Social Media Monitoring

Introduction The emergence of the internet has significantly transformed the business environment. One of the ways through which this has occurred relates to the ease with which businesses can undertake marketing communication. Integration of effective marketing communication is one of the elements that contribute towards business success.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Social Media Monitoring specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More There are various mediums of communication which organizations can integrate in an effort to attain a high competitive advantage. One these entails integrating emerging marketing communication channels such the internet. Businesses can easily undertake their marketing promotion through the internet. Integration of social media in their marketing communication has enhanced the ease with which businesses connect with their audiences. However, businesses can also experience marketin g attacks through the social media. One of the ways in which marketing attacks may occur is through social networking. Currently, social media has made it possible for real time communication amongst total strangers to occur. Additionally, social networking has enabled individuals to add user-generated contents for example feedbacks, comments and ratings through their own page. This presents a number of challenges and opportunities to organizations. One of the major challenges relates to the fact that social media can break companies through the comments posted by various individuals. In order to prevent this, it is imperative for organizations to undertake social media monitoring. Schwerdtfeger (23) defines social media monitoring as basically a process which entails listening and actively being involved in a conversation through social media. This means that individuals are able to contribute their own insights and comments with regard to a particular issue being discussed. Social media monitoring provides organizations with an opportunity to address negative comments regarding the organization which might be posted on the social media.Advertising Looking for critical writing on business communication? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Similarly, social media monitoring can enable organizations to appreciate positive comments. According to Porterfield, Khare and Vahl (561), social media monitoring is an important component of a firm’s marketing strategy. However, there are a number of drawbacks associated with social media monitoring. The objective of this memo is to analyze the benefits that organizations can achieve by integrating the concept of social media monitoring in their operation. The memo also evaluates the drawbacks associated with social media monitoring. Benefits of social media monitoring There are numerous benefits that organizations can achieve by undertaking social media monitori ng. One of these relates to the fact that it provides organizations with a comprehensive understanding on what social media users are saying regarding the organization and its products. Additionally, social media monitoring also provides individual entrepreneurs and organizations with an opportunity to participate in a discussion regarding a particular issue associated with their businesses. The resultant effect is that business management teams are able understand the community views regarding their firms’ operation. Conversations on particular issues undertaken through various social mediums such as Twitter, Blogs, Wikis, You Tube, news sites and Facebook can be a great source of business intelligence. This arises from the fact that one can be able to follow conversations on the various social mediums. For example, if one posts a negative comment regarding the business or its products, it is possible to respond quickly and fix it before the business’ image is negativ ely affected. Additionally, social media monitoring also enables businesses to correct any misinformation on a particular issue which may be posted against the business. Undertaking social media monitoring can be an effective strategy that organizations can incorporate when dealing with certain crisis that might negatively affect the organizations (Sellnow, Ulmer Seeger 58). Social media is an effective channel of communication during crisis compared to traditional channels.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Social Media Monitoring specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This arises from the fact that social media provides a platform through which the organization can use to update stakeholders regarding the crisis. Continuous monitoring of the stakeholders’ comment through social media can enable organizations to successfully dispel the crisis. By monitoring the social media, organizations have an opp ortunity to identify possible problems which might arise in the future thus addressing them appropriately. For example, the organizations may be able to identify customer complaints and negative comments posted and address them before they become big problems. Examples of such social networking websites include Twitter, Facebook, You Tube and epinion.com which give product users an opportunity to post comments, provide full reviews and rate products. Additionally, there is also a gap with regard to social media which enables individuals to create fake profiles related to particular organization. As a result, fake messages which are intended at harming the organization can be posted. Considering these challenges, the importance of social media monitoring cannot be underestimated. Sellnow et al (58) is of the opinion that social media monitoring enable organizations to be always prepared and to anticipate possible crisis. Additionally, monitoring keeps organizations to remain connecte d with their stakeholders. Social media monitoring is not only beneficial by enhancing communication between organizations and their prospective customers. However, it also enables entrepreneurs to track conversations being undertaken by industry thought leaders, business partners and competitors. For example, a social media monitoring can enable a particular organization to predict and follow sales trends. One of the social media tools which make this to be possible is Twitter. It is possible for organizations to track Tweets using certain keywords. This illustrates the fact that social media monitoring can play an important role in evaluating the performance of the organization against its competitors and the entire industry. Therefore, social media monitoring can be a hub of information. The intelligence generated by undertaking social media monitoring can also enable management teams to make effective decisions. This significantly improves the entrepreneurs understanding of the industry trends.Advertising Looking for critical writing on business communication? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Social media monitoring also provides businesses with an opportunity to monitor various keywords which may be complementary to the firm’s operation. According to Porterfield, Khare and Vahl (564), monitoring is keyword based. This means that it is paramount for businesses to take into consideration the right words. Some of the keywords that they should take into consideration include the name of the business, product names, names of top 3 industry competitors, name of business partners and niche keywords. Keyword monitoring may provide organizations with an opportunity to undertake product development. Monitoring the various social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and You Tube may give entrepreneurs ideas and insights on possible partnership. Additionally, social media monitoring may also provide organizations and entrepreneurs with an opportunity to identify possible product development opportunities. This arises from the fact that social media monitoring provides o rganizations with a wide range of market data. For example, firms’ management teams are able to understand the customers’ needs, confusion and frustration regarding the firm’s products and services. This arises from the fact that the social media gives entrepreneurs an opportunity to be on top of its customers’ minds. Social media monitoring also provides entrepreneurs with an opportunity to develop a comprehensive understanding of group dynamics and customer behaviors. For example, the entrepreneurs are able to understand how individuals interact with one another. Drawbacks of social media monitoring Undertaking social media monitoring may also have negative impacts on an organizations. One of the major drawbacks that organizations may experience as a result of social media monitoring relates to the fact that the firms’ management teams may overreact to a particular negative comment posted on the social media by the public. By reacting to the nega tive comments, organizations may fail to notice that the customers are may not be aware of the negative publicity regarding the company. This means that most of the customers may become aware of the negative posts regarding the organization through its reaction. Another possible drawback of social media monitoring may arise in the event that the organization has not clarified to its employees on who should communicate to the public regarding various company issues. As a result, some employees may post negative comments resulting into subsequent retraction. The resultant effect is that the public may become confused. Conclusion Considering the dynamic nature of the business environment, it is critical for organizations to integrate effective communication with its stakeholders such as the customers. One of the ways through which organizations can achieve this is by incorporating emerging social communication networks such as the social media. To be effective in utilizing social media as a channel of communication, it is critical for organizations to undertake social media monitoring. The above analysis indicates that there are numerous benefits that organizations can achieve by undertaking social media monitoring. For example, through social media monitoring, firms’ management teams are able to understand what the public is saying regarding the organization and its products. Considering the fact that social media provides organizations with an opportunity to communicate with various stakeholders on real-time basis, firms’ management teams can be able to address negative comments regarding the firm posted on the social media. The resultant effect is that organizations are able to address possible crisis that they may face. This contributes to development of a strong connection with the stakeholders. Social media monitoring can also be a source of business intelligence. This arises from the fact that organizations are able to understand what the cus tomers, the competitors and industry leaders are saying about the firm. This plays a significant role in improving organizations decision making process. Through social media monitoring, it is possible for organizations to undertake product development. For example, an organization may identify an opportunity which it can exploit by undertaking brand extension. However, one of the major drawbacks associated with social media monitoring relates to the risk that organizations may overreact to a particular negative comment posted on the social media. Despite this challenge, social media monitoring is an important element that organizations should take into consideration. This arises from the fact that it results into development of a high competitive advantage with regard to market communication. Works Cited Porterfield, Army, Khare, Phyllis and Vahl Andrea. Facebook marketing all in one  for dummies. New York: John Wiley, 2011. Web. Schwerdtfeger, Patrick. Marketing shortcuts for t he self-employed: Leverage  resources, establish online e credibility and crush your competition. New York: John Wiley. 2011. Web. Sellnow, Timothy, Ulmer, Robert and Seeger, Matthew. Effective crisis  communication moving from crisis to opportunity. New York: Thousand Oaks. 2010. Web. This critical writing on Social Media Monitoring was written and submitted by user Nickolas U. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Film Industry During Cold War

The Film Industry During Cold War Introduction From 1946, the cold war affected almost all aspects of the world’s social, economic, political and cultural life (Quart Albert 214). In 1991, Sir Churchill announced the separation of the Soviet Union from the eastern satellite Nations (Reinhold, 85).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Film Industry During Cold War specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This led to the birth of cold war which greatly influenced the film industry especially in American and in the Soviet Union (John Peter 451). In the United States for example, the film industry became a target for Un-American political and social film industry personalities. During the nineteen fifties, film personalities who failed to cooperate with the Hollywood film committee were blacklisted by the studios and worse still, some of them such as ‘the Hollywood Ten’ were made to serve a prison sentence (iMinds 2). The Film Industry durin g Cold War The ‘Hollywood Ten’ were screen play writers, film directors and producers. iMinds asserts that, â€Å"These 10 individuals had been summoned to appear before the congressional house committee that dealt with Un-American activities† (iMinds 1). The end of world war two marked the start of the cold war between the Unites States of America and the Soviet Union. The congressional house committee reflected the climate of fear created by the rise of communism and clash of ideologies, initially over the partition of Germany (iMinds 1). The committee existed to investigate the infiltration of Hollywood by communists in the belief that communist agents were planting propaganda in American movies (iMinds 1). It was illegal in America to join the communist party, and all the ten individuals had been members of the party at one time or another. The ‘Hollywood Ten’ were convicted of contempt of congress, and each of them sentenced to up to a year in p rison and a fine of one thousand dollars (iMinds 2).Advertising Looking for essay on cultural studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More They were also blacklisted by Hollywood, and after serving their sentences, their only avenue for work was to leave America, or to work under pseudonyms (iMinds 2). The ‘Hollywood Ten’ cases was only the beginning. As the blacklist grew, it damaged the careers of hundreds of American artists. Many artists were forced to betray their friendships and their principles in order to continue working, and ideological censorship was promoted across the film industry in USA (iMinds 2). The film industry was co-opted into this hysteria (iMinds 2). The screen actors Guild, led by Ronald Reagan, who later became the United States president, voted to make its officers swear a non-communist pledge in 1944 (iMinds 2). In the year 1950 the screen actors Guild started to make all its empl oyees to take loyalty oath (iMinds 2). In 1952 the Screen Writer’s Guild authorized the studios to delete the credits of writers who failed to clear themselves before the congress (iMinds 2). Ironically three of the ‘Hollywood Ten’ had been members of the Guild when it was founded twenty years before (iMinds 2). The pending cases before HUAC committee finally came to an end (iMinds 2). They were able to prove that some communists held important jobs in the film industry, particularly as writers. However they failed to prove that the film industry was secretly spreading communist propaganda (iMinds 2). By 1960 the blacklisting began to die out. It was undermined by many different events (iMinds 3).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Film Industry During Cold War specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One interesting case was that of John Henry Faulk (iMinds 3). He was a comedian blacklisted in a privat e publication and sacked by his employer (iMinds 3). He sued his employer behind the publication in 1957 (iMinds 3). The case dragged through the courts for years but in 1962, John Faulk won the case (iMinds 3). John Faulk’s legal outcome led to so many individuals threatening to sue that private firms against being blacklisted (iMinds 3). Before blacklist was history, it was already being played in films (iMinds 3). The most famous film dealing with the theme of the cold war was â€Å"On the Waterfront†, starring Marlon Brando (iMinds 3). This film was collaboration between director Elia Kazan and screen writer Buzz Shulberg with a plot that dealt with the issues of informers (iMinds 3). This film won academy awards in 1954 (iMinds 3). Types of Movies Released During Cold War Movies which were produced during the cold war era are documented and it is through what they exhibited that we individuals were informed about how the film industry responded to the external soc ial pressures of the cold war and how the film industry reacted to it (Michael 173). External social pressure is very vital when evaluating the effects of cold war era on the film industry (Whitfield 42). The cold war era had started a long time before the film industry started getting affected by it. Many movies are produced based on the social events which take place at the time the movie scripts are formulated, therefore films that were produced during the cold war eventually reflected on ‘the garrison state mentality’ which surrounded many people’s minds during that time (Michael 173).Advertising Looking for essay on cultural studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The movies produced in the cold war era which had cold war theme, mainly conveyed information touching on America and Russia quest for power (Sayre 122). These movies included movies which deliberately contained anti-communist or anti-capitalism themes. Films in this category were concerned with effects of the cold war to Nations (Gaddis 24). They could best be referred to as propaganda films and were meant to convince the informed public regarding the objectives and strategies of global cold war conspiracy (Whitfield 56). These types of films were mostly directed from Moscow or Hollywood and were intended to underpin the American and Soviet Union’s ways of lives (Elaine 76). The themes in these movies were straight forward and depicted the forces locked in mortal combat. These movies are vital to the historian because of the information of propaganda contained in them (Melvin 88). Some of the movies in this category includes, â€Å"The Iron Curtain (1948)†, â€Å"I m arried a communist (1949)†, â€Å"I was communist for the FBI (1951)†, â€Å"The Conspirator (1950)† and â€Å"Walk East on Beacon (1952)† (Elaine 102). Conclusion In conclusion it can be asserted that, the cold war had a heavy social impact on the film industry. HUAC committee’s verdict in 1944 to black list any Communist party supporter in the USA, had posed a great challenges to the film industry but now that this challenge is long gone, the industry can continues to unleash blockbuster movies without any fear. It is obvious that the cold war era, continues to socially influence the scripting of themes in modern films. Gaddis, John. The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987. Print. iMinds. Hollywood Blacklist: The Arts. New York: iMinds Publishers, 2009. Print. John, Durham and Peter, Samson. Mass Communication and American Social Thought: Key Texts, 1919-1968. Oxford: Row-Man Littlefiel d, 2004. Print. May, Elaine. Home Ward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. New York: Basic Books, 1988. Print. Melvin, Small. â€Å"Buffoons and Brave Hearts: Hollywood Portrays the Russians, 1939- 1944.† California Rhetorical Quarterly (1973): 327-37. Print. Michael, Paris. From the Wright Brothers to Top gun: Aviation, Nationalism and Popular Cinema. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995. Print. Quart, Leonard and Albert, Auster. American Film and Society since 1945. New York: Praeger, 1991. Print. Reinhold, Wagnleitner. Coca-colonization and the Cold War: the Cultural Mission of the United States in Austria after the Second World War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994. Print. Sayre, Nora. Running time: Films of the Cold War. New York: Dial Press, 1982. Whitfield, Stephen. The culture of the Cold War. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. Print.

Ways of Understanding Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ways of Understanding Organization - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that an organization is a collective set of individuals who work hand in hand with each other to bring the processes and activities to a conclusion which is for the betterment of the business enterprise and the people who work under its aegis. The organization is therefore dependent on how well its resources are being deployed and the manner in which success is achieved in entirety. It is significant to comprehend how the organizational value will come about more so when the employees are focused on getting the job done, making use of resources that are available at their disposal. The need of the time is to make sure that the organization remains firm in its stance and completes the tasks as and when required. Managing an organization is all the more necessary because it is broad in its vision and wide in its horizon. The need of the hour is to make sure that the organization remains staunchly driven to achieve its end goals and objectives , and geared to reach the echelon of success, but this can only be achieved when a logical sequence of processes and activities is undertaken. The organizational life is therefore dependent on how well the organization spends its entire duration, and this is marked by the differences in its processes, steps, and behaviors. All of these tasks are quintessential towards achieving what the organization deems as pivotal – profits pouring in for the long-term success of the business enterprise, which indeed is the organization itself. The organizational understanding is an important one and that too for all the right reasons. The organization brings with it immense satisfaction and joy for the workers and employees who give their best time and again. The management realms play a significant role in the shaping up of values and morals that are present within it. These values are intricate elements which signify growth and development across the board. It also pinpoints the basis of success that organizations comprise of and look forward to building as far as their relevant future realms are concerned. The organizational understanding is all the more pivotal because it discusses how well the organization is well-knitted within its own basis, and how it embodies the foundations of success which will be built upon with the changing time dimensions. The organizational understanding, therefore, banks on the solid premise of building up of the organization to reap rich dividends for it in the long run.

Kate Chopin Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Kate Chopin - Research Paper Example On the rare occasion when one 'woke up' from her enforced dullness, she was either reduced in social status, ruined forever, or killed by the restrictions keeping her from remaining fully awake. These are the issues Chopin explores in her work, reminding us, even now, of the need to protect women's rights and freedoms. Awakening the Female in Kate Chopin’s Works Perhaps the greatest single characteristic of the Victorian age was its nature as an era full of strong contradictions. These contradictions are often captured in the works of female writers working during this time period. As the greater world of farm and commerce changed around them, women as a gender began to question their expected roles in society and began demanding more opportunities available for personal fulfillment. This wasn't simply a selfish desire to follow their own dreams, although this was a factor. It was also a recognition of the fact that many women found it necessary to have more options open to th em for self-support and for the greater welfare of their families. Although women throughout time had found various ways to make it on their own, it was rarely possible for them to attain both material comfort and personal independence without the interference of a man. These are issues that figure prominently in women's writing of the time, such as in the work of Kate Chopin. Within her short stories and novels, Chopin reveals deep meaning and strong feminism embedded within the text due to her careful use of perspective and imagery. Her talent enables her to ‘paint a picture’ of life as it was experienced in that moment. Her stories gain their strength by focusing on key elements of the environment in which the characters move and through the special attention she gives to just how the story should be told. Her style enables the reader to experience the various constraining forces, both material and psychological, that were experienced by women of her time and illustr ates why they would want to escape from it. These ideas are easily discovered in a comparison among some of Chopin's short stories, such as â€Å"The Story of an Hour† and "The Storm," and her novel Awakening as the women experience an awakening to their own long-hidden inner nature. The possibility that one can actually awake to a hidden inner self is the primary action of many of Chopin's works and can be easily found in her short short story "The Story of an Hour." The story begins with the introduction of a frail woman later discovered to be named Louise. Louise is sitting in her home's living room being told by her sister and a close family friend of the sudden death of her husband during a railroad accident. â€Å"She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms† (Chopin 199). Following her somewhat alarming outburst, Louise closes herself in her upstairs bedroom and sits in another chair looking out the window as she considers her new position as a widow. Her feelings toward her husband are revealed in this scene to have been strangely ambivalent: â€Å"And yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter?† (Chopin 201). The horror of her emptiness as a married woman is clearly expressed in her nearly emotionless assessment of what she’s lost in conjunction with her dawning realization that she is finally free to follow her own idea of happiness: â€Å"

Developing management skills Essay Example for Free

Developing management skills Essay By reading the Southfield Case, one can quickly realize that there is definitely lack of direct communication and goal expectations between both Mark Sanders, Vp of account services and Frank Belby, Reginald manager. I believe, there was a lack of supportive communication between Mark and Frank since in the case it was mentioned that Belby viewed professional guidance from Sanders as threatening and it usually caused Belby to distance himself from Frank, which it negatively resulted production. Based on the reading of chapter four of Developing Management Skills, there is a fine line between coaching and counseling and it is extremely challenging for managers to effectively perform both and in the same time make sure that they are not directly ignoring the other persons feelings and confidence. When Frank needed professional advice or when professional criticism was required, instead he mostly got coaching instead of counseling, which resulted in the distance relationship between them, which frank interpreted as a criticism attack on his character. Furthermore, we also learn that in one incident Mark had intervened in a problematic situation between Frank and one of his customers and was able to save that clients contract. By not allowing Frank to resolve the situation, Mark is stretching his duties far too thin and does not allow other employees to delegate effectively, which results in low productivity over all. Based on chapter four readings, the best relationships are based on congruence, which one cannot really find between Mark and Frank’s relationship. Frank is not being clear about his expectations from Mark. It was mentioned in the case that Frank didn’t get the promotion partially because he never directly communicated to frank that he wanted the promotion.

Journalism and Social Media Essay -- Journalism News

Because I am a journalism student, I have talked, researched and discussed with many of my fellow students and faculty members about the topics above. I am choosing to talk about this because I think it is important and they are pertinent issues in the journalism field. I am also very interested in this topic, so I thought it would be fun to take the opportunity you gave us to design our own multi-part question and write about something in journalism that is appealing to me. I recently read an article somewhere, in which BBC journalist Sigrun Rottman said that objectivity in journalism is an illusion and the media should think more of being balanced than being objective. According to her, objectivity in the media does not really exist. This hit home for me because before being a journalism student I believed that objectivity in journalism was undoubtedly the focal point of the profession and that the business of every journalist was to be objective. The truth and the reality of this belief as we know it and as I have come to understand is that objectivity in journalism really doesn’t exist or to put it in better terms, it doesn’t exist to the extent that we perceive it should. So, the oft-stated and exceedingly desired goal of modern journalism is objectivity - the ‘disconnected’ gathering and dissemination of news and information; this allows people to arrive at decisions about the world and events occurring in it without the journalist’s subjective views influencing the acceptance and/or rejection of the information. It’s a pity that such a goal is impossible to achieve! As long as humans gather and disseminate news and information, objectivity is an unrealizable dream. Okay, so what does journalism require? How are journal... ...hat will help you build your journalistic toolkit. I have talked a lot about social media in several of journalism classes and have learned a lot about it, so I thought it would be fun to inject my thoughts behind it in relation to how journalists’ can and should use it for their benefit. Works Cited 1. "Journalism Ethics Online Journalism Ethics Gatekeeping." Journalism Ethics for the Global Citizen. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. . 2. "Journalists and Social Media | The Changing Newsroom." The Changing Newsroom | New Media. Enduring Values. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. . 3. Corbett, Julia B. Communicating Nature: How We Create and Understand Environmental Messages. Washington, DC: Island, 2006. Print.

Are Shakespeare’s Sonnets Autobiographical? Essay

Are the Sonnets, wholly or in part, autobiographical, or are they merely â€Å"poetical exercises† dealing with imaginary persons and experiences? This is the question to which all others relating to the poems are secondary and subordinate. For myself, I firmly believe that the great majority of the Sonnets, to quote what Wordsworth says of them, â€Å"express Shakespeare’s own feelings in his own person;† or, as he says in his sonnet on the sonnet, â€Å"with this same key Shakespeare unlocked his heart.† Browning, quoting this, asks: â€Å"Did Shakespeare? If so, the less Shakespeare he!† to which Swinburne replies, â€Å"No whit the less like Shakespeare, but undoubtedly the less like Browning.† The theory that the Sonnets are mere exercises of fancy, â€Å"the free outcome of a poetic imagination,† as Delius phrases it, is easy and specious at first, but lands us at last among worse perplexities than it evades. That Shakespeare, for example, should write seventeen sonnets urging a young man to marry and perpetuate his family is strange enough, but that he should select such a theme as the fictitious basis for seventeen sonnets is stranger yet; and the same may be said of the story or stories apparently underlying other of the poems. Some critics, indeed, who take them to be thus artificially inspired, have been compelled to regard them as â€Å"satirical† intended to ridicule the sonneteers of the time, especially Drayton and Sir John Davies of Hereford. Others, like Professor Minto, who believe the first 126 to be personal, regard the rest as â€Å"exercises of skill, undertaken in a spirit of wanton defiance and derision of commonplace.† The poems, to quote Dowden, â€Å"are in the taste of the time; less extravagant and less full of conceits than many other Elizabethan collections, more distinguished by exquisite imagination and all that betokens genuine feeling. . . . All that is quaint or contorted or ‘conceited’ in them can be paralleled from passages of early plays of Shakespeare, such as Romeo and Juliet, and the Two Gentlemen of Verona, where assuredly no satirical intention is discoverable.† If the Sonnets were mostly written before 1598 when Meres refers to them, or 1599 when Jaggard printed two of them, or in 1593 and 1594, as Sidney Lee assumes, and if most of them, as the same critic believes, were â€Å"little more than professional trials of skill, often of superlative merit, to which the poet deemed himself challenged by the efforts of contemporary practitioners,† it is passing strange that Shakespeare should not have published them ten or fifteen years before they were brought out by the pirate Thorpe. He must have written them for publication if that was their character, and the extraordinary popularity of his earlier poems would have assured them a favourable reception with the public. His fellow-townsman and friend, Richard Field, who had published the Venus and Adonis in 1593 and the Lucrece in 1594, and who must have known of the circulation of the sonnets in manuscript, would have urged him to publish them; or, if the author had declined to have them printed, some pirate, like Jaggard or Thorpe, would have done it long before 1609. Mr. Lee tells us that Sidney, Watson, Daniel, and Constable circulated their sonnets for a time in manuscript, but he tells us also that the pirates generally got hold of them and published them within a few years if the authors did not do it. But the history of The Passionate Pilgrim shows that it was not so easy to obtain copies of Shakespeare’s sonnets for publication. It was the success of Venus and Adonis and Lucrece (the fourth edition of the former being issued in 1599, and the second of the latter in 1598) which prompted Jaggard to compile The Passionate Pilgrim in 1599; and it is a significant fact that he was able to rake together only ten poems which can possibly be Shakespeare’s, and three of these were from Love’s Labour’s Lost, which had been published in 1598. To these ten pieces he added ten others (eleven, as ordinarily printed) which he impudently called Shakespeare’s, though we know that most of them were stolen and can trace some of them to the authors. His book bears evidence in its very make-up that he was hard pushed to fill the pages and give the purchaser a tolerable sixpence-worth. The matter is printed on but one side of the leaf, and is further spun out by putting a head-piece and tail-piece on every page, so that a dozen lines of text sandwiched between these convenient pictorial devices make as fair a show as double the quantity would ordinarily present. Note, however, that, with all his pickings and stealings, Jaggard managed to secure but two of the sonnets, though a considerable number of them were probably in existence among the author’s â€Å"private friends,† as Meres expressed it a year before. The pirate Newman, in 1591, was able to print one hundred and eight sonnets by Sidney which had been circulated in manuscript, and to add to them twenty-eight by Daniel without the author’s knowledge ; and sonnets by Watson and Constable, as Mr. Lee tells us, were similarly circulated and pirated. How, then, are we to explain the fact that Jaggard could obtain only two of Shakespeare’s sonnets, five years or more after they had been circulating among his friends ? Is it not evident that the poems must have been carefully guarded by these friends on account of their personal and private character? A dozen more of those sonnets would have filled out Jaggard’s â€Å"larcenous bundle of verse,† and have obviated the necessity of pilfering from Barnfield, Griffin, Marlowe, and the rest; but at the time they were in such close confidential keeping that he could get no copies of them. In the course of years they were shown to a larger and larger number of â€Å"private friends,† and with the multiplication of copies the chances of their getting outside of that confidential circle were proportionally increased. We need not be surprised, then, that a decade later somebody had succeeded in obtaining copies of them all, and sold the collection to Thorpe. Even if we suppose that the Sonnets had been impersonal, and that Shakespeare for some reason that we cannot guess had wished to withhold them from the press, we may be sure that he could not have done it in that day of imperfect copyright restrictions. Nothing could have kept a hundred and fifty poems by so popular an author out of print if there had not been strong personal reasons for maintaining their privacy. At least seven editions of the Venus and Adonis and four of the Lucrece appeared before Thorpe was able to secure â€Å"copy† for his edition of the Sonnets. If, as Mr. Lee asserts, Southampton was the patron to whom twenty that may be called â€Å"dedicatory† sonnets (23, 26, 32, 37, 38, 69, 77-86, 100, 101, 103, and 106) are addressed, it is all the more remarkable that Shakespeare should not have published them, or, if he hesitated to do it, that his noble patron should not have urged it. He had already dedicated both the Venus and Adonis and the Lucrece to Southampton; and Mr. Lee says that â€Å"three of the twenty dedicatory sonnets [26, 32, 38] merely translate into the language of poetry the expressions of devotion which had already done duty in the dedicatory epistle in verse that precedes Lucrece.† Other sonnet-sequences of the time (including the four mentioned by Mr. Lee as pirated while circulated in manuscript, except Sidney’s, which were not thus published until after his death) were brought out by their authors, with dedications to noble lords or ladies. Shakespeare’s Sonnets, so far as I am awa re, are the only exception to the rule. Mr. Lee himself admits that â€Å"at a first glance a far larger proportion of Shakespeare’s sonnets give the reader the illusion of personal confessions than those of any contemporary;† and elsewhere he recognizes in them more â€Å"intensity† than appears in the earlier poems except in â€Å"occasional utterances† of Lucrece; but, for all that, he would have us believe that they are not personal, and that their â€Å"superior and more evenly sustained energy is to be attributed, not to the accession of power that comes with increase of years, but to the innate principles of the poetic form, and to metrical exigencies which impelled the sonneteer to aim at a uniform condensation of thought and language.† I cannot help agreeing with those who regard their personal character as no â€Å"illusion,† and who believe that they clearly show the increase of power which comes with years, their true date probably being 1597-98 rather than 1593-94. For myself, I could as soon believe the penitential psalms of David to be purely rhetorical and fictitious as the 129th Sonnet, than which no more remorseful utterance was ever wrung from a soul that had tasted the ashes to which the Sodom-apples of illicit love are turned in the end. Have we there nothing but the â€Å"admirable fooling† of the actor masquerading in the garb of the penitent, or the satirist mimicking the conceits and affectations of the sonneteers of the time? If this is supposed to be the counterfeit of feeling, I can only exclaim with Leonato in Much Ado, â€Å"O God! Counterfeit! There was never counterfeit of passion came so near the life of passion!†