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Baratunde Thurston on Content Curation, Real-Time Search, and "Analytics Porn"

2009-05-19T04:13:25Z

In New York City, on the 16th floor of the Roger Smith Hotel, we caught up with social media superhero Baratunde Thurston, web editor for The Onion.

Thurston started getting into this whole "Internet" thing in simpler times when the social web was called Usenet. He now carves out his niche at the overlap of the Venn diagram of comedy, politics, and tech. As an official Internet old-timer who makes it his business to stay relevant, Thurston has particularly useful insights on the business of curating applicable content with great efficiency and timeliness.

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"I remember," Thurston said, "back in 1996 or 1997, when you could finish the Internet... You could stay up until two or three in the morning and go to sleep and know, 'I read the Internet today.'" Simpler times, indeed.

So, with the mind-boggling multiplicity of blogs, news sites, and social networks, how does a professional netizen maintain cultural and technological relevance? And what tools does the modern, socially cognizant webmaster use to track and optimize traffic in real time? Call us cruel, but we prefer you watch the video and hear it all firsthand.

Comment from Home on 2010-08-23

2010-08-23T12:27:48Z

Creative entertaining intelligent, and hilarious, Baratunde is a great combination of all four qualities. Brilliant lecture man. So informative and funny. Absolutely awesome!

Comment from Anthony Martin on 2010-05-18

2010-05-18T11:26:39Z

Baratunde Thurston is an extraordinary guy, and this story is just another evidence. I enjoy his every word

Comment from Ford on 2010-05-01

2010-05-01T21:23:59Z

Making people laugh about politics is a great way for it to be understood by those who really cannot comprehend exactly what is going on. Thanks for sharing this story.

Comment from Security Guard on 2010-04-12

2010-04-12T11:33:22Z

Thanks for taking us behind the scenes with Baratunde Thurston to understand the power of stories. Often times we hear about the power of hearing stories but not necessarily about what stories can do for the teller. This is a great example of both!

Comment from Daniel Honigman on 2010-01-27

2010-01-27T13:38:09Z

(Although I wish I could embed video from RWW.)

Comment from Daniel Honigman on 2010-01-27

2010-01-27T13:36:56Z

Those lucky enough to know Baratunde -- or smart enough to follow him on Twitter -- have long known him to be a treasure trove of insight. (He's also one funny dude.)

Great interview, RWW.

Comment from rick on 2009-05-19

2009-05-20T03:43:26Z

i try not to look back too much to the g.o. days but as editor in chief of "bbs magazine" (print, bbs and - yep - web) things were so much more ... surprising and exciting, while at the same time incredibly frustrating: adjust dip switches on my 300 baud modem - grrr. but dean i know your excitement all too well.

Comment from Dean on 2009-05-19

2009-05-19T18:57:17Z

Off topic, but:

Ahh the good old days. I remember the first time in '92 connecting to a server in China (vs/ local BBS).

I was so excited I ran around to all my friends telling them I was connected to a server in CHINA! Wow!

...they didn't care...lol

Comment from Engago team on 2009-05-19

2009-05-19T07:22:26Z

As Baratunde Thurston said: in the old days people were reading the Internet.
Now the content needs to be presented on a video else people don't take the time anymore. Like in this post.

That could become a big problem for Google as Google indexes perfectly text but not video content.

Comment from Subbu on 2009-05-19

2009-05-19T07:16:58Z

Is there a way to customize my info requirements considering the overload that is happening? I found the video very useful, but still feel that there is need for some specific tools that can help a person.

Comment from fake rolex watches on 2009-05-18

2009-05-19T06:48:22Z

As an official Internet oldtimer who makes it his business to stay relevant, he has particularly useful insights on the business of curating applicable content with great efficiency and timeliness..