Publications
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The return of “I don’t know”
Fifteen years ago, "I don't know" was a regular part of our vocabulary. And then it all changed. I remember the night, shortly after I got my first high-speed connection, when a group of my friends were over and got into a conversation about Clifford the Big Red Dog....
Missing out on Twitter
I made a number of confessions in my Northern Voice talk on Coping with Social Media, and in Gillian Shaw's related story for the Vancouver Sun. But the one that was met with the most surprise -- and in a couple of cases, horror -- was the revelation that I no longer...
Still social after all these years
Ron Burnett has an interesting blog post on whether Twitter (and other social media) are really social. Ron is the President of Emily Carr University, where I run the Social + Interactive Media Centre. The crux of his argument is that Twitter is not as conversational...
5 solutions for coping with social media
Read Gillian Shaw's story about my social media methodology in the Vancouver Sun. Is social media something you have to cope with? Or is social media something that can help you cope? In my talk today at the Northern Voice blogging conference, I made my best case for...
6 Ways to Get Wired and Inspired
We tend to think of setting goals and seeking inspiration as highly personal. But achieving our goals is not always a solitary pursuit: The encouragement and resources of a larger community can help us do something we couldn’t do alone. Your computer can support both sides of this equation.
On Oprah.com: What to do on Twitter when you’re getting started
This post for Oprah.com shows what to do on Twitter when you’re getting started. Learn the basics of using Twitter, like how to find great people to follow, or check out this Twitter glossary.
Do social networks make birthdays better?
Today is my 39th birthday. Among other things this means I've now spent 2/3 of my life online, since we got our first computer when I was 13. (Apparently it also means that a year from now I'll be forty, which all my forty something women friends tell me will be the...
Gist shows the future of social media profiling
One of the best side effects of my recent contact management overhaul was the discovery of Gist. Gist is essentially the mutant offspring of CRM (customer relationship management) and RSS aggregation/social media monitoring. It's one of those tools you never thought...
On Oprah.com: How to find online inspiration and set goals online
From an online inspiration feed to an affirmation password, this post for Oprah.com shares 6 ways to find inspiration and set goals online.
6 ways to prioritize your friends online (for Oprah.com)
This post for Oprah.com shows how to support your friendships by making and keeping real friends online.
The Harvard Business Review
The return of “I don’t know”
Fifteen years ago, "I don't know" was a regular part of our vocabulary. And then it all changed. I remember the night, shortly after I got my first high-speed connection, when a group of my friends were over and got into a conversation about Clifford the Big Red Dog....
Missing out on Twitter
I made a number of confessions in my Northern Voice talk on Coping with Social Media, and in Gillian Shaw's related story for the Vancouver Sun. But the one that was met with the most surprise -- and in a couple of cases, horror -- was the revelation that I no longer...
Still social after all these years
Ron Burnett has an interesting blog post on whether Twitter (and other social media) are really social. Ron is the President of Emily Carr University, where I run the Social + Interactive Media Centre. The crux of his argument is that Twitter is not as conversational...
5 solutions for coping with social media
Read Gillian Shaw's story about my social media methodology in the Vancouver Sun. Is social media something you have to cope with? Or is social media something that can help you cope? In my talk today at the Northern Voice blogging conference, I made my best case for...
6 Ways to Get Wired and Inspired
We tend to think of setting goals and seeking inspiration as highly personal. But achieving our goals is not always a solitary pursuit: The encouragement and resources of a larger community can help us do something we couldn’t do alone. Your computer can support both sides of this equation.
On Oprah.com: What to do on Twitter when you’re getting started
This post for Oprah.com shows what to do on Twitter when you’re getting started. Learn the basics of using Twitter, like how to find great people to follow, or check out this Twitter glossary.
Do social networks make birthdays better?
Today is my 39th birthday. Among other things this means I've now spent 2/3 of my life online, since we got our first computer when I was 13. (Apparently it also means that a year from now I'll be forty, which all my forty something women friends tell me will be the...
Gist shows the future of social media profiling
One of the best side effects of my recent contact management overhaul was the discovery of Gist. Gist is essentially the mutant offspring of CRM (customer relationship management) and RSS aggregation/social media monitoring. It's one of those tools you never thought...
On Oprah.com: How to find online inspiration and set goals online
From an online inspiration feed to an affirmation password, this post for Oprah.com shares 6 ways to find inspiration and set goals online.
6 ways to prioritize your friends online (for Oprah.com)
This post for Oprah.com shows how to support your friendships by making and keeping real friends online.
OneZero
Warning: Common sense on Twitter
It was bound to happen sooner or later: someone has actually offered some actually human level, common sense about RTs. You know RTs: "retweets", the Twitter equivalent of blowing a kiss, or maybe it's more like picking the lice out of someone's hair and eating it....
Where are you at?
I have become so habituated to referring to people in my tweets as @robcottingham, @morganbrayton, @kk etc. that I'm starting to think of "at" as part of my friends' names. You know, the way Spanish names often include "de la" or Hebrew names include a "Ben" this or...
The next frontier in hierarchy-busting with social media
Lots of organizations suffer from the pain of incorporating social media into command-and-control structures. The very structures that were once a source of organizational efficiencies are not only superceded by technologies that make those efficiences irrelevant;...
Wanted: LadyJoiners
My life is basically a series of social network and web app sign-ups, with a few friends, colleagues and tasks stuffed into the interstitial moments. So the arrival this week of Path -- what some people might consider YAFSN (Yet Another F*ing Social Network) -- was my...
Tweeting the daily life of our future-ancient world
Bill Caraher's post on Historical Figures in Social Media drew my attention to a bevvy of ancient worlders now tweeting away: iTweetus (a Roman soldier), iHerodotus (Greek historian), and Plutarch (ditto). I love the mashup of old-nerd-meets-new-nerd, which reminds me...
If we didn’t have computers…
LOVE Social Media but If we didn't have computers-wouldn't need #SocialMediab/c we wouldn't have stopped being social in the 1st place. When I first shared this interesting tweet from online pal Brenda Johima, it was with some reservations. After mulling it over for a...
Crowdsourcing my identity: an art experiment
The phenomenon of Pecha Kucha -- presentations in which a speaker addresses 20 slides for 20 seconds each -- has overtaken unconferences and WhateverCamps as the hottest format for professional gatherings. So I was interested to see a Pecha Kucha veteran tackle the...
The Devolving Meaning of Social Media
The headline in yesterday’s New York Times business section was instantly exciting: "Kleiner Perkins and Partners Create $250 Million ‘Social’…
JSTOR DAILY
Warning: Common sense on Twitter
It was bound to happen sooner or later: someone has actually offered some actually human level, common sense about RTs. You know RTs: "retweets", the Twitter equivalent of blowing a kiss, or maybe it's more like picking the lice out of someone's hair and eating it....
Where are you at?
I have become so habituated to referring to people in my tweets as @robcottingham, @morganbrayton, @kk etc. that I'm starting to think of "at" as part of my friends' names. You know, the way Spanish names often include "de la" or Hebrew names include a "Ben" this or...
The next frontier in hierarchy-busting with social media
Lots of organizations suffer from the pain of incorporating social media into command-and-control structures. The very structures that were once a source of organizational efficiencies are not only superceded by technologies that make those efficiences irrelevant;...
Wanted: LadyJoiners
My life is basically a series of social network and web app sign-ups, with a few friends, colleagues and tasks stuffed into the interstitial moments. So the arrival this week of Path -- what some people might consider YAFSN (Yet Another F*ing Social Network) -- was my...
Tweeting the daily life of our future-ancient world
Bill Caraher's post on Historical Figures in Social Media drew my attention to a bevvy of ancient worlders now tweeting away: iTweetus (a Roman soldier), iHerodotus (Greek historian), and Plutarch (ditto). I love the mashup of old-nerd-meets-new-nerd, which reminds me...
If we didn’t have computers…
LOVE Social Media but If we didn't have computers-wouldn't need #SocialMediab/c we wouldn't have stopped being social in the 1st place. When I first shared this interesting tweet from online pal Brenda Johima, it was with some reservations. After mulling it over for a...
Crowdsourcing my identity: an art experiment
The phenomenon of Pecha Kucha -- presentations in which a speaker addresses 20 slides for 20 seconds each -- has overtaken unconferences and WhateverCamps as the hottest format for professional gatherings. So I was interested to see a Pecha Kucha veteran tackle the...
The Devolving Meaning of Social Media
The headline in yesterday’s New York Times business section was instantly exciting: "Kleiner Perkins and Partners Create $250 Million ‘Social’…
THE VERGE
Does social media have to make you happy?
At Simply Zesty, Lauren Fisher asks a provocative question: why happiness? Her point is that social media is frequently challenged for its (purportedly) negative impact on happiness: What’s also strange, is the idea that social media in some way owes us happiness,...
How to find a great domain name (or Twitter handle)
For the National Geographic Assignment Blog: The Great Online Migration
In any migration, there are those who go ahead to settle the wilds, and those who linger to ensure that nothing gets left behind. While each of us now makes a different choice about how much of our lives to live online, those differences should not be turned into an...
Web Fuelled Business masters the physical logistics of going virtual
The entrepreneurs who participated in the Web Fuelled Business program this week are pushing past the limits of physical location. They are bricks-and-mortar shops that are using the web to attract local customers who would never find them on the street; they are...