Belmont Media Blog

Facebook Blocking Messages

belmontmediablog — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:05:11 +0000

CNN Reports Facebook is now blocking messages because of certain content.

Embedded video from CNN Video

Moving Fast, Much? Is RSS Passé?

belmontmediablog — Sun, 03 May 2009 01:01:43 +0000

Personally, I’ve been waiting for it. While researching for the Vision convo several weeks ago, I got to thinking about RSS feeds and if Twitter wasn’t stepping into some of that territory. Well, Mashable’s Pete Cashmore tweeted this a few moments ago, along with some unintentional irony, “Is RSS Reading Dead?” The author, Ben Parr, talks about how he’s noticed a trend in people abandoning their Google Readers etc. in favor of relying on Twitter and such to serve that same ‘as it comes in’ purpose that RSS feeds once handled so well. He cites a friend’s complaint that RSS turns reading news into a chore. That raises the question, how long does RSS have left before it heads for Obsolete Technology Heaven (or would Purgatory be more fitting)? Also, is social media a better alternative? Maybe. Here’s why:

Yes

Twitter is in real time. News should probably in real time as well.
News would come in on a more rolling basis and probably be less overwhelming than a bookmark bar that says “News (129)”
Centralization = convenience.

Do we want news mixed in with proclamations of deli meat choices and cat antics?
There’s a good chance that a lot would be overlooked or missed, unless you use a tool like TweetDeck which separates Tweets into groups or lists… in which case is it really any more efficient than keeping an RSS feed?

Perhaps the answer lies somewhere between sprucing up RSS and reworking Twitter’s organizational abilities.

RSS has been around since ’99, and if it is in the process of dying, I’ve got to say… that was quick.

Newspapers are Dying

belmontmediablog — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:18:29 +0000

\”Newspapers are Dying\”

Newspapers Dying

This article describes the pros and cons of a world without newspapers. It asks the question of whether or not we really care. Especially considering the fact that some journalists have not taken action when it comes to saving newspapers.

Clear channel and Wecho’s Tenn Newspaper Cut

belmontmediablog — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:09:25 +0000

More Media Woes: Cuts At Clear Channel, Wehco’s Tennessee Newspaper

Posted on April 29, 2009 by lanceturner

More media bleeding at two companies with Arkansas connections:

Wehco Media’s Chattanooga Times Free Press cuts nine newsroom positions due to the economic slump. Wehco also owns the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which is no stranger to cutbacks.

Clear Channel Communications cuts nine radio jobs in Little Rock, part of 590 cuts nationwide. In all, the San Antonio-based company, which grew exponentially in the ’90s under media deregulation, has cut 2,500 positions this year.

Update on the Rocky Mountain News: Repeat Fail

belmontmediablog — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:00:53 +0000

Our good friends over at Rocky Mountain News still seem to have nothing going for them.

They planned to open a new website with ex-RMN journalists called InDenverTimes. They were banking on 50,000 forking over their credit card numbers in exchange for a subscription.

They were about 47,000 people short.

Again, this shows us that people won’t pay/subscribe for news, and we shouldn’t expect them to in any business model. There’s got to be a better way to monetize!

Oh well, back to the drawing board.

The investors behind INDenverTimes have scrapped their original plan and will move forward with their vision of a smaller, niche news site. A group of journalists will push forward to create a self-sustaining, broad-based local news service.

Thanks to Steve Myers at the Poynter Institute for a solid run-down of the situation.

AP Stylebook on Twitter

belmontmediablog — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:52:12 +0000

I can’t really speak as to what function this will serve, but a Tweet from Media Bistro announced that the “journalist’s Bible” now has a Twitter. Taking a quick scan over some of the past tweets, it seems mostly to be a promotional tool for the online edition, rather than a place where a confused journalist could go for an answer (hey, now– there’s an idea). Nonetheless, @APstylebook has declared that “Twitter” has found a place in the book. A Twitter message is a “Tweet,” but the verb can go either way, ” to Tweet” or “to Twitter.” Consider yourself enlightened.

PolitiFact wins Pulitzer Prize

belmontmediablog — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:43:56 +0000

Read this article. A website won the Pulitzer Prize for news. What does that mean for newspapers in the future? A concise opinion from Neil Brown says it all.

Neil Brown, executive editor of the St. Petersburg Times, which launched PolitiFact in August 2007, said the award was “proof that the Web is not a death sentence for newspapers. In fact, PolitiFact marries the power of old-fashioned shoe-leather journalism with an extraordinarily powerful way to present it.”

Rex Hammock doesn’t “get” Twitter?

belmontmediablog — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:44:26 +0000

A recent post on Rex Blog notes the new Oprah phenom and what it means to Twitter and Social Media users. It seems that there is now a Before Oprah and an After Oprah in Twitter history (almost like when TV was invented!) There is even a website to check whether a user was on Twitter before Oprah.

The main point of the article was that we don’t ever talk about what Twitter is (or other social media for that matter), we only talk about what it DOES. Does anyone else see a book coming??

Top 10 Social Media Sites for College Students

belmontmediablog — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:02:22 +0000

This article outlines the top 10 must- try social networking sites for college students… considering I have only heard of one of these I’m happy to find it! I’m going to spend some time later on playing around with these. Two of these look espcially interesting to me. One is Evernote, where it looks like you can capture images and information with your phone and then organize and access it by computer. The other is Gradefund, where you can upload your transcript and have sponsors give you money for good grades! Other sites include Zimride, where you can find other people in your area to carpool with and help the environment, and Cramster, where you can find answers to homework questions. Which sites do you think you would actually use and benefit from?

Ashton Kutcher Beats CNN in Twitter Contest

belmontmediablog — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:58:18 +0000

Ashton Kutcher celebrates victory over CNN in the Twitter contest: I’m having some trouble uploading the celebration victory but I will get it up here soon.

Ashton Kutcher beat out CNN last night by being the first Twitter account to reach 1,000,000 followers. CNN wrote an article this morning about the competition, and sites in the article that Twitter has seen 131% growth in the month of March alone. Online experts say that the contest is “symbolic of the state of Twitter, which gained media attention because of its applications for news organizations, but is starting to be dominated by strong personalities with cult followings.” For the rest of the article click here.

What are some of the implications for the news media from this competition? With all do respect to Ashton Kutcher, how is it possible that one person has more Twitter followers than one of the most highly respected news organizations in the world?