Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A new social media platform for gay rights reminds us what’s possible with social media
A "developer wanted" posting on Drupal.org pointed me towards a new start-up that plans to use the power of social networking to advance LGBT rights. Here's the more descriptive pitch on the FriendFactor website: Once we launch, people who are LGBT can set up profiles...
Talking about grown-up love online
One of the great miracles of my life is the affection between our two kids. As an only child myself, I always feared the prospective challenge of playing referee among multiple offspring. From what I could see of multi-child families, parenting siblings looked not...
The 10 best tool collections for delicious users
Last week I celebrated my sixth anniversary. No, not my wedding anniversary (we hit number 10 this summer); and not the anniversary of our business (our fifth birthday was a couple of weeks ago). Last week was my delicious anniversary, and after six years I can say...
The small organization’s guide to investing in social media
How a small organization can build a content-driven social media presence
The 5 requirements for using RSS aggregation to build your online presence
If your organization’s online audience is smaller than a million, an aggregation-based web site may be your best best for creating a lively social media presence. This posts maps out the 5 essential ingredients for a successful aggregation strategy.
Social media is the jar my brain sits in
Brain-in-a-jar images of the future are usually presented as dystopian. But for many years, I found the brain-in-a-jar lifestyle nothing short of enviable: what could be better than eternal life, or even just regular old life, than dispensing with the annoyances of...
The Rule of 84: Social media for your limited budget or small audience
Creating a social media presence in 2010
Where The Social Network fails, does Gossip Girl succeed?
My latest blog post for Harvard Business Review talks about what The Social Network tells us about social media. Or rather, it looks at what The Social Network doesn't tell us about social media, since the movie used the birth of Facebook as the backdrop for a...
The Harvard Business Review
A new social media platform for gay rights reminds us what’s possible with social media
A "developer wanted" posting on Drupal.org pointed me towards a new start-up that plans to use the power of social networking to advance LGBT rights. Here's the more descriptive pitch on the FriendFactor website: Once we launch, people who are LGBT can set up profiles...
Talking about grown-up love online
One of the great miracles of my life is the affection between our two kids. As an only child myself, I always feared the prospective challenge of playing referee among multiple offspring. From what I could see of multi-child families, parenting siblings looked not...
The 10 best tool collections for delicious users
Last week I celebrated my sixth anniversary. No, not my wedding anniversary (we hit number 10 this summer); and not the anniversary of our business (our fifth birthday was a couple of weeks ago). Last week was my delicious anniversary, and after six years I can say...
The small organization’s guide to investing in social media
How a small organization can build a content-driven social media presence
The 5 requirements for using RSS aggregation to build your online presence
If your organization’s online audience is smaller than a million, an aggregation-based web site may be your best best for creating a lively social media presence. This posts maps out the 5 essential ingredients for a successful aggregation strategy.
Social media is the jar my brain sits in
Brain-in-a-jar images of the future are usually presented as dystopian. But for many years, I found the brain-in-a-jar lifestyle nothing short of enviable: what could be better than eternal life, or even just regular old life, than dispensing with the annoyances of...
The Rule of 84: Social media for your limited budget or small audience
Creating a social media presence in 2010
Where The Social Network fails, does Gossip Girl succeed?
My latest blog post for Harvard Business Review talks about what The Social Network tells us about social media. Or rather, it looks at what The Social Network doesn't tell us about social media, since the movie used the birth of Facebook as the backdrop for a...
OneZero
Fixed: Troubleshooting your Thesis upgrade to 1.8 from 1.6
The short version: Has your Thesis site gotten messed up after an upgrade? The problem may be as simple as some lost settings. Use Thesis Design Options to restore them to your previous or preferred choices. It won't take long so you don't need to panic. And don't...
The 5 requirements for a starter social media presence
What are the 5 factors that shape the investment you’re willing to make in social media? I hear about the same key considerations from a lot of people, so I’ve spelled them out as the requirements for the easy to set up, easy to maintain presence I will map out in this series.
How I do it: Internet edition
Twitter and the Temblor: Managing a social media emergency
Yesterday morning I gave a talk on social media to a group of Canadian government employees. The talk was organized…
Today on HBR: A hard look at the hard bodies promised by Tim Ferriss
My latest post for Harvard Business Review takes a hard look at hard bodies: specifically, the hard bodies promised by Tim Ferriss in his book, The 4-Hour Body. In the post I quote three experts I asked for insight into the book's recommendations: Dr. Tieraona Low...
Predicting the future of the “personal brand”
Yesterday Dan Schawbel published an interview with me on his Personal Branding blog. I have previously criticized the "personal branding" vogue both on this site and on my HBR blog, so I warned Dan he might be in for a rough ride! Much to his credit, he didn't shy...
The 8 stages of professional commitment: social media edition
I've recently crossed the commitment threshold. Not the romantic commitment threshold -- heck, that's easy, considering how little software is required (usually). I'm talking about the professional commitment I make to each project I take on, and to each partner,...
11 ways Twitter can change your life, as told by its users
Online conversations change lives. That belief drives most of my work and writing, which is why I'm always so interested to hear people reflect on the ways that social media affects their relationships, career or self-image. A few months ago I collected some of these...
JSTOR DAILY
Fixed: Troubleshooting your Thesis upgrade to 1.8 from 1.6
The short version: Has your Thesis site gotten messed up after an upgrade? The problem may be as simple as some lost settings. Use Thesis Design Options to restore them to your previous or preferred choices. It won't take long so you don't need to panic. And don't...
The 5 requirements for a starter social media presence
What are the 5 factors that shape the investment you’re willing to make in social media? I hear about the same key considerations from a lot of people, so I’ve spelled them out as the requirements for the easy to set up, easy to maintain presence I will map out in this series.
How I do it: Internet edition
Twitter and the Temblor: Managing a social media emergency
Yesterday morning I gave a talk on social media to a group of Canadian government employees. The talk was organized…
Today on HBR: A hard look at the hard bodies promised by Tim Ferriss
My latest post for Harvard Business Review takes a hard look at hard bodies: specifically, the hard bodies promised by Tim Ferriss in his book, The 4-Hour Body. In the post I quote three experts I asked for insight into the book's recommendations: Dr. Tieraona Low...
Predicting the future of the “personal brand”
Yesterday Dan Schawbel published an interview with me on his Personal Branding blog. I have previously criticized the "personal branding" vogue both on this site and on my HBR blog, so I warned Dan he might be in for a rough ride! Much to his credit, he didn't shy...
The 8 stages of professional commitment: social media edition
I've recently crossed the commitment threshold. Not the romantic commitment threshold -- heck, that's easy, considering how little software is required (usually). I'm talking about the professional commitment I make to each project I take on, and to each partner,...
11 ways Twitter can change your life, as told by its users
Online conversations change lives. That belief drives most of my work and writing, which is why I'm always so interested to hear people reflect on the ways that social media affects their relationships, career or self-image. A few months ago I collected some of these...
THE VERGE
The Genzlingerizer: An app to enhance offline reading (and an IFTTT workaround)
I want to set up rules for the publications I read in print, specifying the authors or topics that qualify as must-reads. When said publication appears at my door, I want to launch an iPhone app that tells me which pages to look at in this morning’s New York Times, this week’s New Yorker, or the latest Entertainment Weekly. Then I want an easy way to take whatever I’m reading in print, and convert it to a set of links that are ready to share online.
12-Step Social Media Scanner & Intervention Bot
Imagining a 12-step bot that constantly scans people’s social media feeds for signs that things are out of control, and then tweets you the location of your nearest AA, Overeaters Anonymous or Shoppers Anonymous.
YouDrawIt: The shopping engine that lets you drive
Wanted: a shopping engine that lets me draw the shape I’m looking for — whether it’s a shoe, a shirt or a dress — and then searches the site for items that appear to match my shape.
Butt-crack mural: Rethinking self-judgement
This post was an exercising in suspending self-judgement: in this case, the judgement that a giant mural stitching together butt-crack photos is an unshareably bad idea.