Welcome!

Welcome to InSites, Vanguard's award-winning blog dedicated to communications for social change. Please visit our "About" page for more information on InSites.

InSites Newsletter

Email:

Journalism: A Degree of Distinction

Share

Late last week, a headline from our local “Patch” news service caught my attention – Police: Group of Teens Cause $1,500 in Damage at General’s Ridge Golf Course. I opened the story expecting to find names and ages attached to the accusation, but there were none. In fact, other than a description that the [...]

The Power of Hashtagging

Share

I’m an avid Twitter user. While I use Twitter for news monitoring and information gathering, I also use it as an engagement tool — sending messages directly targeting Tweeters or adding hashtags, a word or phrase prefixed with a hash sign and without spaces, occurring within a tweet.

It’s surprising how many organizations and spokespeople on [...]

Changes at USA Today Herald New Era for Print Journalism

Share

When USA Today launched in 1982, it heralded a new era for print journalism, featuring briefer articles and more colorful designs, photos and illustrations in newspapers. Twenty-eight years later, the second most widely read newspaper in the U.S. is changing the game again.

Recently, USA Today announced a reorganization of its newsroom, eliminating 130 jobs [...]

We All Loved That Old Spice Campaign, But What Next?

Share

My fellow InSites bloggers Crystal Borde and Chris Connelly have given the campaign kudos in previous posts (see here and here, respectively) and there have been countless articles written about its success. Yes, we all laughed out loud and loved it. So, how much of a success was it?

According to this blog post on [...]

What We Can Learn From the Beaching of Google Wave

Share

Last week’s announced demise of Google Wave reminds us that effective execution and promotion are at least as important as a good idea.

I was one of the early Google Wave proponents who spent weeks desperately seeking a coveted invite into the exclusive community of initial users. I loved the idea of melding productivity and [...]