Brad Rourke

Brad Rourke’s Blog

  • The Overall Effect Is Less Than The Sum Of Its Parts

    Somehow I have gotten on an “Internet marketing guru’s” email distribution list. I typically just archive the notes without reading them, but for some reason (I think because it came in on my Blackberry) I read the latest one. It was touting a free “telesummit” which is a fancy word for a conference call. It…

  • A Day In The Life Of A Real Reporter

    My friend Adam Pagnucco, who writes the indispensable Maryland Politics Watch, scored a coup last week as Kathleen Miller, a real-live “msm” reporter, agreed to describe a day in the life of a reporter in five installments. People often hold a number of assumptions about journalists, including: They only like to cover negative news They…

  • Are They Joking? Does It Matter?

    I can’t tell if they are mocking me, poking good-natured fun, or are serious. Back in April, I recorded a video that outlined my note-taking strategy. Over the years, lots of people have commented on it in meetings and have been curious about how it works. I’ve got the video embedded down at the end…

  • Organizing Your Institution To Engage Through Social Media

    I’ve got a conversation in a bit with some folks to talk about using social media in an institutional setting. The organization sees itself as a neophyte when it comes to social media, and is a little timid about going whole-hog. I think that pretty much describes most larger institutions (and some small ones). In…

  • So Dreadfull A Judgment

    Last weekend my band, The West End, played a show and in the midst of it I had just the best feeling. I looked out at the audience and saw that everyone was paying attention, listening to the music. They weren’t distracted by the ball game behind the bar, weren’t playing Liar’s Poker, weren’t embroiled…

  • Three Kinds Of Social Media Losers: Charlatans, Sharks, And Geeks

    Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans have co-written an article titled, “Is your social media expert really an expert?” If you have spent even a little bit of time exploring social media, you probably know that these are two very credible, serious people. Their 25-point list is very useful to anyone thinking about seeking outside help.…

  • Social Media In The Service of Civic Engagement

    Today, Joe Peters of Ascentum and I led our session called “Tech Savvy Citizenry” at the No Better Time conference at the University of New  Hampshire. We had a great turnout and there were people from across the spectrum of practitioners and institutions in the “deliberative democracy” movement. My post this morning described a quick…