Disqus - Latest Comments for thornley

Re: Facebook is eating YouTube’s lunch when it comes to video views and sharing

thornley — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 17:33:42 -0000

Hi Chris, You are right that each platform measures things differently. (The "thumbs up/thumbs down" symbols under YouTube videos actually do carry "Like/Dislike" prompts when you hover your mouse over them.) However, I think that the huge gap between the views and social gestures on Facebook and those on YouTube are something that we wouldn't have seen a year ago. I do think that, regardless of the exact measurement methodology, the direction is clear. Facebook's emphasis on video is working. And the implication for us is that we should post to both during this period of change.

Re: Looking back … and looking ahead

thornley — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 07:07:32 -0000

Congratulations Chip. You are one of the originals. Original is what you've done. And original in that you were in social media at the outset. I hope you will bring back Chats with Chip. It will be good to continue to hear your voice. Cheers!

Re: Google+ and the lesson of Owned vs Rented Spaces

thornley — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 08:54:49 -0000

Hi Urs, Bradley Horowitz's G+ post is still there. I've corrected the link in my post. It should take you there now.

Re: Google+ and the lesson of Owned vs Rented Spaces

thornley — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 08:20:10 -0000

Hi Robin, I agree with you about needing places for content of different length and depth. However, I generally develop ideas sequentially over several spaces - twitter, Facebook, Google+, Medium and my blog. In effect, I work through different drafts, emphasizing different points, until I reach the final version that I then post to my blog. The blog version is the definitive version that I want to keep and that I will refer back to in future. The others just drift by as part of the stream.

Re: Geeks Bearing Gifts: Content vs. Service

thornley — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 16:43:13 -0000

Jeff, I WANT to buy the book. Will it be available on Kobo - or only on Amazon?

Re: Top 5 PR podcasts

thornley — Mon, 05 May 2014 08:49:28 -0000

Ashlea, I'd add to this list: Mitch Joel's Six Pixels of Separation podcast and Kristine Darbelle's Young PR Pros. Both can be downloaded from iTunes. Both are on my weekly must-listen list.

Re: Private: Retiring due to ill health

thornley — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 09:52:32 -0000

Lee, you have been a constant read for me since the early days of this blog. I've always valued your observations and insights. Thank you for all the work you've put it this and for being a true example of the culture of generosity. Be well, my friend.

Re: Outside payments to journalists and independent, impartial Journalism at the CBC: A definitive guide

thornley — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 09:22:25 -0000

Hi Rick, I understand your perspective. Freelance journalists must draw income from many sources. Personally, I think that disclosure is a practical solution for freelancers. I appreciate that Jeff Jarvis includes disclosures of outside interests in the About page of his blog http://buzzmachine.com/about/ and Jay Rosen also discloses political leanings and interest in the FAQ section of his blog http://pressthink.org/faq/.

In fact, once Mansbridge was drawn in, I think that the discussion veered away from the focus on Rex Murphy's speaking to the oil industry with the spotlight moving to the fact that CBC's policies had changed over time with less than adequate disclosure. Jeffrey Dvorkin was clear about this in his As It Happens interview. Something shifted in the way that management was handling this - without any clear public statement that this had happened.

Re: Where has “honor in public service” gone?

thornley — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 09:45:52 -0000

A good thought Joe. I once worked for a politician who had resigned after a personal mistake. He announced it before it became public. And although it tore him up inside, he resigned immediately. Yes, he made a mistake. But he was at base an honourable man. And people saw that politics was full of humans who could and would make mistakes, but who also understood that the public trust required a higher standard.

Sadly, Mayor Ford's rationale that "I love this job more than anything." put his own ego ahead of the public good. There's no honour in that. :(

Re: Mathew Ingram on journalism: The only constant is change

thornley — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 18:07:38 -0000

William, I really liked the analogy too. And you could see that the room got it as well. Sometimes a simple image crystallizes thinking for people.

Re: My New Role at 88 Creative & a New Future for BetaKit

thornley — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 08:43:36 -0000

Congrats on the new job Erin. Toronto has earned a reputation as a creative and innovative hot spot and now you've put your hands on a source of ignition. :)

Re: Sherrilynne, Nora and Joe's Excellent Adventure

thornley — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 13:25:33 -0000

Darren, Happily, the one bit of video I did manage to save was Lee LeFever's presentation. So I'll be editing the highlights into a couple videos I can post.

And I hope that you and Julie will organize the event again next year. It was well worth the trip.

Re: eBook prices remain high in Canada despite price drops in US

thornley — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 12:21:34 -0000

Jennifer, you know the industry from your past work there. However, it's clear from the US experience that the pricing system is arbitrary and can switch with some motivation (like the threat of prosecution.) Surely, with the US example in place, Canadian publishers and distributors must understand that maintaining their current stance in Canada will only hurt them in the eyes of the reading public.

Re: Lessons from a successful conference organizer

thornley — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:39:56 -0000

Dave, I agree with you. Gnomedex was a personal favourite for me too. A conference that reflected Chris Pirillo's interests - and they were always thought provoking - with a friendly community feel.

I've always tried to emulate this community atmosphere with the Third Tuesday meet ups that I've hosted. I hover near the door so that I can spot people who look lost or alone. I'll introduce myself, find out a bit about them and then steer them to others who I know share their interests. A little kick start to relationships makes sure no one feels like an outsider.

Re: SXSW Continues to Have Tons of Value

thornley — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 11:06:54 -0000

Bang on CC. I skipped the most recent two SXSWs. And when I returned this year, it was much different from what I remembered. In a good way. More diverse and better session topics and speakers who really delivered (Go David Weinberger and Douglas Rushkoff!) But the best thing about the conference was the serrendipitous moments with old friends that I may see once or twice a year. Lots of content. Lots of friends. And a good part of my world converging in one city.

Re: Public Relations' Identity Crisis

thornley — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 09:05:31 -0000

Hi Gini, you are absolutely right that people still find us when they are doing searches for public relations. So, we write about PR and provide lots of good PR content on our blog (hopefully, like this post.) But having said that, the PR content is only one of six categories of content we push out. Hopefully, we'll rank on searches for PR in our market. But that won't limit people's definition of us. Hopefully, those that search for video production, design, content marketing, and social media companies will find us and see us not as a "bolt-on" in those areas, but as a native to them. At least that's what we're trying to do. We're continuously monitoring and tweaking our approach.

Re: A Convergence of Advertising, Social, and Content

thornley — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 07:54:09 -0000

Bryan, you make a good point about not seeing the ads when we are looking at content in our RSS Reader. That's how I too get most of my content, via RSS feeds in Google Reader.

However, also like you, I click through to the actual site to read the content that I'm most interested in. I do this so that I can highlight, tag and save it in Diigo/delicious. So, while I'd miss the ads on most sites I read, I definitely see the ads on the sites with the content that's most directly of interest to me. I would think that would make the ads of even greater value to the advertisers. Highly relevant content delivered to an interested, engaged reader.

Re: A Convergence of Advertising, Social, and Content

thornley — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 07:45:17 -0000

Jeremiah, I'm all for experiments and what we can learn from them. I hope you'll share your observations of the impact of the introduction of ads and their performance.

For my part, I think that the key phrase in your post is "only ... relevant ads (of companies that are related to topics I write about)." If this were the case, your ads might well function as an extension of your content. And I'm here for the content.

The failing of most Web ads is that they tend to be "noise" and I filter out and ignore the noise. Why are they noise? Because if the best ad server seems to deliver ads that often has little relevance to the content of a specific post. When I do glance at them, I'm inclined to see them as irrelevant. And this causes me to simply ignore them. (In fact, I cannot remember the last time I clicked on an ad on a Website, other than a search ad.)

So, I'm all for you trying out ads. After all, this is your space that you share with us. Let's get on with the experiment.

Re: Containers, Facebook, Baseball & the Dark Matter around Open Data (#IOGDC keynote)

thornley — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:44:44 -0000

Great post David! It's this type of post that causes us to step back from our obsession with what we are doing to think about why we are doing it and how we might do things differently to serve that purpose.

Third Tuesday Ottawa has been exploring a lot of ideas around the application of social media and its impact on society and citizens. As I read your post, I think that perhaps here is the theme of a full day Third Tuesday conference. I think the community that has grown around Third Tuesdays over the past six years would definitely propel a lot of intelligent conversation. (we can always use more of that in Ottawa! ;) )

If we build it, will you come?

Re: Thornley Fallis is partnering with Gini Dietrich and Arment Dietrich

thornley — Fri, 25 May 2012 09:29:53 -0000

Why dream small when you can dream big? Especially when we do have the great people who can turn our dreams into reality. :)

Re: Arment Dietrich and Thornley Fallis: A Partnership for the Connected Era

thornley — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:52:07 -0000

You bet Gini. The best way to make something official is to tell the world about it. Here's to social media - transcending geography.

Re: Arment Dietrich and Thornley Fallis: A Partnership for the Connected Era

thornley — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:50:42 -0000

Thanks Kaarina. We're incredibly excited to be partnering with Gini and her team. Hoping for big things ahead.

Re: Email. Does it rule you or do you rule it?

thornley — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:22:18 -0000

Zoey, you're making me blush. I appreciate the praise from a writer of your calibre. Sometimes the best posts are the ones that just come naturally, that we don't overthink. And that was definitely the case with this post. I just wrote what I felt with minimal editing. :)

Re: Email. Does it rule you or do you rule it?

thornley — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:17:26 -0000

Louise, I agree with you about the value of an email that captures "for the record" an understanding. Those are useful. And I can respond to them with a simple, "Agreed," or, if I don't agree, "please phone me to discuss."

It may also be useful to others to organize and document their thoughts in advance of a meeting. But if someone does this, I always ask them to state the issue when we meet face to face for the meeting. Very often, they'll go directly to the essence of the issue, something which they will have failed to do in the email.

Re: Email. Does it rule you or do you rule it?

thornley — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:14:41 -0000

Annie, I wish that I could agree that everyone deserves an acknowledgment to their emails. But that just compounds the problem - and it makes us deal with things twice. If I'm ever to master my email inbox, it will be by looking at each email only once and deciding if I can respond to it then and there. And if I can't, I should probably delete it rather than have it hanging around for six months, buried among thousands of other unanswered emails.

Knowing this, I try to write emails to others that they can answer quickly. And if I want more of their attention, I'll contact them in a way that they can have a conversation with me - in real time.