David Carr of the New York Times thinks Twitter is here to stay. The title of his piece: “Why Twitter Will Endure.” But he also points toward what’s scary about Twitter. As he puts it:
There is always something more interesting on Twitter than whatever you happen to be working on.
I’ve been fascinated by the crowdsourcing trend, and I’ve even delved into it, using 99designs, a website for crowdsourced design (logos, business cards, etc.) for the logo for Web100. Now there’s crowdsourced writing. Yep, just as 99designs helps businesses set up contests for logos and whatnot, essentially getting people to contribute without any guarantee they’ll be the winner, crowdedtext sets up writing contests for press releases, slogans, and the like.
“Holding a writing contest is also a great way to find writers you want to hire in more official capacities, as you can see their writing style before investing too much time,” according to the crowdedtext site.
On pricing:
Listing your writing contest on CrowdedText is only $4.95. We also charge 10% of the prize you are offering as a prize handling fee. This is in place so both the contest holder and the winning writer do not have to worry about arranging payment.
Will this work for writing? I’m not so sure.
You’ve heard of distracted driving. But what about distracted living? I coined the term (sort of) to apply to the condition of being distracted by the increasingly pervasive, and seemingly unavoidable, communications technologies surrounding us, such as email, cell phones, texting, Facebook, Twitter and other internet services. As I wrote in a newspaper column on the topic, it is characterized by frequent interruptions of other activities, from conversations with friends to work assignments to outings with kids. Those susceptible to distracted living often feel they must tap into their communications devices, and do so reflexively, without really thinking about it. Though they believe they’re making a choice about how they use these technologies, the technologies often come to have a grip over the individual’s behavior.
OK, enough said. If you want to read more, visit my posts about the topic.
ALLAN HOFFMAN 