“Nothing that exists in social media is inorganic – it’s lumpy, unpredictable, and delightfully human. By definition.”
Cool interactive from NYT shows length of Paterno’s career, but historical references might have made clear the scope… When he began coaching at Penn State, MacArthur was leading troops across Korea. That’s ancient history to most of us.
How’s this for community engagement? #CNETGotham, a popup store in New York to be staffed by journalists. Those behind the counter are reporters, editors and reviewers. Drop by to catch a workshop or just to touch the toys.
Related: Using Meetup to report
Allen & Overy in Tie-up Talks with Singapore’s Allen & Gledhill The American Lawyer By Jessica Seah Allen & Overy confirmed to sibling publication The Asian Lawyer that the two firms were in discussions Friday. “The strategic intent behind the talks is to establish whether an alliance or combination is possible which would enhance the … and more » |
Could Twitter verify news orgs, journalists?
Twitter’s Top News feature is the company’s attempt to compete w/ Google in real-time search, news aggregation.
The mechanics have people guessing how it might source those links in the Top News spot. Algorithm? Human curator? Divine intervention?
My 2Cents: LinkedIn Today might offer an example. Twitter may choose to use a blend of verified accounts and an algorithm to deliver news links.
Linking has added a level of transparency AND reliability to sourcing and file uploaders, like Document Cloud have, has done the same for primary source docs. And it has only helped journalists build trust with the public. But opening the kimono to the journalists body of work, experiences and entanglements, the public will either have better ground to point and say things like “liberal media conspiracy” or “no bias there.”
Unless they have something to hide, a journalist’s social web can only build a trust with the audience.
Like Klout? It could be the beginnings of a Google Analytics social tool. Or a forgotten Google adventure.
The Washintgon Post is creating the position of Chief Experience Officer (CXO) “to strengthen the voice of the consumer in our product development and execution.”
Poynter:
New products and major changes to existing products will now require approval by the Chief Experience Officer, says Weymouth. Her full memo is after the jump.
I hope the position and the ethos travels to the the newsroom and down to the reporters and editors creating the news product everyday. It’s a step toward achieving what I proposed on Tuesday: The reader as user.
The reader as user
As news editor at TheLadders, where content was but a small portion of the product, I slipped into the habit of referring to readers as… USERS.
Editorial purists will surely gasp. The word user makes it seem too much like we’re producing a commodity product that must meet a customer demand and make a profit. We practice a calling, not a business, Right? Imagine if artists were asked to think of their audience as users. They’re doing so now. And likely gasping.
The New York TImes’s video gaming critic Seth Schiesel wrote yesterday about Bjork’s latest album Biophilia, which was released as an iPad app in which “the user (no longer merely the listener) takes control of a sound-creation tool, tapping pools of light to combine and mix tones of Gregorian complexity.”
Schiesel writes about the evolution it is for artists to “ fans the ability to mess around readily with a treasured creation” and the creative possibilities that might unfold. But there’s a simpler lesson for journalists: If artists, the purest of purists, can see their audience as users, so can you.
And it makes a difference in how we report and deliver the news.
I often put myself in the shoes of the reader and ask reporters and editors to do the same:
- “Would you read that story?”
- “Would you share that story?”
- “Would you be able to find the vital information on that page?”
- “Is this an information source you could apply in your work?”
- “Would you come back to this news site?”
By considering the reader a user, we might begin to take the steps to deliver not just the best content, but the content most in demand by the audience, in the most useful and accessible format.
The reader is user. I think journalists can accept that.
Wait ‘til they hear their producing a product. :-X
The GOP’s Twitter lesson: Bring the followers back home
The New York Times’s Jennifer Seinhayuer profiled the Republican party’s evolved use of social media and shared this account of Brad Dayspring, communication director to House Majority leader Rep. Eric Cantor, firing off a Tweet to counter claims made just minutes earlier by President Obama:
Within seconds, Brad Dayspring, Mr. Cantor’s Rasputin of retort, was on the case, his fingers ripping across the keyboard as if individually caffeinated. “Obama says he’s open to any “serious #GOP idea,” typed Mr. Dayspring, the aggressive spokesman for Mr. Cantor, the Republican from Virginia who serves as House majority leader, in a message on Twitter. “Here are 15 jobs bills stalled in the Senate to get him started.”
A link from Mr. Cantor’s blog was quickly pasted in, the send button was hit, and Mr. Dayspring sat back slightly in his chair, pleased.
The Tweet:
What’s interesting is the final step, the one that brings it all home, literally. Dayspring linked the Tweet back to Cantor’s blog (a post job creation bills), where readers could dive deeper into the topic, float off into other topics and witness a more complete view of the majority leader.
It isn’t enough to engage in Tweets, status updates, checkins and video posts. You want readers engaging on your turf—your Web page—where you have built your own environment to drive the user experience, connect them to alternate social media channels, keep them consuming content or take some sort of action, be a purchase or a vote.
Content on our own turf is the key to social media engagement. Otherwise, you’re just another voice in the void.
