Publications

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Rob’s Northern Voice keynote

Rob’s Northern Voice keynote

If you've ever wondered whether social media is funny, check out the reaction to Rob's Teh Funny Northern Voice keynote. The Twitter backchannel is reprinted in text below. These tweets are in chronological order, so you can follow the thread of the conversation. In...

NIche messaging with social media:  going for the Golden Graham

NIche messaging with social media: going for the Golden Graham

The Golden Graham Effect is what happens when a product or service achieves a consistent and coherent brand, despite offering different benefits to different audiences. Today, social media doesn’t just offer the opportunity for niche messaging. It introduces the informational equivalent of nutritional labeling for every product, and every service on the market.

The Harvard Business Review

Rob’s Northern Voice keynote

Rob’s Northern Voice keynote

If you've ever wondered whether social media is funny, check out the reaction to Rob's Teh Funny Northern Voice keynote. The Twitter backchannel is reprinted in text below. These tweets are in chronological order, so you can follow the thread of the conversation. In...

NIche messaging with social media:  going for the Golden Graham

NIche messaging with social media: going for the Golden Graham

The Golden Graham Effect is what happens when a product or service achieves a consistent and coherent brand, despite offering different benefits to different audiences. Today, social media doesn’t just offer the opportunity for niche messaging. It introduces the informational equivalent of nutritional labeling for every product, and every service on the market.

OneZero

Choosing a widget control plugin for WordPress

Choosing a widget control plugin for WordPress

For the past few months I have used the Widget Context plugin on my WordPress blog in order to control where widgets show up on my site. Everything you see in the two right-hand columns of my site is widget-based, as are the 3 columns that display teasers for featured...

The meaning of engagement

The meaning of engagement

A great description of meaningful engagement from Chris Jones: True engagement requires more time and energy and active listening skills, but the resulting flow of information brings rich rewards. Insights begin to accumulate and multiply. Ideas get validated and...

Is social media just for married people?

Is social media just for married people?

Think Social is a blog from the Paley Center for Media that focuses on the public benefits of social media. It's an incredible blog and one that you must follow if you are looking for thoughtful reflection on both the social and political potential of social media....

Tips for avoiding social media compulsion

Tips for avoiding social media compulsion

Chris Brogan's blog post, Your Blog is Not Your Job, contains some great tips on how keep blogging and social media from overtaking your primary work and focus. These include: Use an egg timer. If you’re going to venture out onto Twitter, time it. Keep a sticky note...

Can a mobile phone make you sane instead of crazy?

Aaron Bellve of Spit, Bristle and Fury (killer blog title, BTW!) has a thoughtful post about an NPR story on the dawn of therapy by mobile phone. Cell phones, rather than augmenting our human encounters, are replacing them and in something as complex, sensitive and...

JSTOR DAILY

Choosing a widget control plugin for WordPress

Choosing a widget control plugin for WordPress

For the past few months I have used the Widget Context plugin on my WordPress blog in order to control where widgets show up on my site. Everything you see in the two right-hand columns of my site is widget-based, as are the 3 columns that display teasers for featured...

The meaning of engagement

The meaning of engagement

A great description of meaningful engagement from Chris Jones: True engagement requires more time and energy and active listening skills, but the resulting flow of information brings rich rewards. Insights begin to accumulate and multiply. Ideas get validated and...

Is social media just for married people?

Is social media just for married people?

Think Social is a blog from the Paley Center for Media that focuses on the public benefits of social media. It's an incredible blog and one that you must follow if you are looking for thoughtful reflection on both the social and political potential of social media....

Tips for avoiding social media compulsion

Tips for avoiding social media compulsion

Chris Brogan's blog post, Your Blog is Not Your Job, contains some great tips on how keep blogging and social media from overtaking your primary work and focus. These include: Use an egg timer. If you’re going to venture out onto Twitter, time it. Keep a sticky note...

Can a mobile phone make you sane instead of crazy?

Aaron Bellve of Spit, Bristle and Fury (killer blog title, BTW!) has a thoughtful post about an NPR story on the dawn of therapy by mobile phone. Cell phones, rather than augmenting our human encounters, are replacing them and in something as complex, sensitive and...

THE VERGE

Leaning into online struggles

Leaning into online struggles

The fourth time I got a call from the principal's office, I knew I had to rethink our school year. One of our kids was having a tough time in class, and I had already made several visits to the teacher, the classroom and the principal's office. Not only was I worried...

10 myths about ethnography, from Tom Boellstorff

10 myths about ethnography, from Tom Boellstorff

This post originally appeared on the SIM Centre website. There was a lot to love about anthropologist Tom Boellstorff's dynamic, thought-provoking keynote to the Association of Internet Researchers. But I figured that my design colleagues, many of whom use...