Usually, I don’t consciously pay for content. I say ‘consciously’ because if I click on a link and there’s a paywall, I won’t do it. I also don’t subscribe to any newspapers or magazines (online or in ‘dead tree’ format). Basically, the quality of the content I’m seeing doesn’t make me want to pay for more of it. Mr Murdoch does have the... 

The new buzzword in social media appears to be Influence. According to conferences, some marketers it’s what people want. To influence others. This is a mistake. It demonstrates a very shallow, one-sided view. (cartoon from xkcd.com) Talk to most people in social media for example, and they’ll tell you the truth. What they’re doing is looking for, and responding to resonance,... 

Let’s confirm who professional journalists are: People (trained or not), paid to produce content under the mastheads of traditional news outlets. Let’s confirm what they’re supposed to do: This is a tricky one. No matter how many times I have asked, and how many people, across Australia, the USA and the UK, nobody can give me a core definition of journalism. Maybe it’s a secret. A magician’s... 

I’m writing for the online news site, Examiner.com as the Boulder Startup Examiner. Why? Am I insane? Don’t I have enough to do? I felt compelled to do it. Boulder is a wonderful town, with a fantastic tech community of people. It’s a really big community, for a small town. It’s exciting, vibrant and smart. It’s full of incredible people. And they’re all doing their... 

By now even your grandma knows about the race to a million. Ashton Kutcher, old-media celebrity turned digital insider with various multimedia projects and Twitter groover challenged CNN to a race to a million followers on Twitter. And after a nice little campaign, last night he won. It was really fun to see the video of him crossing the victory line. He was really, truly excited. That’s impressive. What’s... 

Twitter is a curious beast. It has morphed as it grows, due to the community of people who use it. And in researching the online social sphere for my graduate thesis, there are some key aspects of how people use Twitter that are indicators to how this is going to go. Twitter is a tool used by a community. The tool of Twitter is no different to any other tool. The tool of Twitter exists as an infrastructure,... 

I do wish people would stop analysing the ‘death of print’ and focus on the future of journalism. There are so many traditional media with stories like the nicely titled “Is democracy written in disappearing ink” which attempt to say journalism will die along with the traditional formats. While I like the title, the answer if obviously “only if you guys want it to!” Suck... 

So now the can of worms is opened. As expected, newspapers are closing. Many print journalists are inexplicably in shock. Their next paid employment may well include the words, “do you want fries with that?” And that, truly, is devastating. But we still have new people entering schools, wanting to be journalists. Play with me here: Let’s say we have a new intake this year. They’ll... 

The print edition of the Rocky Mountain News has hit the newsstands for the last time. It’s no secret that I have little time for those who are crying over the death of print. In fact, I believe that journalism has never had better opportunities than right now.The money in media has not just ‘disappeared’. It’s still there. The only difference is that now the playing field... 

In preparation for our move to the USA I’ve been cleaning out my books. I’ve come across one I picked up years ago in a second-hand bookstore for the bargain price of $2.50, called ‘Writing for Television’ by Arthur Swinson. The book was published in London in 1955 – yep, when TV was but a babe. Published 1955 The first paragraph of the book’s Foreward features... 

Today I had the good fortune of watching a few tiny pieces of BlogHer ’08 in its final formal day (there is an unconference over the next 24 hours, which no doubt I’d be more interested in). Now, I have just come from two very important Australian conferences. Firstly, PubCamp which was presented in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, by itechne (which I have connections to, and which...