newsletters
The newsletter inquisition
Some insights into newsletter strategy, based on unanswered questions from a Smartocto webinar
year in review
The top 10 posts of 2024: the top 5
The five most read posts of last year were very concerned with audience, the fate of WordPress — and a long gone lads' mag.
year in review
My top 10 posts of 2024: the bottom half
Which posts caught your attention last year? The bottom half of the top 10 is all about the decline of Twitter and Facebook, and the rise of AI slop.
audience engagement
Journalism is a social process: we need to connect with our audience
Building an audience is a skilful dance, combining numbers, instinct — and good, old-fashioned conversations.
audience engagement
Audience Engagement: two words, both matter
If you're taking about audience growth in journalism, you might be forgetting a crucial, human element in the process.
Social Media
The post X-battle: Threads is down, but not out
The fight to capture ex-X users heats up, as Meta, the sleeping giant, wakes up and realises that it has a blue butterfly problem…
Bluesky
The Bluesky explosion and the Substack trap
The Twitter offshoot is edging towards becoming an X replacement — and two old school web thinkers critique Substack
Bluesky
Bluesky is having a moment. Time to pay attention.
Musk's close alignment with the new US President-elect has triggered a new exodus from X — with many communities heading for Bluesky. Will this be the tipping point for the new network?
Journalism
Listening is greater than talking in journalism
In the wake of the shock election news from the US, a provocation for the future of journalism.