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
Category: Media
In the wake of a punch to the face from phone-hacking-Leveson-scandalous-British-naughtiness, and a kick to the balls from shrinking print revenues, News Corporation is contemplating splitting its TV assets from its print ones. The plan would be to remove the newspaper drag from the share price, and hopefully bypass some of the regulatory fallout from … Continue reading The future of News: from one oligarch to the next?
My riot policing piece yesterday attracted 600 unique visitors in 24 hours. That isn't exactly Perez Hilton, but is about six times my current normal run rate (I think the biggest this blog has ever been is about 1000 daily visitors, for some of the global financial crisis articles). The fact that the piece had … Continue reading Blogging is dead and no-one cares?
As if to add ammo to the fervent Marxists who've been criticising me for my slavish adherence to neoliberal economics lately [*], I'm going to admit that I'm a fan of The Economist on Facebook. Not because it's my favourite paper - I subscribe to the New Yorker, Private Eye and Crikey, and would subscribe … Continue reading Baffling or flattering?
The BBC has been in the news yet again for perceived offensiveness, with the Mexican ambassador slating Top Gear for calling his countrymen backward and lazy, and the Japanese ambassador slating QI for, erm, let's get back to that one. But although lazy commentators on both sides (especially the 'PC HAS GORN MAD' side) have … Continue reading Two very different sorts of offence
Rupert Murdoch to the FTC: Technology makes it cheap and easy to distribute news for anyone with Internet access, but producing journalism is expensive. True. Phones don't just illegally tap themselves, and making police investigations magically disappear is also an expensive business... However, his implied public service argument falls down on an obvious point: none … Continue reading As if he’d know
There are, obviously, strong historical connections between Australia and the UK. These have created cultural similarities - probably more and closer than most Australians would be willing to admit. The two countries are diverging as time passes, but Australia's still culturally closer to the UK than anywhere else I've visited outside of the British Isles. … Continue reading Weirdest book review ever
Yes, I know MGM (or, more accurately, the latest in a long bunch of shysters to own the rights to the MGM name and to make James Bond movies) are in serious financial trouble. But if I was in serious financial trouble, and I owned a money tree, but I couldn't afford to harvest the … Continue reading Why isn’t there a new Bond movie?
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
1) which country's national anthem contains the line "I've always been a loyal subject of the King of Spain"? 2) which famous 20th Century American science fiction writer wrote Blade Runner: a movie?