The lack of activity on this blog hasn’t been caused by laziness, I have actually been keeping busy…
One of things going on is the exciting news that I’ve been able to tick an item off my “Bucket List”. Yes, to quote Anne Hathaway: ”It came true!” – no, I haven’t won an Oscar, but I have got some of my writing published in a book. WHOOP.
So, Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, has reportedly banned Yahoo’s staff from working remotely. It’s not my place to tell her she’s wrong, but I know about the benefits of remote working. So, yes – here’s why she’s wrong.
The view from my home office – all mod cons: A Beatles screensaver and a countryside view are not compulsory, but come highly recommended
I have a love-hate relationship with Twitter, here’s how I’m trying to make it more loving.
It’s all about ignoring the Toxic Tweeters.
My Twitter timeline has been buzzing this morning with praise from Digital Marketers for Lowcostholidays.com who have pulled off a social media coup over their more famous rivals, Thomas Cook. I’m not convinced that we should be celebrating so much…
You can read about it here, but in summary:
A Facebook user called Thomas Cook tried to blag a free holiday from the travel agents of the same name by claiming “compensation” for being “ridiculed” about his name. Thomas Cook (the company) didn’t respond, but an enterprising Marketing Manager at Lowcostholidays.com personally replied to the message and offered Thomas Cook (the person) a free holiday – which they took, as a picture of the man and his friend grinning at the Eiffel Tower proved.
Apologies for going off-piste and writing a more serious post than usual, but Hillsborough is on my mind.
After 23 years the extent of the police cover-up has finally been revealed, including the damning judgement that many of the victims could have been saved if the authorities had acted differently on the day.
Finally, after 23 years of offensively bullish statements, Kelvin McKenzie has apologised for the publication of incredible lies about the disaster in his newspaper.
The Sun’s story from 1989
If you’re not familiar with the full story of the Hillsborough disaster, the Wikipedia page is a very thorough resource.
None of this is much of a surprise to people who have been following the campaigning work to uncover the real truth (as the Sun’s headline has belatedly put it).
I’m lucky that my connections to Hillsborough are only tangential, but they have been profound nonetheless.
A few months ago I wrote that social networking is the equivalent of yelling in the street. The best way to self-censor is to think before you type, so: “Would I really stand outside and yell that I think X is a paedophile / hate Y / really fancy Z?”
Unfortunately some people are unable to self-censor, or if they do, they don’t see anything wrong with blurting out whatever lies in the gutter of their minds.
How can Twitter and the Police deal with the idiots?
Localisation can be a great tool for marketers, but it’s a more complex issue than it seems at first glance. So whether you are using nifty geo-targeting plug-ins, or crafting large campaigns, make sure you’re not making generalisations that could harm your efforts.
This is the first result in Google Images for “Northerner”
I love Comment Spammers, they always have something nice to say, well, almost always. Sometimes they are so complimentary I’m tempted to give in and give them the link they want. I like to pretend they are real people, not bots, part of my extended online family. Here are some highlights from the comments I’ve received (all genuine).
Comment spam
A quick glance at the posts on this blog would give you the impression that all I do is watch TV and mess around on Pinterest, well that’s not completely true.
Honest.
Apart from my freelance writing work, I’m working on two new projects of my own – and they need a lot of content, so if you would like to get involved do let me know!
A recent post by Heather Lloyd on “Why do freelance writers hate SEO copywriting” led to an interesting discussion in the comments. This subject got some of us writers hot under the collar about the way we are treated by people looking for SEO content. There’s a popular misconception that “anyone can write”, as evidenced by the spawning of aggregator sites offering piddling amounts for SEO copy.
The writer pauses to wonder if they’ve got the keyword density right
