talkingDigital

Podcast: Play in new window

This podcast is a rant. The day I recorded this podcast I had sat in on a roundtable discussion with a group of journalism (newspaper) professionals. After listening to them discuss the struggles of the newspaper industry and advertising, I decided to ask their opinions on social media.

As soon as they began talking I wished that I had a tape recorder running. It was very surprising to discover that social media is not a part of new media – according to the participants who can’t figure out how to get their readership back.

I really messed up the episode number this week. As you will hear, I did the podcast shortly before 2am and I was a little nutty. The episode should be interesting. Few things are better than an rant recorded at 2am.

Today was my first day teaching Content Development for Web Pages or MASS 410 as it is described in the Mesa State College course catalog.

The catalog defines the course as:

Developing content for the World Wide Web for small businesses, non-profit organizations and media from a public relations perspective.
Development of content for public relations, advertising, marketing and sales, academic and news web sites. Electronic publications and on-line publishing policies and procedures. Methods of electronic journalism.

I began the class by explaining that the class would not be a web design class. There were a buzz of joy. Only one student said she was disappointed that I would not be teaching how to design web pages.

The class seemed a little confused as I explained that they would develop websites, post articles, upload video and audio without learning how to design websites. Read the rest of this entry →

Twitter is a tool, much like a pair of pliers. You don’t see people complaining that they don’t understand the proper use of a pair of pliers do you?

There is no proper use for a pair of pliers – they simply do what you need them to do. You may use them to grip tightly on to something, to crimp something, to turn something or to pull off that loose hangnail. There is no improper way to use a pair of pliers.

True, there are some things you can use pliers for that can be done better with other tools, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get the job done with a pair of pliers.

Twitter has not purpose. It has no proper use. Like a pair of pliers, you have to understand how it works to get good use out of it, but it does nothing on its own.

Twitter can help you promote your business, but only if you have a promotion plan that utilizes Twitter well. Simply tweeting about your business won’t do any good unless you can make it interesting.

Too many people ran out and joined Twitter because they saw Oprah was doing it. As it turns out, Oprah doesn’t know what to do with it either. Joining Twitter could actually be a major misfire for Oprah as hundreds of thousands join only to find that nothing interesting happens on its own, you have to make it interesting.

Fitting in and understanding Oprah is no different than fitting in and understanding a new neighborhood, church, bar or school. You can’t just jump in and become the life of the party. You have to earn your way in. You must either be friendly or interesting. These are always the two ways to get noticed in any community.

If you are new to Twitter, I recommend getting on Facebook first and actually hooking up with people you really know before you try to make friends with strangers who might find you interesting.

paidContent.org posted this article about the struggles of Twitter to maintain its new members.

Twitter Still Having Problems Holding Onto New Users | paidContent.org .