Who’s had a chance to work with Google Wave? How are you using it? What are your thoughts?
Today I found this post on TechCrunch: The idiot’s guide to Google Wave – and while I think it’s helpful, so far I’ve had more success by just working in Wave. However, I wonder if a large percentage of Wave users will ever use it for anything other than e-mail – simply because they don’t have the time – or don’t care – to find out what else it can do for them.
“Facebook officials claim the new settings give users more control over the information they share. For example, users will now have the option to decide who can see each update by selecting the audience of “Friends,” “Friends of friends” or “Everyone.” However, if you have a public profile, “Everyone” no longer means everyone on Facebook; it now includes everyone online (except for minors).
Some bloggers disagree that these changes promote privacy. “It’s not about privacy at all, it’s about increasing traffic and the visibility of activity on the site,” writes Read Write Web author Marshall Kirkpatrick.”
What do you think? How do you feel about these new changes and how Facebook brought them about?
I’ve admired the members of the Social Blade family for the longest time, so it was fantastic to be a guest on their show this week. In Episode 17, Patrick, Erin, Jason, Victor and JD (who made an appearance even though he was traveling!) chatted about the new StumbleUpon, the “Spam King,” Seesmic and Twitter Lists, Twitterad.io (ha!) and more.
I’m trying to learn how to best help our readers on Net Worked, and so I’m trying to gauge 1) Their publication’s level of integration with the Web and 2) Where their skill levels are when it comes to social media. If you have a moment, could you please vote and share your comments? — Thanks so much!
I’m so excited to receive my Google Way invite – unfortunately I’m still waiting for the one I was promised to receive last night. Nevertheless, I can’t wait to see everything Wave has to offer. There seems to be a bit of a learning curve (i.e. Wave has its own terminology), but it seems like that shouldn’t be a problem after playing around with it for a while.
What’s Wave? Check out this video -
Have you received your Google Wave invite yet? Either way, what do you think? Will Wave change the way we communicate? (Do you want it to?)
Check out my latest post Using social networks as reporting tools, which covers how journalists can use sites like Twitter and Facebook to find sources in a flash. You can also find a list of 6 of the best Twitter and Facebook searches for finding folks by interest, profession and location.
So we’ve already seen how Twitter can be a great tool for crowdsourcing (if you haven’t experienced it yourself, check out my post: A waste of time? What waste?). And yet again Twitter has proven why it is brilliant – the community’s ability to get the word out.
Three days ago the Chicago Breaking News Center blog wrote about 4 dogs that need a home after their owners were killed in a motorcycle crash. The story definitely tugs at the heartstrings, which I think is part of the reason why so many folks wanted to help out and spread the word about them.
As of right now, thanks to about 25 retweets, more than 500 folks clicked on the link in this Tweet:
While it doesn’t look like the dogs have been adopted yet (as their photo and information are still on the Chicago Canine Club’s Web site), this experience is a great example of the power of word of mouth. Thanks to Twitter the story’s reach didn’t end with the BNC’s readers, but was shared with an additional 500 folks who may not have otherwise seen the story.
And the best part is that the reach doesn’t end with this one Tweet. According to search.twitter.com there are a handful of other folks who also Tweeted about the dogs. That’s phenomenal.
Now of course this isn’t a guarantee that those dogs will be adopted soon by someone on Twitter. But it certainly doesn’t hurt their odds.
Here’s to hoping that our Tweets will help change those dogs’ lives in a major way.
This has been a summer of celebrity deaths (find a few of them here) – and has it become an opportunity for celebrity gossip Web site TMZ to build its credibility?
In late June, TMZ was the first to report Michael Jackson died, and last night I noticed it again with DJ AM’s passing. What’s important about that? The site was right both times.
It’s interesting because so many main-stream media won’t report it until the news is confirmed (via the AP, or another major news source), and that doesn’t include TMZ. I don’t blame these media, considering I work for one of them, as credibility is of utmost importance and TMZ doesn’t carry the best reputation.
But what happens when the gossip site is the first to report major stories correctly – thereby improving its credibility? And how is this happening?
The day after Michael Jackson died, the Los Angeles times wrote about this same issue – how TMZ reported the scoop far earlier than any other media. (What’s interesting is that the managing editor of TMZ said “We were getting calls from everyone under the sun, established news operations, asking, ‘Are you sure?’ That’s such an odd question. We would not have published it if it were not true.”) And its happened again, granted on a smaller scale.
So how is this possible? What is main-stream media missing? Do we not have enough contacts who know people who know people? Or is there something more to it?
What do you think? How do you feel about this? What are your thoughts on TMZ – and do you think the site is building its credibility, or is it just lucky?
Too often I hear that folks don’t use Twitter because they don’t have time. Well my experience today proves, if nothing else, that Twitter saves time.
Around 4 p.m. I had received a heart-breaking e-mail from my mother, a kindergarten teacher. It has only been a few days since the kids had returned to school, and she was already exhausted because her shoes were hurting her feet. She asked me for any recommendations I could offer because she wanted to get new shoes as soon as possible.
I had no idea where to start, so I went to Twitter:
Within an hour I had received no fewer than 15 fantastic suggestions, some with links to specific shoes:
I had no idea where to start helping my mom – but my Twitter friends did. Instead of wasting time trying on shoes at a store or searching for online reviews I can trust, they came to me with recommendations and experiences. Twitter *saved* me time.
The best part is that it’s not always about shoes or restaurant recommendations – or whatever you decide to ask your followers. Twitter friends are always bringing you news and recommendations. If you take the time to learn how to use the site properly, it really does become a useful tool.
So thank you, Twitter. I’ll let you know how our shopping trip goes!
Hi -- thanks for stopping by. I'm Amanda Maurer, Digital News Editor for the Chicago Tribune. This is my personal blog of all things social media: strategy, community issues and generally cool things found online.
Want to find me on the Web? I'm acmaurer on most social news and networking sites.
