Observer Interactive - Latest Comments

Re: Newspaper Video Quality and Quantity

small business seo — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 00:51:43 -0000

The so-called "digital dividend" of very high quality radio spectrum, the airwaves on which wireless devices communicate, will be freed up by the Aug. ...

Re: Charlotte.com — All Things Charlotte

NB — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:24:51 -0000

Is this site still affiliated with the Observer?

Re: On Yahoo! and Media

Jason — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 09:22:10 -0000

Here's a 1996 shot in the Wayback Machine -- fun to see. http://web.archive.org/web/...

Re: On Yahoo! and Media

Adrian — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:44:13 -0000

I remember first accessing Yahoo and browsing the directory you mentioned, Jason. Yahoo felt like the Internet's table of contents back then. :) I may still have some printouts of those old pages. Because what else do you do with all that information? Print it out on dead trees!

Re: On Yahoo! and Media

Jason — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:05:55 -0000

As if on cue, Om publishes this:
http://gigaom.com/2009/07/1...

Re: Read Comments (Or Not)

droberts — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:22:18 -0000

Hey Angie! How are things going? @Jason: I used to work with Angie at The State.

Re: Read Comments (Or Not)

Jason — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:21:36 -0000

Hi Angie! Thanks for letting me know -- good to see others commenting here and sharing what they've done. I'm getting happier about my caveat by the day :)

Curious, how'd you hear about this all the way in Portland?

Re: Read Comments (Or Not)

Angie Muhs — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:09:39 -0000

The Portland Press Herald's Web site, pressherald.com, also has been letting readers choose whether to see comments for nearly a year now. We've gotten very positive feedback on being able to have the option. (I'm online editor there.)

Re: Read Comments (Or Not)

Jason — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:09:51 -0000

@Dean -- ha! That's why I put the caveat in there. I didn't look at chron.com, but good to see other people listening to the users. Thank you for sharing and your comment.

@Gary -- user requests, mostly. I get 100s of e-mails/month specifically about doing this or that on the site, and patterns are pretty easy to identify. While there are not a LOT of people who want this, the people who do have a valid use case: they come to read the story, and they are more interested in that than the user comments. Other users that like our comments have the same reasoning, just in reverse.

If technology can allow this type of choice, we always will want to listen.

Re: Read Comments (Or Not)

Dean Betz — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:10:07 -0000

The Houston Chronicle's Web site, chron.com, lets its users hide comments (I'm the content director there), as do the regional Gannett sites, like dmregister.com.

Re: Read Comments (Or Not)

Gary O'Brien — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:27:42 -0000

Interesting, Jason. Can you share some of the thinking that drove the decision to develop this feature?

Re: New Twitter Handling

droberts — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:56:46 -0000

Here's the first script we've written. It's the twitter2twitter script: http://observerinteractive....

Re: New Twitter Handling

Jason — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:40:40 -0000

Ian, passed your comment on to Dave. He's been very busy, but maybe he can slip it to you in an e-mail.

Re: New Twitter Handling

Ian — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:31:00 -0000

Yes. Must. Have. Code.

Re: Post Twitter Feeds Back to Twitter

Ian — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:26:15 -0000

Given any thought about how to create a script that runs on cron every min or so to do this instead of waiting on twitterfeed?

I've worked some yahoo pipes into the mix to filter posts by several users via hashtags. So if they post with #news or #videos or whatever I choose, the feed gets those posts and retweets them to @kansascitystar. If they don't use the hashtags I don't pull it in, so they can have their personal account to use as normal and followers of The Star don't have to see when our morning news editor is eating a cheeseburger.

I really like this approach but you end up waiting on pipes and twitterfeed. I've found a few php scripts that pull a single feed and re-post it and with a little modification they could take multiple incoming feeds. Where my skills fall off is doing the hashtag filtering.

Re: ThatsRacin.com v3.1

Michael — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:48:33 -0000

The new site looks great.

Re: Not How You Start

Ken Slaven — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:56:08 -0000

Congratulations! You had one of the nicest and best Pro team. I've met Webb Simpson and his caddie William and they are both good people. Watch for Webb's first of many wins on the PGA Tour. He's got game and he's got the support of his family behind him.

Re: Slow Death of Media Site Registration?

Jason Keath — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:33:49 -0000

Great points here Jason. I have long hated having to login on newspaper websites in order to comment and I usually do not. I am more likely to move on and less likely to share that article with friends.

Some combination of Facebook Connect, Open ID, or email would suit most users' login preferences.

This is also key to someone passing along the information. Lowering the barrier to commenting allows users an easier path to investing in the content. The more invested a reader is, the more likely they are to share. Plus, you cannot bet what Facebook is doing with updates for user activity on your site. Especially for newspapers that are desperate to find new ways to connect to younger and online readers.

Great post, glad my thoughts could contribute.

Re: PubsysEdit 2.1 Released

Ian — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:40:47 -0000

Dave, I'm looking for a way to utilize the plugin with a tool for turning on and off a live video player. I have a php script written to fill in the embed code to a currently blank SSI. I want to be able to add the SSI to an html module that can sit on a section and when the logged in user clicks the pubsysedit tool they see some content that is not usually visible. What is the easiest way to make this happen?

Thanks,

Ian

Re: Project vs. Product Management

Val Workman — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:59:54 -0000

Common discussion and frustration point with marketeers targeting Product Managers. It's an unfortunate word play. Truth is all Product Managers must manage projects. Sometimes many at once. So is project management a discipline of product management? No, I don't think so, no more than using a spreadsheet is. But project management certainly is a tool of product managers. I wish product managers vendors wouldn't be so afraid of it and embed this tool in product management solutions.

Re: Thank you, NASCAR & Partners

Jason — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 10:04:05 -0000

Hey Stu, thanks for the time and support. I do realize we didn't finish our chat, so let's set something up after you get free and clear of this week's follow-ups.

Re: Thank you, NASCAR & Partners

Stu Hothem — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:59:39 -0000

Dear Jason, Thank you very much for your time and perspective today. I've posted a link to this page on our Industry P.R. Rep Hub, and we look forward to seeing you at Lowe's Motor Speedway when we come to town in May and October. Thanks again, and good luck with the relaunch of ThatsRacin.com. -- Stu

Re: PubsysEdit 2.1 Released

Nick — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:48:51 -0000

Dave, just discovered this plugin. This is really a godsend. Thanks for doing this and sharing it. (I am looking forward to being able to toggle it off. ;) )

Re: About The Authors

Jason — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:34:30 -0000

No worries on any comments or inquiries, Davis. It's my job to represent the company's interactive products. And, just like the Observer's newsroom, you have the right to free speech and publish your thoughts (edgy or otherwise)!

I also know our event coordinator/O editor Steve Gunn and his fellow newsroom staffers thought it was a great event for all. Each has said they learned something, which is a goal of any event like this.

Speaking of the activities, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that Jason Keath is the man that put the event together, and he works elsewhere. It's his overall efforts that made the day happen.

-Jason

Re: About The Authors

Davis Whiteman — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:05:20 -0000

Hi, Jason. Sorry to have cornered you at the WordCamp with questions about how to get a blog in the Observer. You're probably only asked that about 50 times a day. It was a great event, though, and a great way to meet and network with fellow bloggers. The O is to be commended for pulling something like this together. Feel free to check out my slightly skewed review of the day at davisw.wordpress.com. Sorry in advance about any snide remarks about the Observer -- I was trying to be "Internet edgy". Thanks again. -- Davis