The Tendo View » medium http://www.tendocom.com/view Insights and analysis for your strategic communications Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:04:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 A blog by any other name… http://www.tendocom.com/view/a-blog-by-any-other-name-1079 http://www.tendocom.com/view/a-blog-by-any-other-name-1079#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:55:26 +0000 EmiA http://www.tendocom.com/view/?p=1079 Blogging can be an intimidating word, especially when you’re not a writer or editor by profession. I’m the office manager at Tendo, so when my colleagues here ask me to contribute to the Tendo blog, my answer is either, “sorry, I don’t blog” or “I’m too old to join a new fad.” But am I [>>]]]> britain_blog_crazeBlogging can be an intimidating word, especially when you’re not a writer or editor by profession. I’m the office manager at Tendo, so when my colleagues here ask me to contribute to the Tendo blog, my answer is either, “sorry, I don’t blog” or “I’m too old to join a new fad.” But am I really too old to blog?? I always get anxious when faced with new technology, but I gave up my beloved IBM Selectric for a word processor and then a computer, so I decided to find out what blogs, blogging, and bloggers were all about.

I started with the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, which defines blogging as a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.

Wait a minute! By this definition, I’ve been a blogger all my life! In grammar school, I kept a journal, using an alias, for a girls’ club that was posted on a bulletin board (closet blogger). In high school, I contributed events commentary to the school newspaper (social blogger). For visiting family and friends, I kept an activity journal with great information and useful contacts (travel blogger). At work, I took meeting notes, transcribed minutes, and added commentary about improving business practices (business blogger). I wrote a yearly holiday letter chronicling the latest family events (family blogger). All of this material was either publically posted or made available to a group of people, and every “posting” required style, tone, and etiquette guidelines.

Blogging may seem intimidating, but it’s really just a different medium for distributing information—information that you’ve probably been sharing your whole life, in one form or another. And while it’s true that a blog is available to a larger audience, I’ve found Web audiences to be more forgiving about my writing style and grammar than former teachers and ex-bosses. So if you have something to say, just figure out who you’re talking to and start blogging. It may not be as hard as you think.

My next blog topic: Texting? Wait a minute…

]]> http://www.tendocom.com/view/a-blog-by-any-other-name-1079/feed 0 Making a case with video (without or without a case of wine) http://www.tendocom.com/view/making-a-case-with-video-without-or-without-a-case-of-wine-800 http://www.tendocom.com/view/making-a-case-with-video-without-or-without-a-case-of-wine-800#comments Fri, 15 May 2009 18:19:53 +0000 Charlotte Ziems http://www.tendocom.com/view/?p=800 I’m excited about the power of video this week. Maybe it was Gary Vay*ner*chuk that did it. But as my colleague Chris wrote in a blog post earlier this month, video’s an effective way to make a case for a product, oftentimes more effective than text.

Shortly after she wrote that post, I got an email [>>]]]> Gary VaynerchukI’m excited about the power of video this week. Maybe it was Gary Vay*ner*chuk that did it. But as my colleague Chris wrote in a blog post earlier this month, video’s an effective way to make a case for a product, oftentimes more effective than text.

Shortly after she wrote that post, I got an email from the Wall Street Journal online, promoting a new video series on Lessons in Leadership. What I find interesting about the Wall St. Journal series isn’t the video itself—they’re shot with a single camera, basic logo’d background, nothing fancy, etc.—but they’re packaged and edited effectively.  They’re cut to less than two minutes and accompanied by a compelling headline, informative teaser text, and the requisite data about the video’s length.

More and more, I believe the future of video as an effective medium on the Web isn’t in the event or subject being recorded itself; it’s in the packaging of that event, or how it’s contextualized and edited and marketed with great content. It’s that contextualization that’ll motivate the audience to click and play. I’ll be curious to see what Martha Stewart does with the paid download model for videos she’s planning.

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