Seven days. Thousands of news articles. Here are three that will make me start the coming week smarter:
How Facebook and Candy Crush got you hooked
I spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about the internet and what it is doing to us psychologically. Just yesterday I was talking to a group of people I’d just met about how – in London at least – it feels like we aren’t capable of holding a conversation with a stranger. Why? Because moments of loneliness can be satiated by technology. This WIRED article talks about the trigger, action, reward and investment cycle that we’ve become addicted to. It makes for sobering reading: ‘when we’re lonely, we turn to Facebook. When we’re feeling out of the loop, we turn to Twitter’. What use are strangers to us?
The state of storytelling in the internet age
There’s currently an exhibition called ‘Always Print the Myth’ on over at the V&A and this week I went to one of the opening events with PR Pro Alan Edwards and Editor of GQ, Dylan Jones. It was three hours well spent as two media veterans went through the archives and talked about how PR has evolved over the years. They didn’t speak enough about the current and future challenges that have come along due to the internet, so I took to Medium to find out more. The article linked in the headline is a good one about how we read about stories today. Attention spans are getting shorter and advertising revenues are going to drop. I’ve lost you already, haven’t I? Just click the link.
I love the discourse on seeking happiness. OK it’s a bit deep, but rest assured this article is a bit more light hearted and talks about happiness in the context of marketing newsletters. Oh yes. I’ve been spending some time at Triptease thinking about the value of our newsletters and about the content we put into the world in general. I think over the coming months we’ll start to see ‘responsible content marketing’ come into play. Brands churn out so much, but how much of it is actually adding to the world?
A few more links #ICYMI:
London’s history and culture are being destroyed in the name of greed. Where do you stand on the matter?
Why we rejected the news you sent us. It’s always good to read journos talking about what works for their publication. This time from The Next Web.
How do people perceive others? This is a long read so make sure you’ve got 15 minutes to give it your full attention. It talks about perceptions in the workplace and the balance of being nice vs. being competent. I think you can be both. What do you think?
That’s it for this week. More to follow in seven days.
Asad Dhunna 