"new cash infusion will be used to ... introducing new content sections, creating an in-house incubator for new technology and potential acquisitions, and putting far more resources toward its Los Angeles-based video arm... led by Ze Frank, a web video pioneer, aims to produce new videos — from six-second clips made for social media to more tradit…

"I wanted to see if I could trick Facebook into believing I'd had one of those big life updates that always hang out at the top of the feed. ... Let's see if I can fabricate some social love. I posted: "Hey everyone, big news!! I've accepted a position trying to make Facebook believe this is an important post about my life! I'm so excited to beg…

"Thinking of the people you are reaching as multipliers and your content as “spreadable” rather than “viral” will help you avoid several all-too-common pitfalls" OK, so I've been building projects around multipliers and avoiding the v-word like - well - the plague, for years, but these insights are worth repeating nevertheless. - 4 Mistakes Mark…

Lovely reflective longread. Anyone who can explore how we are being transformed by the digital media that we ourselves are transforming as we explore its transformative possibilities (did I get that right?), and succeeds in tying Lou Reed into that discussion, has to be worth a read. "... this eruption of knowledge-sharing is usually ... dismisse…

Loved the spoken word form, was surprised at importance of paper quarterlies. "the 200 platforms at the Youth Media Summit had a combined audience of almost 4 million. With a new Ofcom study showing that 16- to 24-year-olds now use communications for an average of 14 hours and seven minutes a day, we asked them what youth media can teach the mai…

At last, something to do with all those hours of GoPro video my son and I have stored, somewhere …

"There has been a lot of discussion lately about long-form content and how it is changing the content marketing playbook.... Is long-form content really worth the extra effort? It seems that way. SERPIQ recently completed an analysis of the top 10 search results for more than 20,000 keywords and revealed a surprising pattern. The length of cont…

Just listed to HBR's podcast interview with Pentland. Will probably get this book. Typically good roundup by Greg Satell: "Pentland’s research has found that the most important predictor of success in a group is the amount—not the content—of social interaction. It is exposure to peer activity that drives learning and changes in behavior.... in …

"BuzzFeed UK editor Luke Lewis shared his tips and advice for effective use of social networks as part of news:rewired last week" You've probably read this already, but just in case... - Lessons in creating a buzz on social media from BuzzFeed | Media news

At last, someone else using gardening metaphors when discussing content strategy & information architecture: "The stream—that great glut of ideas, opinions, updates, and ephemera that pours through us every day—is the dominant way we organize content.... Problem is, the stream’s emphasis on the new above all else imposes a short lifespan on conte…

Personalise your storytelling by mining your archives: The Australian launches Storyline: getting something out of its first 50 years and making it relevant to readers.

These figures need to be compared with other research shows that people seem happy to consume long articles on their mobiles. "Ad Age looked at ... Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger to see how their traffic has changed over the last year and what effect [mobile] has had on the time people spend with each service...." On the one hand we read about the …

What it says on the tin: "Below I have listed five nifty pieces of software to enable you to effectively analyse and keep up to date with your twitter presence:" - 5 Free Tools to Manage and Monitor Your Twitter Account

"the data say longer form media is moving slowly across the social networks of distribution... two opposing trends going on simultaneously. On one end of the curve rabid sharing is driving an attention cycle of seconds but on the other end people are reading and watching more.... The social web has flattened web sites and made the home page…

a neat service that A/B tests headlines for WordPress posts and helps you figure out the one that will bring the most traffic. It’s called BayesianWitch. - Feature Friday: A/B Testing Headlines On WordPress – AVC

In Germany, "the government forced Google to pay newspaper editors if they were included in Google News... Google excluded all newspapers from Google News and asked anyone wanting to be listed to reapply explicitly declaring that they renounced to be compensated. All newspaper did reapply not wanting to miss out on the traffic it generates. Google…

“Facts and figures and all the rational things that we think are important ... don’t stick in our minds at all ... stories create “sticky” memories by attaching emotions to things that happen. ... Here’s how to use storytelling to your benefit." Actually pretty basic and theoretical - looking at examples is better - but the key principles here …

"Canadian researchers have confirmed what most people suspected all along: that internet trolls are archetypal Machiavellian sadists.... via Heather-Anne MacLean's post: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140730175026-5723090-don-t-feed-the-trolls-research-reveals-psychopathy - Online trolls are psychopaths and sadists, psychologists …

A beautiful, HTML5 exploration of the HEART methodology: Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, Task Success. " different members of your team have different ideas about the goals of your project. This process provides an opportunity to build consensus about where you're headed." - How to Choose the Right UX Metrics for Your Product

"The original converted 7.6% better than the new variation... The leads from the long form version of the page were better in quality ... in most cases long form copy doesn't just boost your conversions, but it also increases your rankings too." Indepth and (inevitably) long analysis. Huge feedback. - How Content Length Affects Rankings and…

"Readers want short, snappy content, ideally under 140 characters or at most a list, right? Well, actually, wrong.... 7 recent studies: long form content is alive, thriving and driving high levels of content performance." Full article summarises 7 more, so I won't summarise it here - read it yourself: - Improve Your Content Marketing with Long …

Great case study of how shallow A/B testing can send you in the wrong direction: "...there are a few things to watch out for. The first is statistical significance ... Another is the common mistake of assigning a goal that measures the short-term effect of a test rather than the long-term effect on your business. We made this mistake at Segment.i…

Sometimes long form content helps with conversions, and sometimes it hurts, and sometimes, long form content is better for SEO, but other times it’s worse" Read the full article to understand why ... and how, and when. Key point: " the best long form content marketing doesn’t make one feel like they’re being marketed to...." - Why Long Form Cont…

"a new media startup aims to bring the ProPublica approach abroad, creating Germany’s first nonprofit investigative news organization... completely focused on data journalism... The team intends to compile and share large datasets that map people in power to the money behind them, collaborating with local open data organizations as well as other n…

"... outside communications such as Gchatting and texting while you work don't count as multitasking. Every time e-mail comes in, every time a text messages goes in, a little time goes ... People think they can work and be productive in the face of all those interruptions. This work suggests that they can’t.”" - Interruptions at Work Make You Way…

"there is a hierarchy of information consumers are looking for.... consumers seem much less concerned with how they receive it than with whether the content itself is well conceived, well executed, useful and honest." - Survey: What Types of Content Consumers Do Want From Brands | FleishmanHillard

Altimiter study finds that while 80% of companeis surveyed said they were "undergoing digital transformation": "... only 25% had actually mapped out the digital customer journey. It’s unfortunate that so much time and resources are going toward programs that may or may not hit the mark." That's a lot of money being wasted. "While the word “digi…

Brown Moses made his name crowdsourcing information in conflict zones, such as analysing weapons in Syria ... from his front room in Leicester, England... using social media, open source tools, and public information to verify details that news organizations can miss. Today, he's launching a site to pool his and others knowledge together in one…

"Two of the biggest trends in news today: the rise of mobile and the rise of data visualization. The unfortunate reality is that they’re often in conflict. ... If you want to do better, check out MobileVis ... Ros also pulls out a set of best practices for doing visualizations for mobile. Data visualization is good. Data visualization that works …

You've probably seen "articles that seamlessly transition to new content, without requiring readers to click or tap headlines and then wait for new pages to load." Time seems to be using it to bait-and-switch - bring in users using social-optimised content, and then present the 'serious' news that they 'should' be reading: "World news typically …