I recently helped Edelman Ireland design this infographic on Facebook use in Ireland.

Key stats include that Facebook’s user base has doubled in the last two years, that there are slightly more women than men using it and that 25 – 34 is the largest age group.

I’m indebted to the fascinating archives of Mulley Communications for historical usage numbers. Damien Mulley has been running a blog since 2003, and has been tracking the growth of social media for years.

Larger version (900px wide) available by clicking here.

Posted by Dave Molloy in •Resources •Tech
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A long time ago, I wrote that in an ideal world, student newspapers should be able to figure out a way to move content between InDesign and an online content management system automatically; there’s no reason why XML can’t be read by either.

Well, not only is it possible, but the Bangor Daily News has spent the money to get it done, and, in an enormous display of generosity, has released the code publicly.

This blog post summarises the information perfectly, and nitty-gritty details are available on their development blog.

This is fantastic system for low-budget operations like student newspapers or locals that simply can’t afford an enterprise solution like the incredible Woodwing. And it focuses on a web-first solution, which is something often talked about but rarely practised.

I’m very interested to see who takes advantage of the open source code. If I were starting as Editor of my student paper again, I certainly would.

Posted by Dave Molloy in •Resources •Tech
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I recently reawakened a relationship with an old flame of mine. For years, we’ve been on-again and off-again, since that time in college I thought I’d outgrown her. But we’re back together again, and she’s perfect. She’s silky smooth, reliable, and soaks up every word I say. And she’s currently wrapped in leather.

Her name is Paper.

See, I’m the type of person who needs to trick myself into working. I’d consider myself highly productive, but it’s not by nature. No, like many of us, I play games with my time, trying to make my calendar, my to-do lists and documents as fun as they can possibly be. Whether it’s my new favourite, the Pomodoro Technique, or the good old reliable Getting Things Done system, I’ve got an arsenal of anti-procrastination tools at my disposal that serve me well. And they need to be perfect.

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Posted by Dave Molloy in •Resources •Tech
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I recently found myself doing an interview on short notice for a client, so I decided to do it from home for convenience. The day of the interview, I came across two problems:

• My phone adapter for recording does not fit anywhere on my cordless home phone, and the iPhone doesn’t record calls.
• I was calling a UK mobile, which would cost about €20/hour on my landline rates.

Erp. I wasn’t used to this. I had a paid office phone to use until now. The solution, I decided, was simply the too-little-used wonder that is Skype. No problem! Headset in, number prepped. Now, where was the record call option? Oh. It doesn’t exist. What now?

Well, there are a myriad of different options available to fix this gaping hole in Skype’s functionality, but for those in the same boat as I, needing a very quick fix, check out the wonderful Pamela for Skype. A program that runs alongside Skype, it automatically (or manually, if you prefer) records both sides of the conversation flawlessly in MP3 format. You can append notes etc, and, best of all, the free trial doesn’t have the silly recording limitations of 2 or 15 minutes that its other counterparts have on their trial versions (crucially, you must have the 30-day trial of the Professional version for this to be the case).

Cracking application which saved my skin. I now have a better-than-phone quality recording of my hour long interview, it cost about half of what I would have paid with regular landlines, and I may well use part of the paycheque from this job to buy the €20 license for this piece of kit.

-END-

Posted by Dave Molloy in •Journalism •Resources •Tech
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