The End Of My Physical Newspaper Days

David Smith — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:30:43 -0500

I canceled my subscription to my morning paper, the San Francisco Chronicle today. This was a serious decision for me as I have read the paper every morning of my adult life and for much of my childhood. I started out with the comics of course as soon as I could read. But soon migrated to the sports and then other content. These days, I get up, grab the paper, head for the bathroom (a guy thing) and finish the paper over breakfast.

Following Chatter From Iran on Twitter

David Smith — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:24:30 -0400

The web is an amazing communication channel. Empowered by tools like Twitter, it is even more incredible. You no doubt have read about how Twitter, Facebook and YouTube represent some of the only channels for communication for those in Iran to get the word out about what is really going on. If you want to follow this, use Twitter search which is very powerful. Twitter is apparently fearful of search overpowering it, so it "hides" the search button for many of us on the bottom of the page. You do not have to join Twitter to use their search.

History of Information

David Smith — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:30:10 -0400

The flow of information has always interested me. In high school and college, I studied journalism, which in turn introduced me to advertising. I quickly migrated to the media side of the ad market as I loved the study of media patterns, demographics, sociographics and trends. Trends seem to be coming at us faster and faster these days, as exemplified by the growth of the Web site, followed by blogs, followed by social networks and now social news.

Google Profiles Competes in Social Listing Space

David Smith — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:12:02 -0400

According to John Battelle, it's a really big deal. Others are comparing it to a LinkedIn or Facebook killer. Whatever you call it, Google Profiles are here to stay and they can give you a lot more splash for your personal brand. They've been toying with this for a while but it finally launched officially yesterday. The net result is that a customized listing of your info comes up on the bottom of the search page when you type in your name.

Twitter Pitch Engine Debuts

David Smith — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:00:18 -0400

I've written before in this space about the power of Twitter for those in the news industry and those wanting to get the news first. Now there is a "pitch engine" called MediaOnTwitter which makes contact with the press even easier, using Twitter as the connective tissue. This is yet another great application of technology and media or should I say technology for the media?

The Consumer Media Connection

David Smith — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:39:16 -0500

There are a number of interesting two way communications situations happening in media today. It represents the integration of the social media such as Facebook and Twitter into the "mainstream" web edit sites. This is facilitated by these and other social networks having open APIs combined with critical mass from a consumer standpoint. Facebook is now the largest social network and Twitter, while much smaller, has a reported 11% penetration of internet users in the U.S. and is growing at 700% a year.

Tech Blunders in Super Bowl Advertising

David Smith — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:28:14 -0500

The Super Bowl was great football. And some of the spots were really good. But pretty much across the board, the chance for tech to shine or cross promotion to really work failed.

Some examples from this Monday morning quarterback:

I Want My Prime Time TV When I Want It

David Smith — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:18:56 -0500

Last night, as is usual on Monday night, I could not wait to see 24. I've followed this series through thick and thin since the start. It's actually gotten a good story line reboot and is quite entertaining this year.

Watching and Interacting at the Inauguration Viewing

David Smith — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:42:32 -0500

(written but somehow not posted the day after the election)

Yahoo Uses Twitter to Filter News

David Smith — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 15:23:38 -0500

In a perfect convergence of media and technology, Yahoo! is now using Twitter to filter news according to Technology Review. I've written before in this blog about the impact of Twitter in reporting news first. And as reported in FastCompany.com, twitterers (tweeters) were among the first to report on the "Miracle on the Hudson" plane crash. But Yahoo!