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By Ben Haber
On his show last night, Stephen Colbert introduced a new hash tag, #preparethem. The hash tag was in response to Mitt Romney claiming that the negativity in the Republican primary was good, because it will prepare the winning candidate for the general election. Colbert decided the candidates needed some help in this area, and posted two tweets “live” during his show, and others since:
Since introducing the hash tag on last night’s show, Twitter using have been posting their own creative lines throughout the entire day. Some are pretty well thought out and entertaining. You check them out here.
February 2nd, 2012
By Ben Haber
If you go to Google.com or Wikipedia today, you’re going to find that something’s missing (or in Wikipedia’s case – everything is missing). That’s because these two Internet giants are protesting the Protect Intellectual Property Act that’s under consideration in the Senate, and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that’s under consideration in the House of Representatives. This pair of bills, which is backed by the motion picture and recording industries, are intended to eliminate theft online once and for all – and would (for the first time) place restrictions on information and content shared via the Web.
Clearly, Google and Wikipedia are against this legislation, and aren’t afraid to make their stance clear to Congress. But whether or not their protest is successful, remains to be seen.
January 18th, 2012
By Ben Haber
Love them or hate them – no one can deny the power politicians have to inspire passion and fuel engagement. Obama’s 2008 election campaign proved that with the right social strategy, that power still has room to grow to unprecedented levels. Now it seems that every politician has embraced social media as a means to build a groundswell of support to impact change.
Yesterday morning, I sat down with MITX and Avectra to run through details for an upcoming webinar (Planning for 2012: Attracting and Inspiring your Audience like Today’s Savvy Politicians) we’re hosting to discuss just that. We asked each other – what can we learn from today’s politicians to inspire and engage our own audiences, memberships and constituents? Where do they get it right, wrong, and everything in between?
From mobilizing your ground forces to identifying and understanding your influencers, it was clear to all of us that it’s not about how many Fans or followers you get in a week – it’s what you do with them – that it’s not about what tools you’re using – it’s the strategy behind how you use them.
And don’t think that I just opened the kimono on what’s to come from the webinar – I have a strong feeling that this 45 minute call barely scratched the surface. So with that said, please join Larry Weber, CEO and Chairman of Racepoint Group; Debi Kleiman, President of MITX; and Richard Davis, CEO of Avectra on December 12th at 2:00pm EST to learn how to initiate and execute your social engagement strategy to make 2012 your most successful “campaign” yet.
Click here for more information on the event and registration details.
December 1st, 2011
By Ben Haber
How will the departures of Arrington and Parr affect TechCrunch and Mashable?
TechCrunch and Mashable – two of the most popular and influential blogs over the past several years – have recently seen major changes in their editorial staffs.
At TechCrunch, founder and lightning rod Michael Arrington left the company in September, highly visible writers Sarah Lacy and MG Siegler, and CEO Heather Harde followed suit. At the same time, Mashable has seen Jolie O’Dell, Jennifer Van Grove, Radhika Marya, Brenna Ehrlich and Erica Swallow all depart the company, and this morning it was learned that their most popular writer to-date, Ben Parr, has been fired.
TechCrunch and Mashable have been on similar paths of growth, and are now both seeing – for the first time – some major departures from the editorial staff. In fact, both outlets lost their most recognizable people (Arrington and Parr) who have built their own personal brands over the past several years.
This begs the question: are people reading TechCrunch and Mashable because the like the blogs themselves, or because they like specific bloggers? In today’s media world where social media is an extension of the blog itself, writers have become their own brands, and have built up quite a following – sometimes exceeding the popularity of the outlet they work for.
If I were to venture a guess, I’d say that Mashable will move on without any major hiccups, because their business model is more about the content then the person, and they have a lot of very good writers. However, TechCrunch has always been about Arrington and took on his personality – both good and bad. Without him on board, they need to figure out what their direction is.
What do you think? Do you read TechCrunch and Mashable because of the content they publish, or because of the people writing the content?
November 21st, 2011
By Ben Haber
Some current (and now former) Mashable writers celebrate St. Patrick's Day in March 2011.
Mashable has seen several writers flee over the past few months, as new leadership at the company works to change the direction and make the popular blog more mainstream in its news coverage.
Jolie O’Dell, Jennifer Van Grove, Radhika Marya, Brenna Ehrlich and Erica Swallow all recently called it quits, following the hire of Lance Ulanoff (the former EIC of PC Mag). Ulanoff has been tasked to make Mashable a global news organization, covering business, entertainment and sports, in addition to social media and technology news. When O’Dell left to work for VentureBeat, she attributed her departure to the direction Mashable was taking, and noted in her blog that Mashable was moving away from insightful content – which she valued and enjoyed writing. Van Grove was one of the first writers to work for Mashable, and had been at the company since November 2008. Like O’Dell, she also left to work for VentureBeat.
Business Insider has some more details on the changes occurring at Mashable from unnamed sources:
- Cashmore brought in Ulanoff to expand the site’s news coverage to general news and launched entertainment and world news verticals.
- Adam Ostrow, who had been editor in chief since the company started, relinquished his position. One source close to Ostrow described it as a “demotion disguised as a promotion.”
- Ben Parr was offered an enormous cash payout as long as he stays until 2012. One source said Parr was offered a compensation package, on top of salary, worth more than $100,000 and less than $300,000.
- Mashable let go most of its events staff: Kate Hayden. Karen Hartline. Site manager Brett Petersel was laid off in February. Mashable describes all its departures as “mutual.” Sources told us that they left because they disagreed with the direction of the company.
- Multiple sources told us Cashmore is looking to sell Mashable in the same way The Huffington Post sold to Aol.
Since Ulanoff came on board, Mashable has reportedly seen more unique visitors to the site then ever before. So even while they they are driving away some well known writers, their new content continues to bring in new readers.
UPDATE (11/21/11)
Editor-at-Large Ben Parr, has been fired by Mashable. The reasons for his termination have not been disclosed, but it is rumored that he and Mashable could not reach an agreement and that the compensation package he was supposed to receive didn’t happen, and the fact that the public found out about it was a breach of contract. Parr has not tweeted anything since Friday (11/18) which is rare for him. Except for Pete Cashmore, Parr was certainly the most recognizable reporter at Mashable. Parr has confirmed his departure from Mashable, but does not know what he will pursue next.
November 16th, 2011
By Ben Haber
With so many social networks, sometimes it can be difficult to figure out where to post content and information. It’s important to remember that each social network has a different audience, and they want and expect (and react to) different types of content. How do you figure out which social network to post different types of content on? Let this amazing flow chart guide you…
Click on the chart to expand.
But in all seriousness, it is crucial to treat each social network differently, because your connections will vary on each, and so will the information your connections are interested in receiving from you. So unlink your Twitter handle to the other networks (except perhaps LinkedIn) and give each social network some personalized attention, so show them they you know who they are, and want to engage with them.
November 2nd, 2011
By Ben Haber
Last week the Boston Globe officially instituted some major changes to their online properties. Following in the footsteps of The Wall Street Journal and their parent company, The New York Times, the Boston Globe launched a subscription-only site, BostonGlobe.com, which will be available in addition to the already existing and free, Boston.com.
BostonGlobe.com was officially launched in September, but the subscription fee is taking affect this month. To access the content on BostonGlobe.com moving forward, readers must pay $3.99 per week. However, people that already subscribe to the print edition will receive access to BostonGlobe.com without any additional cost.
As you can guess, BostonGlobe.com is designed to mirror the print edition, and according to the press release, it will be the only site to provide access to the full range and depth of the Boston Globe’s journalism, while also offering video, photo galleries and breaking news throughout the day. Another bonus and big selling point for subscribers is that it will also be optimized for reading on a tablet, smartphone and PC.
So what are the differences between Boston.com and BostonGlobe.com? Boston Globe spokesperson Bob Powers explained this in an email to RaceTalk: “We are separating the brands to appeal to different audiences and so the two sites will have major distinctions in content and layout. There will, however, be some shared content. For instance the sports site on Boston.com will contain most of the sports content from BostonGlobe.com. Boston.com will also have five stories per day from the Globe. Boston.com will accent interaction and things to do, but will also be a general news site.”
For the loyal Boston Globe readers that have received the print edition on their doorstep for decades, BostonGlobe.com should convince them the move to digital isn’t bad. With the latest content throughout the day, rich multimedia and sharing options, this site could be reason alone to buy a tablet.
A big question we had following this news is what these change means for Boston Globe employees, who in the summer of 2009 made major concessions to avoid being shutdown by the New York Times Co. (see our interview with Boston Globe reporter Sean P. Murphy). According to Powers, the same newsroom will create the content for both BostonGlobe.com and Boston.com. However, each site will have a separate editor, and the reporters will report to the appropriate editor for each particular story.
Powers also added that there will be separate Twitter handles and Facebook pages for each site, which tells us that the Boston Globe will continue to hold social media in high importance.
What do you think of the Boston Globe’s new subscription-only site? Will you subscribe to BostonGlobe.com?
October 26th, 2011
By Ben Haber
On Sunday the Boston Globe published an in-depth article about Whitey Bulger, Catherine Greig, and their life on the run. The second paragraph of this story names the person that tipped the FBI on Bulger and Greig’s whereabouts, which has received - and deserves - criticism. The Boston Globe defended these actions on Tuesday in an editorial, claiming that the name of the tipster was included because the editors were confident that Bulger and Greig already knew who the woman was, and therefore her identity was no longer a secret.
Regardless of what the Globe’s editors believe to be true, it is irresponsible to print a person’s name who could be in serious danger. It is one thing for Bulger and Greig to “probably” know who turned them in – but for the entire world to know – with many people that likely still feel a connection to Bulger – it puts this women’s life in serious risk.
I should also be clear that in no way am I against freedom of the press. But when it comes to risking the safety and security of an innocent person in order to provide details that are unnecessary and not vital to information being shared, details can be held back. I know that I would be perfectly fine not knowing this woman’s name, and I believe the rest of the world would agree with that statement.
October 12th, 2011
By Ben Haber
This is a guest post by Alvina Lopez, a freelance writer and blog junkie, who blogs about accredited online colleges. She welcomes comments via email at alvina.lopez@gmail.com.
It’s a self-evident truth that every website has written content in one form or another. Unfortunately, the universal nature of written web content means that the quality of that content varies from site to site. For every website covering one particular subject, there exists dozens of imitators whose content ranges from illegible to near-literary. How do we wind up with such a wide array of written content? It depends on the webmasters and bloggers and how they approach the writing on their sites. Some people just can’t write well, and those who don’t recognize it choose to generate their own written content at their own peril. If you spend the majority of your time in another arena related to your website and/or business (marketing, web development, design, etc.), you’re likely to be better off hiring a professional to tackle the writing featured on your site. Not quite convinced? Here are some more points to consider.
Outsource Detailed Work to People More Qualified
To expand on the point above, hiring freelancers optimizes the workload for everyone involved. Freelancers are hired to write attractive and engaging content, leaving you (the webmaster, the CEO, the salesperson, etc.) free to do what you do best. There’s no shame in outsourcing work to people more qualified—in fact, it’s better business. Your content might not be “in-house,” but it will likely convey information more effectively than if you tried your hand at the task, and that’s all that really matters. With the writing task in someone else’s capable hands, you’re free to invest yourself in your business uninhibited.
Better Writing Attracts Better Business
Freelance writers will (hopefully) generate content that appropriately addresses your target audience, and that’s good for your business. If you’re an inexperienced writer, you run the risk of writing generalizations or mixed messages that could read as sloppy and poorly planned writing. If your business runs primarily through the web, then presenting great content is of critical importance—it’s the most immediate way that you communicate with your customers. It goes without saying that stronger writing increases likelihood that you’ll connect with your readers.
And bear in mind that even though you hire someone else to do your writing, you have the final word on what content is and isn’t acceptable. Through constructive edits and meaningful criticism, you can shape the overall theme of your freelancer’s writing so as to fit the ethos of your website or business.
A Temporary Hire
Perhaps the most appealing aspect of a freelancer is their limited involvement with your enterprise, particularly if you’re looking to have content written only for your website. There’s no need to burden your payroll with another full hire; simply draft a basic contract with a freelance writer outlining the services required within a specific timeline. If you like a freelancer’s content, don’t balk at their hourly fees: a sizeable one-time sum is a small price to pay for the potentially huge clientele you’ll attract with quality writing that engages your readers. Think of hiring a freelance writer as a long-term investment for your enterprise, one that is likely to yield returns long after you’ve concluded your contract.
October 7th, 2011
By Ben Haber
I must have said this 100 times, and I’m going to say it again. The total number of Twitter followers that you have isn’t the most important statistic. It’s who they are. Do they engage in conversation, reply to your tweets, and re-tweet your content.
Unfortunately, many people don’t understand this concept, Newt Gingrich included. According to some reports, a whopping 92 percent of Newt’s Twitter followers are fake (other reports say the number is closer to 80 percent). In either case, over 1 million of his followers are not real.
If you scroll down Newt’s list of followers, you’ll find that many of them don’t have profile pictures and are essentially inactive users, with less then 10 total tweets, and followers, such as the following handles:
Why does Newt have so many fake followers? Apparently, he decided to purchase followers – that’s why someone on his staff has told reporters. This is not a new concept, but it is certainly the most glaring example of it, and a good reminder that Twitter follower numbers can be very misleading.
August 4th, 2011
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