How social media is reshaping news | Pew Research Center Some new PEW research on how people use social media for news, and what that means for news brands. " Facebook is an important source of website referrals for many news outlets, but the users who arrive via Facebook spend far less time and consume far fewer pages... Continue Reading →
A short guide to longform
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/178691173 It sounds like one of the speakers to hear this year was Aron Philhofer at #hhldn this week, when he levelled some zingers at mainstream media for complacency about their future. I wasn’t there, but Richard Kendall very thoughtfully grabbed a lot of the tweets around his talk into a Storify and it makes... Continue Reading →
Talking innovation, blockers and culture change at WAN-IFRA summit
I was amazed and delighted when WAN-IFRA contacted me recently to invite me to speak at the upcoming 13th International Newsroom Summit during World Publishing Expo in October, in Amsterdam. I said yes - what an opportunity to hear industry leaders from around the world talk about things I passionately want to learn as much as I can about! - and then... Continue Reading →
Innovations and ideas on the agenda for #fearlessDEN
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/475463981 Here's an exciting thing: The next DEN (Digital Editors Network) meeting is being held at Trinity Mirror Towers, aka One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, aka IN MY ACTUAL HQ. Having attended many DENs over the year (we even hosted one at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo) it's exciting to be inviting the network at Canary Wharf, and... Continue Reading →
Interesting reads (weekly)
extract from Jamie Bartlett's new book on internet trools, The Dark Net. (pdf format) This chapter opens with a description of how users of 4chan set out to exploit, humiliate and expose a girl who - from her willingness to pose with her meds - seems to have some problems with her mental health. It's... Continue Reading →
Social media is humanising – it’s how we use it that can dehumanise
Discussions of what is and isn't acceptable for publishing on social media (specifically Twitter and YouTube in current debates) are occupying much of my timeline. Articles written around the role social media played in disseminating images and messages following journalist James Foley's murder will abound and I wasn't intending to add to the noise, but then a couple of... Continue Reading →
Interesting reads (weekly)
What society are we building here? — BuzzMachine "When you see a troll or abuser online, what do you do about it? Do you egg on or ignore the miscreant? Do you shame the fool? Do you support the troll’s victims? Or do you laugh at them?You — yes, you and I — are creating... Continue Reading →
Newsrooms: Not what they were, but that’s no bad thing
Been catching up on some thinking around "what future for newspapers?" this week; this one by Michael Wolff was part-anguish and part-nostalgia and of the "on the one hand, [opinion], nevertheless, having said that [counter-opinion]..." school of writing. This one is a pretty unsentimental look at the issue from David Carr, of the NYT, which warns against the cosy sentiment that... Continue Reading →
On ‘posting a blog’
It's a small point, in the grand scheme of things, but when people 'post a blog' my day loses a little of its savour. Ancient (well, several years old, at least) blogger credo insists: You post a post to your [web]log; you do not post a blog. You don't upload a blog either, and there are purists who would... Continue Reading →
Interesting reads (weekly)
Twitter Testing Easier-To-Use Hashtags - WSJ "Twitter appears to be testing a feature that will better organize its chaotic world of hashtags" - Man, I *really* hope this happens. " tags: Twitter hashtags Video social sharing: How do four of the big players stack up on the social web? The Google+ video shares figures are... Continue Reading →
Alison Gow | Building the New 