last mile". Chambers could be in ultra-sales mode and/or he could simply be discussing what he sees on the horizon. Even he's half right, the growth in traffic will be amazing. With all the talk about Web 2.0, I think it might be time to start talking about Telecom 2.0 - a phrase and idea introduced to me recently by a cable executive. This is world where IP-based services (video, data, audio) are delivered over networks to consumers when they want them, how they want them and where they want them. I think we're just beginning to search the tip of the iceberg with Apple's deals with ABC and NBC to deliver television shows to the iPod. If you step back, what this represents is the delivery of video to a mobile video device that uses Internet to deliver it. It won't be long before consumers will come to expect to receive this kind of service delivery anywhere, any time. This will dramatically change how the telecom, cable and media industries operate - hence the term "Telecom 2.0." Any thoughts?

After suggesting it was time for Craig Newmark to finally cash in on Craigslist, he responded to the idea with a "not interested". I've got to give him credit for staying with the cause at a time when Web 2.0 has created the perfect financial storm for many Internet entrepreneurs. That said, one thing I've always wondering about successful entrepreneurs who enjoy running their companies is what they do next after selling out - and whether it can ever be as much fun. It's like one of my four rules to live - "Never leave a good time (i.e. a party) before the next place you end up going is never as much fun". For Newmark, can anything be more rewarding than Craigslist? Probably not. The same likely goes for RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie, who's having the time of his life running the world's best mobile e-mail company. If RIM did sell out for billions of dollars, Balsillie would be rich beyond his wildest dreams but then what? True entrepreneurs would like Jim Clarke would do it all over again because starting new companies is more of a rush than actually running them. For most of us, however, we're lucky to have jobs we like doing - let alone jobs we like doing where we also own the company. So carry on, Craig. If you have no interest in selling, you may want to at least think about giving yourself a raise and some walking around money.