4 Social Media Rules Journalists Should Break

The idea for this piece came about while prepping IJNet’s internal social media guidelines: our Twitter followers are taking flight, so many people “like” us now on Facebook we blush, but across our languages no editor had the same strategy. Actually, their best practices often contradicted each other – “Don’t schedule” “Use scheduling,” “Avoid cross posting.” “Cross post, it’s a lifesaver.”. You get the idea.

via 4 Social Media Rules Journalists Should Break.

Twitter, the conversation-enabler? Actually, most news orgs use the service as a glorified RSS feed

As much as we tout Twitter for its conversational abilities — for its revolutionary capacity to create discursive, rather than simply distributive, relationships with news consumers — many major news organizations are still using the service as, pretty much, a vehicle for self-promotion. A new study, released today by Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, studied 13 news organizations, large and (relatively) small, from print, TV, and radio…and found that “mainstream news organizations primarily use Twitter to move information and push content to readers. For these organizations, Twitter functions as an RSS feed or headline service for news consumers, with links ideally driving traffic to the organization’s website.”

via Twitter, the conversation-enabler? Actually, most news orgs use the service as a glorified RSS feed » Nieman Journalism Lab.

LinkedIn Unveils Dashboard for Groups Statistics

LinkedIn has unveiled a new Group Statistics dashboard that allows group admins to drill down into the demographics and growth of their groups.The new dashboard, as CEO Jeff Weiner describes it on Twitter, turns relevant information about each group into an infographic-style display. This information is summarized on a dashboard, but can also be broken down in three areas: “Demographics”, “Growth” and “Activity”.“We’ve designed each infographic view to highlight the most important signals you’ll need to help you understand your group better,” LinkedIn Data Visualization Designer Anita Lillie noted in a post on the LinkedIn blog.

via LinkedIn Unveils Dashboard for Groups Statistics.

Forget Klout: you can’t measure influence on Twitter

“Measuring Influence since 2008” is the grandiose claim on the Klout website that is supposed to entice people to check a score from 1 to 100 on how their engagement on social media impacts on their peers.

When I read this I was minded of the Hollywood film L.A. Story when Steve Martin tries to woo a visiting English reporter by taking her around his city. ‘Some of these houses are almost 25 years old’ he enthuses, thinking that he’s impressing her.

So it goes with Klout’s banner. Three years is probably a long time in social media but shouting out that you’ve only been in business for three years isn’t the best metric… especially if your business is based on metrics.

via Forget Klout: you can’t measure influence on Twitter – Telegraph.

How to Think Creatively

Over the past hundred years, researchers have reached a surprising degree of consensus about the predictable stages of creative thinking. It was Betty Edwards who first pointed out to me that the stages move back and forth between right and left hemisphere dominance:

1. Saturation: Once the problem or creative challenge has been defined, the next stage of creativity is a left hemisphere activity that paradoxically requires absorbing one’s self in what’s already known. Any creative breakthrough inevitably rests on the shoulders of all that came before it. For a painter, that might mean studying the masters. For me, it involves reading widely and deeply, and then sorting, evaluating, organizing, outlining, and prioritizing.

2. Incubation: The second stage of creativity begins when we walk away from a problem, typically because our left hemisphere can’t seem to solve it. Incubation involves mulling over information, often unconsciously. Intense exercise can be a great way to shift into right hemisphere in order to access new ideas and solutions. After writing for 90 minutes, for example, the best thing I can do to jog my brain, is take a run.

3. Illumination: Ah-ha moments – spontaneous, intuitive, unbidden – characterize the third stage of creativity. Where are you when you get your best ideas? I’m guessing it’s not when you’re sitting at your desk, or consciously trying to think creatively. Rather it’s when you’ve given your left hemisphere a rest, and you’re doing something else, whether it’s exercising, taking a shower, driving or even sleeping.

4. Verification: In the final stage of creativity, the left hemisphere reasserts its dominance. This stage is about challenging and testing the creative breakthrough you’ve had. Scientists do this in a laboratory. Painters do it on a canvas. Writers do it by translating a vision into words.

via How to Think Creatively – Tony Schwartz – Harvard Business Review.

Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales: all nationalities are culturally different

Talking about usage, not all the world is using the popular online Cyclopaedia in the same way. Jimmy provided a very striking comparison (see above picture). The Japanese for instance, are very focused on pop culture which is according to Jimmy Wells, “a very important part of Japanese life”. I personally couldn’t imagine it could be any worse than in Britain and France but it is apparently…

via Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales: all nationalities are culturally different – #istrategy (3 of 6) « Marketing & Innovation.

SMO vs. Engagement: Why They’re Different and How You Can Rock Both

While SMO can help bring people to your site, engagement brings the right kind of people to your site. It builds a vested userbase that not only wants to click on your content, but also wants to be involved with it. These readers are valuable because they’re more likely to view more pages, spend more time on your site and contribute to your community by posting thoughtful comments and sharing content to their networks.

via SMO vs. Engagement: Why They’re Different and How You Can Rock Both.