My new column: a Give & Take with readers

I have begun writing a new column for the Register-Guard called Give & Take.

The idea is borrowed from Sound Off, the weekly column I helped launch at The Bakersfield Californian.

The goal of Give & Take is to have a conversation with readers about our mission, and to give them a place to ask questions about our content and coverage, and to share compliments, criticisms or suggestions about what we do. Over time I hope to the column becomes less about the nuts and bolts of producing and delivering news and more about the steps local media companies need to take to do a better job of connecting their communities at a time when trust in media is dissapating quickly. 

My first column generated a flood of responses, so I've been posting a few answers online-first or online-only to keep things moving while I settle into a regular publishing schedule. 

We're parking all the columns, long and short, in a Give & Take section at RegisterGuard.com. 

Let me know what you think. 

Props to Verizon handling of privacy-policy changes

Regular readers know I get cranky when website operators do dumb things when it comes to their customers' privacy. 

I believe there should be a basic expectation of transparency and honesty when it comes to using your customers' personal information. Sadly, many companies big and small abuse those relationships. 

So, I was pleasantly surprised with a recent email from Verizon (my cell carrier) that not only alerted me to changes to its privacy policy but gave me concrete examples of how my information might be used and how I could easily opt out of participation should I have concerns. 

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Help me with my math

We all know the financial markets are crazy, but if you want proof even serious investors can be distracted by shiny objects, try this on for size.

Smart Money magazine reported this month that Twitter's $8 billion valuation means each of the 51 billion Tweets you and I and everyone else send annually is worth 16 cents. Seriously? My Tweets are genius, but I wouldn't pay 16 cents for them. That 16 cents should make every serious investor stop and take notice and stay far away from any IPO until Twitter shows signs it can earn consistent and sizable revenue. For those who don't know, the company is losing millions of dollars, and has since it launched and is still struggling to find any sizable revenue stream to pay its enormous serving costs, let alone investors. An IPO is simply a way to get others to pay for the party.

Then The Wall Street Journal reports that Tumblr is on the verge of raising up to $100 million in outside investment, giving the blogging company a value of $800 million. This for a company that, while very cool and growing in popularity, generates almost no revenue and has no clear concept of how to make money.

Hmmm ... reminds me of Pets.com, a flash-in-the-pan company whose business strategy was to lose money on every sale.

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