Internet naming and shaming

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Gary

I’m not a great fan of public spats online. Well, obviously they’re entertaining from a point of view of pulling up a seat and fetching some popcorn, but after everything blows over, what’s been achieved? Other than a lack of dignity.

Earlier this week, I was quoted in Chris Lee’s NMK Forum piece on the consequences of social media shaming from a PR reputation management perspective. It hit the headlines after one woman publicly shaming a developer at PyCon (a programming conference) for alleged sexist remarks ended with both losing their jobs and a whole host of other fallout that could have easily been avoided.

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A bit of writing elsewhere and a change in focus for the blog

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Gary

A slight change of direction will be coming up on this blog, I suspect, certainly regarding the social media posts. Anything social-related will probably go on the Ruder Finn Dot Comms blog. Anything else will probably be here (yes, the dregs. Sorry about that).

And here’s the first post: an analysis of when brands should and shouldn’t piggyback on an internet meme, with specific reference to the Harlem Shake.

And I’m still doing the football writing, when time allows. Here’s me at The Two Unfortunates imagining what if Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale had landed the Swansea City job.

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Oh mama, I wanna go surfing…

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Gary

“You get stuck in a rip and fight against it, you’ll eat shit. You try and stand incorrectly, you’ll eat shit. You don’t keep your concentration, you’ll eat shit.”

Erik, our Norwegian surfing instructor, is nothing if not to the point.Ten minutes into my first ever surfing lesson, and it appears there are many ways you can eat shit. Given my complete lack of balance and co-ordination, this could be a very painful two hours that involves a lot of shit eating.

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RIP HMV: Not a eulogy

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Gary

Plenty of people have been sharing their memories of HMV on Twitter following the news the troubled music retailer is set to call in the administrators, so here’s one of my own, albeit more recent than most.

About six months ago, I nipped into London Trocadero branch on the off-chance of finding the fourth series of a well-known American drama on DVD, as well as to see if I could find a couple of other DVDs I was considering buying for presents.

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The wonderfully mundane world of Twitter

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Gary

Rain. Broken shoes. Buying Christmas presents. Roads. Train timetables. None of them are particular exciting, bar perhaps Christmas, but all have, in one way or another, shown the value of Twitter and how the microblogging site has become part of our everyday world – even if it’s not necessarily the best place to find answers.

Two years ago – a lifetime in internet terms – a sustained period of wintery weather threatened to cancel the family Christmas as the roads and transport into and around Devon were particularly impassable in rural areas. It was difficult to get a full picture of what was passable and what wasn’t and it was touch and go if I’d be joining my family.

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Ticket prices in lower league football

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Gary

A quick note about this month’s When Saturday Comes, which features a piece on ticket prices in lower league football and the economic consequences for both fans and clubs.

I’ve also written a different piece on this issue in the past for The Two Unfortunates.

Will be interested to see what response this provokes, given the further belt-squeezing we’re seeing across the country. Football normally lives in its own little financial bubble. Not sure that will be so viable over this decade.

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How bad are those drunken Facebook photos to your career

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Gary

The juxtaposition could not have been more perfect. A post on a small, but tight community in a Facebook Group called out for paid help on a project. It wasn’t a large job, but the pay was decent and one group member – let’s call him Ollie – wanted it. “I’m hardworking and reliable, and would love this opportunity,” he commented on the post. He was the second person as well, after the obligatory “sounds cool” comment.

There was one small problem for the potential employer. Ollie’s Facebook profile picture displayed a young man slightly the worse for wear taking part in a game of human Buckaroo. Click through and status updates varied from discussion of Ollie’s assorted hangovers and Ollie’s night’s out.

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Longform or shortform? Why sites like the SEO chasing Bleacher Report don’t mean the death of journalism

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Gary

The Bleacher Report may not exactly be the bastion of hard-hitting journalism but it is successful at what it does, and SF Insider’s in-depth report into the sport site’s tactics is thought-provoking for anybody running a website, especially if the aim is to make money and a lot of page views. An awful lot of page views.

Using SEO to drive the editorial agenda is nothing new. Any good news site should at least be taking this into account. Many already do.

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Saving journalism

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Gary

How to pay for journalism? Frankly, it’s not a question to be solved anytime soon and anybody who does is a) likely to end up mildly rich and b) unlikely to be replicated.

The way to pay, though, isn’t David Leigh’s suggestion of a broadband levy. I admire Leigh as a journalist but the idea seems far too naive and unworkable. Tim Worstall and Charlie Beckett have both written excellent posts picking apart Leigh’s proposal.

One thing that Beckett pushes home is the fact that people do currently pay for journalism and that should be our starting point rather than trying to prop up models that are failing.

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