Social media firm Pluck will supply technology to Hearst Digital’s uber-web portal Allaboutyou.com
It will provided blogs, discussion tools and media-sharing applications to the new community site for women, which combines content from six Natmag’s UK tiles.
The move is part of an ‘aggressive’ push of the business, says the Guardian.
For Hearst, it’s the second major partnership for its magazine websites after securing the services of Brightcove to supply its digital video hosting.
Media commentator Jeff Jarvis and Guardian America editor Michael Tomasky debate whether citizen journalists have the same responsibilities as a journalist when reporting news.
Jarvis: ‘openness for all’
“With more openness and more reporting – by all – we will end up with more stories, the public will get more information, and politicians will learn that anything and everything they say and do can (and should) be reported,” writes Jarvis.
Tomasky: Cit-j accounts need verification
“And very few journalists I know would favour ‘[hiding] anything from the public.’ They would, however, favour not publishing something until it’s verified. That’s scarcely complicity in secret-keeping. That’s just being responsible.”
The BBC is to join the OpenID foundation – the body behind the system where website users can have one username across different participating sites.
The decision, announced by Jem Stone, portfolio executive for the BBC Future Media and Technology (FM&T) department’s social media group, on the BBC Internet blog, puts the corporation alongside Google and Yahoo, who have already adopted the scheme.
Similarly Telegraph.co.uk announced plans to introduce OpenID at the beginning of the year.
However, the system will not be immediately available on bbc.co.uk, Stone explained.
“However, at this stage, and wary of being named and shamed here, this doesn’t mean that we are going to immediately be offering OpenIDs on bbc.co.uk or even promising to do so. We would want to make absolutely sure that this is right for users, is secure and can be implemented properly across all the BBC’s many services.”
Stone’s thoughts are backed up by Ian Forrester, senior producer with the FM&T, who said in an email:
“If we were to do OpenID it would have to be pretty joined up, otherwise people would loose faith in the technology and have bad experiences. This is something I hear about some of the other (can anyone say on the bandwagon) OpenID providers.”
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Journalism.co.uk talks to reporters across the globe working at the collision of journalism and social media about how they see it changing their industry. This week, Matthew Buckland from Mail & Guardian, South Africa.
1) Who are you and what do you do?
I am Matthew Buckland, the GM of Mail & Guardian Online.
As head of the online division I am responsible for the overall online and mobile strategy, with an overview of editorial, production, technical and online sales.
I am also involved quite heavily in our social media strategies and sites.
2) Which web or mobile-based social media tools do you use on a daily basis and why?
I use Twitter, both web and mobile. I blog on my own blog about online media, web 2.0 and technology, thoughtleader.co.za and sometimes on Poynter’s new media titbits.
I use Mybloglog on my blog quite a bit. I use Facebook web and mobile… but less and less these days. At the end of last year I began using Slideshare to share my presentations and see others. I Digg every now and again, and use a local version, Muti.co.za.
I also keep half an eyeball on Linkedin – but don’t really do it justice. I am an occasional Del.ici.ous user. I use both Flickr and Picasa as online photo albums/photo sharing.
For video sharing I use Youtube, obviously. I’m also a wikipediaholic.
I used SecondLife for about a week, but realised it would be best for my health to shut it down and never look at it again 🙂
Generally I find these social media tools are a good way of networking, sharing ideas and content, and building relationships with people. They also waste a lot of time and create noise in my life.
3) Of the thousands of social media tools available could you single one out as having the most potential for news either as a publishing or newsgathering tool?
I think of all the hyped up social media tools we’ve seen, blogging has shown that it is more than just a fad, but here to stay.
We’ve seen how mainstream online publishers have embraced blogs both as new publishing formats and newsgathering tool with considerable success.
4) And the most overrated in your opinion?
I’m beginning to think Facebook is overrated. The novelty is wearing off and people are getting bored, very quickly.
Journalism.co.uk talks to reporters across the globe working at the collision of journalism and social media about how they see it changing their industry. This week, Damon Kiesow, Nashua Telegraph.
1. Who are you and what do you do?
I am the Managing Editor/Online at The Telegraph in Nashua, NH. I am responsible for the overall news presentation and strategy for our digital publications including NashuaTelegraph.com, NHPrimary.com, FeastNH.com and EncoreBuzz.com.
We have a staff of about 50 in the newsroom and nashuatelegraph.com was a finalist in two categories in this year’s Newspaper Association of America Digital Edge Awards.
2. Which web or mobile-based social media tools do you use on a daily basis and why?
On a typical day:
I use each for a variety of reasons. Delicious is my reigning favourite due to the huge filtering and early warning effect it provides. I follow about 78 people, mostly digital media professionals.
A few times per day I review their most recent bookmarks to keep up to date on what they are thinking about and what new tools and toys they have discovered.
I know many of them do the same and some of my ‘best’ ideas we have implemented at the paper have come from those bookmarks.
Twitter serves a similar purpose – and I am following many of the same people as on Delicious. But I like Twitter for the flexibility (IM, phone, PC, Web) and both the immediacy and asynchronous nature of the service.
It is just a great way to stay in touch with people without the burden of reading or responding to email or phone calls.
I use Ning mostly every day to visit sites like wiredjournalists.com, and we have created several Ning sites for the newspaper including Encorebuzz.ning.com.
I have been on LinkedIn for 5 – 6 years and it is still the best place to accumulate business contacts. I probably do not use it every day, but a few times a week I get requests to connect.
Facebook is one I use just due to the critical mass of people they have online. I check it every day and we do have a few small applications running on the service that feed out breaking news from the newspaper. Most of my time there is spent ignoring Zombie and Pirate invitations.
3. Of the thousands of social media tools available, could you single one out as having the most potential for news either as a publishing or a news gathering tool?
If I had to choose from just the tools I use regularly – I would pick Twitter. They have really focused on a core concept and seem very open to letting people expand on it.
It is too early to say if Twitter will be a huge hit for us as a newspaper but we pick up a few followers a week and the trend seems to be increasing.
I like the fact that we can use it both simply to push content (using twitterfeed.com) and as a two-way conversation with readers. We follow anyone who follows us and try to be responsive to questions or comments that come in via our Twitter friends.
In terms of other products – I think the most likely winners this year will be services like ustream.tv or qik.com that allow live streaming video from DV cameras and cell phones respectively.
This has huge potential both as a newsgathering tool and as a social media/self publishing phenomena. We are just starting to experiment with both of these services.
4. And the most overrated in your opinion?
At the moment I consider Facebook to be the most overrated. Things are beginning to change but it is still a walled garden for the most part.
I would not be comfortable investing a lot time or effort in using Facebook as a social media platform for the newspaper without some continued opening up of their API and clarification of their terms of service.
UPDATE: Were the papers right to turn their comments off on these stories? – take the poll
The Express and Daily Star newspapers both printed front-page apologies today to the Kate and Gerry McCann – the parents of missing toddler Madeleine McCann.
The two Richard Desmond-owned newspapers both issued short, almost identical stories.
“We now recognise that such a suggestion is absolutely untrue and that Kate and Gerry are completely innocent of any involvement in their daughter’s disappearance,” they both stated.
Another similarity, both newspapers turned the comments system off on the online versions of these stories ‘for legal reasons’.
I have my suspicions that the love of commenting on blogs is more ardently felt on the US side of the Atlantic than here in the UK.
I’m offering this little example up as evidence. A one line – 13 words – post on Lostremote that has so far led to five comments.
It’s not extraordinary, I happily admit that. But it is interesting that the few words: CNN’s Jeffery Toobin did a live shot from a Maui hotel via Skype have generated such interest.
I’m sure it’s probably not even the best example of brevity generating a response (if anyone can offer links to sharper examples, I’d be extremely grateful) what is interesting though is whether more of a story can be built from the comments to the one line post.
Cory Bergman, who posted the one line, seems to hope so. The fifth comment is from him in response to the other four asking for more information.
Each week we give developers the opportunity to tell us journalists why we should sit up and pay attention to the sites and devices they are working on. This week it’s online rants about the perilous state of the news industry with AngryJournalist.com.
1) Who are you and what’s it all about?
I’m Kiyoshi Martinez. I’m a former journalist who’s now gone into government communications.
AngryJournalist.com is a simple concept. Type why you’re angry with your media job and hit “vent.”
It’s an airing of grievances, rants on the life of journalists and bitter tales from the newsroom. All the comments are moderated before posting in order to keep the site on topic.
I like to think of it as the punching bag for the news business.
2) Why would this be useful to a journalist?
Hopefully, the site helps relieve some stress. It’s probably not as helpful as professional therapy, but it’s less damaging than picking up other vices. Outside of this, I think it’s a great glimpse for newsroom managers and executives of what’s actually going on in the minds of their silently brooding employees. For all the over-the-top responses, there are kernels of truth there worth following up.
3) Is this it, or is there more to come?
There’s been some talk of others independently wanting to start up foreign-language versions of the site, which I think would be really neat, but I won’t be directly involved.
Another person is helping me with creating a widget for others to add to their blog and potentially a Facebook application. I’m considering the idea of doing a “best of today’s responses” list that will get sent out via Twitter, but I’m not sure if I really like that idea or not just yet.
I might take the time eventually to do a really thorough analysis of the responses and perhaps write something on it, but that’s further in the future. As someone who’s a nerd about data and loves to read reports, I know others might appreciate something like that.
Finally, I’m also debating if I want to add revenue-generating features to the site.
4) Why are you doing this?
It initially started as an experiment I wanted to conduct that stemmed from a variety of things I’d read, discussions I had with friends and just generally observing the industry turmoil.
I have my own opinions on the journalism industry and made up my mind to leave it, but I wanted to see the responses from those who’d been in the industry longer than me about their impressions of what’s wrong with the profession today. I was curious to know if others had thoughts echoing my own.
So, I created the site with the idea that I wanted to get the unfiltered, raw angst of the industry’s workforce in the most efficient way possible.
5) What does it cost to use it?
It’s 100 per cent free. Users will never be bombarded with advertisements while surfing the site, nor will they ever have to register, give an e-mail address or jump through any other hurdles to participate.
6) How will you make it pay?
From the beginning, I’ve made a commitment to not put advertising on the site. For me, the purpose of the site wasn’t to make money, but to provide a forum for the industry to be brutally honest with itself.
The costs associated with the site are extremely low and I consider the time spent like that of a person spending time on one of their hobbies. Plus, I see advertising as annoying and there’s increasing evidence that online display advertising is becomes less effective. Explore the best of global gaming with our carefully curated selection of the top online casinos in the world . On our website, you’ll find a world-class array of games, unmatched bonuses, and an unparalleled gaming experience. Dive into the excitement and discover why these casinos rank at the top. Visit us now and start your journey at the most prestigious and thrilling online casinos in the world! I didn’t see a point in cluttering my layout and distracting from the content.
Still, this doesn’t mean I’m opposed to finding ways to cover the few costs I have and maybe make some additional cash. I’ve been toying with a few ideas.
One would involve creating a job board on the site. However, there are already several great resources for journalism jobs. I’d want to find a way to make my job board more effective and less impersonal.
Another idea is to sell merchandise. I really like the idea of AngryJournalist.com coffee mugs on the desks of reporters in newsrooms across the country. Also, T-shirts with some of the responses could be mildly entertaining.
I’m also considering writing a book based on the responses. Conceptually, I see it as part critique on the industry, part management techniques with a healthy dose of dark newsroom humour.
It’s never going to be a good thing when you have to publish a nine paragraph correction ahead of an article, but the Las Vegas Sun has done just so after admitting ‘several reporting and editing problems as well as some factual errors’ in an article on a teenage shooting.
Part of the problem it seems was the use of online comments from another website to add a racial angle to the piece:
“The problem was that the quotes were anonymous and, because of the way the Web works, could have come from anywhere in the world. Although some people in Summerlin [where the shooting occurred] may hold racist views, these quotes, because of the lack of identity of the writers, in no way proved that possibility.”
The paper has learned its lesson and will be changing editorial policy in the future by not allowing anonymous comments from websites to be used in reporting.