The changing face of news

5 Keys to Twitter

Without a doubt, 2009 has been the year of Twitter. More than billion keystrokes from mainstream media have breathlessly chronicled the 40-person company’s rise to the heights of pop culture. If you’re in media, consume news or surf the Web, think of the last day in which you didn’t hear the word. See what I [...]

Kilroy is Here… And Here… And Here

Hop around on the Web (especially Twitter) and you’ll see a common design trend: Cropped head shots–cropped for bios, avatars, for a lot.
If eyes are the window into the soul, a photo of a cropped human face is the window into Web 2.0 personal, digital branding.
Consider:
There’s the famous top half of a head (Seth Godin, [...]

A Brand Forever Associated with “Killer”

Living in Southern California, the word “killer” is part of surfing lingo. Something “killer” is considered really good and harmless. It works, as in “that pair of Oakley Radars is killer, dude!”
But when a brand assumes a different type of killer association, reputation damage is quick, the need for proactive PR immediate.
The phrase “Craigslist Killer” has entered [...]

Why News “papers” Will Lose

It’s not hard to see that printed news will go the way of dinosaurs, typewriters and 8-Track Tapes. Much has been written about the demise of newspapers. Much more will be debated as daily “print” journalism craters and moves to electronic only. Disastrous quarterly earnings of publicly held newspaper companies not only reflect the downturn [...]

Twitter: Chaotic Addiction

So much has been written about Twitter, it’s a bit silly. Here’s a small private company with annual revenue surely south of $100 million, and headcount well below 100.
Many companies meet these criteria. Many companies are barely known.
Twitter is not one of those. It fits a perfect profile. It’s about talking, sharing and spreading ideas. [...]

Boy, I’m Glad Someone Said It

Back when newspapers ruled, being first and being original truly mattered. You broke the story. The competition couldn’t match or pass you until it published (a) in the afternoon or (b) next morning. TV and radio had the edge on follows, and re-wrote with the best of today’s bloggers.
Now it’s almost impossible to know who [...]

WWJJD? (What Would Jeff Jarvis Do?)

It’s a brave new world full of a billion voices, tapping away, sounding off, getting snarky, demanding their due. Anyone with a computer or smartphone can jump in and say something. And somewhere, someone is listening, if just for a nanosecond. 
So does traditional “media” including newsprint still matter?
Simple test:
When I sent an @ Twitter message [...]

On Sale Now!

There’s not a morning that goes by that I don’t get a killer offer in my Gmail. Apple. Golf Galaxy. Nordstrom. Gap. Field Notes. Amazon. 
And on it goes. My head’s swimming with numbers and percetage symbols. I haven’t known whether to shop or wait for discounts to go lower.
Until now. Enter ZingSale, a zippy, nice Web site that [...]

Making Room for Old School Disruption

This post on HBR’s business blog is a great reminder.
Any company–not just startups–can change the game. Terabeam in the early half of the decade burned through $500 million of  VC money and equity trying to change the wireless networking game. 
It’s now Sprint’s turn with Clearwire to try. No easy gig, but who said disrupting the [...]