Some might look upon the loss of close to three years worth of blog posts as a bad thing. Well it was a really crappy thing to have happen, but shit happens and it did.

The GOOD thing to come out of it is that I will be back to blogging a lot over the next little while to fill in the empty hole that is now my online presence. It just goes to show you can’t rest on your laurels.

So here I am back at the beginning, yet far from where I started.

newmediaMike was born out of another blog called “digitalmedia Toronto”. digitalmedia Toronto was my attempt to keep writing about the new media industry after Visual Convergence, a trade magazine for the multimedia and video production industry I was the editor and chief writer of folded.  I became involved with Visual Convergence after spending 5 years with the multimedia/new media show which was held every spring at the Convention Center here in Toronto. Which means I have been covering the new media industry in one shape or another since 1996.

While I was blogging as digitalmedia Toronto my “voice” changed – and the tone of the blog started to take on a very personal tone. That’s when I decided to launch newmediaMike as my personal online brand. I held on to digitalmedia Toronto because well, it’s an awesome name and I figured I’d find a use for it some day.

That day came about 2 months ago when my business partner and I were looking for names for our fledgling online marketing company.  digitalmediaToronto is now the name of our online marketing and digital content creation agency.

As newmediaMike I have gone through a few transformations, from covering the demise of VHS to the demise of HD-DVD and other video related topics.  Since the fall of ’08 I have been mostly working and concentrating in the online marketing field. Online marketing is to me more than just SEO and Pay per Click.  Online marketing encompasses SEO and PPC as well as Social Media Marketing which itself encompasses blogging and videos. All of these combine to help searchers find your online presence. I’ve blogged about these topics because I am passionate about them.

Yet I’m feeling the siren call of “new media” once again. I have the chance to “start over” blogging about the fascinating and ever changing landscape that is new media. I’m not going to pigeon hole myself.  New media can be anything from social media to changes in online marketing to mobile to video to … well you get  the idea.  It’s been new media since 1996 and as it continues to evolve it will always be new and I will likely be covering it.

I hope you will join me in the continuing exploration of new media.