Notes from Selsdon


If ‘disposable’ blogging is the new journalism, you can keep it


Your favourite column (after this one, of course), Idle Thoughts, has entered the blogo- sphere. It provides a great platform for regular communication for those interested parties that demand contact more than once a month, which in this 21st century of email, text mes- saging and twittering, seems appropriate. The blogs (found all in one place at www. idle-thoughts.co.uk, or on the SB website) have been coming thick and fast since the turn of the year. It’s a chance to vent one’s spleen, make observations and spread the wings in search of a wider audience in a more relaxed and less formal place than is offered by SB’s page three. It’s instant; there are no produc- tion delays because comment is published immediately. It’s the new journalism. But the informality and easy-access-by-all- and-sundry nature of blogging has had mixed success. For a start, the quality of writing isn’t anywhere near as good as that which appears in newspapers, magazines and journals. And, often, what is written about, is meaningless drivel. If that’s the new journalism, you can


THE TEAM


Editor Tom Idle 0208 651 7070


Sub-editor and online editor Richard Sharpe 0208 651 7099


Production Sharon Miller 0208 651 7104


Creative director & production manager Luana Marca 0208 651 7142


Publisher Angela Himus 0208 651 7164


Corporate partnerships Robert Barton 0208 651 7065


Group advertisement manager Ella Westaway 0208 651 7077


Subscriptions 0208 651 7060


Administration Clare Klos 0208 651 7121


To email the team use: firstname.surname@fav-house.com


keep it. I tend to agree with the US singer/ songwriter John Mayer (below), who on aban- doning Twitter, where he’d amassed hundreds of thousands of followers, said: “No artwork created by someone with a healthy grasp of social media thus far has proven to be any- thing other than disposable.


“Those who decide to remain offline will make better work than those online. Why? Because great ideas have to gather. They have to pass the test of withstand- ing 13 different moods, four differ- ent months, and 60 different edits. Anything less is day trading. You can either get a bunch of mentions now or change someone’s life next year.” Of course, not all blogs are


bad; there are some excellent bloggers out there, Mallen Baker and Joel Makower, to name just two – interesting, thoughtful and funny. And it’s these better blogs that Idle Thoughts will


THE EDITORIAL PANEL


John Alker director of policy, UK Green Building Council Mark Barthel special adviser, WRAP Charlie Browne sustainable development manager, Ikea David Crowhurst BRE Environment Anya Ledwith ESHCon Liz Parkes head of waste, Environment Agency Tim Pollard head of sustainability, Wolesley Amita Vaux head of advisory services, Business in the Community Bruno Zago UK & Ireland environment manager, Hewlett Packard


MAGAZINE INFORMATION ISSN 1756-8633


© Faversham House Group


Subscription rates Annual UK: £97; Outside UK: £112 Single copy price: £10 Online: sustainablebusinessonline.com


Printed by Buxton Press Limited www.sustainablebusinessonline.com Sustainable Business | February 2011 | 35


attempt to emulate, resisting the urge to blog for blogging’s sake. The offline writing in these pages is, I hope, considered, well-written and possesses judgement, balance and integri- ty – all that stuff learned at journalism school. And there’s no excuse for the offline writing to be any different.


Thanks for the feedback following last month’s NFS that asked for your thoughts on whether print media is dead. Among the responses was that of Andrew Edlin, who said he’d be more than happy to read a digital version of SB on his new Kindle, but he’s not the only one who reads his print copy. “Once I’ve read it, the magazine is passed around a group of five people, and then placed in a breakout area for others to read,” he says. “I think magazines like yours will have to continue with hard copies, otherwise they will lose some of their impact.”


FAVERSHAM HOUSE GROUP LIMITED


Tel 0208 651 7100 Fax 0208 651 7117 ISDN 0208 651 1471 Address Faversham House, 232a Addington Road, Selsdon, South Croydon, Surrey CR2 8LE


FHG is a member of the Periodical Publishers Association


OTHER INFORMATION


The Faversham House Group port- folio also includes edie.net and Sustainabilitylive!


This magazine is printed on PEFC-accredited paper.


For more info see pefc.org. Licence number PEFC/16- 33-141


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48