February 2012
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Of funerals, digital photos and impermanence →
“The era of cheap digital photography means it is easier than ever to take a good picture, but it also means we are drowning in photos, and pictures have become just another form of digital detritus. Where will those digital memories be when we need them? ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/ydRFId
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Lessons from Path and Pinterest: Tell users... →
“Path and Pinterest are getting some significant backlash because of recent decisions that appeared to put their interests ahead of their users, and a lack of disclosure about that behavior. It’s a welcome reminder that the trust of users is not something to be taken lightly. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/ynYkFK
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Sky News joins the anti-social media brigade →
“A new policy from Sky News bars reporters from posting anything other than work-related content on Twitter, and even forbids them from retweeting anything that doesn’t come from a Sky account. As with so many other similar policies, this completely misses the point of social media. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/wMGzwA
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Do users really care whether the web is open or... →
“Open-web advocates may long for a revolt against walled gardens, but in the end the success of a social network is determined by the willingness of users to put up with its restrictions. For Facebook, that is both its biggest strength and its biggest weakness. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/A6BQoP
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Debunking the "original sin" of online newspapers →
“Media industry executives love to talk about the “original sin” that newspapers supposedly committed, by not charging for content when the web was young — but this theory misses the point that the media game as a whole is being played according to fundamentally different rules. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/xmoNPt
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The NYT needs a lot more than just a paywall →
“The New York Times has signed up over 300,000 people to its digital subscription plan, but that doesn’t even come close to making up for continued declines in ad revenue. A new CEO is going to have to think creatively about where the paper goes now. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/AqYJmV
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Memo to publishers: Remind us why you exist again? →
“As more authors choose to do an end-run around the traditional book industry, publishers are going to have to try harder to defend their continued existence — self-published author J.A. Konrath says that most are tied to a “broken, outdated and increasingly irrelevant business model.” ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/yxdbka
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How the Huffington Post became a new-media... →
“In addition to some eye-popping figures for page views and unique visitors, the latest Huffington Post statistics show that if there’s one thing the site knows how to do, it’s how to get reader engagement that other news sites and publishers can only dream of. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/wolFZz
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In one crucial way, Facebook is still a private... →
“Even after it goes public, Facebook will still be controlled single-handedly by CEO Mark Zuckerberg through a special class of stock and voting agreements. In other words, while you may own stock in the company, you will have virtually no say in what happens to it. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/zZpcj5
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Facebook wants to rewire the way the world works →
“In the letter to shareholders included in Facebook’s IPO filing, co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes it clear his vision goes beyond just a social network — he wants to fundamentally rewire the way the world works, from interpersonal interactions to commerce and even government. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/yvMosf
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Is Facebook's IPO the start of something, or the... →
“As everyone awaits the $100-billion Facebook IPO, the biggest question hanging over the offering is whether it marks the beginning of a new era for Facebook — or is it just a massive cashing-out exercise, a sign that this generation’s version of AOL has peaked? ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/xgf9OZ
January 2012
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Neil Young is right -- piracy is the new radio →
“Neil Young put a lot of the media industry’s hysteria about file-sharing into perspective when he said in a recent interview that “piracy is the new radio — that’s how music gets around.” In fact, a certain amount of “piracy” can be good for business. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/x7p22v
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Sorry Dick, but Twitter is definitely a media... →
“Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said on Monday that the company is not a media entity, but in most of the ways that matter, it clearly is — and that’s why its recent decision to selectively censor content that flows through its network is so important. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/y5byPm
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Is it good for journalism when sources go direct? →
“New York Times media writer Brian Stelter says the ability for sources to “go direct,” as Rupert Murdoch has done with Twitter, is a generational shift in the media industry. But is it a good thing or a bad thing for journalism and news consumers? ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/wmQY9I
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Twitter users beware: Homeland Security isn't... →
“A report that two British tourists were detained by Homeland Security and refused entry to the U.S. based on a joke they posted to Twitter raises questions about whether monitoring of social networks by security officials is likely to cause more problems than it solves. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/yjRxVu
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Gaiman: SOPA and PIPA are on the wrong side of... →
“Author Neil Gaiman said in an interview this week that the media industry is trying to “put genies back in bottles” with laws like SOPA and PIPA, and that the internet has fundamentally changed the landscape, just as Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press did. ” — My Comments : A post based on my interview with graphic novelist Neil Gaiman:...
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How much should we trust our new information... →
“The news that Twitter will be censoring tweets has reinforced for many the fact that our freedoms exist at the mercy of the companies whose networks we are using — and being used by. How much trust should we have in these new information gatekeepers? ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/wANLRA
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Twitter will censor tweets, but will try really... →
“Twitter says it has implemented a new system that will allow it to remove tweets from specific countries if required to do so by law, but that it will try hard not to do this, and will be as transparent as possible if it does. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/wN9Iwx
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Memo to media: Supply and demand are out of your... →
“Too many media giants are happy to have a little disruption, provided it doesn’t change the supply-demand equation they have always relied on. But the reality is that this equation has already been blown to smithereens, and they had better figure out how to adapt. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/yyImPQ
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Google's new privacy policy: Should you be... →
“Is Google’s new privacy policy another sign it has broken its promise and is becoming more evil? Or is the fuss over the new version — which will allow the search giant to share data among its various services — a tempest in a privacy teapot? ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/zMw2FK
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Why Google and Twitter need to kiss and make up →
“The back-and-forth between Google and Twitter over Google’s new social-search results is only the latest manifestation of a much deeper problem with the relationship between the two former partners. The reality is that both sides need each other more than they would probably like to admit. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/zCslsr
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Joe Paterno's death and the reality of news as a... →
“There’s been a lot of journalistic finger-wagging over a student website that filed an erroneous report on the weekend saying Penn State coach Joe Paterno had died. But that student site behaved better than some other traditional news sources, both before and after the report. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/w1I0tY
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Facebook picks fight with Google over who is more... →
“A team of developers led by Facebook’s Blake Ross has launched a browser plugin called “Don’t be evil” that they claim presents Google’s search more fairly — but is this a war that Facebook can win, or just a chance to make cheap PR points against Google? ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/xy6cZt
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Megaupload case proves we don't need SOPA or PIPA →
“Not only were the authorities able to shut down Megaupload and arrest its founders without either SOPA or PIPA, but the facts of the case raise even more red flags about what the government would be able to do to similar services under those proposed laws. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/zxmIOd
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Twitter acquisition confirms that curation is the... →
“Twitter’s purchase of Summify, which delivered an email summary of interesting links from a user’s social networks, shows that Twitter is trying to get smarter about how it filters the flood of information users are exposed to. It’s a challenge that is only going to grow. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/AnCmVb
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Do we want textbooks to live in Apple's walled... →
“Apple’s new textbook offering and book-authoring software are attractive, and the idea of digital textbooks makes sense, but they are both locked to Apple’s walled-garden ecosystem. That may be fine for music and movies and games like Angry Birds, but is it appropriate for educational material? ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/zxGxFT
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How the social web saved a young entrepreneur's... →
“Thanks to an almost unprecedented grass-roots awareness campaign conducted by his friends through Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter and other social media over the past three months, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Amit Gupta was able to find a compatible bone-marrow donor whose cells could help him conquer acu… ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/yiOJ3h
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What does a kid's birthday cake have to do with... →
“In a presentation about SOPA and PIPA, author and media theorist Clay Shirky starts with an anecdote about a mom-and-pop bakery in his old neighborhood that made custom birthday cakes for children. What does that have to do with piracy? More than you might think. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/yz71gw
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Has Wikipedia broken faith with users by going... →
“Critics of Wikipedia’s decision to shut the encyclopedia down as a protest against U.S. anti-piracy legislation say the site shouldn’t be taking an advocacy position on such an issue, but if anything that decision is a great illustration of how Wikipedia functions and why it’s important. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/x5DSdc
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House shelves SOPA, but blackout protests continue →
“Although the House has said that it will shelve the much-criticized SOPA anti-piracy act until there is consensus on the legislation, critics — including Reddit and Wikipedia — say they plan to go ahead with blackouts to protest the law and its Senate counterpart, known as PIPA. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/w6RbkE
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Murdoch shows he doesn't understand how content... →
“News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch’s comments about piracy reinforce the sense that the billionaire media and entertainment mogul doesn’t understand how content works in a digital era, and that he is continuing to try and impose the scarcity that media companies have had in the past. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/wqjfMx
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Has Google broken its promise to users? →
“With its new “Search plus Your World” personalized results, Google may argue it is enhancing its service, but it’s also coming dangerously close to reneging on the promise it made to users in 2004: to provide unbiased links to those who are searching for information. ” — My Comments : http://bit.ly/zIWqLQ