We create the stories of the connected society

Richard Sambrook, director of BBC Global News since 2004, is saying goodbye to one of the world’s most influential jobs in journalism, and hello to, what should I say – the murky, spin-meisterly, lucrative? – world of public relations. Or should that be creative, innovative and transformational?

A few months after three, young software architects launched an obscure social networking and microblogging service, students at a rural Virginia university sent short messages to their friends from their PCs and cell phones as they hid from a gunman who opened fire in classrooms and a dorm.
“Everything you thought you knew about media has [...]

I love this, and my day is now a little less sucky, thanks to an invitation from Blogads founder Henry Copeland (aka @HC): SUXORZ: the worst social media campaigns of ‘09.

Over on my Fast Company Experts blog, I offered some thoughts on the new Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100 Study.  Here is how my post begins:
Cone Inc released their “Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100” report yesterday – in which it valued (and ranked) the brands of some of America’s leading social, environmental and animal organizations.  [...]

Remember when The Times ran those profitable, short “liners,” commercial and personal ads, at the bottom of front-page news columns in the print editions? It took years for editors to get them off. Times change. See today’s homepage.
BTB: I captured the musical iPhone animation with Jing, new software to grab images and video off the [...]

The first full day of WeMedia presented interesting challenges and opportunities regarding the state of new media, social change, and journalism. Conversations revolved around the future of traditional media, expanding the scope of social media companies to facilitate social change, how to more effectively run a business, how to reach target audiences, and more. As [...]

At a time when newspapers are hemorrhaging employees and questioning their survival, they are adopting a more stable role in the community through new media – namely, citizen journalism. Newspapers are helping communities connect, reach out, learn more about their resources through their sites. The goal is to foster a way to make the community [...]

We’ve recorded another podcast!
WeMedia is producing a regular podcast that features in-depth interviews with prominent media, technology, and social change figures, as well as distinguished experts on current affairs and news.  Today marks our third installment.  Our goal is to help the WeMedia community understand the roots of the changes taking place in our society, [...]

The annual list of what the world searches for online has been released.  No real surprises — Britney Spears and Barack Obama top the lists, which are littered with pop culture (WWE, Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan) and political (Sarah Palin) references.  The Olympics, the iPhone, and functional terms like credit score make a good showing [...]

McDonald’s has decided to pick a fight with Starbucks.
In addition to offering espresso drinks to their billions of customers served, the fast food chain has launched a massive online/offline/outdoor marketing effort to distinguish itself from the world’s most popular coffee chain.  The concept is not original – Dunkin’ Donuts has been comparing itself to the [...]

NPR News in the US aims to double its online audience – in part by building a closer relationship with people who already love NPR. Dick Meyer, NPR Digital Media’s editorial director, calls them NPRistas. He says in the American Journalism Review:

“Folks who listen to NPR think of themselves as NPR people … The biggest [...]

Noted:

Record traffic for U.S. political web sites, including Huffington Post, Politico, Drudge and Real Clear Politics.
NY Times Co. chairman/heir Arthur Sulzberger Jr., speaking at a conference in California, asks, “Do we need all this news and information? Do we want all this news and information? Can we tolerate all this news and information?” Meanwhile, [...]

Photos: Creative Commons via Flickr from Bobster1985, lisatozzi, jeffpearce and Annie Mole.
The practice of professional journalism is like the practice of professional sports. It’s physically demanding, dirty, and success requires a combination of skills, talent, experience and luck.
But it’s different in one glaring respect. Sports fans love their teams, the players and the sport itself, [...]

PC pulls an advertisement in the guise of an editorial, called “Stop Switching to Mac”, from the sacrosanct news wall on today’s front page of NewYorkTimes.com. Washingtonpost.com, too. A godlike Mac watches and comments just below the nameplate.

Alan Mutter, an astute analyst who formerly served as editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, now puts the combined value of ten major news companies at only $3.6 billion. Mutter documents the $3.9 billion plunge in the value of newspaper stocks since the first of this month – a period marked by successive new lows [...]