When the going gets tough, the tough keep blogging

May 14, 2009

newcastle-tyne-bridge.jpg

Newcastle’s Thinking Digital conference sees long-time blogger Stowe Boyd lament the decline of blogging.

Blogs rhyme with slog. It’s a small part of the population. It’s too much work…. The heat and dynamism of blogging is gone.

Blogging has moved to the mainstream and its place, says Boyd, are micro-blogging social media applications such as Twitter. There’s more on Boyd’s views in this story from the Guardian.

Here at Swordplay we suspect that natural selection is at work. If the mainstream media has embraced blogging, it has done so as an adjunct to ‘traditional’ journalism, but even in this environment only the best and most popular blogs will survive. Elsewhere, blogs remain a powerful source of comment and analysis, not to mention a repository of readily available good writing.

In other words, the decline identified by Boyd might also have something to do with the old-fashioned notion that talent will out. If a blogger can’t write for toffee, he or she will soon tire of blogging. And when that happens, being confined to 140 characters will have its attractions.

Image courtesy of robert.ednie. 

 

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Supreme Court on Twitter

February 6, 2012

Something remarkable happened today. Yes, the Supreme Court launched its Twitter feed. It even has a Twitter policy, one of caveats, disclaimers and little by way of illumination but regardless: who would have thought that the successor body to the House of Lords would stoop to engage with the world of tweets, hashtags and retweets?

We look forward to the day when court business will be conducted via Twitter. Meantime, check out this link for an excellent blog on the Supreme Court.

Not so right said Fred

February 2, 2012
fred hat

So Farewell, then, Sir Fred Goodwin.

Now you are just Fred.

Not Right Said Fred, but plain Fred.

The Forfeiture Committee did for you.

No one had heard of it before,

But Dave said it had to act, and it did.

Trouble is that no one knows what to think.

Is it ‘Alas, poor Fred‘,

Or ‘Hurray! Sir Fred is dead!’?

We don’t know.

Do you?

By A. Mob, aged 1,378 and a half.

London Goes AWOL

January 31, 2012
CNN

STOP PRESS:

Fed up with being stuck on the Thames in south-east England, London yesterday decided to move. In a dramatic gesture which augurs ill for the Olympics, the city upped sticks and relocated to East Anglia.

Lawyers were not consulted about the move, and the city’s precise motivation remains unclear. However, financiers fear that London’s decision is a sign that it wishes to downsize. Moreover, a source from London said: “We no longer want to be Britain’s seat of power. If the Scots can deregulate, why can’t we? East Anglia is a nice place where nothing happens. It’s time for a quiet life. Please respect our right to privacy.”

Elsewhere, Birmingham did not do anything, but Manchester was seen to be packing its bags. “There’s an opportunity for us,” said Manchester. “We can become London.”

East Anglia said: “We don’t mind. It’ll be refreshing to be associated with something other than fens and flatness.”

A cartologist at CNN, which broke the extraordinary news, was later fired.