There seems to be a theme running through journalism classes this year. Get online, or die. This semester, professors have been stressing the importance of the Web in our future careers. I don’t know about you guys, but Professor Van Wyke’s comment about embrace social media or work in a coffee shop freaked me out.
So I’ve embraced it. But just because I’ve embraced the Web, that doesn’t mean I’m an expert at using it. I have a pretty solid grasp on Facebook. Twitter is still a bit dicey. Blogging scares me—and I’m writing three of them.
Adam Singer posted 50 blogging tips for beginners on his blog, The Future Buzz. Adam’s blog is all about web marketing/PR strategies, so any advice he gives I’m willing to listen to. His advice is geared toward rookies like us who are just getting started in the blogosphere. Here are five of his fifty tips that I think are key to a successful blog: (more…)
At the Associated Collegiate Press convention in Austin, TX last weekend, I learned a new vocab word in a citizen journalism session: MoJo.
Some of you are probably familiar with the term – it’s been around for a couple of years now. It’s a hybrid word that’s short for mobile journalist. These field-only reporters work mostly from their cars or coffee shops with internet access and have equipment that allows them to upload copy, shoot and edit video and photos and upload all of these components to the web version of the publication straight from their cars. Click here to read a first-hand account from a working mojo.
The story describes mojo Chuck Myron’s job working for The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla. In the article, Myers writes, “We can’t do journalism the way we’ve been doing it unless we want to become irrelevant. Millions of readers have already left us behind and are wondering why we haven’t kept up with them. Professional journalism has its place online, and it’s high time we take it.”
Most industry professionals have absorbed this same attitude, but it may have gone too far. The lack of fact-checking and copy editing in some publications’ content is crippling the credibility of journalism. As our professor has stressed many times, it only takes one mistake to lose credibility.
This Monday, The Washington Post felt the burn of a lack of copy editing in its publication of a world series column riddled with errors.
This mojo phenomenon brings up a few questions. (more…)
Droid has been hailed as the mother of all android phones and the biggest contester to date for the iPhone. Their single commercial parodies Apple’s asthetic style and creates a list of “iDon’ts” that target the faults of the iPhone. So just what is it about the Verizon Droid that has critics on the edge of their seats?
First off, there’s voice search. Perhaps the coolest feature of the Droid, this allows you to search anything on the web simply by saying it aloud. It sure beats typing in a url or search words letter by letter. In fact, starting November 6, Verizon will provide a toll-free number for new owners to call that allows them to control two digital billboards in Times Square. Droid users can simply voice search for practically anything on the internet, and their search results will appear on the billboards.
Other features include a 5 megapixel camera that takes photos in the dark, free turn-by-turn Google Maps 3D navigation, and a real keyboard that works simultaneously with a touch screen. Droid even claims it has interchangeable batteries. Check out more features on their website.
Just one more step in the domination of smart phones over laptops.What do you think? Will the new Droid finally trump the iPhone? How do you think it could change social interaction?
According to The Chicago Tribune, he is “the planet’s leading expert on magazines.” Today, it is my privilege to introduce you to the man known as Mr. Magazine, Samir Husni, Ph.D. Maybe you’ve already heard of him, perhaps not. As the director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi’s School of Journalism, Husni has earned his title as the world’s leading tracker of magazine launches. The magazine buff spends nearly $15,000 on magazine publications each year as part of his research. Mr. Magazine is getting ready to publish the 24th edition of his noted book, Samir Husni’s Guide to New Magazines, and has authored several other guides on how to publish, design, and start your own magazine. He is a public intellectual in the realm of journalism and gives talks on trends present in today’s magazine industry to corporations such as Meredith and Hearst. Husni is a also regular judge of The National Magazine Awards.
So basically, he knows what he’s talking about. But he should be to be dubbed “Mr. Magazine”–right? Like us, Husni is an avid blogger on WordPress, where he gives his audience the inside scoop on the latest in periodicals. For example, did you know during the month of October over 100 magazines launched? So much for magazines being a dying industry. Although, Husni does admit that only 40 percent of new magazines celebrate their first anniversary. He also has his own Website, where you can get your fix of Mr. Magazine.
One of Husni’s major worries is the amount of “one-night stands” the magazine industry has been experiencing lately. Yes, you can start a magazine, and Mr. Magazine’s tips can help you, but that doesn’t mean you will spawn readership. ”We should be in the business of long lasting relationships if we are going to survive the future. The band-aids we are using today will not stop the bleeding, and if we can’t survive our present, do you really think the future will matter?,” says Husni in his latest blog entry.
Mr. Magazine is regularly interviewed by USA Today, New York Times, CNN–you name it. Get the low-down from Husni about all there is magazine, by just spending five minutes with him:
Do you think the magazine industry will bounce back and reignite the love flame with its readers? Do you trust Mr. Magazine?
Log on to Facebook and you probably also simultaneously heard of Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, in addition to scrolling through your tagged pictures from Friday night.
Forgot your class assignment? Just send a friend request to the girl who sits two rows ahead of you, and she’ll likely give you the answer in a few minutes’ time.
Clearly, exploding social network sites provide an advantage to almost anyone who uses them.
But these same sites have negative implications, too. Twitter and Facebook are now used to incriminate public figures like never before. Just ask Andre Agassi, tennis legend. In a recent tweet that has now been removed from his Twitter page, a Sports Illustrated employee released a tidbit from Agassi’s new novel, “Open”. The tweet read: “@richarddeitsch: Book excerpt from Andre Agassi in the forthcoming SI: He admits to taking crystal meth during his career.”
This was the first public recognition of crystal meth addiction for Agassi. Other publications latched on to this tweet even after it was deleted, and hours later, an Australian Web site released an exclusive series of material, also from the book. He also admitted to his meth use in an interview with People magazine shortly after the SI tweet.
The increasing popularity of Twitter posts isn’t a new phenomenon. The Telegraph, a UK newspaper, recently reported that traffic to Twitter has increased “27-fold”. Other experts suggest that the Web site gains more than 10,000 users daily. But that doesn’t mean Twitter is free from scandal.
Because of the compromise of professionalism and lifestyle Twitter poses for individuals like Agassi, experts have created a list of Twitter etiquette tips.
But are guidelines imposing on a (free) social media forum? Should celebrities, public officials, and journalists be allowed to tweet their personal life without it reflecting negatively on their careers? What do you think? Should status updates even be considered real news?
The iPhone has been around for a couple years now and since it was born, its role in social media has been steadily climbing. When it first came out, it was seen as a luxury and as the newest fun toy. I’m not one of those people that must always have the newest technology and will spend any amount of money to get it. In fact, I was one of the last of my friends to get an iPod and I still use the same one—one of the old nanos. Recently, mostly since I began my job at Meredith, I feel the need, and sometimes actual pressure, to get an iPhone.
This started because I went to a meeting where they were discussing an app they wanted to create. Suddenly, I felt lost and behind because I had no idea how to contribute. I don’t know anything about apps or how an iPhone functions. I didn’t even know there were so many apps available. So I started asking around and learned that an iPhone is basically the world at your fingertips.
The Internet is obviously a plus and, unlike other types of phones, it looks and functions like the Internet on a computer. I find this to be extremely useful since I could easily update Facebook, Twitter, and my blog any time, anywhere. And isn’t that the point of all this social media talk at school? Aren’t we supposed to be constantly paying attention to that world? I would be so much more inclined to participate if it was that easy.
I was looking at iPhone stuff on time.com and they have multiple lists of the best kinds of apps—Top iPhone Applications, 20 Money-Saving iPhone Apps, Ten Best iPhone Apps for Dads and Moms, Top 10 Back-To-School iPhone Apps. There are so many options I wouldn’t even know where to begin. But I do know that, especially in New York City where the world spins a mile a minute, having an iPhone is a necessity. Do you guys feel this way too? For those of you who have iPhones, does it make a difference?
Volkswagon is launching its newest model of the GTI, and they are spending 1/120th of the money they spent on advertising for its predecessor, the 2006 model, and they are expecting success. Sound too good to be true? It just might be, no one has ever tried what they are about to do.
Their plan: The automaker is launching a new iPhone app to announce its newest vehicle. Read the release. The cost: $500,000 total in advertising. (They spent $6 million in 2006). Their strategy: It’s a gamble. They think that the highly targeted app will reach the demographics of their audience, more effectively than a TV ad campaign—and for less money. AdAge agrees with their logic. The problem: Even though there are 500 million iPhone users who be a seemingly great audience for this endeavor because of their interest in technology and more expensive products, there is no way they will all download the app. And why would anyone want to download advertising? Well, Volkswagon has created an interactive advertisement, or a racecar game that highlights the specific features of the car—and of course, it is free. Download RealRacing GTI today.
In a time of uncertain finances, this new advertising strategy could be revolutionary. Volkswagon is testing the waters, and it will be interesting to see if we have gone into a new age of advertising.
One thing can at least be said for trying something so outrageously new: Imagine much free advertising they are getting from pulling a stunt like this. Many critics believe if anything, it is a smart PR move.
Do you think that advertising could shift towards this new realm of possibilities? Would you download an advertisement?
Since its creation in Aug. 2008 by Martin Gee, a former San Jose Mercury News employee, the Newspaper Escape Plan Facebook group has evolved into quite the forum. Printosaurs and media gurus alike are invited to discuss issues, share resources and give tips to those in journalism. The “common interest—self help” group calls the newspaper industry an “abusive relationship” and urges members to transfer their skills to a new industry more deserving.
I’m glued to my cell phone. I’ll admit it. But sometimes I wish I could just leave it at home. I feel like I miss so much when I’m talking on or staring at my phone. I find myself checking it every two minutes to convince myself that no one called/texted me since the last time I checked. It’s like an extra appendage.
But how much do we really miss because of our phones? There are people running into light posts and falling into manholes!
An article in The New York Timesaddresses the blinders affect that cell phones seem to have. Have you ever walked by something interesting only to have someone else tell you about it later? I hate that feeling of “I was there, how did I miss it?”
A study byWestern Washington University found that only eight percent of people on their cell phones noticed a clown on a unicycle as they strolled near him. But 60 percent of people walking with a friend and 33 percent of people listening to music or walking alone were aware of the clown.
Are our lives literally passing us by as social media takes an even larger role? I think it’s time we took a step back from technology and focused on the real world. Who knows what we might see if we put our phones on silent or left them at home for a day.
Do you need your phone surgically removed from your hand? What are some ways you maintain face-to-face connections with friends and family?
Log on to Facebook and you probably also simultaneously heard of Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize, in addition to scrolling through your tagged pictures from Friday night.
