If you, like me, follow mainstream media outlets on Twitter then you LOVE how they clog up your stream by broadcasting their own content. While a number of organizations have figured out great uses for Twitter, big media remains seemingly clueless. The content outlets broadcast via tweets does not seem…
Last week somebody asked me about whether they should invest money in putting a press release out via a newswire service. Newswires are REALLY expensive and the lovely folks who run them make you pay for distribution by the word. This is a pretty archaic way of doing things (and…
Since yesterday was so much fun I am back again with installment two of “Shoot that term in the head.” Today’s victim is “this is a critical time.” This unfortunate group of words is often employed by managers who are trying to impart a sense of urgency to their troops….
This post by Julien Smith on the perils of saying “I love you” inspired today’s post, the first in a new video series called “Shoot that term in the head.” In business there are sorts of fucked up and vague terms that people use as ways to obfuscate, betlittle, exploit,…
Tintin, the popular French speaking comic book character, speaks a slang known as “joual” (at least in books sold in Quebec). Profs, columnists and others in salons in the Plateau Montreal and Outremont are outraged reports the National Post. The above piece singled out two reactions from members of the Quebec intelligentsia that…
Length matters. I say this partly because, in the last few days, I’ve come across several items on the amount of words needed to convey news. Two in particular spurred on some thoughts: This post, that touched on whether the 140 character world might eventually kill traditional news media. A…
I just saw this from Mitch Joel re the NYTimes.com situation. The company has announced plans to turn the NYTimes.com website into a “metered” model in 2011. Yup, you may pay for news content if you really like the Times. Said the NYT release: The new approach, referred to as the metered…
Journalism is a day in day out grind and has the added problem of trying to combine exalted purpose (think about the public service performed by exposing Tiger Woods or Balloon Boy and blanket covering OJ) with the harsh reality of needing to act like a business. Tough stuff. Mother…