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category archive listing Category Archives: Content Style & Business

New J-Skills: What to Measure?

April 10, 2008 – 10:02 am

Berbercarpet, via Flickr (CC license)

Journalism sudents need the right tools — and skills — for the kinds of careers and opportunities they’re really going to be making for themselves.

Picking up on my post yesterday, Univ. of Florida journalism professor Mindy McAdams challenged me (and her other readers) to translate my quick list of what j-schools [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in General, Labels and Metadata, PR & marketing, Resources, Strategy, Wikis, blogs, business, careers, collaboration, community, content management, contributed content, conversational media, creativity, credibility, critical thinking, culture, distribution, education, experience, forums, innovation, journalism, media evolution, mindset, mobile, networking, news, processes, projects, research, search, services, skills, social media, traffic, transparency, world | Comments (15)

Stupid Strategic Commenting v. Smart Engagement

December 18, 2007 – 3:58 pm

Maggiejumps, via Flickr (CC license)

Clumsiness makes for cute fountains, but horrid blog comments.

One of my most popular posts is: Stategic commenting: No blog is an island. It’s popular for a reason. Lots of people want to learn how to attractive more positive attention through conversational media (including, but not limited to, weblogs). That’s fine. Some [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in PR & marketing, conversational media, problems | Comments (5)

If you want me to buy, DON’T make me hunt or call!

December 17, 2007 – 3:52 pm

Steelcase

So close… and yet so far…

Continuing on my curmudgeonly kick today… I’m trying to improve my ergonomics for working at home, so I’m seeking a small adjustable-height working surface. Sounds simple, right? Right….
Mostly I want to be able to work with my laptop (my main — and only — computer) at an ergonomically [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Amy's Adventures, problems | Comments (8)

Social Media Spam: Ick!

November 28, 2006 – 12:52 pm

(NOTE: I originally wrote this for Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits blog. Since it’s also relevant here, I’m cross-posting it.)

What does "Digg bait" look like? These screen grabs from a site that sells dental insurance via an affiliate program show how out-of-place the article "Geek’s Guide to Getting in Shape" is. (Click to enlarge)

Well, I knew [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Media Musings, Net Effects on Society, Voices: Blogs, etc. | Comments (0)

Blogs: Popularity Doesn\’t Equal Influence

November 15, 2006 – 5:32 pm

Technorati’s latest snapshot of blog influence (click to enlarge). Consider what this data really shows.

(NOTE: I originally posted this item on Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits blog. I’m cross-posting it here because I think it’s also relevant to Contentious readers.)
On Nov. 6, Technorati published its latest quarterly state of the blogosphere report. Currently, this search service tracks [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Net Effects on Society, Voices: Blogs, etc. | Comments (0)

10 Ideas: What To Post to a Conference Blog

October 22, 2006 – 7:41 pm

I’ve been working hard lately to get the unofficial conference blog up and running for the 2006 conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Now that it’s up and the crew of volunteer bloggers is mostly trained in how to use our blogging tool, Typepad, they’re starting to request more guidance on content. Most of these [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Amy's Adventures, Voices: Blogs, etc. | Comments (0)

Blogging Gets Bumpy, and that\’s OK

October 8, 2006 – 9:38 pm

Recently, PR blogger Kami Huyse published an interesting article: 5 Tips to Avoid Comment Hell: Dealing with Trolls. There, she posed a crucial question for new bloggers who are nervous about allowing comments on their blogs:

"I have had many clients ask me about the risks of blogging. How do you keep competitors and arch enemies [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Conversations, Real World Writing, Voices: Blogs, etc. | Comments (0)

Apologizing: Good for Your Reputation

September 29, 2006 – 11:37 am

Often I’m amazed at how the universe conspires to hit me over the head with a theme, yelling “You MUST blog this!” That’s just happened this morning on the theme of apologies. Particularly, how crucial apologies are to public discourse — and to re-establishing broken trust with your core community and the general public.
Everyone messes [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Conversations, Net Effects on Society, Real World Writing, Voices: Blogs, etc. | Comments (0)

Shutting Down Sploggers via Google Adsense

September 25, 2006 – 1:48 pm

As I mentioned before, as far as I’m concerned, hunting down and shutting down individual splogs is a waste of energy — because a splogger can set up another (or dozens) of new sites quickly and easily for each one that gets shut down.

Many bloggers have been discussing this issue, with a deluge of often-heated comments in the wake of these posts.

Somewhere in that multilayered discussion, I saw someone mention what seems like a way to take constructive action against sploggers that’s more meaningful than shutting down a single splog. My apologies, I can’t recall who offered this suggestion.

Anyway, Google Adsense is the most common financial incentive program used by sploggers. I can’t remember seeing a single splog that didn’t carry Google ads. One Adsense account can support a multitude of splogs. Google ostensibly doesn’t approve of splogs, and apparently will cancel Adsense accounts for sploggers who abuse the program.

Therefore, when you find a splog, you can report it to Google and ask them to close the associated Adsense account.

Back on July 10, Quick Online Tips explained how to do that…

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Net Effects on Society, Resources, Voices: Blogs, etc. | Comments (0)

Why Most CEOs Shouldn\’t Blog

September 18, 2006 – 3:56 pm

A couple of days ago, my friend and colleague Dave Taylor wrote a sure-to-be-provocative blog post, Why Jonathan Schwartz Should NOT Be Blogging. He also was quoted on this topic in a Sept. 16 AP article, and his posting explores his thoughts in more depth — a great strategy for getting more mileage out of [...]

By Amy Gahran | Also posted in Conversations, Voices: Blogs, etc. | Comments (0)