links for 2009-01-28

"I don't need to say it; the real Jill Whalen, Lisa Barone and Barry Schwartz are not spammers. However, these three (and others) are famous enough within the Search community for people to target others in the Search community with twitter accounts pretending to be them". SEO A-listers being targeted with fake Twitter profiles.

"He describes yesterday's leader in The Guardian about the affair as 'wholly misguided' and refutes claims that it is 'inconsistent' to publish links to the DEC appeal on the BBC website". Given that in the past the Guardian has banged on and on about the BBC website giving more external link-love, this is wryly amusing.

"Despite these similar trends, the picture was not the same everywhere. Freelance or online-only journalists were more likely to say that their work had been transformed 'enormously' or 'completely.' In contrast, no journalist employed by the television or radio industries felt that blogging had 'completely' changed any aspect of their work."

"Online audiences suffer from a high boredom and low attention threshold. 64% of viewers drop off after episode one, and if you have a ten episode series by the end there are not many viewers left."

"A new boss has been installed in Haringey, on double what Sharon Shoesmith was earning, while the borough is now so desperate for social workers that the head of the department made an appeal across London for some to be lent him. Children less safe, those who worked on the case who were already likely distraught had their lives ruined, and now the service, what's left of it, costs more. A more ringing endorsement of a Sun justice campaign could hardly be imagined"

"Imagine a Tube where there is no gap to mind. A train that could whisk passengers direct from point of boarding to final destination without making calls at all the stations in between. Imagine a Tube where those getting off need never jostle with those getting on. Imagine a Tube that never stops. William Aitken of Windermere Road, Muswell Hill imagined and patented such a system 90 years ago". And he was, frankly, bonkers.