It’s that time when English dictionary companies name their Words of the Year, terms that encapsulate the previous year for them. Based on the choices, it appears that 2016 was not the best of times. Oxford Dictionaries named the term “post-truth,” an adjective defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are […]
How to Take Great Photos
Content is becoming more and more visual. No surprises there. After all, visuals attract and hold attention better than text. It’s estimated that adding good visuals to a well-written post can almost double the number of views. It also predicted that 84% of communication will be visual by 2018. That is right around the corner, […]
The (Lost) Art of Proofreading
I am continually amazed at the number of typos and other written errors I find. How could such mistakes happen? It’s easy because we read: The outside shapes of words, not the individual letters Words in phrases, not just individual words Words in context, not isolated from the sentence’s meaning. Specifically, aoccdrnig to rscheearch at […]
Survey Finds Social Media Increasingly Used as a News Source
In a result that probably doesn’t surprise anyone, a recent survey found that social media has become a major news channel. The TEKGroup’s 2016 Social Media News Survey found that people are increasingly discovering, sharing, reading and posting news online. Here are some of their key findings: More than three of every four people […]
It’s a Disaster! Crisis Communications (Part 2)
Somehow I got my sequence off, and posted sections 3 and 4 before this second section. Apologies. Here it is. In my previous post, I discussed the Malaysian Airlines crisis communications, and outlined two things you should do before a crisis: Inventory possible problems, and Identify the crisis communications team. Here is more advice on […]
It’s a Disaster! Crisis Communications (Part 4)
In my previous posts, I discussed what to do before and during a crisis. In writing those tips, I was reminded of the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, which was a classic study of denial, misinformation and hubris. For example: Soon after the leak started, a company spokesperson said damage would be minimal. After the […]
