When I was a kid I got Sports Illustrated in the mail for many years. Back then (let’s call it 1980-1985), there was no internet and SportsCenter was still years away from becoming the de facto source, so SI was THE authority on long-form sports articles and had the best sports writers and sports photographers in the world. It seems so archaic now to WAIT five days for a summary of Wimbledon or the Super Bowl, but we didn’t know any different. So last month I was so thrilled to see that Sports Illustrated has opened up the archives and it’s now free for everyone. They call it the SI Vault and it is AWESOME! You can see every cover ever released. Ready any story ever written. See all the photographs. The people at SI totally GET digital media and internet. Free it up and they will come. Need to read that article on Sidd Finch. Easy to find.. Remember that? I fell for it hook, like and nasty sinker! Awesome and clever piece of work.
There’s a lot of talk out there about LinkedIn vs. Facebook. Both are, at a high level, ways to find like-minded people and connect with friends, both close and long-lost. I’m not sure why there has to be any “this vs. that” talk about it, but it seems to be a hot topic. For me, personally, LinkedIn is a much more useful tool, given that I’m a Business Development hack at a top 10 U.S. internet property. I’ve sourced more leads and more deals via LinkedIn over the last year than our own Salesforce.com tool or any other tool, for that matter. It’s an invaluable resource. Facebook, on the other hand, is the same idea. I suppose I can find work connections there, but I feel like that’s more on the after-work scene. I can only guess that Facebook is working on catering to the business crowd sooner than later, but for now if it came down to pageviews, LinkedIn is where I’m at more. Which isn’t to say I LIKE one better than the other, I just use one more based on what I do.