Brand Evangelism – (Washington Post) This article outlines the various methods brands are using to get consumers to create community, become involved in the brand, and evangelize for them. M&Ms lets people create branded Avatars. Kraft is launching a supermarket in Second Life and Cadillac wants people to upload their brand stories. CIQ: We are very curious how brands will measure the effectiveness of these efforts.

Thomsom Makes Reuters Bid—(CNN) If it goes through, the new financial empire would be bigger than Bloomberg. CIQ: We wonder if this will influence Dow Jones to sell to Murdoch.

Niche Sites Outpace Big Media Online—(Adage) Smaller online pureplays such as The Weather Channel and About.com trump the kings of offline media such as NBC and The New York Times. One expert comments, “It’s a totally different medium, and the web-based companies have designed and built content for this medium.” CIQ: We agree. We feel traditional media people have a very hard time figuring out what people want online.