Words Dept.

If you ever wanted a snapshot of the mainstream media’s rather depressing agenda and the puerile preoccupations of the public who consume it, you could do worse than searching the phrase #journorequest on Twitter. I’m not sure what journalists did before Twitter. Maybe they phoned people or something. Nowadays though, all they have to do [...]

Today’s CashGordon fiasco has got me thinking about the point of a social media campaign and reinforces the point that simply getting your brand or campaign mentioned on Twitter is not an end in itself. For Tories, the CashGordon strategy was based around creating something that would inflame people on Twitter, and then watching as [...]

It all started on Sunday morning, when I began one of my usual rants on Twitter about the terribleness of deathly Tim Lovejoy vehicle Something for the Weekend, which culminated in this tweet: Unpredictably, this comment led to direct contact from Nicky Campbell and, since I’m not one to pass up the chance of wringing [...]

David Cameron’s sweary outburst on the radio this morning has the unmistakable hallmarks of a media strategy about it. In an attempt to sound “edgy” – and presumably because the Absolute Radio Breakfast Show hits the numbskull demographic that Cameron’s advisers want to hit this week - the 42-year-old, Eton-educated Tory leader was heard to say the word ”twat”. (Audio here.) The whole thing [...]

A selection of my latest bookmarks. Richard Herring.com: Warming up – Herring responds to out-of-context quotes in Guardian piece. “To have those contentious lines quoted out of context, with absolutely no explanation of what else takes place can have no other effect than to make the casual (and even the quite careful) reader assume that [...]

The internet webosphere has been awash since Tuesday with the astonishing revelation that a 15-year-old boy and his friends don’t use Twitter. Since this apparently proves that teenagers don’t use Twitter, perhaps it’s time for a breakdown of who does use Twitter. (Yes, it’s another of those cantankerous lists that will offend almost everyone at [...]

A selection of my latest bookmarks. Matt Stewart: Why I’m releasing my novel on Twitter – Not sure if this is a joke. Telegraph: British Psychological Society: Miss Sophia Shaw – Amusing apology FT.com: Media research note by ‘teenage scribbler’ causes City sensation – 15 year old Morgan Stanley intern reveals teenagers don’t use Twitter. [...]

A selection of my latest bookmarks. Guardian: U2 criticised for world tour carbon footprint – 44 dates have equivalent carbon footprint of a return flight to Mars. TNTJ: Have you fallen out of love with blogging? – More blog anxiety. Genuine trend? MediaGuardian: Trinity Mirror plans 66 more job cuts in north-east England – Yet [...]

A selection of my latest bookmarks. You could visit my Tumblelog for more stuff I’ve seen on the web. Betty's Utility Room: Knickerless – A daft take on the departure of "Conor McKnickerless" (or is it George Lamb?) as editor of NME. Very funny. Guardian: Blogging: the long and short of it "Writing a blog [...]

The Guardian reckons that people aren’t blogging so much any more, and much prefer the shorter, sweeter option of tweeting and updating their status on Facebook. A lot of it is based on anecdotal evidence but there’s some science behind it, according to Charles Arthur. NetNewsWire, my RSS feed reader, has nearly 500 feeds. When [...]