Domestic Psychology

not-news

// May 17th, 2011 // No Comments » // media, newspapers

When you cease to investigate and report facts so that you can focus on repeating opinions found on social media sites, you are an opinion aggregator and not news. When your economic model is HuffPo’s make money off free submissions from users, you do not have reporters and are not news. User submitted pictures of cats is not news. PR agency text ads are not news. Celebrity nose jobs are not news.

Pick up a phone, send an email or knock on the door of all the reporters that you fired several years ago and ask them to explain news to you.

pretend camera

// August 10th, 2009 // No Comments » // Doug, flickr, media

This picture is on page A-4 of today’s newspaper. Based on the, “can’t believe you didn’t take that with a real camera” response that I frequently get, I am naming my pretend camera Faux. Faux is my first girlfriend. We have a very serious relationship, but it is an open relationship. She is willing to share me with Sumie. I haven’t met Sumie yet, but I think she might look like this. Sumie might look dented and scratched, but Faux and I will love her completely. She’ll have to work hard to compete with Faux’s talents though.

because you = your city

// June 23rd, 2009 // 9 Comments » // me, media, people, relatives

I know it’s annoying that every time your city is mentioned in a news alert, I text, IM and call until you tell me that you are okay. I can’t help myself. Whenever I hear the name of the place that you live, I think of you. It’s YOUR city. No, you ARE that city. I don’t think about any of the historical, beautiful or interesting things in your city. I think about you. Yes, I know there are a zillion other people in your city and the odds of you being involved in some of the things that make it to places like @BreakingNews are ridiculously non-existent. I’m still going to need to hear that you are okay, because it’s not about being rational. It’s about you. Maybe it’s also about me being crazy, but mostly it’s about you. Don’t feel too special though. I’m not talking only to you. All the recipients of my city-person dyslexia are equally frustrated by my pestering them to reassure me.

“Cathy’s asking me if I’m okay. Somebody check the news to see what happened.”

ode to Social Media: non-profits

// June 9th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // blogging, media, parenting, social media

Non-profits quietly and thanklessly work to improve the lives of people and the world in which we live. Yet, most people don’t know that they exist. Non-profits need to dive head first into the social media pool. Use every possible opportunity to tell the world who your agency is, what you do and why you do it. Every time there is a story in the news that is connected to your cause, point that story out to people. Post updates to any legislation that is important to your cause. Give your cause a human face. Educate by broadcasting facts and stopping rumors. Be a cheerleader, a town crier and an unrepentant flag waver for your cause.

Be a human being instead of a robot. If someone replies to your posts, answer them. It’s great to link to other people’s writings. It’s good to post about other things in your life. If your writings are entirely about something other than your non-profit, you need to create a separate place for whatever that other thing is that is so important to you.

Don’t write only on your own site. Be vigilant in monitoring online for any mention of your agency or your cause. Listen to what people are saying and let them know you are interested in their input. Talk about events before and after they happen. Encourage others’ to share their stories, pictures and videos.

Non-profits need more money. Everyone knows this. Please don’t let your social media presence become pan handling. Avoid the temptation to ask for money except for one tiny window of time when you have a full-blown campaign to meet a financial goal. After a year of making your cause relevant to new supporters, 48 – 72 hours of intense fundraising will have a much bigger impact than endlessly pimping your PayPal account.

Don’t stop trying. The world needs you right now. Thank you for everything that you do.

third verse: anti-social

ode to Social Media – first verse

// May 31st, 2009 // No Comments » // blogging, media, people, social media

I won’t tell you exactly what Social Media is, because it is a unique experience for each user. I can tell you what it isn’t. Social Media is not an advertising campaign. If you think you can spam Twitter and bill a clueless client, you need to have your keyboard taken away. As a consumer, that kind of behavior has the opposite effect of what you are intending it to have. If you think you can get the same results with a Facebook fan page that you would get from a professional ad agency, you are going to learn very quickly that you get what you pay for. Social Media might be a key part of your advertising campaign, but please don’t let someone masquerading as an advertising professional convince you otherwise. Now, if you want Social Media to be your public relations focus, that’s a horse of a different color.

second verse: non-profits

apologies to the Buggles

// April 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // blogging, media, music, newspapers, video

I read you in the bed on Sunday afternoons
Lying awake reading the day before’s news.
I should have known the stories had all changed by then.
Oh-a oh
They took the credit for your second symphony.
Rewritten by machine and new technology,
And now I understand the problems you can see.
Oh-a oh
I met your readers
Oh-a oh
What did you sell them?
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Bloggers came and broke your heart.
Oh-a-a-a oh
And now we read on our laptops and our cell phones.
We think of newsprint and it seems so long ago.
And you remember the ink smudged fingers, oh.
Oh-a oh
You were the first one.
Oh-a oh
You were the last one.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
In my home and in my car,
We can’t unplug we’ve gone to far
Oh-a-aho oh,
Oh-a-aho oh
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
In my home and in my car,
We can’t unplug we’ve gone to far.
Bloggers came and broke your heart,
Look I’ll read my Twitter feed.
You are a newspaper star.
You are a newspaper star.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.
Internet killed the newspaper.

you lost me at the cultural entitlement rant

// April 14th, 2009 // No Comments » // local, media, parenting, people, school

Yesterday, someone recommended an article in the Bearden Shopper-News to me. It was described as an intelligently thought out explanation based on existing research. So, I read the front page article, “Thinking outside the AJ.” The article was accurately described as intelligent UNTIL the author decided to complain that high school “has BECOME a cultural entitlement” because of things like the prom. Seriously? Don’t you think that high school students have had Friday night football games and a yearly prom for more than a few decades now? Have you missed that one of the points of after school activities is creating a sense of community and school pride? Don’t you recognize the benefits of high school students participating in organized school sports and activities? Many high school students work very hard on their classes and a little bit of fluff to break the monotony is not entitlement.

As for the rest of your article, while I agree that school is about learning, I want to see the existing school hours spent as wisely as possible. That does not necessarily equate to more hours in a classroom. We are still talking about children. Eliminating home and parents from a child’s waking hours is a suggestion that should not even be entertained. The arguments against later start times are just as important as the “teens need to sleep in” study. Having Knox County high schools on two different schedules would make it impossible for students at one school to take classes or be on teams with students at another school. The dual-enrollment college classes would have to choose one of the two schedules, leaving out a large group of potential dual-enrollment students. Students who already stay at school until 9 pm several nights a week would be out until 10 pm on school nights. Teachers who volunteer to sponsor after school clubs would be far less likely to do so when it would mean not having dinner with their own families. Moving clubs and activities to before school negates the entire “sleeping in” benefit that you are touting. Local businesses would hire the students from schools on the earlier schedule and students on the later schedule would be less able to find part-time jobs to save for college expenses.

Lastly, let’s talk about your idea that education “won’t ever happen” as long as we are not “thinking outside the AJ.” Without the people in the Andrew Jackson building, there would be NO public education system. We have to think and do WITH the people in the AJ. People from area universities, businesses and agencies that serve children and families were in the AJ this week to collaborate on solutions. Solutions that don’t ask underpaid teachers to work longer hours. Solutions that recognize that learning isn’t just sitting at a desk. Solutions that don’t ask schools to be parents. Solutions that don’t blame football games and prom.

famous last words

// February 10th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // aspergers, life, media, newspapers, school, technology

Me: “I wouldn’t have chosen to tell that story if it was going to get KNS comments.”

always read the Sunday paper

// January 3rd, 2009 // 1 Comment » // flickr, media

I still need professional media

// December 5th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // media, politics, technology

I don’t need newspapers. I do need the people-formerly-known-as-newspaper-writers. I need an online news source that gathers only the truth from rumors on blogs and provides an honest and accurate explanation of local news. I need someone to explain the what if we do and what if we don’t of proposed political amendments. More than anything else, I need to be able to *trust the professional media source.

I don’t need newspaper blogs that dangle raw meat in front of angry people because any hit is a good hit. Leave the carnival of crazy to blogs and have the dignity to be above it if you are a professional media source. I don’t need every news article link spamming me on Twitter. Twitter is a conversation and that means you are listening and interacting. If you have zero followers or only post links to your own site, you are missing out on what makes Twitter special. I have a feed reader to show me new articles as they are published. If you are doing real investigative journalism, e-mail the updates to subscribers.

I need to be able to access all my information via computers and cell phones. It’s portable, immediate and constantly updated. I don’t need a pile of newsprint. My dogs are already housebroken.

*I trust Newscoma. Wherever she goes, I will follow.