Five Must-Read Posts from Last Week

One of the things I like most about this weekly recap is having the chance (and the reason) to go back and think through what really impacted me during the previous week.

It is easy to get carried away with a link or a cool new Facebook feature – but a few days on, it all fades into the general white haze of online conversation.

And interestingly, sometimes it is a second and third read of a particular post that really makes it stand out. Here are five I think you should check out from last week. You’ll be glad that you did!

1. Polly Becker shares a great presentation by Jonah Peretti – Mormons, Mullets and Mainiacs. Jonah is the founder of BuzzFeed – so intimately understands the way in which viral-ready content spreads. One of the key features of this content is that it draws upon the power of the “Bored at Work Network” – all those folks who sit at computer screens at work and seek out web based distraction/entertainment. Interesting approach.
2. When I tweeted a link to eConsultancy’s 25 Brilliant Examples of Facebook Pages last week it got plenty of retweets, so it clearly struck a chord. There’s a great variety of pages here that shows just how much you CAN do with the Facebook Markup Language (FBML).
3. Brian Solis, as usual, packs a punch with a great post on Influencing the Influencer. He explains some of the shifts in our understanding of “influence” brought about by social media, and suggests that a new trend is emerging – “one that fuses recognition, reward, reach, and disclosure”. Great stuff.
4. Stan Johnson laments the quality of billboard advertising in his home town. It’s not the fault of the creatives, he claims, but it is creative Death by Committee.
5. In the light of the past weekend’s election here in Australia, it seems only fitting that we also look at Paul McEnany’s great post on Edward Bernays, Context and Choice Blindness, suggesting that while we often focus on getting the right “message” in place, it seems that it’s more important to create the right “context” in which that message can resonate.