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The greatness of social media (with the help of 8 Minute Abs)

June 1st, 2009

If you read media blogs in order to learn something new, or find the next big thing, then I’d advise you skip this post. It won’t be worth it.

What I’m about to tell you is neither new or surprising. We all know about it. But, just as my Dad is often compelled to marvel at the mobile telephone, I often find myself thinking “Wow. Social media really very clever”.

The last time it happened was at Euston Station. Or to be a little more accurate, a couple of days after a trip to Euston Station. Read that little anecdote here.

Moving on. Readers, I’m getting a little fat. Since passing my driving test, and getting a job, I’ve spent more time sat on my arse than ever. As a result, I’ve got a bit porky. Now I know what you’re thinking — “Blogger in overweight shocker” — but I don’t like to be a bloater.

So I’ve taken a few measures to sort this out. First: lots of walking. Second: LESS CHIPS. Third: 8 Minute Abs.

8 Minute Abs, you ask? Ah! It’s my secret weapon:

Cheesier than a Westlife ballad. But I tell you what — it’s a bloody good workout. So there’s social media triumph number 1: the fact I found it in the first place after searching for ‘fitness’.

Triumph number 2: thanks to the ‘Related videos’ I now know that as well as 8 Minute Abs, there is 8 Minute Arms, 8 Minute Legs and a few others. Great! I’m sticking to the abs right now, but boy, can’t wait to see what the cool fella has in store for me next.

And he is a cool fella indeed. How do I know? Well, another user has posted this little chat with him on YouTube too.

But here’s where the fun begins. A search on YT for 8 Minute Abs brings up a fans. A couple of remixes — this is my favourite — and then this gem:

Haha! Now, those folk on the floor aren’t just a bunch of fatties. How dare you! They’re actually in a band called Combichrist. Of course, at this point I could take the route into social media and find out all about Combichrist. But let’s stick with abs for a time being.

Here’s Rachel, doing the routine, filmed by, I assume, her college roommate. Not the best video you’ll ever see, but check out those comments! Look who it is! It’s THE BLOKE IN THE CLIP. AHHHHHHHH!! I haven’t been this excited since I bumped into Bill Bailey in a lift the other week.

And here’s a — ohhhh! — clip of a bloke who — ohhhh! –  is completely — ohhhh! — off his — ohhhhh! — face (confused? Just watch the clip). In an unexpected twist, turns out he’s a born again Christian.

Then on to Facebook. There are, as expected, tons of groups celebrating the brilliance of the clip. And with Twitter I find another load of people sharing their enjoyment too.

The quesiton is whether all this extra knowledge is pointless. Well I’d argue it isn’t. Through social media I’ve not only found the clip, but I’ve found tips and information about it and I’ve found a community (yes, it’s a community) of people who appreciate it like I do.

I quite like that. If the man in the video, Jaime Brenkus, was talking to social media, I’m sure he’d say: “Woo, you’re doing a great job!”

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The passion press: a business model?

May 26th, 2009

I’ve been all about micropayments lately — but here’s another idea to chew over.

I’m going to call it the “got any spare change guv’nor?” approach. It works, consistently, for Wikipedia — but for how long we don’t know. (Side note: Is ‘Ars Technica’ actually pronounced, y’know, ‘arse’? Works for me.)

The other night I got an email from Simon Owens, a former newspaper hack and now social media-y kinda guy. He shared his post about ‘Paste’ magazine, an independent music magzine in the States:

“We needed some cash,” Purdy told me. “So we had always known that if we ever had to, we could go to our readers. A lot of them tell us — especially in the last few months, because they’re not dumb, they know what’s going on in the economy — they’ve written us and said, ‘hey, if things ever get rough on Paste, make sure you ask us for help,’ and so we took them seriously. We have a special relationship with out readers.

Woah — how many magazines could say that with a straight face?

But it got me thinking — is the passion press the ultimate business model? I donated money — a tiny amount, but an amount nonetheless — to Wikipedia when I was studying. Why? Because I couldn’t live without it. Are there magazines you couldn’t live without? Possibly not — but there’s probably a website out there that you love.

Personally, if they asked, I’d donate money to When Saturday Comes, the brilliant football magazine which, I’m delighted to say, I now write for. Before the days of WordPress.com, I’d have winged a few quid to WordPress if they’d really needed it. After all — I owe much of my career to this simple yet powerful software.

Twitter? Perhaps. Facebook, no, not now. There’s a point, I guess, when a site lifts itself away from the community and into the hands of corporations — and Facebook’s time has long gone.

But how’s that for a business model? Sites struggle on with advertising revenue — but if they need it, readers trump up and sort them out. Are there any magazines you’d donate money to in order to keep them alive?

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Posted in Comment, Social Networking, The Future, The Web

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20 practical and innovative ways to introduce micropayments for newspapers

May 15th, 2009

A couple of posts ago, while pondering micropayments, I wrote “If my time at the BBC has taught me anything, it’s that ideas are worthless — it’s working examples that really get you somewhere”. Since then, a friend emailed me, saying that she thinks the problem with micropayments is that people don’t know see how they fit in. They don’t see how people — the punters — will react to suddenly being told to pay for something that used to be free.

I believe it can be done.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

It’s not a case of just throwing up subscription walls, slapping readers in the face with a log-in screen that says “Join now and get 40% off at Debenhams”. We need to be inventive. Considering how creative journalism is, the lack of creative thinking with payments (and the web in general) is baffling. What are we afraid of? Innovation? Profit?

So I’d like to get the ball rolling. Here are 20 suggestions for adding micropayments to a newspaper website. The ideas cover promotion, implementation and, for want of a better phrase, damange limitation. I’m going to divide them up into categories depending on the ‘type’ of person.

Mr Jones the Newspaper Buyer, 53

1. Mr Jones appreciates online treats after buying his newspaper

Mr Jones goes out and buys The Times. He spends 90p. Mr Jones reads The Times on his way to work, and stuffs it in his bag when he’s done. At work, he checks the newspaper online; but hang on — he can’t access the articles. Under the new micropayment scheme he’s forced to pay again. Right? Wrong. In Mr Jones’ paper, he has a voucher. On that voucher is a unique code that can be used once — and only once — to access the day’s content online. He can do this for just 30p — that’s a third of the normal price. For £1.20, Mr Jones has got the print product and all the additional online extras too. Mr Jones is happy.

2. Mr Jones wants to subscribe (Thank you Mr Jones!)

Subscriptions are on the decline, yes, but there are still core subscription readers who will be around for some while yet. Mr Jones is one of them. If he wanted to subscribe to The Times he would have to pay £5.50 per week. Mr Jones should be offered the newspaper plus all the brilliant web content for £6.50 a week. Five days of web goodness for just £1. “That’s lovely,” says Mr Jones.

3. If there’s one thing Mr Jones enjoys more than cricket, it’s reading about cricket

It’s test match season — and if there’s one thing Mr Jones loves, it’s settling down to watch the days play at Lords. In a perfect world, he’d be able to spend his days watching the willow. But sadly he has to resort to following the action online. No problem, though, because for £1, Mr Jones gets full coverage from the test: A column from Michael Atherton, a podcast with Geoffrey Boycott, an interactive scoreboard. Typical things like match reports and liveblogs will still be free — the casual cricket fan won’t pay. But for people like Mr Jones, all this great coverage is really enjoyable.

4. Mr Jones is interested in politics

Between work, cricket and spending time with his lovely wife, Mr Jones doesn’t have much time for anything else. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to know what’s going on in the world of politics. For 50p a week, The Times will send him a politics digest t0 his inbox once a day from their team at Westminster. If he likes it, he can subscribe for £1.50 a month — saving 50p as he goes.

5. Mr Jones is delighted with his theatre vouchers, and he knows which show to see

So many shows, so little time. Or maybe, so little money. The good news for Mr Jones is that to go alongside the micropayment relaunch, The Times has also launched its special interactive theatre guide. Mr Jones knows what’s on, at what time, and how good it is. The guide costs 50p per week — but at the end of each month he’ll get some vouchers to print off and enjoy. Money well spent Mr Jones!

Pete the student, 20

6. Pete gets £5 of free credit every month

Pete may be eating moudly bread and sleeping in grubby sheets, but he still likes to keep up to date. Handy, then, that he gets £5 free credit to spend on newspapers online each month. He can spend it as he chooses. On any newspaper. Just one of the perks of being a National Union of Students member.

7. Pete thinks Flight of the Conchords are awesome

Which means he is pleased to discover the feature about the new series on the website. He reads it. It’s free. But for an exclusive audio clip of Bret and Jemaine talking about the show, he can pay 20p. If Bret and Jemaine are feeling exceedingly generous, their live track will cost Pete 50p — but he can download it to keep.

8. Pete really loves music

Pete is getting fed up of having to buy clips from his favourite bands individually each time. Those 50p installments soon add up for him. For £5 a month, Pete can download clips, listen to podcasts, see exclusive video interviews on all all online newspaper sites. Not just one. The income is distributed to newspapers depending on which content he chooses.

9. Pete supports Chelsea

Don’t blame Pete, it’s not his fault. But we shouldn’t begrudge him the enjoyment of knowing about his club. Mr Jones subscribed to the test match, but Pete just wants to know about Chelsea. That’ll cost him 80p a week. For that money he’ll get daily news digests, exclusive interviews, features, fan community involvement: all sorts.

Now while Pete is a bit of a grubby glory hunter, he still follows his local team: Shrewsbury Town. He can follow them as well and, because he already subscribes to Chelsea, the second team only costs him 20p per week.

10. Pete wants to share his favourite articles with his friends

Chelsea thump Aston Villa 4-0? Well we have some celebrating to do! Pete can send the interview with 4 goal hero Didier Drogba to his Chelsea-supporting pal Dean. Dean, subsequently, signs up to the newspaper service. “How does this work then?” he asks.

11. It’s dissertation time — get the archive out!

If Pete’s lucky, his university will give him access to Lexis Nexis, a brilliant archive of newspaper articles. Problem is, not all newspapers are included. Searching is tricky, and it can be quite buggy. For £5 — a one off, he won’t use it again — he has full access to the online and offline archives for all UK newspapers (or, indeed, the world’s newspapers!). If he’s struggling, all consecutive weeks of archive use will just cost him an extra quid. Pete is thankful — his dissertation is bloody brilliant.

Karen the stay-at-home mum, 35

12. Karen cares about her childrens’ education…

Karen wants to know everything there is to know about schooling and education. She wants league tables, inspection reports and real-life case studies. Does she have time to sift through the paper every day? No way! For £1 a week, Karen recieves a weekly digest of the important stories of the week in education. If she buys a newspaper on Sunday, she can use a voucher to get this digest for 50p. Again, if she subscribes for a week, she gets a discount.

13. …But that’s not all she’s in to

Education is important, yes, but Karen would get bored (and probably quite depressed). So as part of a bundle offer (think Sky subscription packages) Karen can choose two other sectors to get digests for — for just £1.50 per week. That’s less than half price!

14. Loose Women — let’s go online

(for my non-UK readers, Loose Women is a daytime chat show with a panel of four or so middle-aged women.)

Karen likes to get right stuck in with Loose Women when it’s on. Sure, they’re whiny, and she can’t stand one of them, but she likes the relevance and indeed the fun the show brings. For 20p, Karen can join in with the online webchat each day. She chats about the issues covered in the show and has fun with other likeminded people, all from the comfort of her home.

15. Karen is an avid reader, but hasn’t got time for a book club

Before they moved onto that strange digital channel, Karen really loved the Richard and Judy book club. It made the tricky task of picking the wheat from the chaff much easier. For £1 a week, Karen can subscribe to the newspaper book club. The literary editor will preside over the suggestions, and subscribers will get money off the featured titles. Every week, a distinguished author will be on hand with interviews, podcasts or webchats.

Phil the news junkie, 26

16. Phil wants to be up-to-date, all the time

Phil can’t get enough news. He always likes to be the first to know. He follows all the social media services, but what he’d really appreciate is a human filter. For £1 a week, Phil gets access to the human-powered breaking news wire. The wire editor’s job is to filter meaningful tweets, images, links and news snippets and bring them to Phil. The editor is doing the leg work so Phil doesn’t have to.

17. Phil knows he is likely to spend a lot online, so he deserves bulk discounts

Each month, Phil is spending around £20 on micropayments. That sure is a lot! His loyalty should be rewarded. If he adds his newspaper credit in chunks of £20, he gets £5, absolutely free.

18. Phil treats his newspaper credits like an Oyster Card

(For non-UK readers, an ‘Oyster Card’ is a pre-pay card for London transport)

If you spend more than a certain amount on an Oyster Card in one single day, any trips for the rest of that day are included in that price. Nifty. Likewise, when Phil spends a lot of time reading one particular newspaper, he could end up spending the same amount as the cover price. If this is to happen, Phil automatically unlocks the rest of the ‘paid’ content for that day. Lucky Phil!

19. Phil spends SO much, he’s now a priority member

Phil is really valued by newspapers. He spends a lot. So, whenever newspapers are promoting a special event, or book, or film… Phil is the first to know. And Phil gets first refusal.

20. Phil knows a big story when he sees one

Phil is shocked at the recent revelations revealed by the Daily Telegraph about MPs expenses. He wants to know everything about it. Fortunately, for £1.50, Phil has access to all articles relating to the expenses issue. All analysis, commentary and opinion is free for him to enjoy and digest.

–

Additional notes

Are these ideas the finished product? No, clearly not. But from what I can find its a pretty extensive bunch of thoughts – and I’d love to see what others can come up with too.

The important bit: What we DON’T charge for

I’m going to try and nip one of the inevitable criticisms of these ideas in the bud straight away. “Why would you pay if you can get the news somewhere else?” Simple: Because what we’re charging for will be unique. You don’t charge for the story — you charge for its valuable extras. You don’t charge for the written interview, you charge for the associated audio clip. In other words, if you site is the only place you can get this information, then that’s when you can charge.

Easy-to-remember rule: If it would go on the Google News frontpage, it should be free.

We also need to know how sites adopting micropayments would fit into the link economy. In particular, what do we do with blogs? Simple: we leave them as they are. Blogs can act as traffic vacuums. By linking here and there, appearing on feeds, getting involved, blogs can keep newspapers involved socially, while at the same time drawing new readers to the paid-for content.

Outdated ideas we need to dismiss

The notion of ‘all or nothing’ subscription walls is outdated and, quite frankly, ridiculous. When someone clicks on an article and is greeted with a message saying they must take out a monthly subscription, their mental response is “But I only wanted to read that one article!”. Just like small top-ups brought mobile to the masses, micropayments can bring paid online content to the masses too.

Loyalty in news no longer exists. If you think there is anyone out there who goes online, reads one source and one source only then you are deluded. Move on.

Crucial factors that must be in place

Do you go to a seperate newsagents each time you want to buy a different newspaper? Didn’t think so. They’re all in the same place, and all bought using the same currency. Let’s bring this way of thinking online. There must be one, and only one, system for paying for newspaper content online. You need to be able to sign in, and be signed in to every newspaper in the world. Only then can we succeed in monetizing the web.

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Posted in Blogs, Comment, Newspapers, Social Networking, Sport, The Future, The Web

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Twitter to introduce paid pro accounts

March 26th, 2009

Dug away in an article about Twitter in the Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Stone says Twitter recently hired a product manager to oversee the development of commercial accounts. The accounts would offer users more features in exchange for a fee, but Mr. Stone says Twitter hasn’t set a launch date for them.

So there we have it, then. The business model will be paid accounts. And maybe advertising too — who says there has to be just one way of making money? Right now it seems likely that those little text ads that have appeared in the top right corner of your Twitter homepage will soon be sold. Right now they’re up there for free — which I assume is part of an experiment into how many clickthroughs they can promote to potential partners.

But I sense advertising will be little more than a nice slice of the bigger pie: the pro accounts.

Offering special accounts to businesses is a way of making  a shedload of cash while still managing to retain its massive userbase.

I wrote about what a pro account could involve a little while ago — and it seems like some of those predicitons are going to come true, namely this thought:

Say you’re a publisher. You want to reach people in as many ways as possible. Currently, you have to just hope they’re reading their feed and they spot you. How about, for a fee, Twitter gave you the ability to allow any user — not just those with Personal Premium accounts — to subscribe to SMS updates from your feed.

Your fee would depend on two things: How often you post, and how many people subscribe. In other words: how many texts are sent. In the same way that websites have to assess their bandwidth costs, Twitter publishers with Publisher Plus priveledges will be able to monitor their reach — upgrading if neccessary.

I also suggested a personal pro account — something I still feel would work. But, from a public relations point of view, Twitter are wise to begin by charging the rich people.

Since then, I’ve been thinking a little more about how Twitter can make money and, if they go ahead with pro accounts, what should be in them.

In my job as co-editor of the BBC Internet Blog, part of my day-to-day task is to monitor what is being said over social networks. Twitter being the most useful. To do this, we have a Pageflakes account which searches various terms like “BBC” or “iPlayer” and so on. I keep an eye on this.

A pro Twitter account should do this for me. It should allow me to track RT’s relating to the BBC. It should allow me to have a league table of most linked to sections of the BBC website. It should have a Tweetgrid-style interface built in to a pro account control panel which I could use to monitor things as I do now — without the need for Pageflakes.

The pro account should give me statistics for my Twitter feed. As a normal user, sometimes I get a flurry of follows during the day and I’m left asking them where they came from. Sometimes I get a reply, sometimes I don’t. Twitter should be able to tell me — if I was running a company I’d want to know if I was being followed as a result of negative or postive press.

But most importantly: a pro account holder should have the ability to send text messages to all their followers (if they opt-in, of course!). The value of that really cannot be understated.

Update:

More about the plans on Silicon Alley Insider:

Commercial entities like Whole Foods, Starbucks, Mission Pie, 52 Teas, JetBlue, even the Korean taco truck guy are all on Twitter—users and businesses alike are finding value.

Our question is, how can we help? What can Twitter offer for a fee that will improve the experience? Will it be account verification? Will it be lightweight analytics? Will there be opportunities for introducing customers to businesses on Twitter.

So many questions. But the key is to understand that Twitter will remain free for all to use—individuals and companies alike. We are thinking about simple business products that enhance and encourage what is already happening.

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Posted in Comment, Social Networking, The BBC, The Future, The Web

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Twitter Tales: Euston’s choir

March 11th, 2009

I didn’t think much of it at the time. In fact, all I thought was that it was shame I couldn’t record it happening — my train was about to leave.

But I tweeted it all the same:

Impromptu choir singing at euston, very beautiful. It’s amazing how uplifting the human voice can be.

And that’s that. Told my girlfriend how good they were, and promptly forgot about it. Until this popped up today:

idona@davelee the chior you heard was the one voice community choir from preston had just sung at watminster abby for the queen glad you liked

And here indeed they are.

Ok, so it’s not going to change the world. But tell me — has this kind of connect ever been possible before? It’s almost as if the choir has dipped into a conversation with a friend where I’ve said “Saw a cool choir the other day, had to dash off though” and arrived, right on cue, with the information.

And from here I could, if I wanted, find their website, contact their members, go to a show… all sorts.

Isn’t that great?

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Posted in Social Networking, The Future, The Web

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Cuttings: Social media money, Project Canvas, Al-Jazeera brilliance and brandjackers ahoy

March 9th, 2009

Number one sign you’ve been doing this journalism malarky for a while is that you don’t post “LOOK AT ME!!” posts every time something is published.

Nah. Instead you save up a few and then do an even bigger “AINT I JUST BRILLIANT?!” post instead. :-)

So here are a few things I’ve been up to lately.

Journalism.co.uk: ‘Journalism schools: embrace Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons deal’

You might not know it yet, but Al Jazeera may have just changed the face of student journalism.

The news agency has now started publishing its news footage on the web under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence.

BBC News: The future of TV lies on the net

In early March, the BBC Trust set about the task of debating the public value of Project Canvas.

Should the plans put forward by the BBC executive get the go-ahead, it might mean that Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) becomes a staple feature in UK homes as early as 2010.

BBC News: Making money on a social network

It remains the elephant in the room. Or, more to the point, the “fail whale” in the room.

Just how are social networks, with their millions upon millions of users, going to make money?

BBC News: Online brand abuse ‘on the rise’

Online abuse of the world’s top brands is rising, according to a report.

Cyber-squatting – in which someone registers a domain name with the aim of selling it on at a later date – remains the most common form of abuse.

Ta-da!

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Posted in My Work, Social Networking, The BBC, The Future, The Web

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Is the BBC reporting on Twitter too much?

March 8th, 2009

bbcfailwhaleIn the last six months, thanks to a certain Stephen Fry, Twitter has catapulted from being a past-time restricted to, mainly, geeks and journalists into a mainstream hit.

It’s everywhere. On Thursday, freebie London mag Shortlist led with it on the cover, a magazine which generally tends to stick to top actors, sports people or beautiful women on their front page.

It’s also all over the BBC, as this Google search demonstrates. It appears some readers have had enough.

This post by Darren Waters on BBC News Technology dot.life blog fell onto the pointy end of the licence fee payer stick in the comments:

Here is a line-up of self-appointed ‘techies’, neither of whom can claim any real scientific or technological qualifications, who are being paid, with license fee-payer’s money, to inform us precisely how they waste our money.

Says one.

Any chance you could shut up about Twitter, and start to do some journalism for a change? For example, a half-decent investigation into Phorm and BT, or are you scared you might upset someone?

Says another. And one more:

You’re peddling the same opinion (note, not “story” or “news”) again and again – that Twitter is a journalism tool. We get that you believe that. Thanks for pointing it out. Repeatedly.#

It would be wrong to ignore their points (and indeed, I was surprised to learn when I joined, comments are taken very seriously at the Beeb. Pressure from readers via blogs really does make a difference here).

It’s easy to see their argument. If you don’t use the service, it must be a bit tiresome to see so much coverage on what is essentially one solitary website.

In comparison to other sites, though, the BBC is relatively Twitter-free. Darren Waters tweeted these figures a few moments ago:

Readers complain we talk about Twitter too much. BBCNews: 450 refs in 1 month. Guardian:1,700 Times.co.uk 4,500 NYimes 9,800.

And what if those nay-sayers are just, y’know, wrong? When BBC blogs (and most mainstream media blogs) first started out, the comments ranged from the crazy to the bored unemployed. But now their a little more diverse, and often raise points as well put as the original piece. I draw your attention to this (from the same entry):

It’s *really* nuts to complain that Twitter is just full of “mindless drivel”.

Twitter is a medium, not content.

Content is provided by human beings, not the medium itself.

Hence, if you’re reading drivel it’s because you’re talking to the wrong people. If you were at a party listening to a bunch of people stood around together and the conversation was rubbish, you’d drift away quietly and find some more interesting people to talk to.

This is like complaining that it’s the fault of “the telephone” that people ring you up and try and sell you double-glazing. Or putting your foot through the TV because you’re watching a rubbish programme on a crappy channel.

Twitter is an extremely powerful tool that enables conversations between lots of people simultaneously. That’s all. If you’re finding it tedious, follow some different tweeple.

Brilliant point, I’d say. Many of the readers that are anti-Twitter complain it is simply full of rubbish. The above comment deals with why that’s no reason to give up on it.

But we must consider this valid perspective too:

You see, conventional social discussion mediums such as email and SMS (used by the BBC, in this case, for the acquisition of public opinion on TV and radio channels, read out by presenters) are all regulated by international internet or phone network standards, none of which is protected or owned by a particular trademark or brand name – at least not one the BBC ever endorses. You can SMS a BBC TV or radio station with your opinions in numerous different ways, as you can also email from any domain or webmail package out there. It is transparent, free and bereft of any endorsement or brand advertising.

But Twitter is different. Twitter isn’t a standard or a protocol, it’s not regulated by any government or any international internet organisation. It’s a brand name. A trademark. A business. It is self-regulating and self-managing. And for the BBC to chime out messages, from the public writing on Twitter, to their audience via TV or radio, they are endorsing Twitter – simply by mentioning it to this audience.

I couldn’t possibly argue against this. He/she is right. We rarely say ‘micro-blogging’ is taking the country by storm, do we? We just say Twitter. But then why wouldn’t we? Micro-blogging, on the whole, isn’t doing all that well — Twitter is only popular choice. But it’s still a business which will, eventually, come to use its dominance for commercial gain. The BBC, in that respect at least, should be very careful.

But here’s the twist: I firmly believe Twitter is part of a communication revolution. It’s not just some little website.

Just like the telegram, the telephone and the email that came before it, Twitter is already changing how millions of people communicate.

Therefore, it’s the BBC’s duty to be on top of its every development. To not be would fail licence fee payers. Technological advances are never popular — even among technology readers. Scepticism runs wild: “Why do I need this?” is the common cry. But, I’d argue, it’s our job to hold onto a makeshift crystal ball. There are few tech journos who don’t think Twitter is a major player in the internet. I myself recently penned a piece assessing how Twitter can be right up there with Google in web search stakes — look out for that soon.

Whenever I think of sceptics, I think of two groups of people. The first I was reminded of a couple of days ago when I met a man who worked on the launch of bbc.co.uk. He told me that there was some opposition to the BBC using the internet at all. I wonder how those opposers feel now.

The second group was a bunch of people who said that the video phone was a pile of steaming proverbial. And they were right.

I’m not saying Twitter is as significant as the maturing of the internet. What I’m saying is that the principle behind Twitter is, despite its simplicity, a major shift in how the world interacts. A shift that should be covered, disected and scrutinised at every turn. Not only by the BBC, but by everyone.

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Posted in Blogs, Comment, My Work, Social Networking, The BBC, The Future, The Web

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Not convinced? 10 things to change your mind about Twitter

February 17th, 2009

gorillaYesterday I went up to Birmingham to visit Paul Bradshaw and his online journalism class.

Knowing Paul’s area of expertise — social media, web 2.0 and how it all rolls up into one tasty journalism package — I was curious to see how he taught his craft.

Not that I doubted his abilities as a tutor or anything — more that sometimes I feel a lot of social media is unteachable. In the same way that if someone keeps insisting you watch a film, or listen to an album, you somehow start to get fed up of being told how to spend your leisure time.

You have to ignite a bit of interest.

Before I would come up with lots of philosophical ways of telling people why Twitter is the canine’s crackers (“You can connect with conversations and communities all over the world” …blergh), I’m beginning to think that maybe gimmick-y ideas are in fact better to at least get people started. If nothing else, a nice gimmick will remove the chore element of converting someone.

Twitter isn’t a gimmick, but gimmicks keep someone entertained. Allowing them to discover the real power of Twitter… engaging with like-minded— you get the picture. So here we go:

10 things to change your mind about Twitter

1. You’ll know about stuff before everyone else does. There’s nothing quite like breaking news, is there? BreakingNewsOn is so quick it makes you wonder if they’re not watching our every move. Scary.

2. You can use it to find out what people think… about anything. Are you a PR? Search for your clients products and see how they’re getting on. If you represent Nike, it may be motivating to know that people generally like your brand. If people hate your product, maybe you can’t afford to ignore them.

3. You can find people who like what you do. Got a hobby? Find others that have that hobby too. That not good enough for you? Find people with your hobby…  near where you live.

4. You can use it to get help. Technical problem? Tweet it. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you’ll get an answer.

5. It can transform your career. Think of five places you’d like to work. And then think of the people who have the power to make that happen. Wouldn’t you love to get them in a room to hear what you have to say? Well hurry up — follow them and get talking. It works.

6. You can campaign for good. Yes, it’s a bit cheesy, but Twitter is fast becoming the most effective word-of-mouth tool in the world. With one simple ‘re-tweet’ (that’s someone copying your message), your ideas could be exposed to thousands. How about @twitchhiker, going around the world using Twitter contacts and very little else. Or TwitterTitters, using Twitter to create a funny book for Comic Relief?

7. You can talk directly to people in power. You know what’s annoying? Wheelie bins. Bloody, rubbish, smelly wheelie bins. If I lived in West Bromwich I’d be able to have right old whinge about it to Tom Watson, the local MP. He’d probably reply too — all without the need for tiresome official channels that are generally a pain. Not all MPs are on Twitter, but the number is growing steadily. Get stuck in.

8. You can read stuff you’d never normally have found. This is a tricky one to explain, but you know how you’re chatting with your friends, and they say something like “Oh, I saw this on YouTube the other day” or “Did you see that screamer scored by Aberdeen at the weekend?”… well, with just a little URL they can share their delight with you. Don’t underestimate how useful this is. Especially when someone sends you a website that allows you to place a rasher of bacon over a webpage.

9. You can use it to save heaps of time. “I haven’t got time to Twitter!” you say? “Madness!” say I. Harness your Twitter friends to help you out. “Where can I find a wi-fi pub around here?”… you’ll get an answer. “I need a restuarant for Friday night in Oxford”… you’ll get a personal recommendation in minutes — rather than having to spend ages looking online for a decent place and then not really knowing until you get there. Timewaster? No chance!

10. MC Hammer is on there. Can’t touch this.

So there we have it. And while you may think I stuck ol’ MC Hammer in there for a laugh, it’s actually quite an important point. Sometimes it’s that little piece of novelty that will tip someone over the edge — curiousity is enough to start the Twitter-ball rolling.

This is by no means a top ten of uses for Twitter. No way. It’s instead a list of things you can shove in the direction of anyone that says: “Twitter? Pathetic. Why would I want to know what Jonathan Ross is having for lunch?”

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The new way to learn journalism

January 20th, 2009

There’s a very interesting piece in a Guardian supplement today about something they’ve labelled University 2.0.

Annoyingly — and surprisingly, considering it’s the Guardian — the article isn’t online. But not to worry, I’ll quote the bit that got me thinking:

“[Peter Scott (director of the Open University's Knowledge Media Institute)] predicts that students  will soon be mixing their higher education experiences from resources all over the world, choosing to study at Harvard, say, while listening to lecutres from Oxford, taking part in discussion groups at the University of Mumbai, and sitting exams somewhere entirely different.”

Isn’t that great? Pick ‘n’ Mix education. The finest material from the finest institutions.

A date with Greg Linch and Andrew DeVigal

And, of course, this is already happening. A fortnight ago I logged on to Twitter to see Greg Linch tweeting about his imminent live webcast with the New York Times’ multimedia editor, Andrew DeVigal. I’ll pop in and have a look, I decided, not because I was really interested in sitting down for an hour and watching, but because I a) like Greg — our careers seem to run in parellel in some weird way and b) I wanted to see if it was any good.

And boy, it really was. Watch it here. Now while the shot may have been a little dark (owing to the fact Andrew was doing a presentation), it didn’t detract from the viewing. And even when the audio dropped out of sync every so often, it didn’t really matter too much.

Why? Because Andrew was brilliant. Engaging and well-prepared, his ‘lecture’ was more like a Jobs-like keynote… pacing around the room, getting excited about what he does.

And then add to the experience that while this was going on, Greg was popping links into the chat panel so that we could have a go at what he was talking about. For example, when Andrew mentioned the Virginia Tech graphic… Greg popped up moments later with a link. In that respects, this experience was actually superior to actually being there.

Oh Mindy, you came and you gave without taking

Really, she did! And indeed… she does. Constantly. Mindy McAdams, I mean. She puts her courses online so we all can learn. I used them extensively to prepare my work for New Zealand. Not because I was lazy and just wanted to copy, but because I know that Mindy is possibly the best in the world at what she does. How do I know this? Because she puts it all online. So, if the worry from colleges and universities is that free courses will mean no students — I’d argue it means the opposite. If you do a great course, we’ll all know.

Mindy doesn’t stop there. Not content with just plonking course syllibi online, she also makes online content for teaching too. Made for her students, but shared with the world. Want to learn Flash? Take a look.

Let the thinkers do the talking

So, from the practical skills-learning of Mindy, to the theoretical get-your-mind-thinking work of Adrian Monck. I was lucky enough to catch Adrian in Cambridge last year as he introduced his new book, ‘Can you trust the media?’. He is a strikingly nice bloke and, even more importantly, he discussed things that still embed themselves in my head on a dayt-to-day basis. As I established over dinner one night in the company of Martin Hirst and Jim Tucker, a good ethical brain is as important to a journalist as his newsgathering skills.

Adrian shares his thoughts on a daily basis. Offering up links and resources that, in previous years, would traditionally be saved for his students — he teaches at City — tied up in reading lists that are as long as they are tedious.

And then there’s Paul Bradshaw, David Dunkley Gyimah and the brilliant Jay Rosen. What a dream team! Not to mention all the educational journalism blogs out there. 10,000 Words being the best example right now.

Please, sirs, can we have some more?

So all that’s great, isn’t it? Of course it is! You’d be mad to argue that all this information in the open internet isn’t promoting better journalism.

As ever, we can do so much more. At the University of Lincoln, the wisdom-ous Richard Keeble organises a series of guest lectures every fortnight. Past speakers have included the BBC’s Jonathan Charles, Channel 4’s Dorothy Byrne and, the speaker that really kicked off this blog for me, Philip Knightley.

They were all brilliant sessions. With some lively Q+A. Next month, Lincoln will be hosting Will Lewis, editor of the Daily Telegraph. I’m going to try and go. But couldn’t this be streamed too?

I know other universities are holding similar sessions. And I’m sure we’d all be interested in what each place is learning about — so why can’t we share? Why can’t some students at these universities be shown how to set up a camera and stream these guest lectures to the world. I’m sure, like when I logged on to Greg’s feed, we’d have journalism students from all over the world chipping in to ask questions, get involved in discussion and, above all, LEARN.

The great open-source syallabus

In the last month I’ve attended a lecture at the University of Miami, courtesy of Greg, and asked a question to the multimedia editor of the New York Times. I’ve taken a course in Flash journalism — thanks to Mindy — and read about the pros and cons of digital recorders — handy for the future, definitely. I’ve considered the effect of the media blackout in Gaza thanks to insight (and links to other opinions, let’s not forget) from Adrian Monck. I’ve discovered some nifty resources for following breaking news thanks to 10,000 Words. That’s one hell of an education.

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