Ernie Smith

DigitSlam: News in Numbers One of my famous weekend...

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:41:30 -0500

DigitSlam: News in Numbers

One of my famous weekend experiments, just to see what would happen, I built out a RebelMouse page (and corresponding Twitter account) focused on big numbers. Since it launched, I’ve gained a contributor, the wonderful Andrew Hart, and had it featured on Poynter and RebelMouse’s own featured page. Here’s the story behind DigitSlam, which I wrote for TMG’s wonderful Engage blog.

"If you aren’t careful, you’ll spread your awesome too thin."

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:30:00 -0500

“If you aren’t careful, you’ll spread your awesome too thin.”

- My recent piece for TMG’s Engage blog, discussing some Web-writing techniques that are super-useful. Write in Markdown! Save ideas! Organize yourself! The philosophy? “Minimum Viable Awesome.” Write that one down.

My current day gig: Associations Now With a little bit of help...

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 18:03:00 -0500

My current day gig: Associations Now

With a little bit of help and a lot of iced coffee, I’ve helped build out AssociationsNow.com, the new online publication from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). I’m basically in charge of running the site, along with five articles per day, a lot of photo editing, and some fun social media stuff. It’s been a huge success so far.

Making a move: So hey, I'm heading somewhere else, guys.

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 17:10:00 -0400

Making a move: So hey, I'm heading somewhere else, guys.:

Fans of announcements, this post is for you.

After three and a half years hanging my hat at the Washington Post Express, I’ve decided to make a move to TMG Custom Media, where I’ll be doing some really cool social media/curation work for one of their upcoming publications. It’s gonna be fun.

Had a lot of fun at Express — and made a lot of great friends. (And to the bemusement of Adam Sapiro, made a lot of bad puns.) Newspapers have been good to me over the past eight years. But it feels like a good time to head in a different direction. I start in a few weeks.

And yes, ShortFormBlog is staying put. Trust me. :)

You read it here first. Thanks to everyone that made my time at Express awesome. *end scene*

The coolest Facebook timeline, ever Working with my designer pal...

Tue, 08 May 2012 21:57:57 -0400

The coolest Facebook timeline, ever

Working with my designer pal Ben Claassen III, we put together an extensive Facebook timeline that gave SFB a branding backbone that’s been successful with readers and has helped draw new readers to the site. And it’s funny, too. (I think.)

"The effect is that we’re a little all over the place, but you’re guaranteed to get a bit of a mix..."

Tue, 08 May 2012 21:57:40 -0400

“The effect is that we’re a little all over the place, but you’re guaranteed to get a bit of a mix from us.”

- An interview I did with Jacobo Corujeira of the University of Amsterdam’s “Masters of Media” program, in which I got the chance to explain my philosophy behind curation and behind running ShortFormBlog. I highly recommend the part about how we figure out our formula.

Time Magazine called SFB one of its "30 Must-See Tumblr Blogs."

Tue, 08 May 2012 21:57:04 -0400

Time Magazine called SFB one of its "30 Must-See Tumblr Blogs.":

We also played a key role in making sense of a recent perception problem the magazine had, one which the magazine cited itself.

"ShortFormBlog is expanding the definitions of what it means to be a microblog."

Tue, 08 May 2012 21:32:31 -0400

“ShortFormBlog is expanding the definitions of what it means to be a microblog.”

- The Shorty Awards picked SFB as one of their nominees for “Microblog of the Year on Tumblr.” We didn’t win, but I did get to go to a fancy awards ceremony in New York.

Link: Halloween movie cover Who says type can’t be done...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 04:50:00 -0400

Link: Halloween movie cover

Who says type can’t be done really freaking well?

Link: Virginia Tech Anniversary cover One year after the deadly...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:07:00 -0400

Link: Virginia Tech Anniversary cover

One year after the deadly Virginia shooting which defined an era for many and cast a pall on an entire school, modest reflection was needed. I spent hours trying to get those two ribbons right.

Link: Virginia Tech spread Despite the large amount of...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:06:00 -0400

Link: Virginia Tech spread

Despite the large amount of information, this spread, aired out and simple, doesn’t get in the way of a story that still lingers for many.

Express: Zombies front page Not every day you get to put a guy...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:00:00 -0400

Express: Zombies front page

Not every day you get to put a guy with a screwdriver through his neck on the page.

A while back, ReadWriteWeb wrote a great feature on SFB. Sweet!

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:16:08 -0400

A while back, ReadWriteWeb wrote a great feature on SFB. Sweet!:

“How Tumblr is Changing Journalism” is a pretty lofty headline to live up to, but what the heck, you only live once and sometimes people think highly of your work. The secret: Embrace it and try to live up to it.

Origin story: shrtfrmblg, circa December 2008 This was the...

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 05:50:00 -0400

Origin story: shrtfrmblg, circa December 2008

This was the original framework I started with when I built out ShortFormBlog. I e-mailed this to my friends Charles Apple and Megan Lavey asking what they throught, and they both thought it was cool. So I kept building. I’m still building. Yes, the original name didn’t have any vowels. I literally bought the domain with the vowels a day before it launched.

"[ShortFormBlog] basically does a better job of what the Daily Beast’s Cheat Sheet set out to do."

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 03:06:00 -0400

“[ShortFormBlog] basically does a better job of what the Daily Beast’s Cheat Sheet set out to do.”

- Tumblr’s Mark Coatney, saying something really nice about ShortFormBlog in this profile I did with Mediaite back in April.

Tumbl-zine: Norway Attacks An example of edge-pushing: An idea...

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 01:50:10 -0400

Tumbl-zine: Norway Attacks

An example of edge-pushing: An idea I’ve been playing with on ShortFormBlog lately involves finding ways to get people to engage more directly with the content. As Tumblr recently launched an update to their slideshow feature which simultaneously made the content more visual and better-organized, I started playing around with the idea of taking breaking news and treating it like a magazine that I updated along with the story. The results were strong — this Tumbl-zine and a separate one about Rupert Murdoch drew thousands of visitors and encouraged active reblogging. Best part? All I needed was InDesign.

Express: Obama Counterpunch I don’t do a bunch of covers...

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 01:11:00 -0400

Express: Obama Counterpunch

I don’t do a bunch of covers for Express, but I finally got a chance to regularly do a few front pages. This one’s my favorite so far.

In this SFB post, I explained Canadian politics to American plebes.

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 16:46:20 -0400

In this SFB post, I explained Canadian politics to American plebes.:

Surprisingly, I can explain politics of other countries pretty darn well. Stephen Harper had a bad day here, but he had a better one about a month later.

Express: Partial freeze Remember when they were gonna turn the...

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 16:39:56 -0400

Express: Partial freeze

Remember when they were gonna turn the government into a giant, immovable block of us? Yeah, that’s where this came from. Fortunately, things thawed at the last second.

Recently, I helped YouTube celeb Josh Sundquist hop on Tumblr. Check it out.

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:42:00 -0400

Recently, I helped YouTube celeb Josh Sundquist hop on Tumblr. Check it out.:

He makes me look like I’m not trying hard enough.