If you work with influencers – be they traditional media, analysts, bloggers or something in between – you need to know what makes them tick. In my “Influencing the Influencers” presentation, I somewhat flippantly called this stalking (of which I meant the non-creepy, from afar kind). This thread between the BBC’s Dave Lee & online journalism lecturer Andy Dickinson is but one example of how just doing something simple, like monitoring Twitter, can make you smarter about the influencers you work with…and, in turn, make their lives a bit easier. What looks like a fun exchange about headline character count is,…

(Awesome image by Art Gentile, Intelligencer staff photographer)
Every year, Jenn rallies the other mothers in the neighborhood to surprise the kids when they get off the bus on the last day of the school year. And by surprise, I mean soak them with as many water balloons and super soakers as she can find. The little aqua assassins ganged up on me this year, but I was able to return fire and drench a number of them.
The local paper, The Intelligencer, was also on hand to capture the festivities (thanks to our neighbor, Victoria, for tipping them off). Photographer Art Gentile captured me returning fire on one of the kids.
*As an aside, I have been really impressed with the quality of the photojournalism coming out of The Intelligencer over the past year or so. Not sure if they are doing anything differently, but the composition, sharpness and vividness of their images are some of the best I’ve seen. Way to go Art and crew!

