Gary Goldhammer's Profile

Eons of Evolution and We are Still Dumb Animals

WE ARE DUMB ANIMALS. Evolution is not the same as change, and eons of evolution didn’t change us. We are still wild, scared, nervous mammals. We scream at the dark because we can’t remember what happened to the light. We... Continue reading

Posted Dec 15, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Homeless for the Holidays

(The following post originally ran Nov. 21, 2007, and has become a Below the Fold holiday tradition of sorts. For those who have read it before, please pardon the repetition -- and for those who are reading it for the... Continue reading

Posted Nov 21, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Moving On from Social Media

LET THIS BE THE YEAR. Let 2013 be the time it ends. I’m sick of social media and I’m sure most of you are, too. It’s done, it’s old and it’s out of touch with modern life. Giving clients a... Continue reading

Posted Nov 4, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Promises to My Teenage Daughter

I PROMISE to believe in you even when you are filled with doubt. I PROMISE to let you live up to your own expectations, not the expectations I had for you. I PROMISE not to push you more than you... Continue reading

Posted Oct 14, 2012 at Below the Fold

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If Technology is the Heart of Social Media, Then People are the Soul

I'M CONSISTENTLY AMAZED BY how many companies engage in social media and forget that the word “social” is right there. But I don’t entirely blame them – I blame us. By “us” I mean the so-called professional communicators who are... Continue reading

Posted Aug 16, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Kill the Click: Digital is All About the Clock

IT'S TIME TO KILL the click. This isn’t something the traditional digital advertising industry wants to hear (and yes, there is such a thing as “traditional” digital advertising.) Clicks equal cash goes the maxim, though those selling clicks are the... Continue reading

Posted Jul 24, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Revisiting the Ghosts of Auroras Past

“If we don’t meet again, your final assignment from me is perhaps the most important lesson you will learn in life. Go to your mother, father, brother and sisters, and tell them with all your heart how much you love... Continue reading

Posted Jul 21, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Journalists to Brands: Don’t Give Us “Content,” Tell Us Stories

ALTHOUGH I CAN'T TRACE THE ORIGIN with any certainty, I’m nevertheless pretty sure that the word “content” was first used by a marketer, not a by a journalist. Journalists are in the business of stories. Always have been – and... Continue reading

Posted Jul 6, 2012 at Below the Fold

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The Day the Scoop Died

LONG, LONG TIME AGO, I can still remember how the L.A. Times used to make me cry. Hardly a week would go by it seemed without them scooping me on some local story. I scooped them once in a while,... Continue reading

Posted Jun 29, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Social Media, Milkshakes, and Life After Death (Father's Day Re-Post)

EVERY FATHER'S DAY I use this space to remember those who don't or perhaps never had fathers. Usually I just repost this story, originally published in 1990 when I was a newspaper columnist. Today, however, I decided to reach all... Continue reading

Posted Jun 17, 2012 at Below the Fold

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In Memoriam: Remembering "Gentle Genius" Ray Bradbury

IT'S HARD TO BE SAD about someone who died at 91, who lived at full-speed to the end and who left a legacy far greater than even he, a man of infinite imagination, could possibly dream. Ray Bradbury was all... Continue reading

Posted Jun 6, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Communities of Intent: The New Bing Tries to Resuscitate the Web

THE WEB IS BACK. Or at least Bing, with its new social-focused interface, is trying to make the Web relevant again – while making Google less relevant in the process. Over the coming weeks, Bing users will not only get... Continue reading

Posted May 12, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Thanks Karen, appreciate it!

Commented May 8, 2012 on Why Most Brands Will Suck at Storytelling at Below the Fold

Why Most Brands Will Suck at Storytelling

"STORY" IS THE NEW "CONTENT." As buzzwords go, story isn’t entirely bad -- for years I’ve pushed clients to be storytellers. I’ve berated the descent of story into a furtive sea of “content,” stripping all emotion from human pursuits. So... Continue reading

Posted May 7, 2012 at Below the Fold

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A Living or a Life: Preparing for the Second Grand Entry

I'M SOMETIMES ASKED WHY, back in the early ‘90s, I wrote a book on the death penalty. There were the obvious reasons, from my work as a reporter covering capital murder cases to the resurgence of executions in the United... Continue reading

Posted Apr 7, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Why the New Facebook Matters for Marketers – and Why it Shouldn’t

(The following post originally appeared on the Velocidi.com blog.) Remember the days when Facebook would launch new features and then announce them? What a difference an impending IPO makes. Now Facebook not only tells us what’s going happen, it has... Continue reading

Posted Mar 6, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Social Media Won't Kill Listening, But It’s Getting Harder to Hear

Not all that long ago – albeit longer than we may care to admit – families gathered around large living room radios and listened to news, dramas, comedies and live music. People read newspapers and heard the words spring to... Continue reading

Posted Feb 26, 2012 at Below the Fold

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From Interest to Identity: Social Media and Local Journalism Will Lead Us Back

Pinterest is the latest but not the first. For that title you need to go back to Compuserve and AOL 1.0, back even to the Usenet and BBS systems. You need to add blogs and communities like iVillage to the... Continue reading

Posted Feb 20, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Digital is a Platform

Digital is not a “publication.” Digital is a “platform.” Publications are static, one-way, monotone. They live in comfort. Publishing is an act of control, and in that sense, it is little more than anachronism. You can publish via digital, but... Continue reading

Posted Feb 7, 2012 at Below the Fold

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From Search Engine to Super App: Getting Stuck in Google’s Web

Google’s mission is simple, bold, and in the annals of silicon culture, tantamount to sacred gospel: “Organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Today, however, there is a New Testament being written: “Organize Google’s information about... Continue reading

Posted Feb 2, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Social Media, Super Bowl Edition: Be a Community Quarterback

Now is the time of year when thoughts turn to matters of the heart – and no, I’m not talking about Valentine’s Day. I’m talking about the Super Bowl, where we see the heart of a champion. And Super Bowl... Continue reading

Posted Jan 26, 2012 at Below the Fold

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Memories Lost and What They Leave Behind

I'VE SAID BEFORE, and I almost believe it to be true, that losing my memory after my dad died was the best thing that ever happened to me. After all, you can’t mourn for something you never had. My mind... Continue reading

Posted Jan 5, 2012 at Below the Fold

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In Search of the “News Particle”

Scientists this month said they are a step closer to finding the Higgs boson, commonly referred to as the “God Particle,” which is widely believed to be the key building block of, well, the entire universe. The God Particle is... Continue reading

Posted Dec 19, 2011 at Below the Fold

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2012 Prediction: Paper Will Be the Next Disruptive Technology

There’s a little-known scene in the movie “Star Trek: First Contact,” where Lt. Commander Data, an android, observes Captain Jean-Luc Picard touching the hull of an historic spacecraft. The captain smiles and taps the ship with his bare fingers, to... Continue reading

Posted Dec 4, 2011 at Below the Fold

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On Thanksgiving, No One Should be a Stranger -- Or Alone

(The following post originally ran Nov. 21, 2007, and has become a Below the Fold holiday tradition of sorts. For those who have read it before, please pardon the repetition -- and for those who are reading it for the... Continue reading

Posted Nov 23, 2011 at Below the Fold

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