Why most 2009 prediction columns are boring and obvious

I believe reporters should stick to reporting what happened earlier and stay away from predicting what will happen later. Why? The skills that make for good reporting (i.e., keen observation and understanding of facts and context, common sense, skepticism, a tenacity for truth) are often at odds with the skills one needs to be a forecaster or prognosticator (i.e., the ability to know the facts yet dismiss them when a hopeful hypothetical gets in their way, a high threshold for ambiguity, a childlike faith that unsolvable... [Read the full story]

Just because you’re old, say over 25, doesn’t mean you can’t learn new stuff

[credit: droid - via: Flickr, cc] Over the weekend, a story aired on NPR Weekend Edition Saturday called, Never Too Late To Learn An Instrument. I encourage you to listen to it. While it’s about adults taking up an instrument for the first time (good news: it’s doable), I believe one can extend the lessons contained in the story to adults learning anything new. The primary point is this: there is nothing about the adult brain that makes it impossible for adults to learn how to play a musical instrument... [Read the full story]

In praise of the NFL playoffs

A team wearing Titans uniforms lost today. They got trounced 23-0 by a team wearing Indianapolis Colts uniforms. Both teams benched their starting quarterbacks after one series. Both teams “deactivated” 8 starters. The Titans have six Pro-Bowlers and most of them did not play, or saw very limited action. The game meant nothing as both teams had already locked-in their playoff bracket seeds. Even for someone like me, who has seen every Titans game and attended seven home games, it was harder than a pre-season... [Read the full story]

Has media coverage worsened the economy? Of course it has.

Required reading: This op-ed piece in today’s Washington Post. In it, author and former NPR correspondent Eric Weiner explores how the recession is bad enough, but a relentless news cycle has made it worse. Send your disagreements to him, not me. Although I agree with every word in it.  Read More →

Video of the Week: Tears for Fears…Literally

I remember this Tears for Fears song and video, but I like this literal version a lot better. Seems to make more sense this way. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video  Read More →

How to use Twitter as a customer-service “conversational” tool

In 2009, I predict a lot of marketers will finally figure out that Twitter is much, much more than the confusing chaos of an online chat, forum, time-wasting thing they now believe it to be. I’m going to attempt to help them in that journey by using this blog to make simple suggestions on ways marketers at associations, companies or any organization can use Twitter and other conversational media (also called “social media”) tools to sell, promote and better serve customers, members, alumni, donors,... [Read the full story]

And God Saw That It Was Good

I was in the ninth grade on Christmas Eve, 1968, so I remember it well. It had not been a good year. Martin Luther King was murdered earlier in the year, as was Robert Kennedy. And 16,592 members of the U.S. military were killed in Vietnam in 1968. Lots of despondency hung in the air. And then, on Christmas Eve, something incredible happened. In front of TV screens around the world, we all sat, transfixed as three men became the first humans to orbit the moon. And then, as they beamed back video signals of the first “earth... [Read the full story]

Twitter’s missing link…

…is no longer missing: http://twitter.com/search/users If you’ve ever tried to find a specific person’s Twitter stream, the most daunting challenge was finding where you could actually search for it. Until today, searching Google with the person’s name + Twitter was the best approach. I’m sure there was some difficult technical reason for it taking so long, but today, the feature has been rolled and put under the Christmas tree. Happy hunting.  Read More →

In 2009, why not learn how to hack your own info-flow

(credit: flickr.com/timkin) I know how obsessed (at Hammock, we call it “passionate“) those trying to keep up with the latest geek news can be. Boy, do I know. But if you’re going be obsessed with tech news, you have no excuse for not using technology and techniques to help you organize the firehose of information you’re obsessed over. (Note: the same technology and techniques work no matter what your passion is, however, I can forgive those whose passions don’t require them to stay online... [Read the full story]

How *not* to use Facebook as a marketing tool

Jack Lail posts about a Facebook controversy he says hasn’t hit the AP or newspapers yet (but Jack, aren’t you a newspaperman?) but that no doubt will before the day is over. Brad Ward, the coordinator for electronic communications in Butler University admission office, uncovered a scheme where the website College Prowler, working with another company, has attempted to “colonize” Facebook groups named the “class of 2013″ for 500+ colleges and universities. These groups, which look “official,”... [Read the full story]

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