At a year-end concert last night in the gym of my local elementary school, there was lots of technology to record the moment: a camcorder, digital camera or cellphone camera for each musician. Parents gathered around to get the best angle during the “Kodak” moment for both orchestra and band.
I shamelessly did the same, but [...]
Are attention spans linked to age?
This post by Steve Rubel poses the question in a Gen-X and-Gen-Y context.
Are we busy looking at what others are saying, trying to stay up with the latest buzz? Or are we OK with the amount of material we’re reading to stay current?
There’s multi-tasking. Then there’s time spent, time gone [...]
Deadlines in the news media business are legendary. And real. They’ve always ensured that content (news, especially exclusives) is edited on time and feeds the news hole. A reporter who misses deadline risks:
a) Seeing her/his byline story replaced by wire copy (think outsourced)
b) Disappointing her/his editor and publisher
c) Spending a career on the back pages [...]
If you’ve ever been in the dark hole of a writing project, you’ll appreciate a pop quiz. Which author said this?
“I sometimes think it’s important for writers to have an unhealthy obsession. Besides writing, that is.
A. Carl Hiaasen
B. J.K. Rowling
C. Ernest Hemingway
D. F. Scott Fitzgerald
E. None of the above
Writing, said now-deceased newspaper [...]
This cautionary tale in the NYT may be a little over the top, but it illustrates the downside for bloggers trying to publish technology scoops.
I remember when news radio was a major player in the San Diego market. The competing stations — and their reporters driving from story to story — would get the headlines, [...]
Oil is over $100 a barrel. Reducing your carbon footprint is good. Google went dark to support Earth Hour.
So why not use video conferencing more and save travel for the only the most crucial business?
SightSpeed is a Berkeley, California-based company that provides VoIP communications for reasonable rates. The company serves everyday folks at home, as well as businesses large and [...]
Marketing blogs tackle words, images and ideas (this blog included). Their stock in trade might be brand analysis, PR dissection, or community commentary.
What gets lost is human nature. And by that I mean how marketers (you) move forward with the tools available. The most important marketing tool you have is you.
So be decisive.
If you’re part of a corporate marketing team, it’s imperative. If you’re managing a marketing agency, [...]
If you work in marketing, PR or journalism, you’re reading constantly. Email. Websites. Text messages. Blogs. Project briefs. Ad copy. Scripts. Court filings. Government documents. Speeches. Talking points. Press releases. White papers. Case studies.
Time permitting, you probably read books and magazines. Possibly you groom your screenplay or novel (the most ambitious of you out there).
Words come at us through pixels, [...]
Marketers talk a lot about engaging conversations with customers. But short of focus groups and customer satisfaction surveys, do many marketers talk (in the same room) with customers? I mean themselves (not a hired firm) spending time one-on-one and face-to-face to hear and see customers’ likes and dislikes? There’s nothing like being criticism in person.
Here’s where Pareto’s principle of 80/20 comes in. When I’m in the [...]
Ever have one of those career moments?
You know, when you were part of something you cherish? One such time for me was working with a premier U.S. photographer: Joe McNally.
Joe didn’t teach me how to take pictures. He taught me how to treat people.
If you check Joe’s portfolio, you can see he’s a photography [...]
