Corporate blogging for Dollar Days since September 2009
Looking for a case of flip-flops, sunglasses, candles, socks or hand sanitizers?
You’ll find them all at wholesale distributor Dollar Days, along with practically every other consumer product under the sun.
In September 2009, Dollar Days began publishing a blog with weekly promotions plus Small Business Advice and Frugal Living Tips.
As corporate blogger for Dollar Days, I update the Dollar Days blog three times per week. Not only am I much informed these days about how to live frugally, but I also know exactly where to go if I suddenly need 60 sets of fleece gloves, scarves and hats!
Of course, it helps that I have more than a year of experience writing my own personal eco-friendly product review blog over at 1GreenProduct.com, but each blog has its own voice and personality.
In comparison with 1GreenProduct.com, my Dollar Days blog posts are a bit more formal and much more succinct.
Corporate blogs can be a great way to add value for your current or existing customers by giving your company a real human voice and mixing information with promotional content. You can use corporate blogs to announce new products, solicit feedbacks or run contests. You can even include audio or video content of speeches, tutorials and product demonstrations.
Get in touch today to find out how a corporate blog could benefit your company.
Categories: Blogging · Business · Communications
Tagged: corporate blogger, corporate blogging, ghostblogging, ghostblogger
Spring 2009 cover, IN Mind Body Life magazine
Every minute a patient sufers from an untreated stroke, nearly two million brain cells die.
A clot-busting drug called tPA can reestablish blood flow and reduce brain damage – but only if it is administered within three hours of the stroke’s occurence.
Time is of the essence, which is why Medical City Dallas Hospital has developed a “Code Stroke” process to administer all necessary tests as quickly as possible and administer tPA if appropriate within 60 minutes of the time a stroke patient enters the emergency room.
Get the full story in this feature article for the Spring 2009 issue of Medical City’s own IN Mind Body Life magazine.
Categories: Health · Journalism
Tagged: IN Mind Body Life, Medical City Dallas Hospital, tPA
Feature on Alliance Data for Watson Wyatt's Strategy@Work publication
How did Alliance Data achieve more than 97% employee satisfaction with its new benefits call center?
By working with Watson Wyatt to implement a system that combined technology with old-fashioned excellent customer service.
Find out more in this case study from Strategy@Work, a Watson Wyatt publication.
Categories: Business · Case Study · Communications · Technology
Tagged: Alliance Data, Watson Wyatt
March 2009 cover of This Active Life magazine, published by the National Education Association
Retired teachers are heading back to college with hundreds of thousands of Americans age 55-and-older.
Find out what it’s like for these teachers to be on the other side of the desk, and how thanks to generous state programs, some of them can pursue their higher education goals at little or no cost.
Read about this trend in the March 2009 cover story of This Active Life magazine, published in print and online by the National Education Association.
Categories: Education · Journalism · Nonprofit
Tagged: college, higher education, National Education Association, retirement, This Active Life, universities
The Velib bike-sharing program has helped turned Paris into an Emerald City (photo by Kenn Wilson)
You don’t have to walk a yellow brick road to find an Emerald City.
Not when ‘Emerald City’ refers to the urban centers of Europe or Latin America that offers residents and visitors a plethora of eco-friendly options for eating, sleeping and touring.
Discover all the details in this cover story travel feature for IN, the in-flight publication of Chile’s national airline.
Categories: Environment · Journalism · Travel
Winter 2008 cover of Cents Magazine, published by American Airlines Federal Credit Union
Everyone likes to save money – especially in tough economic times – but you can’t cut corners when it comes to protecting your health.
Discover sensible ways to reduce prescription drug expenses while still following the doctor’s orders in this “Rx Savings” article from the Winter 2008 issue of Cents Magazine, a publication of the American Airlines Federal Credit Union
Categories: Health · Journalism
Tagged: American Airlines, Cents, healthcare, pharma, saving money
Relaxing on the Brooklyn promenade (photo by ClatieK)
In June 2006, I published an article in the Los Angeles Times encouraging New York City tourists to venture beyond the East River and explore the attractions of my new hometown borough of Brooklyn.
More than two years later, Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald republished an updated and condensed version of the article showing that good stories always seem fresh.
I’ve noticed a lot more tourists wandering the streets of Brooklyn in recent months, but I probably shouldn’t take all the credit.
Categories: Journalism · Travel
Girl reading out loud during International Literacy Day celebrations in Zambia (photo courtesy of Room to Read)
In its first eight years of operations, the nonprofit organization Room to Read has created more than 5,000 school libraries in countries like Nepal, Vietnam, India, Laos, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
Find out how Room to Read achieved such rapid success in a What Works – “Books to Grow On” case study for the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Categories: Case Study · Education · Journalism · Nonprofit
Tagged: Stanford Social Innovation Review, Room to Read, literacy, Education, Nonprofit, NGO
Commentary — Pros and cons (especially the cons) of Wikipedia
May 14, 2009 · Leave a Comment
The world according to Wikipedia looks like a puzzle with a few pieces missing
In many ways, Wikipedia is a journalist’s best friend. The site provides copious and often entertaining information about many of the most obscure or technical subjects.
Loads of journalists – probably far more than would admit it – use Wikipedia as a major source of information for our stories.
But as one Irish student demonstrated, the wiki model of gathering information from a crowd leaves the site prone to inaccuracies, either intentional or accidental.
(Incidentally, companies should keep these shortcomings in mind as they develop internal wiki sites for knowledge sharing and problem solving purposes.)
In the Case of the Irish Student (which sounds like a Sherlock Holmes case, but isn’t), Wikipedia actually caught and removed the fake quote the student had submitted to a recently deceased French composer Maurice Jarre’s biographical page, but news outlets around the world integrated the quote into their obituaries of the composer nonetheless.
The moral of the story? Factchecking is key.
Using Wikipedia is fine for getting familiar with the background of a subject, particularly a technical or obscure one. But journalists – whether professional or respectable amateurs – have a responsibility to dig deeper and look for secondary sources with which to check their facts.
Theoretically, Wikipedia can even serve as a guide to factchecking, since many Wikipedia pages have footnotes leading to primary sources. Of course, the authenticity or authority of these sources also needs to be considered carefully by any researcher.
In the 24/7/365 nonstop news cycle, accuracy and precision often get short shrift. Something tells me this won’t be the last time journalists get egg on their faces due to a Wikipedia (mis)quote.
→ Leave a CommentCategories: Commentary · Journalism
Tagged: Maurice Jarre, Shane Fitzgerald, Wikipedia