“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.”
—Samuel Johnson

Over on iMediaConnection, Rodney Rumford has a good article for anyone looking to start using Twitter as a marketing tool and not just a social distraction. The 7 Marketing Mistakes To Avoid On Twitter include “Using it as a push marketing channel,” in which Rumford gets to the core of how marketers need to approach Twitter:

When you have people follow you, they follow for a reason. They have effectively “opted in” to hear what you are publishing and sharing. Focus on adding value and giving them what they want. Use this channel as a way to communicate industry news and trends — insights that are valuable to your target audience. Interaction is the key to building influence on Twitter. Share openly and don’t only talk about your services. Find a way to mix it up and be interesting and human in your interactions.

Takeaway for marketers: Twitter isn’t the Holy Grail of marketing that all the buzz might lead you to believe. It’s one of many, many online marketing and communications tools. If you’re going to use it, though, use it wisely.

Breitbart reports that U.S. newspapers are “mad as hell” about “Web sites that use their stories without paying for them.”

The main target? Evidently it’s Google. “Should we be allowing Google to steal all our copyrights?” asks Rupert Murdoch, who quickly answers his own question: “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Over on All Things Digital, Peter Kafka has a post that’s must reading for anyone interested in this issue. In an update to his post, Kafka reports that:

[Google] has a deal with the AP that expires at the end of this year, and the AP is setting the table for upcoming negotiations. Their main contention: Google is already using AP content in ways that aren’t covered by the existing agreement, and the AP wants to be compensated for them.

Meanwhile, Google CEO Eric Schmidt appears shocked — shocked! “I was a little confused by all the excitement in the news in the last 24 hours,” he says in this article for which AP presumably received payment from Yahoo! News.

We all know Twitter and Facebook are growing like mad. Mashable gives us the numbers for March. Yep, they’re pretty huge.

Here’s an oldie but goodie from the Business Week archives to get your week off to a fun start. It’s sorta sad how much of this article still holds true a decade later.