Yes, bloggers, we can laugh at ourselves
My former colleague at the Post-Dispatch, Adam Jadhav, and current colleague Joel Currier, have issued another video spoof — this time on bloggers. Adam himself has left the P-D to become an international blogger/journalist, now in Kenya. Adam gets to goof on bloggers because he is one, and he’s one of the most multimedia, open-to-new-stuff guys I know (note: some language isn’t for little ears).
You may remember these guys from their previous spoof outing, the holiday video, “God Rest Ye Weary Journalists.”
NFL videos could be 2-stage viral campaign
Chris Cooley
My son insisted I go to YouTube last night and watch the NFL Fantasy Files with him. The videos are spectacular. Even if you’re not a football fan, you’ve got to watch them. I’ve embedded one of the combo videos below.
My question: Where’s the “how they did it” video? The videos themselves are incredibly cool. Why don’t they show us how they did them? Wouldn’t it keep the buzz alive?
The premise of the videos: Stars from the NFL show-off the reason fantasy football players should “pick me” — that’s the tagline of the campaign — for their fantasy teams.
Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley shoves his hands through a wall to catch a pass blind. Arizona Cardinals place-kicker Neil Rackers (from Florissant, Mo.) lines up four footballs from at least 30 yards out and announces he’ll hit the left upright twice and the right upright twice — which, of course, he does. New England Patriots runner Laurence Maroney (from Normandy High in St. Louis) highlights his ability to find holes in the defense by leaping through the front-seat windows of an SUV. Read more
Interesting stuff I saw online, Aug. 26 to Sep. 9
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Aug. 26 through Sep. 9:
- The newsroom view of user content revealed – Well, this isn't really a surprise. Most journalists find user-generated content a distraction.
- Social Media: Fighting the Fear – Good piece reinforcing the ways individuals (and, particularly, businesses) can get past the fear of social media.
- Measuring the Value of Social Marketing and Media – "While social marketing was originally developed from the desire companies had to capitalize on commercial marketing techniques, it has evolved into a more integrative and comprehensive discipline that draws on a wide array of technology, from the traditional media to new media referred to as 'social media.'"
- ‘Skanky’ Blogging, Anonymity and What’s Right – More helpful fodder for those of us who are constantly fending off attacks on the ability for readers to post anonymously. I was particularly fond of your point, “People who’d ban anonymity don’t seem to realize that it’s technically impossible unless we’re willing to turn over all of our communications in every venue to a central authority — a system that would herald the end of liberty.”
It’s a point I’ve made often to anyone who will listen. Even Facebook, which prides itself on “requiring” real names, can live up to that requirement.
Anti-gay story comments inspire playwright
Joan Lipkin
A colleague of mine has written a story about playwright Joan Lipkin, a veteran of the drama scene in the St. Louis area, who found inspiration for a play from the story comments she found on our newsroom’s website, STLtoday.com.
As Doug Moore described it, the original story (which he also wrote) was “about prominent gays turning to activism.“ Readers posted at least 330 comments on that story, many of them less-than-supportive of the gay community. Unfortunately, the original story is no longer in the STLtoday database, so I can’t link to it. An excerpt from Doug’s follow-up story:
“It is ridiculous that there is a story about a successful gay man in the paper. Now I know why the Post is going under,” wrote one reader, identified as “W. Champion.” It is one of 16 reader comments sprinkled throughout a new play Lipkin has written with Sharon Bandy, a playwright from Chattanooga, Tenn.
And there’s this: Read more
Greenfield reinforces ‘free newspapers bad’ theme
Jeff Greenfield
CBS Sunday Morning was a celebration of its 30 years on the air, with features that looked back at life in 1979. It included a segment with media critic Jeff Greenfield, who whirled through a look at how the media has changed. He effectively described how the digital revolution has converged our information and entertainment into a handheld box.
What stuck in my craw was this line, delivered with an image of the Los Angeles Times on an iPhone: “You don’t want to buy a newspaper? Read it for free online — one reason why newspapers as we know them may not be around much longer.”
My wife turned and said that’s probably true. Ugh. My own wife. A week earlier, I had this debate with colleagues in own newspaper. I’m tired of people blaming free content. It’s not one reason why newspapers are in the fix they’re in. It’s not the 10th reason. It’s not in the top 100.
What did a newspaper cost in 1979? Well, I found an article that said the Los Angeles Times increased its newsstand price to 25 cents that year.
If you don’t think that we were (and still are) effectively giving away newspaper content for free, then I guess we can’t have a conversation about this.
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.