The weekend read

The week is like a long hallway. The weekend? That light at the end of the tunnel that's been keeping you going since Monday. Before you hit the exit door, take a look at the finds I picked up and shared on Twitter this week, all great reads and leads curated for you, communicators. Consider this your hall pass to the weekend:

• Hall of fame: Want a good role model for 2014? Amazon is America's most-favored brand.
• Hall monitor: Pew is keeping track of your reading habits and in 2013, U.S. readers favored print books over e-readers and tablets. Unclear to Denise: Is this due in part to publishers who don't make their books and backlists available electronically?
• Halls of power: Here's what you can learn from the top CEOs on Twitter (with a link to the top 50). But don't get too excited. Mashable reminds us that most of the top brands on Twitter don't engage with followers.
• Wait in the hall: One of my browser extensions stared spamming me last week. Here's how to find out whether your extensions are using adware or malware. Chrome users can get an extension that helps identify the bad actors for you.
• A corridor of calm: Earlier this week, I weighed in on former New York Times editor Bill Keller's awful slam at a patient blog. The paper's David Brooks stumbled on a patient blog with wise words about how to be with a family going through tragedy, and elevated it--much better approach. Take the time to read "The Art of Presence," which says,"Sit simply through moments of pain and uncomfortable darkness. Be practical, mundane, simple and direct." What gems are your patients' blogs hiding?
• Interns rule the halls of the Times: Reason #54,382,302,202,373 to pay your interns a living wage: The most popular story in the New York Times last year, a wonderful bit of data journalism, was written by AN INTERN. Yes, they hired him.
• Moving walkway: Pinterest now includes full support for GIFs.
• Hallway alarms: Google Alerts have been updated, allowing you to share results on Facebook, Twitter and Google+--a nice idea if you need to share press coverage with a gang of people. Could be a real time-saver.

I'm excited to be launching a new workshop on women and public speaking, in two great cities: Be The Eloquent Woman will take place Feb. 28 in Washington, DC, and April 2 in Oxford, UK. The latter session is a pre-conference workshop at the UK Speechwriters Guild conference, also worth your time. Subscribe to my free monthly newsletter for a US discount code, or go to the link to find the UK discount code. And please, share with your colleagues!

If I could, I'd fill the halls with applauding fans thanking you for being here again on Friday. But that might slow your exit. Have a wonderful weekend!