I’ve been to the conferences and I know what the (current) Web 2.0 tools are. The obvious ones. And I agree. We should be using these tools. But how? Standing up in front of a bunch of editors and saying “Twitter,” like it’s completely self-explanatory, is just going to leave them confused, especially if they’ve never heard of it.
So how are you using Twitter for work? I searched Twitter for the word “magazine,” and here’s some of what I found. Vermont Business Magazine has tweets that seem to link to news stories on its site. No chit chat. Just the facts. So here, Twitter seems to serve as an RSS feed for site content.
Punchline Magazine has a Twitter account that’s a lot more chatty, like a personal Twitter. It also links back to site content, including video interviews. Punchline has 75 followers on Twitter, and the interaction with the editor(s) is really good. Having a lot of loyal followers who like to talk seem to make or break a magazine’s Twitter. Otherwise, you’re just talking to yourself. Only thing – who’s tweets are these? What’s your name, Punchline tweeter?
I thought this was really cool – Craft magazine uses Twitter as a repository for How To tips. This seems perfect for Twitter. I get a quick list of story headlines (HOW TO – Recycle Old Crayons) delivered to me, and I decide which are interesting enough to click. And these aren’t all full-blown articles. Some are quick blog posts.
Are you using a Twitter feed on your site or linking to a magazine Twitter page? What’s the theory behind yours? Letting readers get to know you a little better? Promote good content? Just messing around?
We interview a lot of people, but unlike some newspaper reporting, the profile feature article needs to get to the core of the story subject — find out what makes a business owner tick. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just ask, “What makes you tick?” And the subject went on for 20 minutes on what makes him/her really article-worthy?
Doesn’t happen. So what do you ask to really get the good stuff? I just heard a good one — What two or three things about your business really keep you up at night? What’s your favorite interview question?
I’m upset that I missed National Grammar Day (isn’t every day Grammar Day?), but I still want to talk about Grammar Girl’s post on Top Ten Grammar Myths. My first reaction is that endorsing the split infinitive and ending sentences in prepositions is a travesty, but her arguments are too good. With the advent of user-generated content, isn’t it time print journalism just started talking the same way our readers do?
No matter what the AP Stylebook says, there are people out there who think “whom” is a made up word. Like Creed on The Office (after an ad, gotta pay the bills).
I’ve been obsessed with one topic the last few weeks and I’ve been trying to think of a more professional way to talk about it than just arrrrgggggggghhhhhhh! I guess I failed. Ethics.
ROP pages are down, everybody knows it. At my company, it feels like we’re finally satisfied that this isn’t just a “market fluctuation” and new types of ad programs are being formulated. Great! Maybe.
I thought these packages would focus on the Web and Internet projects — cool ways to get more information and more types of information to more people. It’s not going that way, though. We’re entering the golden age of the advertorial. Barf. The days of separation of church and state are gone.
So, dear reader, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much does your company follow the ASBPE Code of Ethics or similar? There has to be a way for my magazine to make money and for me to keep my ethics.
The push to Web 2.0 is on everywhere, and at our company, a lot of people are hot for Web video. Everyone wants to design pages to accommodate video, we have people hunting down video applications, but not many people are stopping to ask where all these videos are going to come from.
Personally, and I hope my opinion does change someday, I’m not too hot for video. We’re having enough trouble meeting quotas for copy. I don’t think readers want to tune in to hear me drone on about something just to meet some Web standard. Plus, I don’t want to be on camera.
Sure, we could interview people/readers for our Web video, but our company isn’t set up with the budget, personnel or training for this type of work.
And I don’t watch too much online video, anyway. I find video players have compatibility issues about 60 percent of the time. I’d much rather just read than have to watch. Unless it’s the talking baby commercial from Super Bowl Sunday.
I’ve been to the conferences and I know what the (current) Web 2.0 tools are. The obvious ones. And I agree. We should be using these tools. But how? Standing up in front of a bunch of editors and saying “Twitter,” like it’s completely self-explanatory, is just going to leave them confused, especially if they’ve never heard of it.
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