Twitter e-mail digest shows importance of building community

16 May

Twitter launched a new weekly e-mail digest this week, which will be rolled out to all users in the next few weeks. In addition to being a statement that e-mail is still a very effective marketing tool (see Timehop), this new service has some important implications to news media.

Top MLB teams on Google+

10 May

Baseball season has been in full swing for more than a month, so this seemed like a good time to check in and see which teams have been doing the best job growing a following of fans on Google+.

8 reasons to give Google+ a second look

19 Apr

Like many people, I signed up for for the social network Google+ as soon as I could get an invite. And like most people, I rarely check in these days. But I do believe that Google+ has a strong future. In an effort to get my social media strategies class excited about Google+, I found [...]

How to turn on Facebook Timeline for Pages right now

29 Feb

Facebook launched Timeline for Pages today and will roll it out to all pages on March 30, 2012. But why wait? Here’s how to activate timeline for pages now. 1. Go to https://www.facebook.com/about/pages/ and click on “Preview your pages” in the middle of the page. 2. Select the page you want to preview and click [...]

4 lessons from Caucus night from the Des Moines Register

5 Jan

In the world of presidential politics, Iowa goes first. Which also means the Des Moines Register goes first – first to test out latest digital tools in its caucus coverage. I asked Register Digital Editor Julia Thompson to reflect on how some of those tools worked out on caucus night.

Social media numbers show Gingrich, Romney and Paul neck-and-neck in Iowa

27 Dec

It’s one week before the Iowa caucuses, and my latest numbers on GOP candidates and social media show it’s a three-way race between Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. I’m tracking 17 different indicators of how popular candidates are on social media and how effectively they are using social media in their campaigns. This [...]

25+ best WordPress themes for newspapers and magazines

21 Dec

WordPress is a great tool for quickly and easily launching a professional-looking website with little or no knowledge of writing code. There are thousands of themes and plugins to customize the look and performance of your site. This makes it perfect for college and high school newspapers looking to dive head first into creating or [...]

How print designers can get involved online NOW

13 Dec

I know several “print” designers who have yet to take the leap into web design. Heck, I doubt some of them ever will. Even if they never decide to learn HTML and CSS, there is an easy way for print designers to make their company’s better: Infographics.

Four weeks before Iowa Caucuses, how the candidates are doing on social media

6 Dec

A little more than three weeks ago, I measured how the GOP presidential candidates were faring on social media. I looked at 17 different measurements of popularity and engagement on Twitter and Facebook (you can see exactly what I measured here). My results were fairly close to the most recent national polls. Now, four weeks [...]

Football fans compete for Facebook Likes

30 Nov

Want to gain more Facebook Likes? Strike a deal with one of your rivals. That’s what the University of Iowa and the University of Nebraska did in connection with their Nov. 25 football game (the schools’ first meeting since Nebraska joined the Big Ten Conference).