Social Media Briefing While I am in DC
Social Media Briefing While I am in DC
I am in DC for the Media Relations Summit 07. I'll be speaking there on Monday at 2pm in a session on online news along with Jamie O'Donnell (Greg is in Toronto at SES Canada) and Lee Odden. I will also be hosting a breakfast round table discussion on Social Media on Tuesday morning.
The conference is over late Tuesday.
I have been asked to do a two hour session on the use of social media in a PR campaign on Wednesday morning and I have agreed to stay an extra day in DC. This is not related to the conference at all - it was organized by Mark Anderson and Associates.
If you are in the DC area and you would like to attend this session there are 5 spots still available. There is no charge to attend. It is from 10 am to 12:15pm.
Email me if you would like an invite. sally at press-feed dot com.
Are We Yahoos and Thieves?
Via the Globe and Mail: ‘Amateur' charge infuriates blogosphere. Excerpt: Internet culture, often portrayed as the vanguard of progress, is actually a jungle peopled by intellectual yahoos and digital thieves, according to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur-turned-dissenter. Andrew Keen, a 47-year-old Briton who founded dot-com era music startup Audiocafe, argues that basic notions of expertise are under assault amid a cultural shift in favour of the amateurism of blogs, MySpace and...
Via the Globe and Mail: ‘Amateur' charge infuriates blogosphere. Excerpt:
Internet culture, often portrayed as the vanguard of progress, is actually a jungle peopled by intellectual yahoos and digital thieves, according to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur-turned-dissenter.
Andrew Keen, a 47-year-old Briton who founded dot-com era music startup Audiocafe, argues that basic notions of expertise are under assault amid a cultural shift in favour of the amateurism of blogs, MySpace and other popularity-driven sites.
"Millions and millions of exuberant monkeys ... are creating an endless digital forest of mediocrity," Keen writes in a book published Tuesday.
His views have infuriated bloggers and others, especially in Silicon Valley, who argue he is an elitist intellectual, a conservative pining for a return to old ways, and a writer who cannot keep his facts straight.
The villains in Keen's narrative are a "pajama army" of mostly anonymous writers who spread gossip and scandal, "intellectual kleptomaniacs," who search Google to copy others' work and the "digital thieves" of media content in the post-Napster era.
For a technology industry used to basking in the glow of self-promotion, Keen's work is shocking for its unforgiving view of Silicon Valley's utopian aspirations.
The book "is designed as a grenade," Keen, a native of north London who now lives in California, said at a recent debate with bloggers and journalists in Berkeley. "It is not designed to be particularly fair or balanced."
The title of his polemic, "The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing our Culture," attacks what he calls the "cut and paste" ethic of Web users, who he says are robbing professionals of their livelihoods.
The Web allows anyone to post their most intimate thoughts, views or even outright lies, without any editing, under the assumption that the crowd will correct any mistakes. Keen calls for efforts to balance out the Web's powers of instant publishing against society's need for accountability.
Here is Keen's own blog. I'll post a link to it in the Web Writers and Editors list.
Poynter Online's EyeTrack07 Attacks the Myth of Short Attention Spans
I haven't had time to read it yet. But here's the story from Poynter Online - EyeTrack07: The Myth of Short Attention Spans. Excerpt: You can't get much more basic than the lead finding of Poynter's EyeTrack07 study, presented this morning to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington, D.C. Readers select stories of particular interest and then read them thoroughly. And there's a twist: The reading-deep phenomenon is...
I haven't had time to read it yet. But here's the story from Poynter Online - EyeTrack07: The Myth of Short Attention Spans. Excerpt:
You can't get much more basic than the lead finding of Poynter's EyeTrack07 study, presented this morning to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington, D.C.
Readers select stories of particular interest and then read them thoroughly.
And there's a twist: The reading-deep phenomenon is even stronger online than in print.
At a time when readers are assumed to have short attention spans, especially those who read online, this qualifies as news.
That was the predominant behavior of roughly 600 test subjects -- 70 percent of whom said they read the news in print or online four times a week. Their eye movements were tracked in 15-minute reading sessions of broadsheet, tabloid and online publications. Evidence from these sessions revealed how long readers spend with the stories they pick, as well as a host of other details about reading patterns.
This should be a very interesting report.
Blogger Survey On Sourcing and Using News Content
SNCR and Marketwire reach out to bloggers
This week Marketwire and the Society for New Communication Research (SNCR) launched a survey to find how bloggers prefer to source and use news content. As a Senior Fellow of SNCR I am conducting and tabulating the survey. We will present the findings later in the year at the SNCR Symposium.
When Marketwire first broached the subject of getting feedback from bloggers on what they really need and want in terms of news content I was keen to get involved. And it has developed into a differnt kind of survey - although we have the usual formal survey questions, it has started a conversation with many of the bloggers about news content in mainstream media and in the blogosphere. I am learning a lot.
What we need now is for many more bloggers to get involved and take the survey.
And if you have other ideas and comments jump right in and let me know.
Include Video In Your Content Strategy
User generated video getting good views from niche audiences
It's time to start brushing up on flash, screencasting, video production, and video networks, syas Brian Solis.
Online video is the next frontier for the communications industry adding a new layer of engagement to any existing PR, marketing and web initiative.
During the week of February 3, YouTube's traffic surged above the combined traffic to all of the television network websites, reported LeeAnn Prescott of Hitwise in February..
This is a landmark event in the changing face of web traffic and entertainment consumption, now that entertainment seekers are now more likely to go to YouTube than any other television network or gaming website.
Although you never had to learn how to make a VNR, you might have to learn how to make these online videos.
Being able to produce a good viral piece with a video camera or a using a program like Camtasia could put you ahead of the pack. If you are not going to learn to do it, find a social media agency that can produce these ideas for your clients or your company.
If you're in the LA area, or you're attending the PR Convergence conference in LA next week, come to the Social Media Club meeting. There is no charge and we'll be talking about these ideas.
It's 6 pm - 8 pm Wednesday May 16th at the Universal Hilton.
The Corporate Blogging Book
Stop what you are doing and run out to your local Barnes and Noble bookstore. Why? Because you need to have in your hand at this very moment The Corporate Blogging Book by Debbie Weil.
The Webby Nominees and Winners
Time flies...and here are this year's Webby Nominees and Winners. Check the nominees and winners in the categories that matter most to you, and tell us all what you think....
Time flies...and here are this year's Webby Nominees and Winners.
Check the nominees and winners in the categories that matter most to you, and tell us all what you think.
Its Name is Zookoda
Zookoda is the new leader in professional email marketing for bloggers. It gives you better control on the look and feel of how your feed is sent to your subscribers. The program is similar to what you see in newsletter...
Previewing EyeTrack 07
At Poynter Online, Sara Quinn has an article worth reading: Looking back at EyeTrack is actually a look ahead at the latest of these Poynter studies. Obviously webwriters should understand how people read online, and EyeTrack 07 will therefore be of importance to us all. Excerpt: A systematic look -- that's what Poynter EyeTrack07 is all about. It's the largest of four eye-tracking studies conducted by Poynter and the first...
At Poynter Online, Sara Quinn has an article worth reading: Looking back at EyeTrack is actually a look ahead at the latest of these Poynter studies. Obviously webwriters should understand how people read online, and EyeTrack 07 will therefore be of importance to us all. Excerpt:
A systematic look -- that's what Poynter EyeTrack07 is all about. It's the largest of four eye-tracking studies conducted by Poynter and the first with the distinct focus of comparing print and online news reading.
We've almost finished analyzing the data. Key findings will be released at the American Society of Newspaper Editors conference in Washington, D.C., on March 28. The full debut of the findings will take place April 10 to 12 at a Poynter conference in St. Petersburg, Fla.
To give you a little background, this was a test of 600 regular readers of news. That's a large number in the research world, and it was necessary in order to get what we needed. We wanted to look through readers' eyes as they read live publications to see what attracted and held their attention. A second part of the study involved six versions of a prototype and an exit interview, which gave us insight into comprehension, and retention of information.
Using eye-tracking equipment we noted the number of times readers viewed more than 350 specific elements, such as headlines, photos, cutlines, stories, graphics, blogs, listings and ads.
The data totals more than 102,000 "eye-stopping events." That's research speak, but it means we've watched every eye movement of 600 readers over the course of about 9,000 minutes of reading 30 days' worth of news publication.
We conducted the study in four U.S. markets, working with the St. Petersburg Times, the Minneapolis Star Tribune in Minnesota, the Philadelphia Daily News in Pennsylvania and the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo. Each subject read the actual publication for 15 minutes, then read a prototype for another five minutes.
You may reserve a copy of the EyeTrack07 report and find more details about the upcoming conference at eyetrack.poynter.org. Go there to get a glimpse of the project in a video as well, while we continue to crunch the data.
Blogging is Publishing
I wish I could say that "blogging is publishing" was something that I came up with on my own, but that is not the case. However, I have been pondering on this phrase for a while and decided to write an entry on my thoughts.
Teaching Writing and Editing for the Web
Merry Bruns posted some interesting thoughts on the OWL list yesterday, and she's kindly given permission for me to reprint them here: As I post my class announcements to this list, you probably know that I've given web writing and editing classes for almost a decade now, in the U.S. and London. I also consult with clients who need help with anything you can think of that's content-related. My work,...
Merry Bruns posted some interesting thoughts on the OWL list yesterday, and she's kindly given permission for me to reprint them here:
As I post my class announcements to this list, you probably know that I've given web writing and editing classes for almost a decade now, in the U.S. and London. I also consult with clients who need help with anything you can think of that's content-related. My work, and my teaching, dovetail nicely.Back when I joined OWL, in 1998, I assumed I'd be a web writer or editor, but quickly saw (at least here in Washington DC) that staff really need to do it themselves, and desperately need training in doing it.
I think the reason I've stayed in business so long is because I fill a need:
People want to learn to do it themselves.
So how did this start?
I began as the ubiquitous "Web Producer" in 1996, as I'd been working with the Internet since 1993 as an online journalist. I worked for several large web companies in the Washington DC area in the hoo-hah days, then went out on my own as an independent producer.
In 1997 I was asked to give a short web writing class at a conference for publishers, here in Washington DC. It was great fun - a two-hour class on the basics of what we now call formatting text for scanning, mainly, but I got several on-site training requests out of it.
In 1999, I was asked to come on board at Georgetown University, to teach Web Writing & editing classes at their (now defunct) Networked Media Center (part of their Culture, Communication & Technology program). I taught through the year, did summer schools classes for the MA program, but then a new director axed the department. We went over to Professional Education for several more years, and then they axed all web-related courses.
By then I was also teaching classes at the National Press Club in DC (where I'm a member), and where I am today. I give in-house staff training to every type of business you can think of, including government. I still consult for clients on content-related jobs, and do a great deal of flying around giving talks and classes at conferences.
____________I believe that those of us who love web writing, and understand the web editing experience, might think about giving training where we live. We're the ones with experience, and we can take advantage of our longevity in the field to train those who need help.
It helps to have organizations with content-rich sites where you live, and it helps to be known in your field as an online writing/editing specialist. But even those of us who live in smaller cities might find that if they can craft a good class, and enjoy teaching, that it might work. It certainly won't hurt to try.
Good Manners? On the Web?
Via the New York Times: A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs. Excerpt: Is it too late to bring civility to the Web? The conversational free-for-all on the Internet known as the blogosphere can be a prickly and unpleasant place. Now, a few high-profile figures in high-tech are proposing a blogger code of conduct to clean up the quality of online discourse. Last week, Tim O’Reilly, a...
Via the New York Times: A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs. Excerpt:
Is it too late to bring civility to the Web?
The conversational free-for-all on the Internet known as the blogosphere can be a prickly and unpleasant place. Now, a few high-profile figures in high-tech are proposing a blogger code of conduct to clean up the quality of online discourse.
Last week, Tim O’Reilly, a conference promoter and book publisher who is credited with coining the term Web 2.0, began working with Jimmy Wales, creator of the communal online encyclopedia Wikipedia, to create a set of guidelines to shape online discussion and debate.
Chief among the recommendations is that bloggers consider banning anonymous comments left by visitors to their pages and be able to delete threatening or libelous comments without facing cries of censorship.
A recent outbreak of antagonism among several prominent bloggers “gives us an opportunity to change the level of expectations that people have about what’s acceptable online,” said Mr. O’Reilly, who posted the preliminary recommendations last week on his company blog (radar.oreilly.com).
Mr. Wales then put the proposed guidelines on his company’s site (blogging.wikia.com), and is now soliciting comments in the hope of creating consensus around what constitutes civil behavior online.
Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Wales talk about creating several sets of guidelines for conduct and seals of approval represented by logos. For example, anonymous writing might be acceptable in one set; in another, it would be discouraged. Under a third set of guidelines, bloggers would pledge to get a second source for any gossip or breaking news they write about.
Bloggers could then pick a set of principles and post the corresponding badge on their page, to indicate to readers what kind of behavior and dialogue they will engage in and tolerate. The whole system would be voluntary, relying on the community to police itself. “If it’s a carefully constructed set of principles, it could carry a lot of weight even if not everyone agrees,” Mr. Wales said.
Yes, it's extremely nasty out there. I've been lucky, in my own blogging, to escape the kind of behaviour described in the Times article. But I don't know how effective a "code of conduct" would be. What's your opinion—especially if you live outside North America?
Commenting on a Commenter's Site
If you visit the Comments list, you'll see that someone going by "Juno 888" recently commented on Rottweilers, a post I made in the early days of this site. (All the other responses date back to 2003, so this really is ancient history. My post even includes a broken link to a 1996 article.) Juno 888 may well be right that my comments were pure drivel. Publish twenty books and...
If you visit the Comments list, you'll see that someone going by "Juno 888" recently commented on Rottweilers, a post I made in the early days of this site. (All the other responses date back to 2003, so this really is ancient history. My post even includes a broken link to a 1996 article.)
Juno 888 may well be right that my comments were pure drivel. Publish twenty books and a thousand articles (plus numberless blog posts), and your drivel content is likely to be fairly high.
But since the commenter had also listed their own URL, I visited it and found it technically interesting. I sent a fairly detailed critique in an email, but my message bounced; Juno888's address "has been disabled or discontinued."
What a shame. Maybe the site isn't even Juno888's. Some folks are eager to share their opinions, but not their names.
But I hate to waste web analysis, so here's what I suggested about the site:
Hi, Juno--
We'll have to agree to disagree about my analysis of The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, but since you provided your URL, it seems only fair that I offer some comments on it...after all, web text and design are one of my specialties. Moreover, I teach communications and marketing to tourism students, so a site like yours is professionally interesting as well.
Overall look of the 1Explore site is super--good mix of blues, attractive but not obtrusive graphics. I like the wavy curves in the banner. The two-column layout works pretty well.
Big recommendation for the home page: Shorten the sentences, shorten the paragraphs (6-7 lines max), and break up the text still more with two or three subheads. A stronger contrast between light-blue background and dark-blue text would also help. (See how the right-column text stands out so well against a white background?)
This is your site's first impression, and it should be an inviting one, attracting readers to find one welcome surprise after another before moving on to the various packages and the other pages. (I realize some people strongly prefer a sans serif font for webtext, and I use sans serif myself on some of my sites, but for relatively long text, serif fonts are more readable.)
As for the other pages--please ditch the "website under construction" graphic. That may be the first such piece of dancing boloney I've seen since the 1990s, and it was hokey even back then. If the site's under construction, it shouldn't be out on the web in the first place--all you're doing is wasting visitors' time and annoying them.
Webwriting really relies on the "you" attitude--putting the reader right in the center of the story. Your home page starts with "We," which tells us we're not the real object of your interest. Consider:
You're going to enjoy the best accommodation in paradise!
It would also help if the home page gave clear instructions on what to do to get into such accommodation.
Put yourself in your visitors' shoes, imagine what they're looking for, and offer it to them. They'll understand that you really want to help them, and they'll respond accordingly.
Hope this helps--best of luck with the enterprise!
Cheers,
Crawford
Rousing the OWLs
Since the 1990s I've belonged to the Online Writers' List, which at one time was an exuberant bedlam of folks figuring out how to write for this medium. In recent years, alas, it's become very quiet. Then some feckless spammer recently started using it, a couple of list members complained, and it occurred to me that a lot of webwriters aren't even aware of it. So I suggested to the...
Since the 1990s I've belonged to the Online Writers' List, which at one time was an exuberant bedlam of folks figuring out how to write for this medium.
In recent years, alas, it's become very quiet. Then some feckless spammer recently started using it, a couple of list members complained, and it occurred to me that a lot of webwriters aren't even aware of it.
So I suggested to the list that we post news about ourselves and see what issues we're dealing with these days, and some intriguing replies came in. Perhaps it's time we recruited some new participants and started sharing ideas again.
Along the same lines of getting people in touch with one another, if you're a webwriter or editor and you're not on the list here (right column, near the bottom), send me your URL. And if you know of any good resources for online writers, send them along too.
Beyond Wikipedia: Citizendium
Via The Tyee, an article webwriters should read: Beyond Wikipedia. Excerpt: Larry Sanger doesn't trust the wisdom of the crowd, so he's no big fan of Wikipedia. But he's not like the others who get their kicks pooh-poohing the all-powerful (but flawed) wiki: Sanger had a huge hand in creating it. These days, however, he's doing his best to make it something future generations remember only as the troubled little...
Via The Tyee, an article webwriters should read: Beyond Wikipedia. Excerpt:
Larry Sanger doesn't trust the wisdom of the crowd, so he's no big fan of Wikipedia. But he's not like the others who get their kicks pooh-poohing the all-powerful (but flawed) wiki: Sanger had a huge hand in creating it. These days, however, he's doing his best to make it something future generations remember only as the troubled little brat of online encyclopedias.
Sanger is staging an electronic coup d'état with a new wiki called Citizendium, to be launched early in the new year. But there's a twist: the site will start out as a mirror image of the English version of Wikipedia through a process called "forking."
By making a replica of Wikipedia, Sanger hopes to attract a bevy of experts to the project, who will then refine the wobbly content pulled from Wikipedia's infinite pages to create a resource that is authoritative and reliable. ("We descend upon their content, red pens in hand and start our own new community," he recently wrote.)
"On the day of launch, we have over 1,000 people ready to get to work, and a large portion of them are professors, graduate students, research scientists, legal scholars, technical thinkers and assorted other intellectuals."
Question is, how far will his highfalutin model go in the unruly hurly-burly of cyberspace, where the wisdom of the crowds rules the day?
I've put a link to Citizendium in the Webwriting Resources list, and the article itself has a link as well.
PostieCon
I got an extra Christmas present in December from the makers of my laptop bag: Mobile Edge. Lewis Lustman, director of marketing for