Have you ever worried about the influence that big brands and the media have over your kids? It didn’t occur to me until about a year ago, when my son was really starting to communicate effectively. I was shocked, at first, and then not so much when I thought back to my own childhood. Nonetheless, I remain a tad freaked out by the strength of big brands and big media in shaping children.
Check out my post on the Alex Toys blog for my full thoughts.
I still haven’t forgotten the sting that came when Valleywag was folded into Gawker, at which point it began a slow, pitiful death. I was a big fan of the blog, which had an amazing contributor base. To a certain extent, I learned the basics of blogging (and more) from them. Well, Nick Denton tells Business Insider that Valleywag is coming back, and I couldn’t be more psyched.
I don’t know what media moron let this one slip through, but suffice it to say, the story isn’t what the headline would have you believe: “Tired Gay succumbs to Dix in 200 meters.” Good job, Reuters. Really.
Okay, I mentioned in my last post that people in this line of work may dine on paste rather than real food, and this is just the latest example. Did anyone think nobody would notice the off-color hilarity possible? Do the m-f math!!!
This is the sort of thing for which journalism prizes should be awarded.
Seriously, someone’s been munching on a shitload of paste. In Q2 2010, 44 more magazines launched than in 2010. This means two things (1) people have more money than they did last year and (2) they have no clue what the fuck to do with it. The former makes sense, given that in Q2 2009, we were still reeling from the September 2008 financial crisis. So, it would make sense that, as we turn the corner, there’s more money floating around … and it’s looking for a home.
And the latter? Yeah, fools and their money and such.
I don’t know what would possess someone to launch a dead-tree edition in this (or any) market. Look for the giant flushing sound in a few quarters. It will be those new magazines getting pushed through the plumbing.
I tried to embed this video, but it didn’t work. Check it out here.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Retailers are looking to get a taste of social media love. With Black Friday around the corner, companies in the retail sector are planning major campaigns through social networking sites like Facebook to access wider markets and drive more sales. Some, such as Sears, JCPenney, Starbucks and Target, among others, are actually letting customers shop via Facebook itself, rather than use only it as a tool for routing traffic. The retailers know they need a new angle for winning more business, and social media appears to be the answer.
I wanted to pull the video from an MSNBC story into this post, but WordPress and MSNBC don’t seem to be willing to show me any combined love. So, click here to check it out. And, click here to read my BloggingStocks article on social media and retailers.
Every blogger does a bit of both: originating some stories and coverign those written by others. The latter is not only easier but gives you access to news and reporting resources that you may not be able to marshal on your own. And, counter intuitively, reblogged stories can get plenty of play — in traffic and other reblogs and retweets. But, there’s still a certain value in developing your own original news. Doing so is easier than you may think. To pump up the amount of original content on your blog, go retro: press releases.
Many believe that press releases are passé, but these tools can be quite useful.
Think through the “reblog supply chain.” Except for hardcore reporting (of which we’re seeing less and less in general, everywhere), most traditional outlets do a lot from press releases. When you’re reblogging one of these stories, you’re unnecessarily giving props to a media outlet that really only did what you could do on your own. Because of the reblog, you’re making yourself look disproportionately dependent on other outlets.
Stop the madness!
I’m still surprised by how little tweeting some publicists do. You’d think that they’d want to maximize the coverage their clients receive. Yet, I’m continually stunned by how little this happens. Active tweeting can kick off a virtuous cycle that benefits the writer, publicist and client.
For bloggers especially, performance matters. Success is defined by how much we write and how much it’s read. The presence of “tweet counters” on many blogs has made retweets a new metric, as well, even though it’s a subordinate measure of readership. As the retweets tick up, we look good. If we know that the publicist is part of the reason, there’s a pretty good chance we’ll cover your clients more. When this happens, the publicist wins: both coverage and readership are demonstrably higher (and the retainer, too, maybe?).
You know it’s bad when the newspapers are saying that the president’s afraid. A WashPo column on Sunday claims that President Obama, a “big newspaper junkie” is afraid he might not have the printed word at his disposal any more. If the big nationals and locals go where they’re expected to go, he’ll have to seek his news from the blogs.
The story quotes the prez:
“I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding.”
When the world around you is falling apart, there’s only one thing to do: find a new world.
While Condé Nast’s Vanity Fair was in the grip of severe layoffs, the editor decided not to be the bearer of bad news, taking a vacation instead. The NY Post didn’t say if he used Gadling to choose a destination, but we’re all hoping he did. The total discharged from Condé Nast is believed to be greater than 450 this year, and there are likely to be more to come among the contributing editors. The sizeable cut at Vanity Fair is largely the result of Carter’s decision to generally ignore the order to cut 5% of the crew late last year.
Enter the Mind of a Migrant Blogger 