There are a couple of services that are really important to my life and my business. One of them is Tumblr and the other is Evernote. In promoting Evernote for example I often tell people that if Microsoft buys it I will retire. That is because it has become so important to my work flow and because of my view that large corporations hardly ever get these sort of services right.
Tumblr is equally important to me in a different way and I am part of the community and honoured to be one of the Tech editors, and have almost 200,000 followers.
There are rumours going around that Yahoo is in negotiations to buy Tumblr which worries me a hell of a lot. Let me be clear that I have no problems with the founders and investors making money off the contributions of the community but I worry what would happen to Tumblr in the hands of a large entity.
In a world where business models like these require both the founders and investors to contribute and create but the community to contribute and create as well, valuations and business strategies have a different flavour. No community and there is no business valuation.
If you have similar concerns then please reblog or like this post. I intend such support to be a signal to both Tumblr and Yahoo (if the rumours are true) that the community is concerned and should be involved in the decision making process. Maybe that is thinking with delusions of grandeur or maybe it isn’t - over to you the community to decide
Paul Higgins
Can we quit it with the Great Gatsby already? Please?
After three different posts about the Great Gatsby today, I visited the tumbler for scribnerbooks and clicked “unfollow.”
This Is What Writing Looks Like
Readers have asked me to demonstrate how I write and edit. So I’m starting a new series where I…
I’m glad to see Andrew Kaufman agree with me in the Guardian. Yes, we absolutely need to invent new words when naming things, especially because most of the good ones have already been sucked up by big corporations. Kaufman writes:
Inventing new words is…
Against High-Tech Jargon http://wp.me/s34jhz-71
Wendy Marx writes a funny attack on acronyms and business jargon, especially the kind you find in the tech industry. Money quote:
There is also the mystique of jargon and highfalutin’ language. Creating your own nomenclature and acronymns like DSPs, SSPs,…
Longtime followers know how I love to harp on about inventing new words. Now here’s Bill…
Longtime followers know how I love to harp on about inventing new words. Now here’s Bill Morris, writing in the Millions about “The Debased Art of Coining Words.” It’s a must read. Money quote:
Synergy – The repurposing of a fine old word to mean The…
Read this short article in FastCompany by Nacie Carson. It’s about finding the best words to describe ourselves, and choosing words to distinguish yourself from the rest.
Money quote:
Start with a statement about yourself as a professional using one of…
At first, I meant for WRITE LIKE A MAN to target, well, men. Because let’s face it, when it comes to expressing themselves in writing, a lot of guys need a lot of help. And almost all the language mavens I’ve met have been women.
When I checked the stats…
In a must-read post for Oxford University Press, Peter Elbow explores the difference between writing and speech. Money quote:
When we academics were in graduate school, we were trained to write badly (no one put it this way of course) because every time…
