Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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 Social Network: A Good Movie That’s Not About Social Networking
Singin’ in the Rain has been my favorite movie for almost 30 years. It’s got classic music, extraordinary dancing and,…
13 tips for using Facebook events instead of pages, groups or apps
If you’re creating a participatory project on Facebook, consider creating an event rather than a Facebook page. An event can provide an easy way of inviting people into your Facebook conversation, and you can use these 13 tips to make the most of it.
Coming to terms with groupness, on- and offline
How your life online can satisfy your need for belonging, community and “groupness”.
Locative technologies help us redefine what presence means
Simon King has a provocative blog post about the relationship between using technologies on-location, and actually being present in the location where you're checking. He begins by comparing e-readers and smartphones to books or magazines: In my experience, there is a...
The Harvard Business Review
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 Social Network: A Good Movie That’s Not About Social Networking
Singin’ in the Rain has been my favorite movie for almost 30 years. It’s got classic music, extraordinary dancing and,…
13 tips for using Facebook events instead of pages, groups or apps
If you’re creating a participatory project on Facebook, consider creating an event rather than a Facebook page. An event can provide an easy way of inviting people into your Facebook conversation, and you can use these 13 tips to make the most of it.
Coming to terms with groupness, on- and offline
How your life online can satisfy your need for belonging, community and “groupness”.
Locative technologies help us redefine what presence means
Simon King has a provocative blog post about the relationship between using technologies on-location, and actually being present in the location where you're checking. He begins by comparing e-readers and smartphones to books or magazines: In my experience, there is a...
OneZero
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...
Does the Internet eradicate barriers or perpetuate them?
The Guardian published an interesting story this weekend about the Internet's impact on disability. Aleks Krotoski writes that her masters' thesis in social psychology demonstrated two ways the web benefits people with physical disabilities: First, the web offered...
Diary of a yak shave: Or, How to get an Excel file into Scrivener
I need to write a draft document that borrows from my previous blog posts. A sane (non-techie) person might just write the freaking document, already. But that is not the Geek Way. So I'm now in the middle of an epic yak shave: Installed a Wordpress plugin that...
JSTOR DAILY
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...
Does the Internet eradicate barriers or perpetuate them?
The Guardian published an interesting story this weekend about the Internet's impact on disability. Aleks Krotoski writes that her masters' thesis in social psychology demonstrated two ways the web benefits people with physical disabilities: First, the web offered...
Diary of a yak shave: Or, How to get an Excel file into Scrivener
I need to write a draft document that borrows from my previous blog posts. A sane (non-techie) person might just write the freaking document, already. But that is not the Geek Way. So I'm now in the middle of an epic yak shave: Installed a Wordpress plugin that...
THE VERGE
ShoeCamp: An (imaginary) unconference for the footwear-obsessed
Madeline Stanionis inspired this vision for ShoeCamp, an unconference for the footwear-obsessed.
Blackout ribbon: Avoiding grim news and spoilers
I’d like to designate a coloured ribbon that would be as universally recognized as the yellow or pink ribbon campaigns. See someone wearing this ribbon, and you know that they don’t want to discuss the latest grim news stories. A more elaborate version could prevent spoilers, too.
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.