links for 2009-03-04

"Richard regularly comments on The Birmingham Post blogs under the pseudonym 'Clifford' and, it is fair to say, has developed quite a bit of a reputation as a curmudgeon. But, despite his criticisms of The Post, he has stuck with us even when we didn’t quite get things right. For that reason I wanted to meet him and, I have to admit with some considerable trepidation, I invited him for a tour of our offices. The man I met in reception could not have been further from what I expected - polite, erudite, passionate and engaged in local news. For his part, he was oblivious to the image he had been portraying to others online". Great stuff from Joanna, although I suspect I won't be inviting any of the Points Of View crew round my house for tea any time soon.

Graphs to prove that, quelle surprise, the half-life of a tweet is very short for driving traffic.

"In the FreeRepublic view of the media world, newspapers are dying–and should die–because they're inaccurate, too liberal and too arrogant. These folks believe, in fact, that those alleged failings are driving readers and advertisers away, causing newspaper problems that go far beyond the real factors like Internet competition, the decline of classifieds and the economy. Like Polis, they revel in how alternative formats like blogs are causing problems for traditional media."

"Make sure to have a pre-established social media person. Or, better yet, make sure your entire staff knows how to properly use Twitter when the time comes to send out mobile/Twitter blasts using hashtags (example: #UCprotest)". Also advices a crib sheet with all the login credentials to blog and use the CMS in a blind panic, sorry, structured breaking news situation