The interesting stuff I saw online on Aug. 18
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet on Aug. 18 from 5:44 pm to 5:51 pm:
- Nine Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts | chrisbrogan.com – "Write blog posts that others will find useful. I know it’s not a technology answer, but it’s the truth. If your posts aren’t that useful to other people, they won’t be popular." Useful can mean a lot of things — entertaining, informative, educational…
- Blog Posts – Reporting & Writing for Online Media – Mindy McAdams at the University of Florida requires her students to blog. Check out the grading criteria: "timely and current posts," "interestingness," "stay on your topic" and more.
The interesting stuff I saw online on Aug. 18
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet on Aug. 18 from 11:05 am to 1:07 pm:
- Topic Pages to Be Hub of New BusinessWeek Site – NYTimes.com – This will be fascinating to watch: "On Business Exchange, a user can post new material to a topic page, or even create a new page, choosing the subject and the title, and write a brief introductory description. This is hardly a revolutionary idea in the wiki era, but for a mainstream publication, it represents a significant loosening of control. (But not too loose — new topics require editorial approval, promised within 24 hours, and objectionable posts will be taken down.)" [via Steve Outing]
- The Trouble with Twitter – "Don't be surprised to see advertising on Twitter soon. It's about the only way the service can generate revenue. But will it be enough?" I won't be surprised. Believe me.
ASNE: Getting all aTwitter makes a difference in disaster
Steve Buttry
This column was written for the ASNE magazine The American Editor and appeared on its web site on Aug. 18, 2008.
By now, most journalists know the story about Steve Buttry: New guy comes to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to take over as editor of The Gazette on June 10. Two days later, floodwaters plunge a staff he’s barely met into the story of the year.
What they might not know is why Buttry left the American Press Institute, where he had been director of tailored programs for the past three years. Why would he move to the middle of the country to run a newspaper newsroom in the midst of a well-documented slump in the newspaper industry?
The answer, Buttry said, is that the Gazette’s owners, independent Gazette Communications, believe as he does that digital is the future, and they were willing to invest in it. “I thought it was a great opportunity to see if I could really make it work,” Buttry said. Read more
Interesting stuff I saw online from Aug. 14 to Aug. 15
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Aug. 14 through Aug. 15:
- Todd Andrlik: Chicago Tribune's Social Media Evolution – "By sharing its relevant, high-quality content through these new social channels, chicagotribune.com immediately realized an uptick in traffic and eventually an eight percent increase in pageviews."
- Beat Blogging: Blog readers lead to A1 story for Dallas Morning News – The key line in this blog item, and the lesson for journalists: "His readers — many of which are teachers — knew more about this topic than be did, and he hoped they could shed some light on the situation."
- Is porn the answer to newspapers’ woes? – I have nothing to add to this. Try as I might. The blogger: "Steve Boriss teaches the class 'The Future of News' at Washington University in St. Louis and is a principal of The Future of News, Inc."
- What Social Media Does Best – Chris Brogan on how to talk to your boss about social media. I should commit this to memory. So should someone in all the other newsrooms out there.
Would Seymour Butz register on my web site?
A Friday funny: I ran across a guy registered as “Hugh Jass” on one of the stories on STLtoday.com this morning. His comment was perfectly cogent, interesting and added to the discussion on the story.
I saw another one later — also reasonable and polite. There was just that name. Hugh Jass. He took the time to register on my site, confirm his e-mail address — and used that as his username. Some people, eh?
I took an informal poll around the newsroom. Everyone got a good laugh about it. Leave it, they said. No big deal. Don’t ban the guy. I also Twittered about it, asking followers what they would do. Of the 14 people who replied, three were ambivalent, four would have kept him and seven would have banned him.
Several recommended I just reach out and e-mail the guy, telling him that I loved the name, but would appreciate it if he’d use another one. That’s what I did.
Here’s his reply:
Just for you buddy, I’ll change my name to something more appropriate. How about Hugh G. Rection or Hugh Jorgan? Those names more accurately describe my anatomy than Hugh Jass anyway.
Just kidding. I’ll use a more unassuming screen name. But seriously, are you going to deny a woman named Sharon Peters or Sharon Cox from using her real name?
Add this to the list of things I never thought I’d be doing back in journalism school. And thanks to my Twitter buddies. You can recreate the discussion (and follow-up) from here.
Kurt's Tweets- Why is this not a national story? Maybe I missed it. Appalling. Disabled woman was tortured and held as a sex slave http://ow.ly/2CiAq
- Bravo. RT @pwthornton: "Banning unsigned online comments undermines the media’s role as a forum for debate.” http://bit.ly/bmZsOn
- I would like to just take the two steps forward and skip the one step back. How about that? Would that be OK?
- Still seeking talented journalists to run #Patch sites in two south St. Louis County communities. Know anyone? http://ow.ly/2Axnv
- Waiting for a listings collector to give her more #Patch marketing cards. The work never stops.