Good overview of the year+ - long debate about comments, trolls & social media, "from the baby-and-the-bathwater dept ... This sudden disdain for traditional comments raises the question: is Facebook somehow immune to stupid comments? Is forcing all news conversation on to Facebook's terms really an improvement in meaningful dialogue?... It's lik…

So how do you really create strategy, rather than end up with a hodgepodge list? By following these steps:

"the basics of human resources management goals and practices have remained little changed, philosophically and practically.... The main metaphor today’s HR professionals live in is still a machine with its designed-and-fitted parts and cogs, as opposed to the ‘living’ system of social networks in which people participate and interact... Let’s …

My most important two questions were 'what are you going to do when you get selected?' and then I always followed up with 'and what will you do if you aren't selected?'.

(FT paywall) "Serial’s success is the most visible example of a renaissance in podcasting – a format that has been around for a decade but which has received a recent surge of interest from consumers, investors and advertisers." Massively underused medium for EU comms, IMHO. - Podcasting poised to go from niche to mainstream - FT.com

" four ways to use visual content to expand your reach and improve social media results" Pretty standard stuff, but "3. Convresation starters" should be used more. - How to Use Visual Content to Improve Social Media Results

"Instead of trying to make them happy, ask them to do something hard... @the opportunity to use skills and abilities” has displaced “job security” as the top driver of satisfaction, and it consistently ranks among the top two... Employees don’t just want their skills used; they want them stretched.... Respondents ... started to feel stale after o…

Overpriced and under-powered?

"AB Tasty, the French A/B testing specialist, has published this guide for the benefit of those who are implementing A/B testing and would like to know how to conduct truly effective tests."

"we’re collecting all the Facebook algorithm factors, updates, and changes that we can find and placing them here in this post for easy reference." - Inside the Facebook News Feed: A List of Algorithm Factors

"We recently updated the guidance for using digital and social media. " - 7 social media myths | Civil Service (gov.uk)

"“Yes, and…” is the closest thing improv comedy has to a cardinal rule. The rule goes like this: When the first performer says something, the next performer has to say “Yes, and…” instead of negating or dropping what the first performer said. It’s a powerful rule because it allows a comedy scene to go in unexpected, delightful directions... Insid…

"Starting in January, in another blow to organic reach, users will see fewer posts that are solely focused on sales or sweepstakes or reuse ad copy.... hundreds of thousands of people said they wanted to see more stories from friends and Pages they care about, and less promotional content.” Well, duh. Who actually WANTS to see promo junk? Be use…

Interesting reaction to Reuters, who argued "Much of the well-informed and articulate discussion around news... has moved to social media and online forums... But is that enough justification for giving up comments? ... not everyone is on Twitter, and not everyone is on Facebook, and so any conversation or interaction that occurs there will be in…

"Expanding on the “good ideas that look like bad ideas” concept ... what does it take for large companies to innovate? " - How Can Large Companies Innovate? | Andreessen Horowitz

"Trove wants to get to the holy grail of content by combining the power of algorithmic filtering and the abilities of human curators. So Trove allows you to follow curators and their news-feeds, but also recommends articles and topics based on what it knows about you " - Slashdot founder Rob Malda on Trove and fixing the problem with Twitter — Te…

"So, does engagement actually cause higher performance, or are high-performing employees just more engaged?... In one of the few robust studies to examine this issue, Ben Schneider and colleagues mined archival engagement and performance data for several Fortune 100 companies. " - To Motivate Employees, Help Them Do Their Jobs Better

"So, don't worry TOO much about your editorial calendar. The key is posting consistently (which is definitely helped by actually using one). Don't be a slave to it. If you have a great idea — run with it, and worry about cleaning up your calendar later." This is common sense, of course, but something to keep in mind when working on projects, whic…

"... is to foster alignment and enthusiasm toward the right goal. I’m thinking of official leaders (and myself) when writing the above, but there are official and unofficial leaders in every organization. " Very short post, very worth reading. Sometimes the simplest insights are the most powerful. - The Job of Leadership — Inside Medium — Medium

"Politico has redesigned its website for the first time in its seven year history, and The Guardian's U.S. recent refresh marks the first time it's redesigned almost entirely in public, with its readers' input. Here's a look at the thinking behind the redesigns, and what the publishers were able to pull off." - Politico, HBR, The Guardian: W…

(Editor's note: Ms Swift is apparently a pop star) "The most successful businesses today are movements more than companies. Movements don't market. Movements inspire and engage. They create an emotional connection through storytelling. Not stories to be enjoyed passively but stories we see ourselves in, stories we can actively participate in...…

"a closer look at what types of comment sections news organizations are using, and what, if any, value they are adding ... reviewed academic and industry literature, spoke with industry managers and university researchers and conducted a small poll ... The result is a list of questions to ask and best practices for news organizations seeking retu…

"the point of any headline is to draw readers into a story. Rather, what makes clickbait clickbait is the letdown you feel when the story doesn’t deliver on the headline’s promise.... these cynical ploys are partly a product of an online-media business model that revolves around page-views and banner ads.... BuzzFeed and Vice are in the vanguard…

"Al Jazeera English ... has developed from a TV channel to a media organisation with a multiplatform offering ranging from written news to interactives.... the outlet uses interactives as a way to offer its audience a fuller picture.... we complement the coverage on all the other platforms and the coverage on TV... Telling stories built with peop…

"How we made our first comics-journalism feature-and the tools for you to make one, too ... We thought we would walk through some of design process and also document some of the code tricks we learned along the way. The final products are a web viewer, Pulp, and the comic-maker interface, Pulp Press... released as a free and open source project…

Chancellor Helmut Kohl in front of the Brandenburg Gate, 25 years after the launch a process that led to the reunification of much more than Germany

"The latest trend in storytelling is not driven by super-innovative technology. It requires no expensive accessories and is accessible to all ages and backgrounds. It’s called LISTENING." Gotta love an article which starts like that! Apart from the practical guidelines promised, I liked its observation "about the temporal nature of sound - unable…

"blogging is so hyped as a panacea, you'd think that simply adding a blog to your site would also help you find the perfect spouse, cure the common cold, and even turn lead into gold. ... you should always question anything that's touted as the right answer for everyone (and everything). So should you blog?... let's look at a few examples of w…

"movements... seem to self-organize and spread virally, as if they were LOLCats or some other digital meme. So why can’t we get our organizations to act the same way? You would think that with command and incentive structures in place, it would be easier for leaders to set a direction and get things moving, but anyone who’s run an enterprise kno…