Twitter won’t kill the general feed, cos that’d kill Twitter

Long-time Twitter users, myself included, value it mostly for the general feed (everyone you follow, live and in chronological order) and the ability to replicate the general feed model for specific lists you've made of people you follow and for specific search terms and hashtags. At the same time, Twitter is a confusing experience for … Continue reading Twitter won’t kill the general feed, cos that’d kill Twitter

A template for non-spammers sending ludicrous PR emails

As someone who works in social media marketing, my definition of 'spam' isn't aligned with the definition among techie purists. This is mostly because I think "talk to someone unless they tell you to go away" is a completely legitimate way to behave, in life as in work, whereas techie purists tend to think "don't … Continue reading A template for non-spammers sending ludicrous PR emails

Tesco Academy

I went to a state primary school; admittedly, one in a fairly posh part of the world (Christchurch School in Ware, Hertfordshire, for the morbidly curious). It was the 1980s; education was OKish; there were about 30 people in my class, and the ones who properly dribbled on themselves were removed for maths and English … Continue reading Tesco Academy

World leader? Not even close

Matt Yglesias, who used to be a liberal US commentator but seems to have turned into a neo-liberal US commentator, has a very odd piece on retailing, in which he argues that being awesome at retailing is the US's major skill, which will one day benefit poor benighted foreigners: We’re the world leaders in retail … Continue reading World leader? Not even close

No, the Old Spice campaign hasn’t failed

There seems to be a meme floating around the social marketing world at the moment that the super-notorious Old Spice mass media and viral ad campaign has failed to drive sales, despite grabbing mindshare and winning awards. This seems to be based on a Brandweek article that isn't available on their website (w00t new media … Continue reading No, the Old Spice campaign hasn’t failed