John Herrman

In an age when more than 80 percent of the American population carry portable screens, we can’t help but look over.

John Herrman meets the social media marketers whose political memes are taking over Facebook.

Celebrities, politicians, musicians, and corporations used to rely on large media organizations to get their message to the public. Platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter has allowed them to bypass this, changing the media landscape.

Revisiting the predictions of an American Online exec in 1995.

John Herrman switches from his iPhone to a much more affordable “shitphone” and discovers how reliable mid-market gadgets can be.

David Johnson has sent more than 260 emails to Jay-Z, but has yet to receive a single reply. That may not mean his messages aren’t being read:

“‘[Jay] has opened every single one of my emails, even re-opening them to re-read,’ says Johnson. ‘He has clicked on links and had emails open for as long as 20 minutes.’ He knows this because he uses a tool called ReadNotify, which embeds a small, unique invisible image in every message he sends. When the message is opened, the image loads from ReadNotify’s servers, which record the time of the view, its duration and rough location. ReadNotify then gives the sender a read receipt, confirming that the message was seen. These services have been around for years, and they work — this kind of “bugging” is an old email marketing trick.”