Comments for Ryan Anderson - Web Strategist

Comment on On Mediocrity by Ryan Anderson

Ryan Anderson — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:15:52 +0000

Your point about awesome not necessarily needing to come from your work is apt, but given that I know you, I think you belie your own point. You don’t work for a shitty company or have a shitty job. You may not define yourself by your job (though, I’ll remind you that you do have a social media podcast) but I’d wager you’d leave your job if it didn’t give you satisfaction.

My larger point was more about not understanding why someone would start a shitty company. I also think that mediocrity is rarely compartmentalized. If you’re mediocre in the rest of your life, you’re probably a mediocre parent, too. That’s just an assumption, though.

Comment on On Mediocrity by Joe Boughner

Joe Boughner — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:20:09 +0000

I agree with the broad strokes of this post but I think there’s an inherent assumption that’s fundamentally flawed – that the work someone does defines their relative level of awesome.

From my perspective, I certainly strive to do awesome in my day-to-day work but the reality is that not every project I work on is going to change the world. Sometimes clients don’t want awesome, they want reliable or safe. I don’t love those projects but the reality is taking projects like that from time to time is part of the reality of working where I work.

So why not work somewhere else? Because the job also allows me to do what I think is TRULY awesome: spend time with my kid. Be a good dad. Read her stories and tuck her in at night. Spend time with my wife. Be a good husband.

Call it naive but I think the most important thing I can do right now is make sure I’m around to help raise one small part of the next generation. If that means working at a job where sometimes clients value safe over awesome then so be it.

Comment on A very geeky Christmas greeting by Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 10:15:33 +0000

I love this. I love love love it. Brilliant. Just freaking brilliant.

Comment on Can we stop calling this social media? by What’s in a name? The “social media” debate | The Media Mesh

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:34:30 +0000

[...] Can we stop calling this social media? | Ryan Anderson (December 2009) – “Communication” [...]

Comment on Starting out in PR by Ben Smith

Ben Smith — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 13:05:51 +0000

Totally agree, we’ve put together a quick “test” to see if people are right for a career in PR. It’s more a bit of fun that anything, but it might help… http://blog.prmoment.com/am-i-right-for-pr/

Comment on Every kiss begins with a condescending douchebag by Dr Wright

Dr Wright — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:04:27 +0000

Only the woman who is afraid of the storm would even go to that cabin in the first place. A confident woman would have said, there’sa big storm, lets stay in the city where the lights are more likely to stay on and cuddle here. I am glad to know that I am not on the only person who thought the commercial was creepy. If I am scared a necklace is not going to cut it.

Comment on A new year, a new look, and maybe some posts by Mitchell McKenna

Mitchell McKenna — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:13:17 +0000

I don’t have much of an eye for design but it looks nice, nice color scheme, have you considered removing the white space from the top and moving the header right to the top? Or reducing the white space to just 3-5 px might be nice effect actually! Congrats, and subscribed

Comment on This site is best viewed with utter contempt by Mitchell McKenna

Mitchell McKenna — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:11:19 +0000

Bahaha, that’s awesome, was checking out your new design when I came across this post. Love it when people put those little messages in for people on IE6 (although I’m not sure why they’d suggest Safari to someone on Windows).

Comment on Your anus is too tight by Daisy Gentry

Daisy Gentry — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 01:28:53 +0000

Just awesome!

Comment on I Hate Media Relations by angelica

angelica — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:23:27 +0000

I have to say I am in agreement with Kathryn’s comments and find the profession equally vacuous and insidious. Communication programs at universities these days profess the merits of two way open communication and this probably exists in some spheres, yet agencies are really culprits of manufacturing news, using phoney research to justify menopause treatments for example. Honestly, if you’re someone who wants to be an agent for change or at least have a positive impact, why would you choose such a profession. Currently I work in Pr for government, and admittedly this is less duplicitous than agency work… nonetheless when you are associated with politicians there is definitely an element of bending the truth for the purposes of the campaign. For some this may not present a problem, as they may well believe that engaging in political spin serves the interest of their favoured party. For me, working in political pr has confirmed that politicians are vulnerable to their own desires to stay in power more than ever, and will change everything for opinion polls and market research. Yes, I can process and understand why the world is this way, but I am not sure I want to be the handmaiden which weaves the tale….