“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” -Carl W. Buechner
I spend way too much time questioning the sustainability of display advertising. It’s a random topic that I’m always considering, not only because I make a living from it, but also because every digital media company on the web appears to be going after it. The result is that the producers of content strive for mediocrity on a regular basis. I’ve even done so myself and when I attempt to produce mediocre results, that’s exactly what I get. Every morning I’ve decided to switch my routine. Rather than starting with email, a blog post, or something work related, I search for inspiration.

On the web, there is inspiration all over. In blogs, in music, in content being shared by our friends. As I sift through the content, only exceptional information stands out. Why then do we compromise on a daily basis when we produce information? Many of those limitations are a direct result of budgets and deadlines, or our perception that the market is fine with average.

Yesterday at Ignite DC I listened to Justin Thorp who spoke about “Doing Epic Stuff”. It’s a common thread ...

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One of the biggest fears that blogging companies have is critical comments on blogs. The idea of seeing a 'you suck!' conmment on a blog is enough to make most company bloggers break out in a cold sweat. But negative and critical comments from blog readers can actually benefit a company IF that company acts smartly, and has a plan in place for addressing them. Here's a plan of action:

1 - Reply quickly. Often, someone will leave a critical comment as soon as a post is published, and other commenters will 'pile on'. If the company doesn't respond to the points being raised, commenters will often continue to voice their displeasure. But if a company representative can quickly address the issues being raised by the blogger and/or commenters, the tone and structure of the feedback can change dramatically. Sure, there might still be some readers that lash out at the company, but at least now, by replying to the post, the company has gone from reacting to an existing conversation ABOUT them, to PARTICIPATING in that connversation. When their role is changed from passive to active, the conversation changes completely.

2 - Be respectful. Understand this; Every online conversation h... read more >>

Doug Feaver, the former executive editor of the Washington Post, has a great column up about comments and the value of allowing them to not only be anonymous but unmoderated (other than by fellow commenters). This is a case I have tried — and continue to try — to make at the Globe and Mail, where I am the communities editor.

When I first took the job (and since) one of the first things people said was that our comments were unrelentingly bad and that we should require people to use their real names. I try to point out that while we are working on a number of ways to improve the tone of our comments, it’s virtually impossible to actually guarantee that someone has provided their real name, unless we ask them for their driver’s licence or credit card or SIN number, in which case we would dramatically reduce the number of people who would be willing to comment (I think in many cases what people want are real-*sounding* names, as opposed to obvious pseudonyms).

But in addition to that, I think the anonymity issue is largely a red herring, and that in fact there are many virtues to offering it, some of which I tried to outline in this post. Here’s a great excerpt from the Feaver pi... read more >>

It might be raining and you are in a foul mood, but at least you are thinking more clearly.

That’s the findings of a group of Australian researchers who tested consumer memory in good and bad weather. As reported by the British Psychological Society, 73 shoppers were put in a newsagents and asked to recall ten objects. Half went in on good weather days and half when the weather was bad.

Not surprisingly, the bad weather test subjects were in a worse mood than their good weather counterparts. However, the ones who went in when it was raining could identify 3x as many objects. Rainy day shoppers were also less likely to have “false memories.”

Apparently what this study proves is that a bad mood (which you have when the weather is bad), “triggers a more sceptical, careful mode of processing, in contrast to the less vigilant, conceptual thinking style that characterises a good mood.”

The researchers say that these findings could be applied in legal and forensic situations.

It’s obviously got a lot of relevance for marketers as well and shows that there is some sense (supposing your product isn’t seasonal) to weighting a lot of spend towards the summer....or ...

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Yesterday we wrote about how to maximise the insight gained from profiling data in online communities. For the second in our series on how to get insight from online communities, we’re looking at how to make the most of the core of most online communities - discussions and forums. Most communities have some form of discussion [...] read more >>