Lauren Rabaino » social media

So, what is “news,” anyway?

Lauren Rabaino — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 00:49:59 +0000

In writing about this month’s Carnival of Journalism topic (increasing sources of news), I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what exactly “news” is and what a “source of news” therefore is. I still don’t have a solid answer. (But maybe I shouldn’t waste my time dwelling over such questions in the first place).

News used to be defined by the act of publication. Information became news once it was published somewhere. Now we have tons of information and “publishing” can be as simple as hitting a “share” button on Facebook. News is being published in spurts every second, everywhere. Much like that old mantra that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” such is the case for news; it’s in the eye of the consumers and creators.

I got a text message from my mom Tuesday night that said my aunt had fallen into a coma, no details. A few hours later on Facebook, my cousin updated that she was at the hospital and asked her Facebook friends to pray. In the comments for that update, another cousin said that she tried to make it to the hospital before they flew my aunt out to the Bay Area, but couldn’t make it on time. Late last night, I saw another comment from another cousin saying that they had just made it to Stanford Medical. Then I saw my mom check in on Facebook to the city of San Francsisco– she had apparently gone too. Another update revealed the coma was cased by a brain aneurism. A followup update this morning said it was a subarchnoid hemorrhage and that my aunt had just gone into surgery.

The point of this ramble is to show you how news about my family broke in realtime, and how I was able to follow a progression of facts from one step to another as a consumer. That news is news to me, but would certainly not be worthy news to you or your family.

Everyone in my family is reporting news to their community of stakeholders in as quick and accurate a way as possible. Within that community, Facebook is the best way for them to share.

Then there’s the traditional kind of news. Protestors setting government buildings on fire. Senators retiring. Meth-related fires killing families. It’s all important in the grand scheme of things, but people aren’t interacting with it in an obsessive, by-the-minute basis like they are with Facebook, until it impacts them.

So maybe the answer is this: “News” can be as narrow or broad as we choose to define it, and everyone can choose to define “news” differently. Therefore, “sources of news” become the people, organizations, groups, businesses, and platforms that get that news from one spot to another.

The difference is not necessarily that the spectrum of news has widened, but that the number of platforms for quickly, efficiently sharing news along that entire spectrum have increased.

If we want people to interact with news in the way that they interact with their families and friends on Facebook, we have to make it relevant to them and we have to make it easy for them to access and stay informed about news that is relevant to them:

Customizable news subscriptions.
Easy ways to subscribe to individual topics, keywords, authors.
Multiple modes of delivery (mobile, web, social media, email).
Automagical habit recognition. Like Google reader can determine what a reader wants to see based on past habits.

But even then, will they care? Does it matter if they do? If we, as journalists and news organizations, want to be at the heart of communities and sources of knowledge for all, then we’d better hope so.

Just a few scattered thoughts. Make of it what you will.

How to use social media in a global communications class

Lauren Rabaino — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:51:08 +0000

I’m meeting with a Cal Poly journalism professor Monday to talk about ways he can use social media as a supplement to his global communications class.

I don’t know much about the class or the professor, but I’ve embedded the syllabus from 2007 below. I don’t imagine it’s changed much, if at all. (Disclosure: I’m enrolled in this course for fall quarter, which starts in two weeks. )

A few ideas I have for how he can use social media in his class:

Social bookmarking

From the syllabus:

Students will choose a particular country whose media/news they will monitor at least twice a week. Students are expected to bring to each class session an article they have downloaded from the media of the country they have chosen.

That system is antiquated.

Instead, students should be bookmarking those articles along with their personal commentary using Publish2 or Delicious. Not only does it save us paper in bad financial times, but it makes more sense as a way of organizing and keeping track of content (tags, anyone?).

Instead of going around and reading off our printed-out articles, the professor could open our Publish2 group on the projector at the start of each class and pull up each student’s article as it comes up in discussion.

Twitter/blogs to gauge hot topics

From the syllabus:

The article should be recent and not older than 2-4 days. It is up to the students to choose the articles they feel are the most the important for the people of that country.

Just because we’re in the United States doesn’t mean we should have to make guesses about hot topics in foreign countries. Twitter, blogs, Digg — and now, even searchable Facebook updates — can give us a very realistic idea of topics people care about in certain places at given times.

By using search.twitter.com, you can filter results by city using filters like near:Kabul to see tweets from Afghanistan’s capitol. Sites like GeoFollow have a similar feature with a translation option.

RSS and Google Alerts

If we’re expected to follow world news for ten weeks from specific countries, we need to become deeply consumed in their affairs. On the first day, every student should be required to sign up for Google Alerts and subscribe to RSS feeds in Google Reader for media from their assigned countries.

According to student critiques of Professor Havandjian on PolyRatings (and stories I’ve heard from classmates), he spends the first 15 minutes of class writing notes up on the board. Students should use that time to catch up on their RSS feeds (assuming the class is held in one of the journalism labs) instead of sitting around waiting for class to start.

Reaching out to individuals over social media

From the syllabus:

There will be a number of written assignments based on those handouts where students will deploy critical analysis to dissect material they have researched to supplement the handouts.

In any other journalism class, an analysis would mean talking to people who are directly impacted by widespread news issues. In a global communications class, the same thing is possible thanks to Twitter direct messages and Facebook messages. I’m sure people are willing to Skype or IM about issues in their country. Although this doesn’t have to be a requirement for the class (because of privacy/security/safety issues), for anyone who really wants to leverage their resources to have a true, accurate analysis of global issues, why not? (I know I will!)

Do you have better ideas for how social media can be used in a class like this? If so, share ‘em in the comments.

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Should you protect your status updates on Twitter?

Lauren Rabaino — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:53:32 +0000

Twitter is about the conversation. It’s about connections. It’s about transparency.

So a question for you: In any other public conversation, would you make your peers and professionals sign a request form before you let them hear what you have to say?

Hopefully you’re not saying anything on Twitter that will get you in trouble. By now you should be in the habit of knowing that if it’s on the Web, it can get out– private or not.

Protecting your updates goes against everything Twitter is all about.

Conversation
One of the most valuable aspects of Twitter is being hyper-connected to a huge group of people all the time. There is so much to be learned from partaking in discussions with students, educators and professionals in your industry, but if you protect your updates, the conversation is one-way. It implies “I want to see what you say, but you have to be worthy of seeing what I have to say.”

In the Twitterverse, we’re all equals — whether you’re Ashton Kutcher, Lance Armstrong or just some dude from a small town. Protecting your updates impedes that equality and creates an almost hierarchical feel to Twitter.

Connections
As what I consistently refer to as the most powerful text-based medium on the Web, Twitter gives people who otherwise would never know each other the chance to develop lasting relationships– on a both personal and professional level. All Twitterers have their own niche, whether it be industry-related or hobby-specific or even geographically bound. Twitter unites people.

If you’re on Twitter to make connections, the likelihood of someone following you back is low if your updates are blocked.

People follow you based on your recent tweets, the way you tweet, the links you post, the insight you share and your contributions to the worldwide conversation. You’re depriving potential followers all of those things when you force them to follow you before they know what you’re all about. Is that fair?

Transparency
For student journalists, it’s an especially risky business to have private tweets. With the rise of social media, our industry is increasingly about putting a person behind the words. It’s about transparency.

Reporters who protect their updates make it seem as though they have something to hide. Do you have something to hide? Are you going to choose who gets to see what you tweet and who doesn’t? If you reject someone, you’re excluding them from your conversation and trashing your personal identity and transparency.

Be smart
I know many people protect their updates for privacy and safety. But there are better ways to attain both of those things. Twitter is not a place for privacy. Twitter is wide open for everyone. If you’re worried someone will stalk you if they know you’re at the market or know more about you than they ought to, then maybe you should rethink the way you Twitter.

Is the social network really a way to broadcast where you are and what you’re doing at all times? No. It’s a tool to build your identity and expand your mind. Be a smart Twitterer. And if someone truly does creep you out, the “block” option is there for a reason.