You found us!
If you could read my mind...you'd know that I wasn't dead. Oopsie by Canwest. (Great screen grab by ChrisD.ca)
What a day on the Interweb tubes!
First, there was the big Laura Secord story this morning. It’s back in Canadian hands, but we (people on Twitter) discovered that this chocolate has left town.
Thank goodness we have the awesome chocolate of Kerstin and Sweet Lollapalooza to fill our bellies. If it gets cold again I think some drinking chocolate from Kerstin’s is in order… (We’ve also been chatting up Edmonton chocolate spots at our Facebook page.)
Then, this afternoon, Gordon Lightfoot died. For about 25 minutes. Online only.
I love how people are blaming Twitter, an inanimate social media platform, for the rumours. Unless the machines are about to take over I don’t think “Twitter” was spreading rumours. I think people were. And they were using Twitter as they would their voice, e-mail or a pen and paper. Oh, and once you mix in some major news outlets, you get why this can spread. (Check the screen capture, from Winnipeg blog Chris D.ca, above.)
Where’s TMZ when you need them? Can Shaw buy that too?
But…onto what I actually wanted to ask you: How’d you get here?
I’ve recently aquired a sweet new BlackBerry, and my venture into the realm of smartphones has been great. I just got an RSS feed reader and I’ve never been more on top of my blog reading!
I also noticed, in our own visit stats (now Edmonton’s 93rd favourite blog), that more people are coming to our website and our stories via our RSS feed rather than just plunking theedmontonian.com into a browser. That blew me away! Until I got my feed reader.
So, I’m just curious, are you coming to the website directly, following links off Twitter, catching up with us on Facebook or waiting for your RSS reader to alert you?
There are no wrong answers. Heck, you could even be doing some combination of all of that.
But I want answers, Edmonton!
Prorogue this!
Living in Old Strathcona you’re never too far away from this rally or that protest. This weekend was no exception.
Edmontonians took the streets, and then Dr. Wilbert McIntyre (Gazebo) Park, to show the Prime Minister they’d rather have him, and all elected MPs, back in the House of Commons.
The interesting thing about this day of protest, across the country, was that things started on Facebook.
Could the Internet be turning around all of our political apathy? (more…)
Letter from the Editor – Jeff – Aug 31/09
Thanks for visiting! (And, apologies to Gabe Kaplan.)
We’re back!
Thanks for letting us sneak away for the week. (Sneak away from the website, anyway, we’ve got respectable jobs too.)
One of the big changes you’re going to notice is all our new pop-up ads!
We know this is what people want in a website and we’re going to deliver.
There will be ads that pop-up in front of you, others that drop down from the top of the screen and some that will roll around to try and block you from clicking on actual content.
What?
Oh, that’s right. Pop-up ads are stupid.
Consider them banned at this website. (I don’t think we can be paid enough money to use pop-ups.) And, consider me throwing down that challenge to every other media website in Edmonton.
Mostly, last week was a pause that was to refresh us. We hope that we can keep hitting you with all kinds of Edmonton stuff – from neat people and blogs and websites, to photos of the city (and all those little things that make a city interesting and odd), news and events – to keep you coming back for more.
We’ll also have our Back to School Blowout ready for the return to school.
And don’t forget that we want you to be driving the conversation. Let us know about cool websites, events, stories (that are out there and that are yet to be covered), people and businesses. We’ll point others in those directions, and we’ll ask you to write for us.
Not in that, “We’re big media and you’re so lucky we’re offering you a venue,” kind of way, but because you know better than others what you’re seeing and hearing on the streets of Edmonton and we want to make sure those experiences are shared.
Let’s see, what else is new around here? There’s our new Facebook Page (become a fan today!), and you can check out how to contribute. We’ll be posting our advertising policy (and how YOU can advertise) and our editorial policy soon.
Thanks for choosing the edmontonian. We know you have a lot of website choices out there and we’re glad you’re with us.
- Jeff Samsonow
