Cuttings #1

Essential reads on AI, SEO and Bluesky | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 days ago

When did you last reply to someone on a social network?

A little more conversation, a little less promotion, please | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 days ago

Is Trump a blogger or a social object?

The relationship between Trump and other users of his social media platform Truth Social is interesting, and not a little alarming. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 5 days ago

The problem isn't AI, the problem is humans

We have a great new tool. We just have to learn to use it properly… | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 9 days ago

Why is media so… conservative?

For an industry so obsessed with news, why are we so reluctant to cover new things? | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 1 month ago

Sit quietly and read time: AI, Meta, money and… Tintin?

Some worthwhile reading gleaned from my open tabs over the Bank Holiday weekend… | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 1 month ago

Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t know what he’s doing

Nowhere does the heroic myth of the founder look more tarnished than in the tattered remnants of the Facebook creator's reputation. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 1 month ago

Friday night's fine for linkin'

Lots of good stuff to read – and think about – over the weekend | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 1 month ago

A new threat for newsletters?

The simplicity of the in-box is a thing of the past. Can we handle categorisation? | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 1 month ago

XCity 2025 is here

The latest annual issue from our MA Magazine journalism students | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 months ago

Trust me, I’m a journalist

We're labouring under the illusion that the public trust us. Time to wake up. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 months ago

How are audiences feeling about AI in 2025?

More research showing just how wary audiences are of AI being used in journalism | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 months ago

Quartz finally burns out

A moment's silence for one of the great 2010s journalism innovators | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 months ago

Book recommendations: Drax & Meta

How money from the slave trade is still influencing British politics — and the inside story of the people in Facebook that ended up upending society. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 months ago

Meta pirated books — and trained AI on them.

And it looks like some of mine were in there. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 months ago

Seeking refuge from the technofeudalist attention economy – in print

Print doesn't have to die for digital to win. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 months ago

The AI trap has closed around Apple. Don’t be next.

Apple tried to make AI a personal answer engine. It failed. It's a warning to all businesses. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 months ago

The humour and morality void at the heart of Meta

A new book is confirming every dark suspicion we had about Facebook | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 months ago

The federated One Man & His Blog

If you haven't heard of ActivityPub yet, now might be the time to start paying attention | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 2 months ago

AI: Take a guess

LLMs are, in essence, guessing machines. They work by determining what’s probably the answer. And that means they’re great for ideas — and terrible for facts. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 3 months ago

Media mutatis

A new season of OM&HB is coming your way. And this might be the most interesting time to be writing about media in the two decades I've been posting here. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 3 months ago

Audience Strategy: further reading (listening?)

More bonus links for my students, with a distinct MAGA world theme… | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 3 months ago

We are become meme

Internet culture has infected and mutated mainstream culture — and the shitposters have the reins of power. Meme journalism used to be a joke. Now it's a necessity. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 3 months ago

Caught between a Musk and a hard place

Following the diktats of the MemeMan get much harder under the harsh eye of parliamentary scrutiny. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 3 months ago

Your coffee reading, or the Monday linkdump

For your amusement and edification as you sip your coffee | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 3 months ago

Audience Strategy: further reading

Some links, mainly for my Audience Strategy students - but of possible interest to others. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 3 months ago

A little newsletter scepticism

Beehiiv is going to give journalists financial support. Those who don't remember history are doomed to etc etc etc | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 3 months ago

TikTok made me love it

A new genre of fiction is filling up the bestseller lists. And guess what's putting it there? | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 3 months ago

Five telling quotes

Five pieces worth your times — and quotes that show you why. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 4 months ago

Rule 1: Never trust Facebook

Zuckerberg is MAGAing Facebook and Instagram. But he's always done what suits the company, not what helps the users. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 4 months ago

The newsletter inquisition

Some insights into newsletter strategy, based on unanswered questions from a Smartocto webinar | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 5 months ago

The top 10 posts of 2024: the top 5

The five most read posts of last year were very concerned with audience, the fate of WordPress — and a long gone lads' mag. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 5 months ago

My top 10 posts of 2024: the bottom half

Which posts caught your attention last year? The bottom half of the top 10 is all about the decline of Twitter and Facebook, and the rise of AI slop. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 5 months ago

Journalism is a social process: we need to connect with our audience

Building an audience is a skilful dance, combining numbers, instinct — and good, old-fashioned conversations. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 6 months ago

Audience Engagement: two words, both matter

If you're taking about audience growth in journalism, you might be forgetting a crucial, human element in the process. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 6 months ago

The post X-battle: Threads is down, but not out

The fight to capture ex-X users heats up, as Meta, the sleeping giant, wakes up and realises that it has a blue butterfly problem… | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 6 months ago

The Bluesky explosion and the Substack trap

The Twitter offshoot is edging towards becoming an X replacement — and two old school web thinkers critique Substack | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 6 months ago

Bluesky is having a moment. Time to pay attention.

Musk's close alignment with the new US President-elect has triggered a new exodus from X — with many communities heading for Bluesky. Will this be the tipping point for the new network? | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 6 months ago

Listening is greater than talking in journalism

In the wake of the shock election news from the US, a provocation for the future of journalism. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 7 months ago

Missing Links & Unfinished Thoughts: False Prophets and Useful Tools

More gems from the published archive, looking at the problem with media innovation, and the first real meme… | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 7 months ago

Anyone know of any big stories happening today?

There's got to be something. Maybe an election somewhere? | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 7 months ago

Missing Links and Unfinished Thoughts: dead internet, living video

More interesting reading and viewing culled from a long list of unpublished posts. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 7 months ago

What comes after Twitter?

And are we wordsmiths doomed to be replaced by the video stars? | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 7 months ago

Missing Links & Unfinished Thoughts #2: An Ugly Truth or Two

More interesting links and thoughts culled from my horrible unfinished draft post habit. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 7 months ago

Podcasting is the mainstream media now

Now research suggests podcasting is mainstream, in the UK at least. Plus a PR over-reaches, and the debate about teens and social media | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 7 months ago

AI Friday: the vapourware edition

The latest news from the intersection of AI, journalism, and techbro hype. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 7 months ago

Spinning the digital news cycle

The Sun's starting to gate its content, and local news is putting up a paywall. No, this isn't a post from 2014 — this is happening now. | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 7 months ago

The missing links and unfinished thoughts

The links I should have shared, the posts I should have written… | Continue reading


@onemanandhisblog.com | 7 months ago