inviaggio

Yesterday I had a pleasant dinner with some colleagues of mine. Journalists, to be precise. We discussed for hours about the future of our job, as frequently happens in these years with other journalists. Clarification: they are as old as me. Thirty, more or less. The topics were: 

- Are the social network disrupting the good information?  For them the answer was yes. And I was there defending the Evil. 

I’m not a social network fan. I use them just because of my job. But I understood in these years their function of paperboy. Yes, the iconic boy selling newspapers in the street. They are the newspaper’s laudhailer and we use them to spread our news where the people are. 

- Are the social network the place where the newspapers readers are?  For my colleagues the answer was: no, social network are not the people. At least, not the one a newspaper has to write for. 

I was not sure of it. On Facebook, for instance, there are more or less 30M account in Italy. One out of two Italians. Are there readers? I think so.  What I realized in the last few years working as managing editor for an online magazine is that what is changed is the way people want to read stories. It’s changed the time they can spend on them, the way they read them, the places and of course the devices.

Tips I learnt in the last three years

- Analysis vs infographics  There are great analysis on «how money works» I published had less than one thousand visualizations. There are infographics explaining the same topic that had hundreds of thousands. Same topic, same explanation, different results. Average time spent to read them: 6 minutes (written analysis) vs 2 (info) Why? 

What I learn. Because learn (or assume you are learning) something complicated in few time is what the online readers what. 

- Long stories vs breaking news

Don’t trust them. You don’t need passion to succeed in work. In general, you don’t need passion to turn out in anything but love and sex. But this is not the point. What we read, what we are used to listen to during conferences and panel and talks is that passion rules success in life, in work. I don’t think is true. Actually after 7 years working as journalist the only thing I can say for sure is that when I let passion rule my decisions I mess up badly. Every time. No exceptions.

Sherlok Holmes didn’t solve crimes with passion. Pink Floyd masterpiece «Sheep» it’s a manual of logic. What is really important is will and logic. Forget about passion. 

Passion is something which blows up logic. And without logic to succeed is impossible. We need logic and great attention to figure out what is happening around us. To understand what we say, what we should say, what not, what to do, what to avoid. Passion in work is a terrible mistake. It’s like running fast on a skateboard that is not yours and is tied to the wrist of the real owner. He has just band the arm, pull the wire, and... You can run, because it’s your will. Your nature. You can’t avoid to rum. So, run. Run fast. But remembering that the skateboard is not yours. 

On Tuesday I went to my first Robbie Williams concert. I confess it wasn't the most coveted concert of my life. But there I went. Actually I had listened to no more than two songs by the British singer. I'm not a Williams fan. 

But I must confess that his concert was one of the best experience of live music I have ever had in my life. Williams was great on the stage. He moved from side to side engaging the public with mastery. He was able to catch the public with the songs, or moving his body in sexy (maybe funny) ways, or playing Italy around with «championi del mondo», a kind of parodia of our «temporary national anthem» during the World Cup in the 2006 based on the song Seven Nation Army. 

He seemed to know perfectly what the public wanted. On the stage he was a kind of «director of emotions». No errors, never. Let me tell you about my favorite trick. It concerns when he starts a song and then he waits a bit for the public answer and the public continues that song «a cappella». Then he smiles at them as if he was hit by a light of delight and then he releases his emotion in a huge smile saying sweet words like: «when I tried to sing this song in Bruxelles none knew it, I love you Italy, am I still you son?». The best (though unpolite) way to trigger out the delirium. 

Cliffs

Someone had warned me. «Don’t do that, it’s too far to reach by swim». I was 25. 6 years ago. The one who was with me (was it real or my imagination played me around?) knew I used to be a good swimmer. The one had always been with me. I was used to swim a lot when I was a child. I really loved swimming. I used to swim for hours, until my arms started hurting and spasms stopped my legs. But I loved that pain.

Someone had warned me. «Don't do that, it's too far to reach by swim». I was 25. 6 years ago. The one who was with me (was it real or my imagination played me around?) knew I used to be a good swimmer. The one had always been with me. I was used to swim a lot when I was a child. I really loved swimming. I used to swim for hours, until my arms started hurting and spasms stopped my legs. But I loved that pain. 

The greenfinch jacket and a forced expression of gravity made him so beliavable. He started talking about his idea of startup after a girl with tight trousers and black boots had introduced him. Trastevere. Startup Weekend Rome, 31st May 2015. Her topic was: girls have a huge problem with sexuality, they are ashamed to talk about one of the main problem they have, the shape of their vaginas. And the difficulties to... arouse it. Then the guy started explaining his idea. I’ll sum up it with an exemple. Have you ever played Fruit Ninja? Do you remember how you move the fingertrip from left to right trying to cut fruits in little pieces? Stay there. Have you ever noticed that some fruit cutted in the middle reminds in a certain way a vagina? Ok, this guy wants to create a fruit ninja of women sexuality. Touching the screen, you can notice which parts are more sensitive than others. What to do, What to avoid. A world map will bring you through the different shapes and needs of worldwide vaginas. And coins to get another level.

I thought it was a little house. A house like those kids draw at school. 5 pm. I was in a boat which was bringing me around the Finnish Islands in the nearby of Helsinki. I saw the first one of that kind of houses in a small island just few miles far from the harbor. It was white. Red roof. A huge window that showed a clean and wood-made room inside. From the little patio, a stairway ran down into the sea. I envied who was living there. Alone. In a little house. In a solitary island. Under the sun of the Nordic spring. When the boat started circumnavigating that piece of land I realized there was another house just behind the little one. Much bigger. Hidden by an harmonious group of pines. Then I discovered the little house wasn’t a house at all. Rolled up in a white towel a man stood up in front of the patio. He started descending the stairs and, slowly, he entered into the sea. That house was actually a sauna. The real house was the big one behind it.