We told ourselves the internet offered a new paradigm for language, a complete freedom to write as we spoke, to be interactive, informal, individual and free from antique conventions of grammar and style: we CAN start a paragraph with ‘And’, or ‘But’; a 12-word blog post is FINE; block capitals for emphasis? HELL, YEAH!
Then we split test, checked our adwords, and examined our analytics. The feedback was instant, detailed and accurate in a way that it had never been before. And as we discovered more about the medium, it changed the way we wrote. Narrative became a function of the user journey, personal interests ceded into linkbait and the nature of language shifted beneath us.
About me
My name’s Sam Bueno de Mesquita. I do digital marketing, with a side-order of social and content strategy. Sometimes, I build a website from scratch for friends or family (all feedback from proper designers ungraciously accepted).
I’m currently working for the amazing charity ActionAid UK – please sponsor a child if you want to help end poverty. I’ve previously done stints in the travel and entertainment industries, and years and years as an email marketing specialist, which gives me a feeling of quiet superiority over all these kids who do social (By ‘eck, I remember when all this were measurable profits).
I like Jane Austen, William Gibson, Jonathan Franzen and Brede Hangeland.
You really should watch Movern Callar and Small Faces. They’re two of the best British films ever made, and hardly anyone has seen them.
You can also find me on Twitter, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, and in the vast, howling emptiness of Google+.
I look like this:
That was painted by my wife. Here’s some more of her work. Good, isn’t she?
