December 13, 2016
Last week, I discovered Adidas’ new shoe line, Tubular, because they bought a promoted hashtag on Twitter (for a pretty $200K, if you were curious). At first I thought about the name. It caught my attention because it was different – it didn’t feel like a brand name at all – but maybe not in […]
November 3, 2014
Although the name does not explicitly say what the product does, as soon as I heard about Twitter Fabric, I could guess at its function. Twitter has long held a monopoly on real-time online thought sharing, but like all big tech companies, has branched out with other lucrative ventures. From MoPub, which allows advertisers to […]
June 6, 2013
This blog originally appeared in Fast Company. Ah, Tumblr, home to a million fandoms, animated GIFs, and journeys of self-discovery by teenage girls. I’m not saying this as an insult–I’m actually quite impressed by how Tumblr became the go-to microblogging platform for these very specific communities. (The name Tumblr, or “tumblr” as it’s properly written, […]
August 23, 2012
Do you remember the world before Twitter? Do you know that there are actually competitors to Twitter, like FriendFeed? Not that anyone uses them, of course. Twitter has become such an overwhelming presence in online media that it’s hard to imagine a world without it – or indeed, what might replace it. But that may […]
March 1, 2012
In a bit of weird and wonderful marketing news, Kellogg’s has created a limited-edition cereal called “Totes Amazeballs” — after seeing a tweet from Tim Burgess, frontman of the Britpop band The Charlatans. “I heard someone use the expression ‘totes amazeballs’ [slang for ‘totally amazing’],” Burgess explained to Adweek. “I sent a cheeky tweet saying […]
June 18, 2010
I’m a big fan of using proper grammar. But I’m also a big proponent of keeping up with trends, both technological and vernacular. Thus, when I read about the New York Times banning the use of “tweet” by their journalists, I viewed their decision as yet another way they’ve fallen behind the times and are […]
January 8, 2010
“Salish Sea” is Name of the Year “Salish Sea” was chosen Name of the Year by the American Name Society at its annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland on January 9, 2010. Salish Sea was also the Place Name of the Year. This name, created by marine biologist Bart Webber in 1988, was officially adopted as […]
January 1, 2010
Via Daily Writing Tips: The Global Language Monitor (GLM) is an Austin, Texas-based entity that documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language and publishes a list of the year’s most used English words, names, and phrases. According to GLM’s algorithm, 2009’s most used word, both online and in print, is Twitter. GLM’s top ten for […]
September 8, 2009
The fine folks at the Duets Blog asked me to contribute a guest piece. I’ve revisited the subject of Twitter and trademarks. Hop on over and read!
July 8, 2009
I employ a deliberately mixed metaphor in the title of this post to exemplify my confusion about what Twitter’s trying to do here. Quick trademark primer: trademarking a name of a product or service generally prevents other people from using the same name for confusingly similar products and services. So, for example, you can’t have […]