Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?
My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".
Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:
- Savile Row. "In London, there’s a row of shops that make the finest suits in the world. Saville Row clothed the aristocracy of an empire on whom the sun never set, and this documentary — which I started watching, but still need to get through — talks about how bespoke tailoring is changing in the modern world." (Alistair for Hugh).
- How Hollywood Is Encouraging Online Piracy – Scientific American. "Tech author David Pogue weighs in a fairly mainstream publication — Scientific American — on the death of the DVD. The article makes the usual points about Hollywood’s inability to embrace online licensing, delaying — or simply not releasing — a swath of the most popular titles. But as with many articles these days, the comments raise the most interesting (albeit not convincing) arguments: much of our frustration with Hollywood’s behavior is because we have an upper-middle-class, North American bias to a global problem; the DVD extras don’t help; you can’t bequeath a license to your offspring." (Alistair for Mitch).
- Voice of the New Global Elite – The National Interest. "As old media giants wither (that is:… whither Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report [what?]), The Economist has quietly grown to become perhaps the most influential media entity of our time. How? Why?" (Hugh for Alistair).
- Our New Shrines – Contents Magazine. "Here’s the typical progress for anyone starting a new content business these days: build a website, drive traffic, build a community. Craig Mod thinks that might be backwards. First, use existing infrastructure custom-built for community: Facebook. Get a gazillion followers who actually care about what you are doing. Then consider building a website. Go from there. Facebook’s shares have taken a beating since the big IPO, largely because their advertising business hasn’t been as great as some thought it might be. But, what if Facebook’s long game is transactional? The best marketing is unmarketing: someone you trust tells you that something is great, and so you buy it. Facebook is the kind of place where people spend a hell of a lot of time telling each other what they think is great… how far are we from having a ‘buy’ button next to each of those votes of confidence?" (Hugh for Mitch).
- Why Twitter Will Live And Facebook Will Die – Forbes. "You would think a title like that would be relegated for a blogger with a knack for writing linkbait, but… you would be wrong. Yes, this is what Forbes is pumping out these days. The crux of Forbes’ thinking: ‘You might not know it yet or use it as such, but Twitter is the modern day version of the newspaper. And it will sustain.’ Facebook? Just a parlor trick like MySpace? Hardly. People are too quick to write off Facebook. It is still early days (yes, even with one billion connected people on it). Is Facebook panacea? No. Will it struggle to maintain relevance and find substantive revenue? Yes. It’s going to be an interesting few years, but it’s still way too early to write either of them off. Still, an interesting read and perspective." (Mitch for Alistair).
- Brand writer is a brand not a writer – The Globe And Mail. "The truth takes time. Is it at all surprising that authors and publishers are paying people to post positive book reviews? That was the news that had the publishing industry all freaking out this week. The original piece appeared in The New York Times (here: The Best Book Reviews Money Can Buy), and this op ed piece asks some tough questions, including: is this a big deal? Does anybody really care? Bigger than that: why must the writer be the marketer too? It’s a fair point (and I can appreciate both sides), but it’s a little unrealistic. Is a musician’s sole purpose to record music or are they responsible for selling the art as well? It seems like we can’t separate the creation from the marketing and selling of it anymore, can we?" (Mitch for Hugh).
Now it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.