ianhillmedia

Yahoo Back On Top After Purchasing Millions Of 13-Year-Old Girls’ Blogs

Sat, 25 May 2013 14:09:30 -0400

Yahoo Back On Top After Purchasing Millions Of 13-Year-Old Girls’ Blogs:

Via The Onion:
“Finally overcoming competition from the likes of Google, Microsoft, and AOL, internet corporation Yahoo firmly re-secured its place as an industry leader after Sunday’s purchase of millions of blogs written by 13-year-old girls.”

futurescope: McKinsey: The $33 Trillion Technology Payoff From...

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:30:51 -0400

futurescope:

McKinsey: The $33 Trillion Technology Payoff

From Bits Blog NYT:

A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of the consulting firm, delivers a twist on the art form, and the difference is more than the timing. The 154-page report not only selects a dozen “disruptive” technologies from a candidate list of 100, but also measures their economic impact. By 2025, the 12 technologies — led by the mobile Internet, the automation of knowledge work, and the Internet of Things — have the potential to deliver economic value of up to $33 trillion a year worldwide, according to the McKinsey researchers. […]

[read more] [McKinsey Global Institute]

"Time is the raw material of creation. Wipe away the magic and myth of creating and all that remains..."

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:25:44 -0400

“

Time is the raw material of creation. Wipe away the magic and myth of creating and all that remains is work: the work of becoming expert through study and practice, the work of finding solutions to problems and problems with those solutions, the work of trial and error, the work of thinking and perfecting, the work of creating. Creating consumes. It is all day, every day. It knows neither weekends nor vacations. It is not when we feel like it. It is habit, compulsion, obsession, vocation. The common thread that links creators is how they spend their time. No matter what you read, no matter what they claim, nearly all creators spend nearly all their time on the work of creation. There are few overnight successes and many up-all-night successes.

“The math of time is simple: you have less than you think and need more than you know.”Saying “no” has more creative power than ideas, insights and talent combined. No guards time, the thread from which we weave our creations. The math of time is simple: you have less than you think and need more than you know. We are not taught to say “no.” We are taught not to say “no.” “No” is rude. “No” is a rebuff, a rebuttal, a minor act of verbal violence. “No” is for drugs and strangers with candy.

Creators do not ask how much time something takes but how much creation it costs. This interview, this letter, this trip to the movies, this dinner with friends, this party, this last day of summer. How much less will I create unless I say “no?” A sketch? A stanza? A paragraph? An experiment? Twenty lines of code? The answer is always the same: “yes” makes less. We do not have enough time as it is. There are groceries to buy, gas tanks to fill, families to love and day jobs to do.

People who create know this. They know the world is all strangers with candy. They know how to say “no” and they know how to suffer the consequences.

”

- Kevin Ashton, Creative People Say No

(via stoweboyd)

Who Actually Uses Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram and Other Social Networks?

Mon, 20 May 2013 09:26:00 -0400

Photo by English106/Flickr.

Well, if you’re reading this, you’re probably among the 6 percent of total Internet users who using Tumblr. That number comes from a Pew Internet and American Life project report that’s titled “A demographic portrait of users of various social media services - 2012.” The report popped up on Tumblr during the Tumblr-Yahoo! hullabaloo this morning, and it includes some useful info.

The percentage of Internet users who use Twitter? 16 percent.

Pinterest: 15 percent.

Instagram: 13 percent.

Facebook: 67 percent.

Read the report here, and follow Pew Internet on Tumblr.

Everyone on Tumblr Has Lost Their Damn Minds

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:41:18 -0400

Relax, people. It’s just business.

Watch Kanye's 'New Slaves' on SNL, then Watch Death Grips' 'Guillotine'

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:39:00 -0400

Watching Kanye West perform his new single “New Slaves” on SNL has pinged the Central Valley music reporter in me. Here’s West:

I’m thinking Yeezy and I have been doing the same thing lately: listening to a lot of Death Grips, the Sacramento art-rap-punk group that was SPIN magazine’s Artist of the Year last year. Watch the Death Grips video for “Guillotine”:

Death Grips - Guillotine (It Goes Yah) from Death Grips on Vimeo.

Listen to more Death Grips on Soundcloud.

The Two Types Of Social Network John Herrman, buzzfeed.com The...

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:26:42 -0400

The Two Types Of Social Network
John Herrman, buzzfeed.com

The ones that trap you, and the ones that set you free. But neither one is the future.
There are more social networks than ever, and more people using them. The sheer variety in social networking, though, has left us with an increasingly…

This is a fascinating piece. Breaking down the philosophy down to the two best-known social networks: Facebook is for posts and brands, Twitter is for people, and the goal on Twitter is to be cool.

4 Keys to Online Success for News Organizations

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:07:00 -0400

A compelling photo is vital to attracting readers to your story online. Photo by Steve Rhodes/Flickr.

Here are the most important lessons I’ve learned through research and experience since I first became an “online journalist” seven years ago:

1. Treat online as its own unique medium with its own unique best practices. You wouldn’t read a newspaper story verbatim on a television or radio station. You wouldn’t re-print a television or radio script line-for-line in a newspaper. So why would you expect to be successful by cutting-and-pasting television and radio scripts and print stories online? The Internet has its own unique strengths, weaknesses and best practices for engaging audiences. It’s the only medium for rich interactive content and instant two-way communication with your audience. Create a strategy focused on these qualities and you’re more likely to live up to your potential online.

2. Listen and respond to your community during the news gathering process. Your community doesn’t need you. They already have what seems like an infinite number of sources for news they find interesting. You’re just another voice in that cacophony. If you want to be relevant, you need to pay attention to what your audience is talking about online and be part of their conversations. Hang out where they hang out, ask them what they’re interested in and learn how to recognize patterns in their news consumption. Does your community have a huge subreddit where users are regularly upvoting items about housing? Try providing more housing coverage. Are there no comments on your competitor’s education blog? Spend less time reporting on education.

3. Create quality to generate quantity on social. Contests and other gimmicks can be great for a one-time spike in your Facebook followers. But how are you going to keep growing your numbers after you’ve given out your prizes? You need to regularly provide your social audience with a product they’re interested in.

4. Make headlines and photos a priority. Your community wades through a flood of information whenever it logs onto Facebook or Twitter. Links with great headlines and photos rise above the rest of the fodder and attract clicks. To write a great headline, start by thinking about how you might pitch your story to a reader if you only had 30 seconds to talk with him or her in an elevator. How would you succinctly and clearly sell the benefits of clicking on your work? Can you guarantee the reader that he or she will gain something through your story? Use your answers to write a one-line compelling promise to the reader that explains the benefits of checking out your work. Refine that promise using Matt Thompson’s “10 questions to help you write better headlines.” It’s important to note here that you should not give away your entire story in a headline, as many newspapers often do. “8 People Killed in Gang Shooting Downtown” pretty much tells the reader everything he or she needs to know without requiring a click. When you’re done writing your headline, ask yourself: would I click on this if it came across my personal Facebook feed? If the answer is no, your headline might need more editing.

marketingland: According to an eMarketer report, online video...

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:04:48 -0400

marketingland:

According to an eMarketer report, online video ad spending will reach $4.14 billion, an increase of 41.4% from 2012′s numbers.

At NPR, Web Design Starts With Mobile

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:17:22 -0400

At NPR, Web Design Starts With Mobile:

The public broadcaster last week launched its new mobile website as part of its shift to responsive design for its digital platform. The organization decided to start its digital design efforts on the smallest screens and work up to larger screens: “Mobile first forces you to make choices about what your priorities are,” said Patrick Cooper, NPR’s senior product manager.

“At the desktop level, people don’t have just one screen up anymore. They have 10 tabs going and they have screens big enough to have three different things happening at once in front of them… Presenting a complicated, overly cluttered webpage to people is the easiest way to lose their attention.”

“The bottom line: in a global, digital and SoLoMo (Social...

Wed, 08 May 2013 08:23:01 -0400

“The bottom line: in a global, digital and SoLoMo (Social Local Mobile) society you really can’t force people to pay, you have to ATTRACT them to pay”

futuristgerd:

(via Interesting Chart: So Is The Paywall Hype Cooling Off? Like I keep saying: Paywill NOT Paywall)

Digital Marketing via @kkoolook: 18 Fresh Social Media Stats

Wed, 08 May 2013 08:18:06 -0400

Digital Marketing via @kkoolook: 18 Fresh Social Media Stats:

digital-marketing-engineer:

1) 27% of total U.S. internet time is spent on social networking sites. (Source: Experian)

2) 15% of total U.S. mobile internet time is spent on social networking sites. (Source: Experian)

3) Social media produces almost double the marketing leads of trade shows, telemarketing,…

Read Advice For New Editors by Steve Buttry

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:14:22 -0400

Read Advice For New Editors by Steve Buttry:

For some great tips and advice.

Our Top Referrer Has Been Facebook Mobile Recently

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:09:36 -0400

Just an FYI, mobile is already here.

12 Best Practices For Media Companies Using Facebook Pages |...

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:54:21 -0400

12 Best Practices For Media Companies Using Facebook Pages | Facebook
facebook.com

By Scott Hershkowitz and Vadim Lavrusik
Pages are a great way for media organizations to share stories, connect with readers and create an ongoing dialog around current events. Your Page is …

INFOGRAPHIC: 18 Sweet Tips For Facebook Page Posts

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:43:11 -0400

INFOGRAPHIC: 18 Sweet Tips For Facebook Page Posts:

allfacebook.com

Justin Lafferty on May 3, 2013 12:50 PM
Taking some inspiration from Candy Crush Saga, PostRocket came up with 18 tasty tips for better Facebook page management. If you’re looking for a boos …

The first tip is by far the most important: “If it’s not interesting, informative or entertaining, don’t post it.” You can find at least one of those qualities in every viral content item that clogs up your newsfeed.

Headlines I Click On: My New Pinterest Board

Sat, 04 May 2013 10:02:24 -0400

Headlines I Click On: My New Pinterest Board:

Posts, articles and stories with great headlines. Good headline writing is good design for text.

For the best post I’ve ever read about headline writing, click here.

Ask a Grown Journalist: Why Do You Do What You Do?

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 11:17:21 -0400

This Tumblr user responded to my “Ask a Grown Journalist” post with three great questions. Unfortunately, it has been a bit hectic in the news business recently, so I haven’t been able to answer until now. Let’s start with the big question:

What makes you keep doing what you do? For context, you should understand that I didn’t always want to pursue a career in journalism. I didn’t work on my high school or college newspapers, and I never really had the desire to be the next Bob Woodward. When I was in high school, I told my mom I wanted to write fiction.

“You can’t make any money in that,” she said. “What about journalism?”

That was in the mid-1990s, when the news industry was still humming along and relatively flush with cash. (Of course, the professional journalists reading this are probably looking at their pay stubs and shaking their heads in response to my mom’s comment about money. And it’s interesting to note that my parents later paid for my sister’s degree in creative writing. But that’s a topic to discuss with my therapist.) It was relatively easy to get a job at a newspaper at the time. Within two weeks of graduation I had my first gig - I covered county government at the 20,000-circulation, six-day Findlay Courier in Ohio. It was a great place to work. The staff was a mix of long-time journalists willing to share their experiences in the field and young journalists excited to be in a newsroom. I found that every day brought new challenges and new topics to write about, and Findlay’s small, close-knit population made it easy to see the impact of my work.

When the job began to seem routine, I moved onto another news organization and beat, then another. In 2005 I came to California to cover music and entertainment for the 50,000-circulation Record newspaper in Stockton. That’s where I first learned about social media, as I found bands were sharing information about upcoming shows and their latest releases on MySpace. I wanted to design a MySpace page that would serve as a hub of information for local musicians, so I learned how to code (using the book “Spring into HTML and CSS,” which I highly recommend). That led me to create 209Vibe and it started me on a path to a career in online journalism.

The Internet continues to offer exciting challenges and opportunities for journalists. It seems like I learn about a new or innovative way to tell a story or engage users every day. I love building on those innovations and helping create projects that keep my news organization relevant to its community.

I won’t make a fortune doing it, despite what my mom may have thought when she first offered me career advice years ago. But I’ve always loved the fact that my job offers daily opportunities to do something different and creative. That’s what keeps me working in journalism.

I’ll respond to the other two “Ask a Grown Journalist” questions later this week. If you have a question for a grown journalist, leave a comment on this post and I’ll try and get back to you.

How Facebook's Business Plan Impacts News Organizations and Others With Pages

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:20:00 -0400

A random thought for this morning:

Facebook’s business plan, like that of most online companies, is based on selling its user data to advertisers. To succeed, it must do everything it can to encourage users to share as much data as possible.

News organizations and other businesses with Pages are not users. We are potential advertisers whose posts often discourage users from sharing information on Facebook. Business Pages regularly share links to other web sites that take users off Facebook entirely.

Therefore, it’s in Facebook’s best interest as a business to discourage Pages from sharing links. From a broader business standpoint, it’s also in Facebook’s best interest to limit the reach of Pages maintained by businesses that do not advertise. Those of us who oversee Pages for businesses have found that happening over the past several months.

I’m not hating on Facebook for this. It’s business.

In response, businesses that want to be successful on Facebook should adjust their strategies to treat the social network as a subscription service. Budget money to pay for Like ads every month. Like ads have the greatest ROI, which is understandable. They serve to promote use of Facebook.

Discuss.

3 Steps to Correcting an Error on Facebook

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:20:00 -0400

It has been a challenging week for the media. Some organizations struggled to cover Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing in an accurate and timely manner, while others incorrectly reported Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in the bombing. Reports about a possible arrest caused a fair amount of confusion on social media. (Image via Sharon McNary on Facebook.)

We were among the local news organizations relying on outlets like the Associated Press for coverage from Boston. As a result, when the AP and others incorrectly reported that a suspect was in custody, we incorrectly posted on our Facebook page that an arrest had been made. We were not alone, and there already has been a fair amount of conversation online about the errors.

This post is focused on how our organization responded and what we learned. When reports began to circulate that an arrest had not been made, we shared news about the confusion on our Facebook page. However, at the time, we did not delete the original erroneous post. Like most journalists (I hope), I’m wary of deleting errors. It feels like I’m erasing the past, and that makes me uncomfortable.

However, over the course of the day it became clear that many of our followers weren’t seeing the post regarding conflicting reports about the arrest. Instead, they were seeing the original post and emphasizing in comments that we were wrong.

This stemmed in part from how Facebook displays posts in newsfeeds. Most users do not see the most recent posts when they log in. Instead, they see what Facebook considers “Top News,” which includes posts that have many Likes, shares and comments.

In other words, users are more likely to see news that has generated conversation and demonstrations of support, like, say, incorrect reports of an arrest in the Boston Marathon bombing. And as more users commented that the post was incorrect, more users saw the post as “Top News” in their newsfeeds.

I responded last night by deleting the original post and writing this correction:

The result? Nearly 200 Likes and more than 50 comments, mostly from users thanking us for our honesty and offering praise for our focus on transparency. Today, I believe we have a stronger connection with our Facebook community because of the correction.

As a result of this experience, I’ll be adjusting our standards and practices for responding to errors on Facebook to include the following three steps. Hopefully they’ll help you the next time you’re faced with posting a correction on social media.

1. Delete the original error. It might feel wrong, but because most users see “top posts” instead of most recent posts in their newsfeed, your error will continue to spread if you don’t delete it.

2. Post a correction that acknowledges the error without repeating the error. The latter is key. Don’t write that “earlier today, we incorrectly said this.” Instead, start your correction with the truth. “This is what’s happening. That means we were incorrect earlier today.” It helps you avoid creating additional confusion.

3. Use the tools available in Facebook to personalize your correction and take an active role in the discussion it sparks. In the end you’ll have a stronger relationship with your followers. Start by signing your correction with your actual name and title and by giving users another way to contact you, like your email address. Post your correction. Then change “posting as page” to “posting as <your name>” and use Facebook’s new reply to comment feature to thank each of your followers who comment positively and to respond to questions as yourself. Users can build a stronger connection with a name and a face, and your news brand will be better for it in the end.