Quality and quantity and quality and quantity

I've intensively been busy the last days with reading and getting as much as possible information about the "global" writing market. More precisely, looked after blogs of writers and about writing and style and literature online. From tweet posts to various blogs and online literary agents. One interest is purely personal and direct, as I am preparing to reshape my career in literature writing, with some children books I am planning to finish in the coming months - the illustrations included. Another interest is related to the profession of writing and the ways in which Internet could be used to address this kind of questions, not always involving a very public side. You could write for yourself and the idea of sharing to anonymous eyes your writings is for some a voyeurism not wholeheartely accepted.

Hope to be able to follow some of the advices I've found out and to put into practice a couple of the ideas I went through this intensive reading. As I hope to improve considerably my writing skills.

As for the market, I have a very banal conclusion: the opportunities are impressive and the choices huge. Writing is an ovewhelmingly global trend and the area of subjects covered is enormous. What does it makes the difference? The quality of the words from a sentence, of the sentences from the paragraph, of the paragraphs of a post. In other words, the survival of the best.

Townhall meetings via Facebook

The initiator is the republican governor of Minnesota, Tom Pawlenty.

A change (finally!) of strategy in the Republican team? Waiting to see and find out more.

Wiki in new clothes

coming soon.

For me, Wikipedia represents a very good proof of how knowledge is challenged by the 2.0 world. With advantages and disadvantages, of course: the increase of the number of people with direct accesss to information - both as consumers and producers of information - means not only that we are able to enrich our culture easily, but also that the reliability of sources - hence, the doubtful value of what we are reading - should be checked at least twice. But, in the same time, the affordability of a system as Wiki offer to many people - not with purposive "technical" skills to enter, make the corrections considered appropriate and delivering, at the end of the process, the valuable version.

The twitting dance

The dancing/ballet experiences on Twitter is another example of the doors the communications are opening to our knowledge. A knowledge based more on the personal experiences - or slices of them - than on what we assume these experiences are.

Few observations about the ongoing debate on the health care reform

Most part of the intervenients in favor of the reform package are mentioning individual cases of persons advantaged by the eventual promotion of this law: a neighbour, an individual from the constituency, a family member etc. The power of the example and the symbolic need to answer the needs of the voters.

Some web ads in favor of the law reminded me of the (successful) Obama electoral campaign. Found it a bit unappropriate and an example that advertising is not enough.

Curious to see the final result of the tonight debate, but also the consequences of the vote for the American politics.

The taste of social power

Just have it right now, after a very short "virtual" conversation with a friend regarding a case of discrimination. Following the exchange, a Facebook support page was created and we widespread the news among our list of more or less virtual friends. Each of us twitted the information as well. The number of fans is increasing from a minute to another among journalists, politicians, public figures, people from various industries.

It is not a blind power, but the decision to assume and explain a certain position. The social power.

Twitter for companies

I will be positive and will outline a couple of advantages of opening a Twitter account for companies. I will refer mostly to companies, whatever the object of activity. From case to case, you have extended opportunities to offer specific information, based on your services. My post want to be a kind of encouragement for all the possible companies to go as faster as possible into the virtual world.

- You get visibility among your potential clients. First of all, you start to spread information about you on various professional forums and webs.

- You have as well the possibility to be aware of what your competitors are doing: what kind of services are they offering, what kind of public events are organising or how they answer various problems facing your market.

- You are in touch with the media and interested journalists. You could offer permanent updates about what you do, about what your clients are doing. You create a multiplied effect and offer any time possible subjects the journalists could write about. Of course, you have to be aware to do not "spam" the web with various kind of irrelevant information, but to be targeted enough to create a certain interest from the part of the journalists.

- The web interventions and the posts related to your activity as well as to the activity of the market are outlining your added value and your special profile. You could easily brand and rebrand yourself among your target groups than using the classical media tools.

But, of course, as I stressed on other occasions as well, a very intensive social media presence is not an excuse or could excuse a poor record in the daily, real life. Rather the opposite. Lying about yourself and your activities "online" are most likely to be exposed by the other partners, neighbors and competitors from the virtual world.