When I first learned about the New York Times hiring a Social Media Editor (that link has a good internal memo about their plans), I salivated on my keyboard. Then, reports came in that the job might be more about reigning in prolific reporters (that link is a bit mean, but hey, it’s Gawker), like David Carr, who tweet about whatever they please. That job sounds less fun. I was hoping for innovation, pushing limits, starting new trends…even if that means great crashing fireballs of failure. Anything but mediocrity and safely following the pack. Jump into the fray, NYT!
*Calming down, wiping keyboard* (more…)
Whenever people are new to Twitter, they talk about how weird it is that people are following them. “I haven’t written anything!” or “I don’t even know who they are!” they cry, weirded out and slightly thrilled.
For people who aren’t bloggers, this is an understandably strange idea, but an important lesson. People put things on their Facebook and Flickr pages all the time that make me gasp. That drunken bday photo? Once it’s out there, you can’t assume that you control who sees it, and taking it down doesn’t prevent someone from copying and re-hosting it somewhere else. Using Twitter on your phone makes this even easier: beware the flippant tweet. 
I saw an ad for 