It's time to move to the next step in how we use social media at ALM.  Many of us have been experimenting, building Facebook fan pages for our publications, setting up LinkedIn Groups for our conferences and other products, and using Twitter to build traffic to our websites.  All good.  But not good enough. My concern is that we are still largely missing the point of what these social media platforms really offer us -- the chance for our readers and customers to build individual relationships with ALM staff members and one another, around subject areas where we can help guide and moderate.  Social media is not just another platform to spew out headlines and promote our goods and services, important though...

Continue reading "How We Are Using Social Media" »

Posted by Bill Pollak at 6:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Paul Braverman of The American Lawyer forwarded this video view of what it might be like to design and read a magazine on a new digital device.  I think it's worth a look at one vision of what our magazine future might be. http://www.bonnier.com/en/content/digital-magazines-bonnier-mag-prototype...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday I sat in a meeting with some of our editors and digital publishing pros where we discussed apps -- for the iPhone, the Droid and the Blackberry.  As many of you know, apps are now all the rage as a way to put content of various sorts into the hands of those with smartphones.  The widest array seem to be designed for the iPhone which has many, many thousands available through its store.  But it looks like the other platforms are committed to catching up. We agreed to quickly create some newswire-type apps for The Blog of Legal Times, law.com and the Amlaw Daily.  Frankly, I don't think we will make any money on those.  At best, we'll drive...

Continue reading "The Wonderful World of Apps" »

Posted by Bill Pollak at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It used to be that customer service snafus were a private matter between the parties involved.  They either worked out the problem or they didn't.  But if the customer felt unhappy with the process, the best they could do was to vent to a few friends.  And, short of filing a lawsuit, that would be the end of it. Not anymore.  Living as we do in a Social Media world, it becomes much easier to vent to a larger audience.  I know this from first-hand experience.  As those of you who follow me on Twitter may have seen, I recently lost two suitcases when returning home from vacation.  By posting my frustration with the American Airlines baggage handling system (don't get me...

Continue reading "United Breaks Guitars" »

Posted by Bill Pollak at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I just emailed this note to the staff, but thought I would post it here as well.  Feel free to post comments or questions below.   Welcome back.  I hope you had an enjoyable break for the holidays and took the time to celebrate with your family and friends. As we begin the New Year, I thought a few words about what 2010 looks like from my desk and how we'll proceed would be in order.  It has been, as you know, a challenging 15 months at ALM and in the media industry since the downfall of Lehman Brothers and the downturn in both the general economy and, particularly, the markets we serve.  Nonetheless, through a great deal of sacrifice...

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Posted by Bill Pollak at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)