Something weird happened on Twitter this evening. So-called traditional journalists used Twitter and collaborated with “regular” Twitter folks to report on Hurricane Gustav. Rick Sanchez of CNN has been tweeting coverage of Gustav, and has been chatting with Twitter users in New Orleans and elsewhere. Apparently, Sanchez even projected tweets on his CNN broadcast.
Another Twitter user with the identity GustavReporter is apparently a team of Chicago Tribune journalists en route to New Orleans (in Jackson, MS as I write this), occasionally reporting live via Twitter, and using TwitPic to post still images. I noticed that their photos, like the one below, were not captioned, and they told me this was because they were driving.
The Tribune was tweeting via Twitterific*, an iPhone client which means, yes, a journalist no longer needs a satellite uplink, and can cover a live event, complete with images and even video, using just an iPhone. (Yes, you can capture video with an iPhone, long story, no time to tell it right now.)
Mark Mayhew, who lives on Bourbon St., has been “covering” Gustav on Twitter and tweeting with the Chicago Tribune team.
I don’t claim to be an expert on New Orleans or Gustav, and this post is based solely on what I could “see” via Twitter, but it is interesting to watch the unfolding of the inevitable merger of traditional journalism and social media. It is a sad moment indeed when we will no longer be able to say traditional journalists “don’t get it.” That’s going to leave an awful lot of bloggers with nothing to write about.
* iPhone users can also get a free version of Twitterific from the iPhone app store
The tagline for the conference is New Tools, New Rules, New Game. I will be kicking off the Collaboration track of the conference:
What’s hot on the Internet eventually finds its way inside organizations. This session surveys the way companies are using wikis, podcasts, online video and intranet social networks to allow employees to connect, communicate and collaborate.
As always, I look to you, my loyal readers, to help me with the latest (and coolest) case studies on how companies are using these technologies internally, and with business partners, to collaborate, share ideas and make things happen. The best case studies will be rewarded not only with visibility in the keynote, but with a stylish, 100% cotton, limited edition, Socialized t-shirt, designed by award winning Los Angeles graphic artist Opehlia Chong.
If you’re coming to the conference, I look forward to meeting you there!
I was “tagged” last night by my friend Jeremy Tanner. Jeremy and I are often mistaken for each other. Jeremy lives in Boulder. I live in Boulder Creek. Both have first names starting with “J.” And the closer you look the stranger the “coincidences” appear.
I’ve never before participated in a round of online tag, it being the social media equivalent of a chain letter, and a scam to generate links, but given that something useful might come out of it, I thought what the heck.
In a moment, my social media “best practice,” but first, a couple of initial ideas that I ended up rejecting:
Don’t use worn out buzzwords like “best practice.” This particular phrase is ostentatious and not all that meaningful. A student in one of my college journalism classes asked the professor, “What is the most egregious offense a reporter can commit?” to which the professor responded, “the use of the word ‘egregious’.”
Don’t wear white shoes when posting to your blog after Labor Day. (Trying to be topical here.)
I once spilled club soda on the guy in front of me on a plane. I told him a little club soda would wash it out, but he was not amused. It’s true. I did tell him that and a little club soda will wash it out. A best practice, but not related to social media.
So here’s my real suggestion for getting the most out of social media:
Break out of the social media bubble to get the most out of social media. Ignore the so-called “A-list.” They’re on your newsreader. Links to their posts are on Twitter every few minutes. Everyone’s talking about them. Their ideas will come to you. Instead, seek out something new to read every day. Do a Technorati or Google Blog search on “historical revisionism” or “post-modern literature.” Or find someone who just started blogging, leave a positive comment on their blog and add them to your blogroll. (I know blogrolls are passé, but a link is a wonderful gift.)
I’ve been trying to get a handle on the demographics for Facebook and MySpace to help a client decide which best fits his target audience. This has not been easy.
This chart from iStrategyLabs, was published October 22, 2007, and, according to the company, comes directly from Facebook Ads.
This chart indicates that the largest demographic is 18 to 24 with nearly 62%, and the 35+ segment commands less than 5% or less than 1 million users. (I believe the three categories at the bottom of the chart are supposed to read “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll.”)
The following chart from comScore indicates the largest Facebook segment is 35+, with 10,412 million “visitors.”
While the chart is for May 2007, it is the most recent I can find on their site for this particular statistic.
The difference between the two charts may be terminology, but I’m not sure that can account for the disparity. The comScore chart says “visitors,” which could mean multiple visits by the same member, whereas iStrategy/Facebook says “users” which sounds like registered users. Also, the iStrategy chart is U.S. only and the comScore appears to be worldwide.
I contacted Facebook and asked them to explain the difference, and they responded “As you select your targeting criteria for your ads, we will display the approximate number of users that your targeting encompasses. Please keep in mind that this estimate is not exact and that your ad may not be shown to every one of these users depending on what other ads are available to show.”
I have yet to try this, but will be curious to see how it tracks to either of these sets of figures.
Roger McNamee, co-founder of Elevation Partners, said during a panel at the Churchill Club in 2007, “With all respect to Google, it is Web 1.0.” Personally, I think the same can be said for much of what parades as Web 2.0. What we’ve seen so far is different, and it’s innovative, but how radically does it change the prevailing online computing paradigm?
Sure everything will let you link to everything else, and you can embed videos and social network timelines in your blog, but a real mash-up isn’t made of links, it’s made of content, and it should be available to “regular” users, not just people who’ve built their own WordPress blog and know how to add a plug-in and change the code in the sidebar.
Any way, enough of the high minded, lofty set up. I just watched this video with Aza Raskin head of user experience for Mozilla Labs, on Ubiquity for Firefox, an incredible new tool that lets users with no technical ability do some really interesting and decidedly Web 2.0 things.
The video uses an example of sending a friend an email setting up a lunch date. If you were doing this today, you might find the restaurant address on the web, and then go to an online mapping site like Google or Mapquest. From there, you would copy-and-paste or retype the address, click map it, and then copy a link to the map and paste it into the email. With Ubiquity, you simply highlight an address, type “map,” and a map is inserted into the email. In another part of the demo, you can highlight a list of lofts for rent on Craig’s List and have all of them mapped at once. It’s also just a couple of clicks to add the lunch appointment to the calendar (and you don’t leave the email composition window to do it.) As Aza points out, people now need to go to the content they want, and it should instead come to them.
There are a couple of breakthroughs here. The first is the use of natural language, which frees the user from learning a complicated command structure. The second is the ability to go beyond links to allow easy inclusion of actual content, like maps, Yelp reviews and images.
As Aza says, “it’s an alpha, zero-point-one, prototype, community-based experiment,” and it’s not about solving world hunger, but it’s great to see people trying to make computing simpler and more rewarding.
Tags: Hurricane Gustav, Rick Sanchez, CNN, Twitter, GustavReporter, Chicago Tribune, New Orleans, Twitterific, Mark Mayhew
