Part of my ongoing series that examines the number of twitter followers as a gauge of "influence." As of today...
White House Official Twitter Account: 1,993,684 followers
MC Hammer Official Twitter Account: 2,052,022 followers
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
10 March 2011
05 August 2009
#sexistsvsrolemodels
The video I embedded yesterday was funny. I'd give it a solid B. But there's a bigger point.
When insecure guys take gratuitous potshots at ambitious or successful women - potshots you know they'd never take at men - it doesn't just insult that woman. I think there's a subconscious message they send young women and girls - try to succeed and you'll be harassed for it.
Many women shrug it off or use it to motivate them, but some don't. The bottom line to me is they shouldn't have to deal with it, but the reality is they do and they probably will forever.
That's why I thought of the "female role models" posts - I thought maybe it would be a way to show people that there are tons of success stories out there who may not be Senators or Cabinet Secretaries, but are doing amazing things every day.
But I'm not exactly an authority on female role models. So I reached out to some women bloggers I know who are also active on Twitter. They're going to stand up to the sexism and introduce us all to women who deserve our praise, not our mocking.
The next time we see another example of a sexist potshot from an insecure goober, we will send a tweet that says something like "ignore sexism from [insert insecure goober name here], @username is a role model for MY kid." Or something like that. Then we'll add the hashtag #sexistsvsrolemodels at the end.
So anyone who wants a list of female role models on twitter will only have to search that hashtag. I say let's create something good out of this. And maybe this is a start.
When insecure guys take gratuitous potshots at ambitious or successful women - potshots you know they'd never take at men - it doesn't just insult that woman. I think there's a subconscious message they send young women and girls - try to succeed and you'll be harassed for it.
Many women shrug it off or use it to motivate them, but some don't. The bottom line to me is they shouldn't have to deal with it, but the reality is they do and they probably will forever.
That's why I thought of the "female role models" posts - I thought maybe it would be a way to show people that there are tons of success stories out there who may not be Senators or Cabinet Secretaries, but are doing amazing things every day.
But I'm not exactly an authority on female role models. So I reached out to some women bloggers I know who are also active on Twitter. They're going to stand up to the sexism and introduce us all to women who deserve our praise, not our mocking.
The next time we see another example of a sexist potshot from an insecure goober, we will send a tweet that says something like "ignore sexism from [insert insecure goober name here], @username is a role model for MY kid." Or something like that. Then we'll add the hashtag #sexistsvsrolemodels at the end.
So anyone who wants a list of female role models on twitter will only have to search that hashtag. I say let's create something good out of this. And maybe this is a start.
10 March 2009
How social media covers cerebral beltway speeches
I've been giving some thought to how social media could play a much stronger role in international affairs and global finance. (Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what you were thinking about too.)
Then I learn Ben Bernanke gave a talk on Tuesday morning to the Council on Foreign Relations.
I'm surprised at how small the initial response in the social media world was to the speech. Granted, there wasn't much in terms of groundbreaking news, but this is one of those moments when thoughtful, serious people can and should give global finance issues the airing they deserve.
So what did I find? The mainstream media - yes, that organization I essentially buried for the last two days - led the coverage. But there was one major exception - Dan Drezner live-blogged the event at his new FP blog. He essentially took quotes from the speech and gave a few thoughts on the Q&A session. It's worth a look.
I found it interesting that both CFR and the Fed haven't done more to make this information more accessible via social media channels. CFR only made Bernanke's remarks available as a pdf document and not html. The Federal Reserve's website did publish the text for all to see without downloading. Neither site gave the option of bookmarking or sharing the remarks or asked for comment.
Since I'm addicted to wordle, Here's the "speech cloud" for Bernanke at CFR:
The first bit of analysis I saw - not much more than a quote, but it's the context more than the content here - came from a Wall Street Journal blog post. I also saw quick responses from BBC ("Worst Crisis Since 1930's"), the New York Times and Associated Press ("Bernanke Says Regulatory Overhaul Needed").
I did catch some twitter chatter. It's interesting to see which news outlets are using Twitter (in multiple languages to just push content out like an RSS feed, and who's actually using Twitter to comment:
Then I learn Ben Bernanke gave a talk on Tuesday morning to the Council on Foreign Relations.
I'm surprised at how small the initial response in the social media world was to the speech. Granted, there wasn't much in terms of groundbreaking news, but this is one of those moments when thoughtful, serious people can and should give global finance issues the airing they deserve.
So what did I find? The mainstream media - yes, that organization I essentially buried for the last two days - led the coverage. But there was one major exception - Dan Drezner live-blogged the event at his new FP blog. He essentially took quotes from the speech and gave a few thoughts on the Q&A session. It's worth a look.
I found it interesting that both CFR and the Fed haven't done more to make this information more accessible via social media channels. CFR only made Bernanke's remarks available as a pdf document and not html. The Federal Reserve's website did publish the text for all to see without downloading. Neither site gave the option of bookmarking or sharing the remarks or asked for comment.
Since I'm addicted to wordle, Here's the "speech cloud" for Bernanke at CFR:
The first bit of analysis I saw - not much more than a quote, but it's the context more than the content here - came from a Wall Street Journal blog post. I also saw quick responses from BBC ("Worst Crisis Since 1930's"), the New York Times and Associated Press ("Bernanke Says Regulatory Overhaul Needed").
I did catch some twitter chatter. It's interesting to see which news outlets are using Twitter (in multiple languages to just push content out like an RSS feed, and who's actually using Twitter to comment:
-
Nieuwslijstnl: Bernanke: meer internationale financiële regels (BNR Nieuwsradio) http://www.nieuwslijst.nl/t/13138 10 minutes ago from web · Reply · View Tweet -
VanessaAlvarez1: Bernanke: :We may see a recovery of the economy as early as this year", depends on the banks 10 minutes ago from web · Reply · View Tweet -
RTLZ: RTLZ Nieuws: Bernanke: meer internationale financiële regulering, herstel in 2009?: Regeringen werel.. http://tinyurl.com/bhno7w (expand) -
cajunmaverick: Wait, did I hear Bernanke say we need to get rid of mark-to-market accounting? #tcot 11 minutes ago from TweetDeck · Reply · View Tweet -
Indexhirek: Gazdaság: Bernanke: Meglepő, milyen mély a válság: Az amerikai jegybank elnöke szerint akkor érhet vég.. http://tinyurl.com/dmkf57 (expand) -
ftuseconomy: Bernanke urges regulatory overhaul http://tinyurl.com/cp3qqm (expand) 12 minutes ago from twitterfeed · Reply · View Tweet
)-
itzpapalotl: I know it's probably just me, but Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke is kinda hot. 17 minutes ago from twhirl · Reply · View Tweet -
capitalbeat: Bernanke Says More Study on "Mark to Market" Would Be "Useful" http://tinyurl.com/bdgmh3 (expand) 18 minutes ago from twitterfeed · Reply · View Tweet -
syafiza: Bernanke: Reform before rebound: U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke says economic recovery hinges on sta.. http://tinyurl.com/cf3ylu (expand) -
thebodybreaks: Worst crisis since 1930s says Fed: US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke says the world is suffering from the wo.. http://tinyurl.com/cmm4ac (expand)
18 December 2008
Using Twitter to Overcome Media Bias
Egad, another post about Twitter.
Well, not really. This is really an example of how informed and active people use social media channels to address perceived inaccuracies.
Everyone in the communications business should take a look at Tim "Ecopolitologist" Hurst's piece over at Red Green and Blue:
Tim was kind enough to let me interview him a while back. He's a green wonk and one of the first places I go for environmental policy news and information. Tim wrote up a blog post analyzing the announcement and here's some of what he had to say:
One of the biggest myths in politics is "the media has a liberal bias." It doesn't. The media doesn't have a conservative bias either. The media has a negative bias. It likes to push controversy. Conflict makes a good story. Very few people will be fascinated by headlines that read "Fire Exinguished Promptly, Limited Damage." Instead, I'd expect a headline more like "Questions Raised About Fire's Cause" or something like that - inventing or hyping controversy where there really isn't much.
In this situation a group of environmentalists signed on to a letter supporting someone else for the position - but this doesn't mean those environmentalists would be opposed to anyone else.
So one of the first things Tim did was hit the social networks like Twitter to find what leaders in environmentalism were saying about the selection. Within minutes he had environmental leaders pinging him back. Tim also collected the statements of leading mainstream environmental groups on the selection and noticed they were all positive. So I found it interesting that Tim had this to say:
Well, not really. This is really an example of how informed and active people use social media channels to address perceived inaccuracies.
Everyone in the communications business should take a look at Tim "Ecopolitologist" Hurst's piece over at Red Green and Blue:
On Tuesday afternoon, as I was working on another piece about president-elect Barack Obama tapping Colorado Senator Ken Salazar for Interior Secretary—this time about how Salazar’s appointment to Interior won’t leave his successor much time to win over Colorado voters—I heard Jeff Brady report on National Public Radio that environmentalists were fuming over the Salazar appointment.Except that they weren't. And Tim knew it.
Tim was kind enough to let me interview him a while back. He's a green wonk and one of the first places I go for environmental policy news and information. Tim wrote up a blog post analyzing the announcement and here's some of what he had to say:
Salazar’s knowledge and experience with public lands and water policy stretch back to his thirty years as a farmer and the eleven he spent practicing environmental and water law in a private practice... Salazar’s support for clean energy has also been well established. Renewable energy advocates are well aware of Salazar’s work to help pass extensions of the renewable energy production and investment tax credits; as well as his his leadership in getting the small-wind tax credit passed and signed into law.An intellectually honest assessment of environmentalists' reaction to President-elect Obama's selection of Senator Ken Salazar to be Interior Secretary would conclude it has been largely if not completely positive. But according to Tim, that's not what NPR would have you believe.
One of the biggest myths in politics is "the media has a liberal bias." It doesn't. The media doesn't have a conservative bias either. The media has a negative bias. It likes to push controversy. Conflict makes a good story. Very few people will be fascinated by headlines that read "Fire Exinguished Promptly, Limited Damage." Instead, I'd expect a headline more like "Questions Raised About Fire's Cause" or something like that - inventing or hyping controversy where there really isn't much.
In this situation a group of environmentalists signed on to a letter supporting someone else for the position - but this doesn't mean those environmentalists would be opposed to anyone else.
So one of the first things Tim did was hit the social networks like Twitter to find what leaders in environmentalism were saying about the selection. Within minutes he had environmental leaders pinging him back. Tim also collected the statements of leading mainstream environmental groups on the selection and noticed they were all positive. So I found it interesting that Tim had this to say:
Now, I follow @NPRPolitics on Twitter and I know they follow me back, but I really don’t know if they caught any of this exchange, but the next time I heard Brady’s report on NPR, he said something like “many environmentalists are fuming,” and the third time I heard the report it was something along the lines of “some environmentalists are fuming.”No clue if NPR actually hedged its report based on Tim's quick and thorough work. But the social channel proves, once again, that the media isn't lecturing us anymore.
01 December 2008
Social Media at work in Mumbai and How the Corporate Media Still Doesn't Get It
The corporate media is jumping on the Twitter bandwagon, even as it lobs not-so-subtle criticisms at it. They continue to try to integrate social media tools without truly embracing their purported applications. In short, they forget the "social" in social media.
I noticed that the Boston Globe was sharing information about statewide Thanksgiving Day high school football games via twitter, and the Lexington Herald-Leader was live-tweeting Black Friday at a variety of retail chain stores in town. I'm sure other publications were as well, and this is kinda cute, but it's still mainly the one-way communication the mainstream media prefers to employ. They see twitter basically as an RSS feed, hoping to drive traffic to other sites. They remain largely uninterested in a conversation unless it's on their terms.
I was actually impressed with CNN's online coverage of the attacks in Mumbai, but basically because they just cut live to their Indian English-language "sister station," IBN. I still went first to BBC and Global Voices Online, which quickly set up a special coverage page.
Then I noticed a curious piece on CNN's website called "Tweeting the Terror." The Mumbai violence certainly wasn't the first time an emergency was broadcast by several people at once on Twitter, but it is the first time I've seen the suggestion that people shouldn't tweet and the oft-used "they're not journalists" screed from a dying media that keeps getting scooped:
I noticed that the Boston Globe was sharing information about statewide Thanksgiving Day high school football games via twitter, and the Lexington Herald-Leader was live-tweeting Black Friday at a variety of retail chain stores in town. I'm sure other publications were as well, and this is kinda cute, but it's still mainly the one-way communication the mainstream media prefers to employ. They see twitter basically as an RSS feed, hoping to drive traffic to other sites. They remain largely uninterested in a conversation unless it's on their terms.
I was actually impressed with CNN's online coverage of the attacks in Mumbai, but basically because they just cut live to their Indian English-language "sister station," IBN. I still went first to BBC and Global Voices Online, which quickly set up a special coverage page.
Then I noticed a curious piece on CNN's website called "Tweeting the Terror." The Mumbai violence certainly wasn't the first time an emergency was broadcast by several people at once on Twitter, but it is the first time I've seen the suggestion that people shouldn't tweet and the oft-used "they're not journalists" screed from a dying media that keeps getting scooped:
However, as is the case with such widespread dissemination of information, a vast number of the posts on Twitter amounted to unsubstantiated rumors and wild inaccuracies.
For example, a rumor that the Indian government was asking tweeters to stop live updates to avoid compromising its security efforts was published and republished on the site.
This was seemingly given credence by at least one major news Web site, which posted the tweet on its live update.
It read simply: "Indian government asks for live Twitter updates from Mumbai to cease immediately. ALL LIVE UPDATES - PLEASE STOP TWEETING."
Then it was suggested via Twitter that terrorists were using the medium to gain information about what Indian security forces were doing, which led to numerous abusive postings urging the terrorists to "die, die, die, if you're reading this."
As blogger Tim Mallon put it, "I started to see and (sic) ugly side to Twitter, far from being a crowd-sourced version of the news it was actually an incoherent, rumour-fueled mob operating in a mad echo chamber of tweets, re-tweets and re-re-tweets.
"During the hour or so I followed on Twitter there were wildly differing estimates of the numbers killed and injured - ranging up to 1,000."
What is clear that although Twitter remains a useful tool for mobilizing efforts and gaining eyewitness accounts during a disaster, the sourcing of most of the news cannot be trusted.
Actually, in my opinon it's not clear that Twitter is any less reliable than many if not most mainstream media sources. I counted several bits of information from mainstream channels during the crisis in Mumbai that turned out to be inaccurate. I also know that I learned - quite correctly - about a number of breaking stories via Twitter.
This tool has taken away one of corporate media's most important assets - the ability to report "breaking news" first - and they're having serious difficulties grappling with this. It's just the latest innovation that shows how corporate media will have to redesign their business model sooner rather than later.
04 November 2008
Last Chance: Follow @Campaign2008 on Twitter
A group of us are live-tweeting updates and the returns @Campaign2008 - there won't be much use for the account after this week (unless there's a runoff in Georgia, and even then...) but it's a nice way to keep in the loop if you're not into all the super-techie stuff. Just tweets and links.
29 September 2008
It's Just Another Manic Monday
Following up from last week's Manic Monday post, I'm really struck how well journalists, academics, and even activists are leveraging social media tools to provide consumers with a wealth of information to understand just how the credit crisis started and how we might dig ourselves out of it. I wish I had these resources when I was working on financial services issues for the Senator.
I found it very interesting that a group of conservative political activists has turned to YouTube to lay the blame for the current crisis at the feet of the Community Reinvestment Act, and that video has been viewed more than 700,000 times. (Sorry guys, but as Chairman Frank explains, your argument is flawed.)
Via Open Culture, I've found two excellent podcasts from NPR's Fresh Air - one with Michael Greenberger (A University of Maryland Law Professor and former official at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission), the other with the New York Times' Gretchen Morgenson. The interview with Greenberger is the best description I've heard yet about the $62 trillion worth of exposure finanical companies and investors have taken on in the form of unregulated credit default swaps since the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. Morgenson talks about the prospects of a web of conflicts of interest as the pending bailout package is implemented. Terry Gross has done an admirable job finding people who can translate finance to English.
Twitter has been a decent source of information. Paul Kedrosky has been pushing out insightful commentary and links. I like his twitter feed even more than his blog. I first got a link to the 110-page discussion draft currently working its way through Congress from someone calling herself Miss Trade.
I'd be remiss if I didn't link to some of the better "bubble blogs" out there that have been warning people about this crisis for years now - Calculated Risk, Bubble Meter, and Professor Pigginton's Econo-Almanac for the Landed Poor are three of my favorites.
(and you guys thought I'd be writing about the debates. The pundits were wrong, the people were right. So there.)
I found it very interesting that a group of conservative political activists has turned to YouTube to lay the blame for the current crisis at the feet of the Community Reinvestment Act, and that video has been viewed more than 700,000 times. (Sorry guys, but as Chairman Frank explains, your argument is flawed.)
Via Open Culture, I've found two excellent podcasts from NPR's Fresh Air - one with Michael Greenberger (A University of Maryland Law Professor and former official at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission), the other with the New York Times' Gretchen Morgenson. The interview with Greenberger is the best description I've heard yet about the $62 trillion worth of exposure finanical companies and investors have taken on in the form of unregulated credit default swaps since the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act. Morgenson talks about the prospects of a web of conflicts of interest as the pending bailout package is implemented. Terry Gross has done an admirable job finding people who can translate finance to English.
Twitter has been a decent source of information. Paul Kedrosky has been pushing out insightful commentary and links. I like his twitter feed even more than his blog. I first got a link to the 110-page discussion draft currently working its way through Congress from someone calling herself Miss Trade.
I'd be remiss if I didn't link to some of the better "bubble blogs" out there that have been warning people about this crisis for years now - Calculated Risk, Bubble Meter, and Professor Pigginton's Econo-Almanac for the Landed Poor are three of my favorites.
(and you guys thought I'd be writing about the debates. The pundits were wrong, the people were right. So there.)
26 August 2008
Who Else is Tweeting in Denver
Now that we've had a day to sift through some of the tweets, here are five more folks I'd add to my original five. Many people are using hashtags to track discussions, though not everyone is.
They're not the big-time political bloggers you'd know immediately, but they're providing some insight and snark. I think it's the latest example of how social media is expanding the conversation. First the political bloggers tried to wrest some of the control of the discussion from the beltway pundits and the "permanent ruling class" of DC. They succeeded. Now, in a very real sense, the big-time political bloggers are the new pundits, and these folks are using new tools to broaden and enhance the political discussion.
Alli Gerkman @gerkmana
Steve Rhodes @tigerbeat
Tim Poindexter @6oclockvintage
Susan Gleason @sgleason
Jill Foster @Jillfoster
They're not the big-time political bloggers you'd know immediately, but they're providing some insight and snark. I think it's the latest example of how social media is expanding the conversation. First the political bloggers tried to wrest some of the control of the discussion from the beltway pundits and the "permanent ruling class" of DC. They succeeded. Now, in a very real sense, the big-time political bloggers are the new pundits, and these folks are using new tools to broaden and enhance the political discussion.
Alli Gerkman @gerkmana
Steve Rhodes @tigerbeat
Tim Poindexter @6oclockvintage
Susan Gleason @sgleason
Jill Foster @Jillfoster
25 August 2008
Who's Tweeting in Denver
The Democratic National Convention gears up today, and the liberal political bloggers have descended upon Denver. There's no doubt going to be more blog posts than any one person can read. It's a lot easier to read political snark ('cause that's what it is) in an easily-digestible 140-character tidbit.
I'm surprised that the political bloggers have been a bit slow compared to the PR folks to take up Twitter, but here are some of the people I'll be watching (pretty sure they're all in Denver) and thought you might want to as well:
Duncan Black, a.k.a. "Atrios" @atrios
Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake @janehamsher
Joe Trippi, former advisor to the Dean and Edwards campaigns @JoeTrippi
Oliver Willis - "like kryptonite to stupid" @oliverwillis
Erin Kotecki Vest, Queen of Spain @QueenofSpain
There are no doubt many folks tweeting, and I may add more that I find, but these five should give you a good flavor for what's happening.
Of course, there are twitter feeds for larger political blogs like Huffington Post and Daily Kos, but if you have an RSS feed for each blog, what they push out on Twitter is redundant.
I'm surprised that the political bloggers have been a bit slow compared to the PR folks to take up Twitter, but here are some of the people I'll be watching (pretty sure they're all in Denver) and thought you might want to as well:
Duncan Black, a.k.a. "Atrios" @atrios
Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake @janehamsher
Joe Trippi, former advisor to the Dean and Edwards campaigns @JoeTrippi
Oliver Willis - "like kryptonite to stupid" @oliverwillis
Erin Kotecki Vest, Queen of Spain @QueenofSpain
There are no doubt many folks tweeting, and I may add more that I find, but these five should give you a good flavor for what's happening.
Of course, there are twitter feeds for larger political blogs like Huffington Post and Daily Kos, but if you have an RSS feed for each blog, what they push out on Twitter is redundant.
19 August 2008
SEC 2.0
Seems the Securities Exchange Commission (which I'm now following on Twitter) has some new ideas:
Washington, D.C., Aug. 19, 2008 — Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox today unveiled the successor to the agency’s 1980s-era EDGAR database, which will give investors far faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds.
The new system is called IDEA, short for Interactive Data Electronic Applications. Based on a completely new architecture being built from the ground up, it will at first supplement and then eventually replace the EDGAR system. The decision to replace EDGAR marks the SEC’s transition from collecting forms and documents to making the information itself freely available to investors to give them better and more up-to-date financial disclosure in a form they can readily use.
The Washington Post is on top of the story, and says the new system will change the way companies report their financials as well as the way journalists cover business news.
While advocates say the new system will eventually save companies money because of the speed and ease of preparing disclosures, some critics complain about the initial expenses of making the transition, a burden that is particularly unwelcome during an economic slowdown.I'm certainly paying attention to how those regulated by the SEC are reacting, and I think it's fair to say that any such system will have growing pains. But this is certain: We're in a brave new world when it comes to financial communications. The SEC is absolutely correct to look at information technology tools to make sure investors have the clearest picture possible to make educated decisions. Chairman Cox is showing some leadership here, and his staff is thinking ahead.
16 July 2008
Top 10 BlogHer Expectations/Goals From a Rookie
As odd as this may sound to some, I've found something even better than going to BlogHer 08 this year - spending time with my wife and newborn baby. I've asked a few of the cooler moms at the conference to be on the lookout for a young colleague of mine, based in Sacramento - Sallie Boorman, who like many of the hipsters in her generation can be found on Twitter - she's @SallieB.
Sallie is very excited to be part of the conference. I asked her to share some thoughts about attending BlogHer 08, and she was kind enough to let me share them with you here.
Top 10 BlogHer Expectations/Goals From a Rookie
I have less than 30 hours until I leave to drive to ‘the city’ to go to BlogHer 2008 and the voice in my head keeps thinking, “omg I am so nervous, what if no one likes me?” and “I have not even figured out what I am going to wear yet!”
Sallie is very excited to be part of the conference. I asked her to share some thoughts about attending BlogHer 08, and she was kind enough to let me share them with you here.
Top 10 BlogHer Expectations/Goals From a Rookie
I have less than 30 hours until I leave to drive to ‘the city’ to go to BlogHer 2008 and the voice in my head keeps thinking, “omg I am so nervous, what if no one likes me?” and “I have not even figured out what I am going to wear yet!”
With that being said, here are some of my expectations for BlogHer ‘08 and some of my goals as I join the ranks as a Rookie.
EXPECTATION: Fantasmi-Swag. Oh, the glory of so much conference swag.
As Gandhi said “Be the change you wish to see.” Big movements start as small changes. I for one want to see a better understanding of the social media world and better guided relationships between bloggers and organizations. What better way to continue the dialog of understanding, than to embrace and become the change.
02 July 2008
Social Media and the Crisis in Zimbabwe
For those of you who only get news from American sources who think "foreign news" is whatever Amy Winehouse is doing right now, Zimbabwe is a country of about 12 million people in Southern Africa. It's known for its rich mineral deposits, beautiful places like Victoria Falls, its high poverty and HIV rates, and its ruthless leader, Robert Mugabe. On March 29 the country held general elections and most impartial observers concluded that the opposition party, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, won a clear majority. The "official" results, released by Mugabe, declared that no party won a majority and a run-off vote would be required on June 27.
Leading up to the run-off, the country has seen a systematic campaign of intimidation and violence, including the arrest of Tsvangirai, who ultimately pulled out of the run-off to prevent further bloodshed. Today the western world has tried to convince other countries in Africa to refuse to recognize the Mugabe government and find a diplomatic solution to transfer power in a way that reflects the will of the people. These efforts have had limited success.
Not surprisingly, the best coverage of the crisis in Zimbabwe has come from inside Zimbabwe. But it's come from bloggers. I'm particuarly impressed with Sokwanele's efforts to map incidents of violence at the blog This is Zimbabwe. You can follow Sokwanele on Twitter for breaking news, and it's amazingly good - when Twitter's working, of course.
Global Voices Online had been following and linking to some of the more noteworthy posts, but that's dropped off a bit. There's been a lot of commentary about Zimbabwe at Open Democracy, and thankfully not all of it is from the Western intellectuals' perspective.
Leading up to the run-off, the country has seen a systematic campaign of intimidation and violence, including the arrest of Tsvangirai, who ultimately pulled out of the run-off to prevent further bloodshed. Today the western world has tried to convince other countries in Africa to refuse to recognize the Mugabe government and find a diplomatic solution to transfer power in a way that reflects the will of the people. These efforts have had limited success.
Not surprisingly, the best coverage of the crisis in Zimbabwe has come from inside Zimbabwe. But it's come from bloggers. I'm particuarly impressed with Sokwanele's efforts to map incidents of violence at the blog This is Zimbabwe. You can follow Sokwanele on Twitter for breaking news, and it's amazingly good - when Twitter's working, of course.
Global Voices Online had been following and linking to some of the more noteworthy posts, but that's dropped off a bit. There's been a lot of commentary about Zimbabwe at Open Democracy, and thankfully not all of it is from the Western intellectuals' perspective.
01 July 2008
Meta-Green Tweeting...
Big Kudos to Kim Woodbridge for taking the Green Twitter idea she had to the next level, taking the opml file she created and the twitter RSS feed I built and pushing each through a cloud generator and comparing the two clouds:
I touched on this a few months back when I took 5 "social media guru" types and did kinda the same thing. It's also related to what we do at Virtual Vantage Points - taking the discussions of the top bloggers in one online community and examining it over time, or comparing that discussion with that of another online community (like US liberals vs. US conservatives, UK Labour vs. UK Tories vs. UK Liberal Democrats vs. UK Greens, etc.), but VVP focuses squarely on blogs right now (though that may change) and applies subjective analysis from prominent political thinkers.
But Kim's clouds are important because they show how people in the sustainability community use social media tools differently. It's not all the same conversation. I'm taken by the diversity of expression via twitter vs. blogs. Now, maybe if we just took the twitter streams of the bloggers we'd see a more similar cloud, but I don't think so since that's what I did with the social media types. It seems to me that Twitter is used for different purposes and with different results. And it also seems to me that you learn a lot more about the green bloggers by following them on Twitter.
As the marketing/PR crowd starts pitching people via twitter we should keep these fundamental differences in mind.
There is quite a difference between the clouds. The cloud for Green Blog feeds is primarily about environmental issues wheareas the cloud for Green Twitter feeds contains tags for a variety of topics. The second cloud, however, gives insight into the personalities of the tweeters interested in the environment.Seriously, you should check it out.
I touched on this a few months back when I took 5 "social media guru" types and did kinda the same thing. It's also related to what we do at Virtual Vantage Points - taking the discussions of the top bloggers in one online community and examining it over time, or comparing that discussion with that of another online community (like US liberals vs. US conservatives, UK Labour vs. UK Tories vs. UK Liberal Democrats vs. UK Greens, etc.), but VVP focuses squarely on blogs right now (though that may change) and applies subjective analysis from prominent political thinkers.
But Kim's clouds are important because they show how people in the sustainability community use social media tools differently. It's not all the same conversation. I'm taken by the diversity of expression via twitter vs. blogs. Now, maybe if we just took the twitter streams of the bloggers we'd see a more similar cloud, but I don't think so since that's what I did with the social media types. It seems to me that Twitter is used for different purposes and with different results. And it also seems to me that you learn a lot more about the green bloggers by following them on Twitter.
As the marketing/PR crowd starts pitching people via twitter we should keep these fundamental differences in mind.
25 June 2008
Green Tweeting Update
Wow, I'm really pleased with the reaction to the Green Tweeting RSS feed idea. This could be something I build for a while. Riomix steered me toward a post on Digg I'll have to look at.
Of course, there are a couple of other places one can find a whole host of environmental discussion - I like the Environment Room at FriendFeed (administered by Chris Baskind and SpostareDuro) and EcoTumble. My goal was to see if the discussion happening exclusively on Twitter was a little different than other places. More on that later.
Meantime, I've added the following tweeters to the RSS feed:
GreenLiving
JillFehr
organicmania
lornali
youragentsteph
I have a few more I need to get to when I have a little time. I'm also considering putting together similar feeds for other distinct communities - now that I have the hang of pipes (at least for this sort of thing), it's not difficult...
Of course, there are a couple of other places one can find a whole host of environmental discussion - I like the Environment Room at FriendFeed (administered by Chris Baskind and SpostareDuro) and EcoTumble. My goal was to see if the discussion happening exclusively on Twitter was a little different than other places. More on that later.
Meantime, I've added the following tweeters to the RSS feed:
GreenLiving
JillFehr
organicmania
lornali
youragentsteph
I have a few more I need to get to when I have a little time. I'm also considering putting together similar feeds for other distinct communities - now that I have the hang of pipes (at least for this sort of thing), it's not difficult...
23 June 2008
Green Tweeting
A couple of weeks ago Kim Woodbridge wrote a very interesting post on environmentalists who use Twitter. She even built an opml file of all the blogs associated with those tweeters - a very useful resource for those who follow people who discuss sustainability issues online.
I found it interesting, then, that Ms. Woodbridge decided to make an opml file for the blogs, but she didn't do anything with the twitter feeds. After all, many folks use twitter for somewhat different discussions than they have on blogs.
I wrote about this a while back when I took the blended rss feeds of 5 social media guru blogs and their combined corresponding twitter feeds and ran each through a text cloud generator, and then compared the two clouds. The twitter cloud depicted a much more informal discussion about a broader range of topics. I thought it would be interesting to see if the green discussions on Twitter differed from those on blogs as well.
Rather than do another text cloud experiment, I decided to use Yahoo Pipes to crunch together most of the twitter feeds in Kim Woodbridge's list and then sort them by date so they'd create a useable RSS feed that portrayed an actual discussion taking place among "green tweeters."
Since I was looking for more of a discussion than a news feed, I didn't include the twitter feeds like BBC News or anything in which every single tweet starts with "New Blog Post." I also added a couple of people I thought made sense - Tim Hurst (@ecopolitologist) and Maria Surma Manka (@mariaenergia). I hope this starts a discussion on who belongs and who doesn't - I don't claim to be right on everything...
This remains a work in progress, since I'm still learning Pipes. I may have issues with the sorting, but it seems to be working OK for now, and I added the feed to my sidebar. Here's the pipe I made public on Yahoo Pipes, so feel free to take a look, offer suggestions on who else to include etc:
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=TDWICNg73RGnwBuLyp1_DQ
Here's the current list of "Green Tweeters" - I'd love to see this grow...
Big Green Switch
Polizeros
Jetsongreen
Jejacquot
Greenskeptic
MariaEnergia
Sheagunther
Starfocus
CAGW
ChrisBaskind
Eco2020
Ecogeek
eleblog
globalwarming
marcalt
NikkiJade
GreenPrint
sustainablog
Wilderness
worldresources
ecopolitologist
UPDATE: just added:
ecochildsplay
michaeldestries
aidg
elaineishere
greensmith
jcolman
SpostareDuro
I found it interesting, then, that Ms. Woodbridge decided to make an opml file for the blogs, but she didn't do anything with the twitter feeds. After all, many folks use twitter for somewhat different discussions than they have on blogs.
I wrote about this a while back when I took the blended rss feeds of 5 social media guru blogs and their combined corresponding twitter feeds and ran each through a text cloud generator, and then compared the two clouds. The twitter cloud depicted a much more informal discussion about a broader range of topics. I thought it would be interesting to see if the green discussions on Twitter differed from those on blogs as well.
Rather than do another text cloud experiment, I decided to use Yahoo Pipes to crunch together most of the twitter feeds in Kim Woodbridge's list and then sort them by date so they'd create a useable RSS feed that portrayed an actual discussion taking place among "green tweeters."
Since I was looking for more of a discussion than a news feed, I didn't include the twitter feeds like BBC News or anything in which every single tweet starts with "New Blog Post." I also added a couple of people I thought made sense - Tim Hurst (@ecopolitologist) and Maria Surma Manka (@mariaenergia). I hope this starts a discussion on who belongs and who doesn't - I don't claim to be right on everything...
This remains a work in progress, since I'm still learning Pipes. I may have issues with the sorting, but it seems to be working OK for now, and I added the feed to my sidebar. Here's the pipe I made public on Yahoo Pipes, so feel free to take a look, offer suggestions on who else to include etc:
http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=TDWICNg73RGnwBuLyp1_DQ
Here's the current list of "Green Tweeters" - I'd love to see this grow...
Big Green Switch
Polizeros
Jetsongreen
Jejacquot
Greenskeptic
MariaEnergia
Sheagunther
Starfocus
CAGW
ChrisBaskind
Eco2020
Ecogeek
eleblog
globalwarming
marcalt
NikkiJade
GreenPrint
sustainablog
Wilderness
worldresources
ecopolitologist
UPDATE: just added:
ecochildsplay
michaeldestries
aidg
elaineishere
greensmith
jcolman
SpostareDuro
21 May 2008
Technically, This Is a Social Media Post
Lots of news from the olde towne - some quite inspirational, some a bit sad. So in deference to my home town, and to keep things light, I'll just share the chatter surrounding a memorable night for another inspirational kid in Boston. Twitter sure is somethin', ain't it?
 | |
 | digg_sports Jon Lester, Red Sox Pitcher Throws No-No: Less than two years after being diagnosed with cancer, 24 y.. http://tinyurl.com/4aa7lk 1 day ago |
 | TimCameron How long before the Jon Lester story becomes a sports movie...http://tinyurl.com/5zskxy 1 day ago |
 | idigg Jon Lester, Red Sox Pitcher Throws No-No: Less than two years after being diagnosed with cancer, 24 year ol.. http://tinyurl.com/5erqgx 1 day ago |
 | |
 | |
| thebodybreaks Pitcher Who Beat Cancer Throws No Hitter : Cancer survivor Jon Lester pitches no-hitter, leads Bost.. http://tinyurl.com/6azlyx 1 day ago |
 | mojobaer Nice, peaceful, and quiet at Rao's in the aftermath of the student exodus and Jon Lester's Sox No... - Photo: http://bkite.com/00eAI 1 day ago |
 | Clampants Jon Lester treding UP in the Twitosphere: http://summize.com/search?q=Jon+Lester (and I just added to it) 1 day ago |
 | ampersandranch Congrats to Jon Lester! http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSB56080920080520 1 day ago |
 | jolenehajj congrats to Jon Lester for last night's no hitter!! Yankees? Bueller? Bueller? ;-) 1 day ago |
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19 May 2008
Follow the Primaries @Campaign2008
A quick plug for the twitter feed - my crackerjack team of tweeters will be providing returns and quick-strike analysis (plus any blog posts from Virtual Vantage Points) @Campaign2008 on Twitter.
Follow if you're not already. Should be good.
Follow if you're not already. Should be good.
08 April 2008
Speaking of political conversations on Twitter...
Kristen Forbriger points out something that should have been much more clear in my previous post about candidates on Twitter - the accounts I specifically mentioned are actually run by Polfeeds and not the campaigns themselves. Candidates have their own Twitter accounts as well, and the number of followers there are considerably higher - particularly for Senator Obama.
Of course, those Twitter accounts are also really one-way communication as well. They don't engage in conversations, and more importantly they don't participate in the community conversation.
This week I have a piece in the Council of PR Firms' new online publication, The Firm Voice, that looks at the importance of community over technology in social media. I write specifically about how @Campaign2008 relates to Virtual Vantage Points - VVP is our team's content and contribution to the overall discussion, while Campaign2008 serves as a gateway to the community of political and social media enthusiasts who are most likely to find our contributions interesting and useful. If we aren't making a relevant contribution, we're wasting our time. That's really how we approach outreach - not just in social media, but really any kind of outreach.
Of course, those Twitter accounts are also really one-way communication as well. They don't engage in conversations, and more importantly they don't participate in the community conversation.
This week I have a piece in the Council of PR Firms' new online publication, The Firm Voice, that looks at the importance of community over technology in social media. I write specifically about how @Campaign2008 relates to Virtual Vantage Points - VVP is our team's content and contribution to the overall discussion, while Campaign2008 serves as a gateway to the community of political and social media enthusiasts who are most likely to find our contributions interesting and useful. If we aren't making a relevant contribution, we're wasting our time. That's really how we approach outreach - not just in social media, but really any kind of outreach.
07 April 2008
Twitter abuse?
Over the weekend at @Campaign2008 I tweeted this bit of trivia:
quickly followed by:
Twitter abuse? So I tried to clarify:
And I heard back:
OK, fine. I get it. Participation is marketing. Cluetrain manifesto. Give something of value. Have conversations. Build relationships. That's how I preach social media to my clients, too. After all, what's campaigning if it's not marketing, right? And if I'm not interacting, I'm not doing my job, right?
Well, yes and no.
Of course the best-case scenario is there's a person on the other end of of the internet, engaging in conversations - just like what we're doing with @Campaign2008 and Virtual Vantage Points at APCO. But you also have to consider what you can accomplish with the resources you have, and you have to work within an appropriate context. So I asked:
I haven't heard back from BL yet on this but I hope I will. Her earlier comments seem to me that she thinks people do have a reasonable expectation to interact with somebody, if not the candidate, here. She may very well be right. But I'm not sure that the people following these candidate "News" twitter accounts are expecting to chat with someone - I think they're looking for news and updates, nothing more. I'd love to know her opinion here.
I'm also not sure (though opinions will differ) that pushing out news through Twitter constitutes "abuse." I follow a few news networks through Twitter, even though I'm aware of their RSS feed. The simple truth is people get their information from a variety of sources, almost all in the background. When you're running a campaign, your primary job is to put your messaging in front of people, wherever they are. Some people get their information through Twitter, so you have to put your messaging there.
I also know that campaigns are obsessed with resource ROI right now. Senator Clinton, for example, has relatively limited resources to communicate with people. Someone on her staff could spend time fielding questions from the 131 people (no doubt spread out across the country if not the planet) following @ClintonNews - or that person could be canvassing neighborhoods in Philadelphia or assembling GOTV operations in Harrisburg right now. What's the smarter investment given the finite resource? I think you push out info wherever people are, and do the best you can.
Yes, the ideal scenario is complete interaction, complete immersion in conversation. And when it comes to working with bloggers (and others) on marketing assigments, I try to insist on this. But even though the political campaigns have reached out specifically (and with mixed results) to political bloggers, I've yet to find the political campaign that fits that ideal scenario of complete interaction with everyone.
Of course, raising a boatload of cash from the online channel comes pretty close.
 | Campaign2008 The candidates have increased a presence on Twitter. number of followers right now: @ClintonNews 131, @ObamaNews 1,168, @McCainNews 255 |
I didn't find this to be earth-shattering news; just a mildly interesting observation. The campaigns are trying to push news out via Twitter, and Senator Obama seems to be building a significantly larger following than the other candidates. The campaigns have been using Twitter for some time now, but the new thing seems to be pushing all their RSS feeds through a "news" tweet.
Shortly after this I saw a pair of interesting replies from BL Ochman, aka @whatsnext on Twitter:
 | whatsnext @Campaign2008 wrong. that's not participation. participation is by humans telling what they think. |
quickly followed by:
| | whatsnext @campaign2008 - candidate's news bots is Twitter abuse. please get a clue. |
Twitter abuse? So I tried to clarify:
| | Campaign2008 @whatsnext as you know there's a difference between "presence" and "participation." They're using Twitter as a modified RSS feed, no more.. |
And I heard back:
| | whatsnext @Campaign2008 candidates are using twitter like MSM push media. they should be interacting her. we can get RSS feeds off their websites. |
Well, yes and no.
Of course the best-case scenario is there's a person on the other end of of the internet, engaging in conversations - just like what we're doing with @Campaign2008 and Virtual Vantage Points at APCO. But you also have to consider what you can accomplish with the resources you have, and you have to work within an appropriate context. So I asked:
| | Campaign2008 @whatsnext does someone who follows a candidate on twitter have a reasonable expectation of a conversation? can candidates interact here? |
I'm also not sure (though opinions will differ) that pushing out news through Twitter constitutes "abuse." I follow a few news networks through Twitter, even though I'm aware of their RSS feed. The simple truth is people get their information from a variety of sources, almost all in the background. When you're running a campaign, your primary job is to put your messaging in front of people, wherever they are. Some people get their information through Twitter, so you have to put your messaging there.
I also know that campaigns are obsessed with resource ROI right now. Senator Clinton, for example, has relatively limited resources to communicate with people. Someone on her staff could spend time fielding questions from the 131 people (no doubt spread out across the country if not the planet) following @ClintonNews - or that person could be canvassing neighborhoods in Philadelphia or assembling GOTV operations in Harrisburg right now. What's the smarter investment given the finite resource? I think you push out info wherever people are, and do the best you can.
Yes, the ideal scenario is complete interaction, complete immersion in conversation. And when it comes to working with bloggers (and others) on marketing assigments, I try to insist on this. But even though the political campaigns have reached out specifically (and with mixed results) to political bloggers, I've yet to find the political campaign that fits that ideal scenario of complete interaction with everyone.
Of course, raising a boatload of cash from the online channel comes pretty close.
25 March 2008
Reactions From Campaign2008 Followers...
Recently I've been posing questions to the people who follow @Campaign2008 on Twitter - partly to see if anyone would respond to a twitter account that doesn't have a person's name attached to it, but also just to see what the political discussion looks like when you ask questions.
I've tried to avoid playing favorites with the messages I tweet, sticking mainly to fact-based updates with links to stories. As of Tuesday night there were 979 followers, and the number has risen slowly and steadily. Campaign2008's precursor, @SuperTuesday, started simply as a way to drive traffic to the Virtual Vantage Points blog as we live-blogged the "national primary" on February 5. It did well, but as people replied to the make-shift breaking-news feed we created, we quickly learned this was much more than a promotional tool.
Here's a sample of tweets I received when I asked people to "grade" Senator Obama's speech on race in America and compare it to Governor Romney's speech on religion. (I also sent out a link to a recent news story about the Michigan "re-vote" proposal falling apart.)
It's been fascinating to watch the discussion here, as well as the broader political discussions on politweets and by using tools such as quotably.
Last year I contributed an essay on "The American Political Blogosphere in 2007 and Beyond" to Iain Dale's book, Guide to Political Blogging in the UK 2007-08 and I made two predictions. First, the discussions we saw in 2006 on US political blogs would migrate into other communities, like techies and moms. Second, blogs wouldn't be the only places we'd see these types of discussions online. I specifically mentioned Twitter. While I certainly like being right, I honestly had no idea it would take off to the degree it has.
I've tried to avoid playing favorites with the messages I tweet, sticking mainly to fact-based updates with links to stories. As of Tuesday night there were 979 followers, and the number has risen slowly and steadily. Campaign2008's precursor, @SuperTuesday, started simply as a way to drive traffic to the Virtual Vantage Points blog as we live-blogged the "national primary" on February 5. It did well, but as people replied to the make-shift breaking-news feed we created, we quickly learned this was much more than a promotional tool.
Here's a sample of tweets I received when I asked people to "grade" Senator Obama's speech on race in America and compare it to Governor Romney's speech on religion. (I also sent out a link to a recent news story about the Michigan "re-vote" proposal falling apart.)
 | henrim @Campaign2008 Mitt didn't face the issue. he said his religion won't affect him as pres. Barack said face the truth and let's deal with it. |
 | bblboy54 @campaign2008 I think Obama's speech yesterday holds valuable content for humans even outside of the campaign - no matter who you root for. |
 | RobertP @Campaign2008 No Michigan revote. Awesome, let's be done. |
 | debdebtig @Campaign2008 Obama's speech was about more then just race and religion. It is definitely going to be a speech that goes down in history. |
 | jkwatson @Campaign2008 A+ on the speech. It inspired me to give money for the 1st time. |
 | myrna_minkoff @Campaign2008: A+ in complexity, delivery, lyricism, even-handedness, emotion and truth. The speech was a thing of beauty. |
 | dean_m @Campaign2008: @acafourek acafourek grades on a curve. B.O.'s speech was more of campaign stump speech |
 | acafourek @Campaign2008 He didnt seem on his A-game.I listened to audio via CNN and the speech itself just wasnt all that moving. Romney: A- Obama: B |
| | dean_m @Campaign2008 B. Obama didn't make any JFK speech nor come close to it. Not even close to Romney's. It was justification |
It's been fascinating to watch the discussion here, as well as the broader political discussions on politweets and by using tools such as quotably.
Last year I contributed an essay on "The American Political Blogosphere in 2007 and Beyond" to Iain Dale's book, Guide to Political Blogging in the UK 2007-08 and I made two predictions. First, the discussions we saw in 2006 on US political blogs would migrate into other communities, like techies and moms. Second, blogs wouldn't be the only places we'd see these types of discussions online. I specifically mentioned Twitter. While I certainly like being right, I honestly had no idea it would take off to the degree it has.
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