An analysis of 43,738 tweets from 1,443 users offers some valuable insights into emerging communication norms on Twitter. The study (PDF) by researchers Paul André of Carnegie Mellon, Michael Bernstein of MIT, and Kurt Luther of Georgia Tech aimed to uncover what makes for a good message on Twitter. The team found that the most valued tweets were informative, funny and encouraged conversation. Perhaps surprising, they also found that self-promotional messages also elicited a positive response. By comparison,
PDF For this month’s Carnival of Journalism, Michael Rosenblum asks if a good journalist can be a good capitalist? The question is timely, given the raft of new entrepreneurial programs at journalism schools. There has always been an entrepreneurial streak in journalism, typified in the freelance journalist who makes a living by pitching and selling their work to a range of clients. Journalists, by necessity, have to be entrepreneurial in finding
The demise of Eastman Kodak is a story of a company which did not take on the challenges of disruptive innovation. After 133 years, the company has filed for bankruptcy. Essentially, Kodak was caught out by a combination of factors. The technologies that enable us to represent with world in still images changed radically with the development of digital cameras. The rise of digital was bad news for a company that made
In a column, Washington Post ombudsman Patrick Pexton asked if the newspaper was innovating too fast. Pexton noted how “hardly a week goes by without the Web site or newspaper launching some feature, or a venture to attract more revenue, or a blog, or a social media innovation.” He later added, “I’m wondering, and readers are too, whether there’s just a bit too much innovation, too fast.” In response, the
The most popular posts for 2011 are dominated by Twitter and social media, as this has increasingly become a focus on my academic research. But the top five are older posts from 2007, 2008 and 2009 that continue to resonate with readers. Principles of journalism as a word cloud What a word cloud says about this blog How to find out anything about anyone online The new roles for journalists
The Nieman Journalism Lab asked me to contribute to its series looking ahead to what 2012 will bring for journalism. For my contribution, I suggested that the excitement and hype over social media may start dying down in the coming year, and this is something to be welcomed. My argument draws from Roy Amara’s First Law of Technology: With every change in technology that affects consumer behaviour, We tend to overestimate the
There is a seasonal theme to this month’s Carnival of Journalism, hosted by The Guardian Developer blog. Journalists are being asked when would be the best present from programmers and developers, and vice versa for developers. It is a key question as it focuses on the intersection of emerging communication technologies and journalistic norms and practices. The way journalists do what they do has always been affected by technology, from the
Watch the video of our lively discussion of the impact of social media on journalism, featuring Liz Heron, Social Media Editor at The New York Times,Karen Pinchin, founding editor of OpenFile Vancouver, and Steve Pratt, Director of CBC Radio 3 and CBC Radio Digital Programming and myself. The event was held on November 7, 2011, at UBC Robson in Vancouver, sponsored by UBC Continuing Studies and the UBC Graduate School of Journalism.
The news that mainstream media organisations use Twitter as a broadcast channel is hardly surprising. The study of Twitter feeds from 13 major news outlets in the US by the Pew Research Center’s Project in Excellence in Journalism is in line with earlier academic studies. The Pew study, in collaboration with the George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs, found that Twitter was mainly used to distribute news and boost
I’m honoured to have nominated as Canada’s top social media maven in the 2011 Digi Awards. Also up for the award are Erica Ehm, who set up the online magazine YummyMummyClub.ca, and YouTube personality Nadine Sykora. The winners will be announced on December 6th at the finale of nextMEDIA Toront,. The social media maven award recognizes “medialites that demonstrate innovation in creating and connecting online communities.” It goes on to explain that “the top Canadian social media mavens