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Google Alerts Never Takes a Day Off, So I Don't Either

I've neglected posting on 10KT for far too long so if nothing else, accept this as a token of my realization that this blog exists.

The one thing that has come about in my short time as a paid blogger (professional doesn't seem appropriate) is that I am overcome by the mass amount of emails that I receive on a daily basis. I receive so many that the mere idea of reading all them is an act in futility.

I should clarify that these are content related alerts that I receive from Google and not fan mail or hate email. The former being a delusion and the latter being suspiciously absent.

Google Alerts has easily become my best friend and my worst enemy all at the same time. Without this miracle of information, I would not be able to do my job, pure and simple. It provides me with some of the most bizarre stories that I post about it. Here's one that would not have been possible without Google Alerts.

At the same time, sometimes I wish Google Alerts would take a day off. Sadly, it never grows weary. Holidays, weekends, and snow days are all equal in the eyes of the almighty Google machine.

If my untimely passing were to occur, Google would never know and the unread emails in my inbox would grow, day after day, unless Google Alerts was able to reconcile my obituary with the email account and discontinue the service.

So I have to accept the fact that as long as I crave information for my work, Google will oblige without hesitation. I guess it beats the hell out of finding the stories myself. Sphere: Related Content

Hacks vs. Flacks

Becoming a blogger has forced me into a brand new world of vernacular and day to day interaction with all different types of media.

"Hacks and flacks" is a dynamic that exists in media that I am increasingly involved with. Hacks, in the traditional sense, are news reporters producing work quickly on a regular basis. Woodward and Bernstein types.

In the increasingly online media world, it appears that bloggers have naturally found themselves included in this group, regardless of their lack of journalistic background.

When I was first deemed a 'hack' it was not in the complimentary sense and we'll just leave it at that. After that, I began to notice term more and more and that it was used by many writers/bloggers/journalists (mostly on Twitter) to self-identify themselves.

So I had to do some research to get to the bottom of this. Definitions of a hack, as it could be possibly be applied to my trade as a blogger are as follows, per Wiktionary:

• One who is professionally successful despite producing mediocre work.
• A talented writer-for-hire, paid to put others' thoughts into felicitous language.
• An untalented writer.
• A political agitator.

It could easily argued that definitions 2 and 4 do not apply since I'm most definitely not a 'writer-for-hire, paid to put others' thoughts into felicitous language'. I am a writer, already hired, putting my own thoughts into felicitous language for a tabloid.

Additionally, while I'm clearly an agitator, a political agitator is quite a stretch. I've gotten to the point where I've been self-identifying as as either a 'trouble-maker' or when I'm feel like engaging in some self-loathing, a 'gossip-mongering whore'.

When I hear 'political agitator', I think of anyone related to the Nixon White House or Karl Rove (who might as well have been part of the Nixon White House).

So that leaves us with: 'One who is professionally successful despite producing mediocre work' and 'an untalented writer'. Both of which are at the very least, arguable and at the very best, spot on. Hence, the case for my "hack" status is pretty solid.

The "flacks" I have dealt with have increasingly lukewarm to my "hack" status. Either that or they just don't like talking to me as it's pretty difficult to get anyone on the phone or to respond to my emails. The reasons for this aren't quite clear but I have my theories, which I won't get into here because, simply, I'm paranoid.

What's also interesting is that when I Googled 'Hacks & Flacks' or some derivative, most results indicate that a adversarial or competitive relationship exists between the two groups. This makes me realize that A) my experience is normal, and B) it's basically a game between two groups of people that have very different interests.

Flacks are very good at discussing and promoting good news for their company. They're not so excited about discussing bad or unflattering news for said company. Since good news doesn't really lend to very good gossip or tabloid material I naturally drift towards the 'bad news'. I guess should probably expect more stonewalling... Sphere: Related Content

10-key Tramp: Cheerleader

Since GC launched in July, I've found myself taking on different roles as an editor. The one that I definitely did not foresee but find myself getting odd enjoyment out of is that of cheerleader.

I feel as though I can never hype the site enough and that I enjoy talking about it and what we're trying to do. Perhaps that makes me a little egocentric but I can't tell people that I don't want to talk about it, can I? That wouldn't make me a very good cheerleader or barker

The fact of the matter is, that the more people that I coerce into joining the group on Facebook or following on Twitter, the better for the exposure of the site and the traffic numbers. "Viral" is the word I keep hearing. I'm not a big fan of buzzwords but this sums it up better than anything else I can come up with.

Strange thing is, that I find myself being obsessed with the number of people in the Facebook group and the number of followers we have on Twitter. Sometimes checking both multiple times a day and secretly high-fiving myself when we get a big jump in group members and followers. So, I find myself being totally okay with this shamelessness.

This is very much a strange feeling for me because I've never been one to get to excited about anything to the point of where I would voluntarily promote it let alone jump up and down to get people to come look at like a barker at Coney Island.

I had jobs at three different companies plus an internship but I never bought into the rah-rah aspect of corporate life that existed at any of them. Maybe that's why I'm no longer part of the corporate world...I'd much rather hype something I actually believe in. Like a freak show. Sphere: Related Content

The Silver Lining to Nasty Comments

Things have been pretty fun over at Going Concern. It's never without its interesting moments and it's great to read the comments that are posted by readers both the praise and the hate.

The thing that I've found is that I can't really think too much about the hater comments during the day because I'm always in a race against the clock. Whatever is going on, I'm always trying to post as much material as possible in a day to see what works and what doesn't and to follow up on stuff that is working. With all that going on, I have very little time to think about Guest 9 @ 3:39 that called me a "huge dickbag".

There seems to be two types of nasty comments: 1) Nasty comments with legitimate criticism; and 2) Hater comments and I think I may have found the silver lining in both.

For type #1, most of the time there is an underlying critique that is expressed in a nasty way so I have to try and consider the writer's intent. I usually try to figure out the underlying criticism and if it is legitimate or not and forget that the comment started with "Caleb you dumbfuck". So nasty comments can be good but it's true, lots of them are just hater comments, which is fine, it comes with the territory.

And strangely enough, the silver lining in the hater comments is sharing with them with friends works as a great joke. When I share these nasty comments with friends, they start laughing so hard, that I can't help but laugh too. Laughing with friends is what's really important anyway and if it happens at my expense, well, then I'm okay with that. Sphere: Related Content

Thanks Everybody!

This is just a quick shout out to everyone that has kept up with this extremely obscure blog since its start last summer. It's been an exciting past three months as I have unexpectedly gone from extremely bitter bean counter to borderline workaholic blogger. Thanks to the two Davids at Breaking Media for giving me this exciting opportunity and thanks to Nick, our web developer who made the site look so awesome.

I want all of you that are readers of this blog to give honest feedback on Going Concern and the work we are doing there because it's really an outlet for all of you that work in the accounting and finance fields. I will continue to write here less mysteriously so that hopefully you will share without filters (hopefully constructively).

So, this is my mini-awards show moment: Thanks to the following people for their support: Re: The Auditors, Jr. Deputy Accountant, Razorback04, DailyAngst, MKraft, EdithO, Catch That?, all my NYC Peeps (too numerous to name), all my Mile High City Peeps (way too numerous to name), my SoCal Peeps (Krista & Matt, Jeff), and last but most certainly not least, all the Nebraska peeps. If I left you off, I apologize, I did my best. Let me hear about it at Going Concern!

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