Twitter Offers Advice for Journalists

It’s been a little less than three months since Mark Luckie left The Washington Post to become manager of journalism and news at Twitter, and now he’s got some advice for journalists using the microblogging network.

Working in conjunction with Twitter’s Platforms and Analytics team, Luckie combed through thousands of tweets sent by journalists and news brands towards the end of 2011 to find out what behaviors generated spikes in retweets, replies and follower growth. Most of his findings were predictable, but a few — like the fact that sharing others’ tweets in full using the automatic Retweet button rather than quoting their tweets generated triple the engagement — were surprising.

via Twitter Offers Advice for Journalists.

New BBC chief vows to re-invent content, not just re-purpose it — paidContent

The BBC’s new director-general has vowed to merge TV, radio and online teams so that the corporation creates “genuinely digital content for the first time”.

The BBC is often thought of as an online exemplar. In fact, the big digital ideology of the the last several years has been making linear conventional broadcast material available on-demand, live and through multiple internet devices, principally through the iPlayer service.

via New BBC chief vows to re-invent content, not just re-purpose it — paidContent.

The rise of LinkedIn’s news feed And how Twitter made a big dumb mistake | VentureBeat

There were more people posting the article to LinkedIn than there were people tweeting about it.And that’s when the sledgehammer hit me. Twitter has a huge new competitor with the potential to swamp them, particularly in one critical area. And, it is all of their own making.Back in July Twitter announced that it was no longer going to allow users to post tweets automatically to LinkedIn. Twitter gave us the usual gumpf about wanting to “provide the core Twitter user experience through a consistent set of products and tools”. What Twitter really meant to say was, “We don’t want anyone reading tweets where we can’t put ads”.

via The rise of LinkedIn’s news feed And how Twitter made a big dumb mistake | VentureBeat.

Corruption in Wikiland? Paid PR scandal erupts at Wikipedia | Internet & Media – CNET News

Concerned Wikipedians raised the alarm Monday that two trusted men — one a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation UK, the other a respected Wikipedian In Residence — are allegedly editing Wikipedia pages and facilitating front-page placement for their pay-for-play, publicity-seeking clients.Jimmy Wales is not pleased.It began this week when an interesting discussion started on the DYK “Did You Know” discussion page.Roger Bamkin, trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation UK, whose LinkedIn page describes him as a high-return-earning PR consultant, appeared to be using Wikipedia’s main page “Did You Know” feature and the resources of Wikipedia’s GLAM WikiProject Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums initiative to pimp his client’s project.

via Corruption in Wikiland? Paid PR scandal erupts at Wikipedia | Internet & Media – CNET News.

The $1.3 Trillion Price Of Not Tweeting At Work | Fast Company

On June 6, Larry Ellison–CEO of Oracle, one of the largest and most advanced computer technology corporations in the world–tweeted for the very first time. In doing so, he joined a club that remains surprisingly elite. Among CEOs of the world’s Fortune 500 companies, a mere 20 have Twitter accounts. Ellison, by the way, hasn’t tweeted since.

As social media spreads around the globe, one enclave has proven stubbornly resistant: the boardroom. Within the C-suite, perceptions remain that social media is at best a soft PR tool and at worst a time sink for already distracted employees. Without a push from the top, many of the biggest companies have been slow to take the social media plunge.

A new report from McKinsey Global Institute, however, makes the business case for social media a little easier to sell. According to an analysis of 4,200 companies by the business consulting giant, social technologies stand to unlock from $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in value. At the high end, that approaches Australia’s annual GDP. How’s that for a bottom line?

via The $1.3 Trillion Price Of Not Tweeting At Work | Fast Company.

A 5-step guide to starting a brand journalism program | Articles | Main

The idea of creating original content to draw in an audience is nothing new. In fact, businesses have pushed out various forms of this type of content marketing for decades.

However, change is on the horizon. Many big players are already capitalizing and practicing a new style of content marketing, and some do it so effectively that you may not have even noticed.

It’s called brand journalism, and it uses social media to build influence, improve search results, and spread ideas and excitement about a particular industry.

via A 5-step guide to starting a brand journalism program | Articles | Main.

Twitter’s relationship with the media: It’s complicated — Tech News and Analysis

Although it has only been a mainstream social network for a few short years, Twitter has formed a surprisingly tight and symbiotic relationship with the media, both because it is a kind of real-time newswire for information about events like the Arab Spring and the upcoming U.S. election, and also because it gives journalists an easy way to extend their personal brands into the social web. The company’s moves to lock down its network and control more of the content have raised some hackles in the journalism community, however, even as Twitter expands on its partnerships with select media entities such as NBC and MTV — and those stress points are only going to increase as the company’s ambitions and desire for revenue continue to grow.

via Twitter’s relationship with the media: It’s complicated — Tech News and Analysis.

An Enviable Problem: How to Craft Fans’ Photo Posts into Marketing Fodder – eMarketer

Mike Hayes, assistant digital marketing manager at Ben & Jerry’s, a wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever, is responsible for overseeing digital marketing programs in the US, which include the company’s social media platforms for both its packaged and retail businesses, including 300 scoop shops. He spoke with eMarketer’s Tobi Elkin about the ice cream brand’s involvement on Instagram and Pinterest and opportunities to bond with consumers via social media.

eMarketer: Can you tell me about your involvement in Instagram and Pinterest?

Mike Hayes: We’re on both Instagram and Pinterest. We’ve been on Instagram for about 14 months and are up to about 70,000 followers now. It’s an awesome community. People love indulging in our products and sharing pictures of themselves eating our products.

via An Enviable Problem: How to Craft Fans’ Photo Posts into Marketing Fodder – eMarketer.

The Rise Of Visual Social Media | Fast Company

Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest have ushered in visual marketing as the breakout trend for 2012. When it comes to their products, businesses are learning to show, not tell, and visual content sites are fueling our desire for beautiful photography and sensational design. Two years ago, marketers were spreading the maxim that “content is king,” but now, it seems, “a picture really is worth a thousand words.”

“Blogs were one of the earliest forms of social networking where people were writing 1,000 words,” says Dr. William J. Ward, Social Media professor at Syracuse University. “When we moved to status updates on Facebook, our posts became shorter. Then micro-blogs like Twitter came along and shortened our updates to 140 characters. Now we are even skipping words altogether and moving towards more visual communication with social-sharing sites like Pinterest.”

via The Rise Of Visual Social Media | Fast Company.