Used well, it can give information an appeal and interactivity that even the best prose cannot match. First, a confession: My first reason for writing this post is so I can embed a really cool infographic about Google on my blog. MORE

I couldn’t have known it at the time, but my journalism education was the best possible preparation for new-media marketing. Mark W. Schaefer. A couple of years ago when I started B2B Memes it was my plan to focus exclusively on trade publishing. MORE

The idea is best understood by reading Quartz news editor Gideon Lichfield’s slightly nerdy but persuasive rationale for abandoning the beat. Gideon Lichfield. MORE

Through editorial control, the best magazines found a way to blend their many constituent parts into a single, distinct voice. Later today, Keith Olbermann will make a statement on Twitter about, presumably, the circumstances of his departure from MSNBC. Though that’s a small thing in itself, says ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick , it’s a reflection of a huge shift in media. MORE

The best strategy for dealing with copying is to accept that it will happen and stay ahead of everyone else by continuing to put out valuable and unique content. One of the hottest Internet memes last week was the story of how blogger Monica Gaudio complained to a print magazine, Cooks Source , that it had used her work without permission and got told that, really, she should be grateful to have it stolen. The incident was covered well by TechDirt , Wired , and many others.). MORE

If you want to see some examples of this shortcoming, you only need to read through a few stories from the leading publication for the magazine industry, Folio: In an article entitled “Editors Share Best Practices for Twitter,” for instance, you might expect at least a link to each of the Twitter pages for the four editors profiled , if not also links to their magazines. MORE

Except perhaps among library scientists, they were never best sellers, but neither were they distasteful. What is it about aggregation that riles so many journalists? I understand the competitive motives behind the objections of legacy publishers like Rupert Murdoch and the New York Times. They don’t like the idea of anyone “harvesting revenue that might otherwise be directed to the originators of the material,” as Times editor Bill Keller wrote. MORE

” A useful reminder, perhaps, that the best aggregators improve the things they borrow. Aargh? In yesterday’s Los Angeles Times , theater critic Charles McNulty wrote a marvelous column inspired by his objections to the Roland Emmerich movie, Anonymous. MORE

Crown made its ultimately short-lived business out of heavy discounting best-sellers, hardly a cultural benefit. Sure, the best independents always outshone these chains, but both they and the chains did honorable duty. MORE

In her interview with him last week on All Things D, Kara Swisher noted that while some see computational journalism as a “‘democratizing’ of the news, others are more concerned about relying on algorithms to determine the best coverage and the implications for a society guided by its own searches.”. In an article published last weekend on Mashable, Sarah Kessler asked the question, “ Can Robots Run the News? ” MORE

The best recent example, perhaps, comes from Kashmir Hill’s Forbes.com story last February recapping Charles Duhigg’s New York Times article on consumer marketing and data mining. Among all the topics that seem to rile journalists and publishers these days, perhaps the most contentious is curation. Is summarizing and linking to another person’s article an honorable act or a form of theft? How can you distinguish between good curation and bad curation? MORE

They use it to find what CAD software is best, and to share projects they’ve just finished, and even press coverage they’ve received. Again, I try my best to keep RD+B to straight reporting. I try my best to post tweets that reach out to each audience. MORE

But you owe it to guest bloggers to show off their work in the best possible light by cleaning up obvious writing goofs. There’s wide agreement in the blogging world about the benefits of guest posts, both for the guest blogger and the blog owner. There seems to be less consensus, however, about the logical next question: If you use guest posts, should you edit them? In a way, I’m asking a trick question. MORE

What started out in 1999 as a casual contest among 21 Bay Area writers has turned into a world-wide event that’s led to several best sellers and many thousands of novels that might never have otherwise been finished. MORE

In journalism at its best, she asserts, the deliverable is truth. Over the weekend, one of my blog posts from several months ago provoked a comment that was simply too good to let pass unnoticed. It spelled out the feelings of many journalists when faced with the prospect of going over to the dark side , as David Meerman Scott has put it, by writing directly for a sponsor. MORE

I wasn’t thrilled with any of the photos I took, despite the best efforts of my trusty, if graying, Nikon D70. Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley, CA. I don’t claim to be much good at photography, but it’s one of my more diverting hobbies. MORE

Hundreds of hours of work goes into building our content sets to ensure that the very best information is sorted and categorized. Rory Brown. It’s almost a new-media axiom that traditional publishers can’t move forward effectively online because they have too much skin in the old-media game. MORE

If it puts an end to the conversation, that’s probably for the best. Content marketing. Native advertising. Engagement. These, my friends, are the buzzwords du jour. And there seem to be as many definitions OF them as there are letters IN them. MORE

The point of new media is immediacy, direct connection, and that works best when the format recedes into the background of your attention and becomes virtually invisible. The various urges to communicate that constitute what we think of as the magazine will find the transparency that suits them best. MUD day 18: It’s a new dawn and I’ve awakened with my usual optimism and generosity of spirit restored. Today I see things a bit differently. MORE

I’ve been reading the autobiography of the late novelist Mark Harris , Best Father Ever Invented. I’m sure there were at least a few journalists who took offense at Gap marketing chief Seth Farbman telling an audience earlier this week that marketers are more honest than journalists. MORE

On his We Grow Media blog , Dan Blank puts it this way: I find that my best work comes from observing the world outside of the topic I write about. Blank doesn’t explain how he identifies his “best” work. It’s a popular tactic among B2B bloggers to look at dry B2B topics through the prism of seemingly unrelated personal enthusiasms. Viewed from a distance, a favorite pop band or children’s book might not seem relevant to B2B marketing and communications. MORE

A post today from Josh Gordon on words to avoid in content marketing gets to the heart of what content marketers must do: think like journalists. In his post, he reports on an effort by PR strategist Adam Sherk to enumerate the frequency of 98 marketing buzzwords in current press releases. As Sherk acknowledges, he is building upon a list David Meerman Scott compiled last year of “ top gobbledygook phrases used in 2008.”. Here are the top 12 offenders: leader. leading. unique. great. solution. MORE

A 2008 study looked at the best times and days to publish content. The best times to post were between 1 pm–3 pm (after lunch) or 5 pm–7 pm PST (after work). Here’s The Best and Worst Times to Post It.&#. My lizard brain , always scanning the horizon for reasons not to publish, got very excited yesterday. Thanks to a Twitter lead from @TomPick , I came across an article by Devin Sugameli offering “ 5 Tips for More ReTweets.&# MORE

Bouchard argues that the “solution for not getting pummeled every time Google changes its algorithm is to focus on providing the best possible relevancy to users.” Do you write for the Penguin, or the human? MORE

The best comment I had this month essentially accused me —in a nice way—of idiocy. Twenty-nine days ago, I set out to write a post a day for this blog. Somehow, despite a couple of late nights, I managed to achieve my goal. MORE

but rather Is this my best, most honest, and most personally true assessment of those facts? What’s the way forward for journalists? Doubling down on the traditional ideals of objectivity and impartiality? Embracing the subjective, personality-driven approach of social media? MORE

If content marketers hope to pick up the mantle of the writers and editors behind these endangered magazines, they will need to study the best and brightest of them (or better yet, hire them). The best articles came from the professional writers, not the industry experts. MORE

If you worry too much about how to use new media, or what platform is best, or how to make the most of it, you may never move forward. MUD day 9: For anyone involved in communications, coming to accept new media is only half the battle. The next, much harder fight, is in leaping into and mastering the ways of new media. MORE

For a better-informed handle on whether your content is best of show, try a “Like-Item Analysis.” For most B2B publishers, electronically delivered news content is becoming an increasingly important part of their output. The potential rewards are substantial. In theory, any B2B e-news package consistently delivering relevant, high-enterprise, fast-paced, exclusive content should dominate its competitive space. MORE

I’ve hit the “publish” button thinking to myself, “this could well be my best Blog post to date,” only to find out a short while later that nobody cared. However: be your own best reader. MORE

These filters are reinforced on a larger scale by devices like best-seller lists or books such as Andrew Keen’s The Cult of the Amateur , which either by effect or intent try to set limits on what is worth writing, publishing, or reading. Not Herman. Is what you write worth publishing? MORE

I’ve hit the “publish” button thinking to myself, “this could well be my best Blog post to date,” only to find out a short while later that nobody cared. However: be your own best reader. MORE

We always found that our publications were generally liked the best and read the most frequently. There’s been a minor buzz this week in B2B circles about recent survey results suggesting that paper magazines and newsletters remain extremely important to business professionals. MORE

While this analysis suggests that many editors may not be making the best use of Twitter, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are not effective at social media in general. As with other business-to-business content creators these days, there are few trade press editors who don’t have—and at least occasionally use—a Twitter account. The obvious promotional benefits of this social media tool have led most trade publishers to insist, rightly, that their editors use it. MORE

Replying to a journalism student who had written to ask how he had built his personal brand, Weingarten offered a scathing but eloquently funny response: “The best way to build a brand is to take a three-foot length of malleable iron and get one end red-hot. Proponents of new media probably can’t change that language, but they can do the next best thing: constantly and consistently define its key terms. MORE

In it, Tinworth summarizes a point made by presenter Matt Wells of the Guardian : “Matt thinks that liveblogs are one of the best ways of covering stories that don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. But they are not the only or necessarily the best way to help people understand the world. A spate of recent blog posts have, independently it seems, questioned the traditional preeminence of the article as the basic unit of journalism. MORE

Conley is best known, however, for his subsequent work, starting in 2004, as a consultant and blogger. Paul Conley. In the trade magazine business, not generally known for early adoption of new-media developments, Paul Conley is something of an anomaly. MORE

Analysis and reporting are still important, but are best practiced selectively. In any case, even with the best writers, one publication cannot come close to meeting the information needs of its readers. MORE

The distinctions Scripps wants to draw get even more muddled when the policy gets into best practices. If you need any confirmation that legacy publishers just don’t get social media, give the new social media policy from E.W. Scripps a glance. As summarized by Jay Rosen, the message Scripps is sending to its employees is. “Be Be afraid. Be very, very afraid. Got it? Now go out there and kick some social media ass.”. MORE

Not all journalists can claim that talent, but the best can, and it’s what makes journalism shine. If not yet a B2B meme , recommending the use of journalists for content marketing is at the very least a growing trend. Well-known influencers like David Meerman Scott , Valeria Maltoni , and Joe Pulizzi have all made the case that journalistic skills like telling stories, doing research, and understanding audiences are critical to effective content creation. MORE

The idea is best understood by reading Quartz news editor Gideon Lichfield’s slightly nerdy but persuasive rationale for abandoning the beat. Gideon Lichfield. MORE