LB's Rambles

A Facebook Seder

Want to see how social media changes everything in communications? Then take a look at the Facebook Haggadah written by Carl Elkin. It is one of the funniest things I've read in a very long time. Warning: you may hurt yourself laughing. Do not read while drinking soda. Etc.

"813"

On this week's Classic Mysteries podcast, meet the world's greatest thief, as he struggles to prove to the world that he is a thief - not a murderer. Meet Arsene Lupin, a character dearly beloved for more than a century now in his native France, and the featured player in "813," by Maurice LeBlanc. You can listen to the full review here.

In "813," a man robbed by Arsene Lupin turns up murdered - and police, of course, suspect Lupin. The only way to clear his name is for Lupin to take over the police investigation and find the true killer. But there are additional murders, and it quickly becomes apparent that there are enormous issues (of Europe, circa 1910) at stake.

For a book written 99 years ago, "813" is still fascinating to read, and Lupin is still an engaging character. It's easy to understand the French fascination with Lupin. And the mystery, one of those layered plots where each revelation draws us deeper into the story, works on so many levels - including the very ambiguous title of the book.

As always, you are invited to visit the Classic Mysteries website for a fuller discussion of this book, or of any of the other mysteries you'll find reviewed and discussed there. Please come over and join the conversation!

"The Country's in the Very Best of Hands"

You won't find much political commentary here, as a general rule - but I see where Instapundit pointed out this clip from TCM. It's from the musical "Li'l Abner," based on Al Capp's classic comic strip, and it's a song by lyricist Johnny Mercer with Gene DePaul's music, sung here by Peter Palmer and Stubby Kaye, proving that damned little has changed in the past 50 years...  Enjoy!

Teaching with Twitter

As I am married to an educator - a librarian in a K-8 school - I found this article about "Nine great reasons why teachers should use Twitter" to be particularly valuable. In my wife's school, as in many other schools, Twitter is blocked from school computers - but there are ways around the restriction (if you receive some tweets on a mobile phone) that are reasonable and helpful.

Overtweeted?

All right, it's a Luddite sentiment, to be sure. But, as I'm now getting (and, I suppose, expected at least to skim) nearly a thousand tweets a day, I am starting to have some real sympathy for Jenny McCartney's comments. See what you think...

The Greying of Facebook?

I've lost count of the number of times I have spoken about Facebook with friends and colleagues, only to be told, "No, I'm not on Facebook. My kids say it intrudes on them."

Your kids had better get used to it. Guess what the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is? Women over 55. In the last 60 days, the number of Facebook users over 35 has nearly doubled. The majority of Facebook users are over 25.

But don't worry, kids. You're still welcome as friends. So are advertisers who might want to reach that rapidly growing over-35 audience...

Viral Videos That Worked

Looking wistfully at viral marketing, where your potential customers do much of the work for you? Wondering if it's really worthwhile? Mustafa at Social Media Icon presents 10 of the most successful viral marketing campaigns ever. Fun and instructive to watch...

Writing it Right

Okay, that's not really grammatically correct, is it? Even if it sounds good - better than "correctly" would have sounded. But then, nobody ever said good writing was easy. It's not. So, to those communicators looking to improve their writing, let me point out a very good column at ProBlogger by Very Official Blog's Darren Paul, called "Six Very Official Ways to Improve Your Writing." Her six points are all well taken.

As for me, when asked about good writing, I recommend today, as I have recommended for more years than I like to remember, "The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition" by Strunk and White. It's quite short, easily read and the lessons and rules should last for a lifetime of writing. It is the only book about writing which I consider essential.

On the Other Hand...

It's not exactly an answer to my earlier post on the anticipated death of newspapers, but Mashable today does offer "5 Ways to Avoid Extinction," for newspapers. I'm not sure any or all of these are "magic bullets" that can avoid disaster, but there are some very good ideas here worth consideration. As the post's author, Woody Lewis, observes: "Doing nothing is not an option."

Newspapers on the Edge

There are a couple of new reports with more gloomy news about newspapers in trouble - and the two reports, taken together, do not make for pleasant reading in the executive offices where papers' fates are being decided.

The two reports are summed up nicely in MediaPost's daily Research Brief. The first, from 24/7 Wall Street, lists the ten daily papers considered most likely to fold - or at least to shut off the printing presses and move exclusively online. They include daily papers in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Cleveland, Detroit and several other cities. The second report, from PewResearch, says that fewer than half the people survey feel that the loss of their local newspaper would hurt civic life in their community "a lot."

Combine the very real economic problems of newspapers and the apathy reflected in the Pew report and you have a recipe for disaster that could play out over the next ten months. It will not be a pretty sight.