Category: rant

  • The Real Solution for the Oxford Comma (and Revisiting Owning Your Stuff)

    The Real Solution for the Oxford Comma (and Revisiting Owning Your Stuff)

    Oxford Commas Are Rarely Necessary There is no argument more fun on the Internet than a  grammar argument. People dig in their heels, refuse to budge, and in the end none of it matters. As if to compound the meaninglessness, most professional writers, at any given moment, are one client or new job away from […]

  • Social Media Top 5: Lessons Learned From “Lessons Learned from Star Wars” Posts (NO SPOILERS)

    Social Media Top 5: Lessons Learned From “Lessons Learned from Star Wars” Posts (NO SPOILERS)

    Here we go again: the long-awaited new Star Wars movie is out (side note: I’m ok with spoilers; either the movie is good or it’s not), and the predictable “Lessons Learned” posts are pouring in from PR, marketing and social media bloggers. Yay. Here’s one with PR lessons! Here’s another, with business lessons! (It’s an old […]

  • Social Media Top 5: DisLike-sia and Other Facebook Stuff

    Social Media Top 5: DisLike-sia and Other Facebook Stuff

    Dislike-sia Is Facebook finally implementing the long-discussed Dislike Button? Of course not. It’s a silly idea that makes no sense, not to mention that Facebook has long said it wouldn’t do that. That did not prevent people from breathlessly reporting that Facebook was doing just that after some comments by founder Mark Zuckerberg last week. […]

  • Something Fishy About “Top Marketing Influencer” Lists

    Something Fishy About “Top Marketing Influencer” Lists

    It seems to be “list season” in the marketing world, as bloggers and companies merrily link-bait their way through the usual suspects in the hopes of mentions, thank you’s and general reciprocal tongue baths of appreciation. Lists can be great, if they spotlight someone new that might interest you and give you some informative reading. […]

  • Swearing as Business Model – Bad Idea or Good For You?

    Swearing as Business Model – Bad Idea or Good For You?

    Anyone who knows me know I can out-swear any sailor, and be creatively obscene in the process. However, when it comes to speaking or writing in public, I very rarely use those blasted cusswords – yes, rarely, as I have on a few occasions let context be my excuse for a naughty syllable or two. […]

  • Stop Using “Humblebrag”

    Stop Using “Humblebrag”

    It has been a few years now, and people are still using the term “#humblebrag.” I have about had it. It’s not a word. The very use of this non-word shouts- no, SCREAMS – “I’m not really being humble and I want you all to bow down to how cool I am.” But you are […]

  • Platform Shaming – No, It’s Not Twitter’s Fault

    Platform Shaming – No, It’s Not Twitter’s Fault

    In the marketing, PR and communications field, we (well, the smart ones at least) take great care to remember that what we do – and what happens – both good and bad, is rarely if ever the fault of the communications platform. Generally, the culprit our hero is sound communications strategy supported by a legitimately good […]

  • Kim Kardashian Gives Better Social Media Advice Than You Do*

    Kim Kardashian Gives Better Social Media Advice Than You Do*

    One of the funnest spectator sports in social media marketing is tearing apart the advice of others. Add to that the constant hand-wringing over whether conference presenters should give “101” talks or “advanced” seminars brings the whole thing to the brink of becoming a spectator sport. Well, what if someone outside the marketing bubble gives advice, […]

  • Who Killed Scott Monty?

    Who Killed Scott Monty?

    Last week, Scott Monty, a friend I have known dating back to his Boston days, announced he was leaving his position at Ford Motors, where he ran digital communications, i.e. social media (or at least including social media). The reaction? Well, Scott is popular and well-known in the social media community, and had a visible […]

  • The Social Media Backlash is Here

    Well, it finally happened. Almost a decade of hubris by a new wave of marketers telling that social media was the be-all and end-all, and declaring advertising “dead” has finally turned. First, we have Bob Hoffman’s Advertising Week Europe speech, “The Golden Age of Bullshit” in which he defends the still-quite-alive-thank-you-very-much advertising industry from the […]