How Do We Fix Typos with Social Media?

We all make mistakes that are overlooked before we hit publish.

I’m always thankful when you point out my typos and other mistakes. That’s one of the reasons my contact info is on every page.

Heck, wiki systems are even have error correction is baked into their DNA.

This morning I spotted a typo on a BBC.co.uk article.

While there’s sharing badges all over the page – there’s no obvious link to contact the author or anyone else at the BBC to remove the extra ‘a’ in this specific article. I can’t even tell who wrote the article.

Clicking the ’email’ and ‘printer’ icons obviously won’t help. Do I click the Facebook icon? The Twitter icon?

From this, it’s clear that ‘social media’ has transformed into a secondary broadcast distribution system – rather than a way to engage with readers to create a higher quality product.

I’m writing this here not to call out the BBC specifically – as the typo was fixed as I was writing this – but to raise a question about outsourcing the customer relationship to a distribution company.

“The future of the book is the blurb.”

and more McLuhanisms from Marshall McLuhan .com

“People don’t actually read newspapers. They step into them every morning like a hot bath.”

“The road is our major architectural form.”

“We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”

“This information is top security. When you have read it, destroy yourself.”

“Politics offers yesterday’s answers to today’s questions.”

“Food for the mind is like food for the body: the inputs are never the same as the outputs.”

“Today the business of business is becoming the constant invention of new business.”

Shrug, Corkboard, Shrug

After much hemming and hawing. I picked up an Android phone this week.

It feels like settling. It solves a couple short term problems – but overall, it doesn’t really move the needle.

Additionally, I’m reminded of something I wrote 2 1/2 years ago.

“After years of hauling multiple toolboxes from rented apartment to rented apartment to rented apartment, what I really needed was a better understanding of how use use these tools.”

“The corkboard shrugged.”

Finally, The Future We Were Promised

“The DisplayCabinet presents itself as a glowing ring on a side table. Placing items in the ring pops out relevant information about them. We started with keys and a wallet as it is typical to store these on a side table and doesn’t involve changing the users normal behaviour.” – Dan W. Williams

DisplayCabinet from bashford on Vimeo.

Added Bonus:

“Seriality is a serial connectivity browser plug-in that enables web pages to communicate with microcontrollers via Javascript. Seriality is physicality for the Web.”

First Crack #126. Hardware Startups with Matt Bauer

PedalBrain‘s Matt Bauer and I talk about the challenges, capital requirements, and multi-year timelines inherent in bringing a retail hardware product to market.

He talks about the recent epiphany he had with PedalBrain and how that enlightenment has helped him through these challenges.

Listen to Hardware Startups with Matt Bauer. [31 min]