norton, brian

Storify is a tool for journalism

Brian — Mon, 09 May 2011 22:41:48 +0000

There have been plenty of posts about Storify, a (relatively) new tool in curating social media. It’s a great and useful tool that will certainly help to shape the future of journalism.

I’ve used it a few times myself:
- Curating a Twitter debate about a College Football Playoff
- Taking a look at the new home of the CWS, TD Ameritrade Park
- And even curating advice for college journalists

That’s why I found this blog post, on the great 10,000 words, to be interesting. It’s the pros and cons of Storify. I really hate to critique the post of a new blogger (see Elana Zak’s tweet here — let’s face it, my blog sat empty for months so who am I to criticize), but I have one major gripe.

Zak discusses Storify as if it is a new form of journalism. One in which fact checking “takes a back seat.” She also asks why someone would use this instead of pounding the pavement (as she says it, “why was I using this instead of going out and finding real people to interview?”).

The problem here is that Storify isn’t a new form of journalism. It’s a new tool for journalism. It’s a tool just like Twitter, a computer or a pad of paper and a pen. It’s a way for journalists to harness the discussion on the Internet without having to do a lot of copying and pasting, taking screen shots, etc. It saves time and makes for an easier reading experience.

Going out and talking to a few “real” people about the weather by pounding the pavement is just fine. But, with social media and Storify, you can get the view of hundreds of people. The way I see it, a tool like Storify allows journalists to provide a fuller picture of the story. As journalists, shouldn’t that be something we strive for?

Back in action

Brian — Mon, 09 May 2011 21:25:09 +0000

So, after a long hiatus (and the site being down), my blog is back in action. I’m launching a new design (appropriately entitled Journalist). I like the new minimal look. I hope to update once or twice a week.

Advice for college journalists

Brian — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:21:46 +0000

Omaha Movie Tweetup – The Social Network

Brian — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:53:34 +0000

The Social Network, aka the Facebook movie, debuts on Friday. I’ve already blogged about the movie’s brilliant trailer and early marketing effort. The book it is based on, The Accidental Billionaires, is a great read, so I was already excited to see it. And now the movie is drawing rave reviews and is considered to be a front runner for Best Picture. And, for the record, here is a list of 5 myths about Facebook.

With that in mind, I thought it would be a great opportunity for an Omaha Movie Tweetup. There was some initial interest, so I figured I’d make it official with a blog post.

Here’s the Omaha Movie Tweetup plan:
When: Friday (Oct. 1) at 7:45 p.m. showing. Let’s meet at 7:30 outside the theater
Where: Rave Theater at Westroads
Tickets: Buy them online here

I can buy tickets if people really want it, but I think it’d be best if we all purchase our own tickets. And, of course, we can plan on going somewhere after to digest the movie. Leave suggestions on here or Twitter.

You can find me on Twitter and on Facebook.

What I’m Reading: 8/7

Brian — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 00:46:29 +0000

Lots of great links to share tonight. These are some of my favorites from this week. The Publish 2 link assist in WordPress makes this very easy to pull off.

TBD.com screenshot
Poynter/TBD.com
Some very cool screen shots from @TBD. Lively, vibrant and yet well organized. I love the Long story short part.

YouTube – The Decision….PART DEUX!

YouTube | Aug 6, 2010
Congrats to Anthony Tolliver for signing with Minnesota. Classic AT vid. Good things happen to good people.

Coming (Very) Soon: TBD.com
News Channel 8 / TBD | Aug 6, 2010
Extremely excited to see @TBD when it launches next week. Such a great, creative crew. Fun stuff.

How The Guardian is pioneering data journalism with free tools
Nieman Journalism Lab | Aug 5, 2010
Great read on The Guardian’s data journalism blog. They do amazing work with mostly free tools.

The Evolution Of The Journalism Job Market: We May Be Headed Into A Golden Age
Business Insider | Aug 3, 2010
Golden Age of journalism on the way? Honestly, makes sense to me. Communication is key now.

Dana O’Neil: The Shot and The Effect at Northern Iowa
sports.espn.go.com
Great read about UNI and the impact that beating Kansas had on the athletic department.

Airline pilot to jetski from London to New Zealand on “the ultimate ride”
www.gadling.com
I couldn’t imagine riding a jetski 12 hours a day from London to Auckland. Those Kiwis are adventurous.

Cancer victim tried to pack a lifetime of mothering into two years
Dallas Morning News | Aug 1, 2010
Wow, talk about a powerful read. This really helps put life into perspective.

Media Cache – Norwegian Newspaper Taps Into Web’s Efficiencies – NYTimes.com
NYTimes.com | Aug 1, 2010
I dislike the loss of copy editors, but some interesting thoughts on newspaper/online split from Norway.

Coming (very) soon: TBD.COM

Brian — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:14:40 +0000

I’m extremely excited to see what the TBD crew has in store for us at launch, which is finally coming some time next week.

TBD is a project I have followed someone closely. Who am I kidding, what online journo hasn’t been following TBD closely? There is so much buzz they held a media session today and I wouldn’t be shocked to see TBD as a trending topic on launch day next week

Why all the interest? They have assembled an interesting crew and have a bunch of great ideas, starting with the TBD Community Blog Network. You can see the post below for more information.

A few tidbits that sound especially interesting to me:

- Complete this story box. Each story will have a box that allows for readers to submit corrections, thoughts, etc. about how to improve the story (and, I believe, stories will be much more fluid). This is very true.

- List reporter. There will be one beat that is focused just on lists like “Best $6 meals in D.C.” or something like that. I think this is a very creative way to tap into an Internet favorite: lists. They drive traffic and spur conversation. Lists are something we really want to launch on our site but finding the time is tough. This sounds like a great solution.

Twitter is buzzing today, so check there for more information on TBD. A few feeds to focus on:
Jeff Jarvis
Mark Briggs
TBD
Steve Buttry

What I’m Reading – 7/31

Brian — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 03:03:49 +0000

Journalistic blogging is fair, balanced and ethical | Media | guardian.co.uk
Guardian.co.uk | Jul 29, 2010
Interesting read on Journalistic blogging.

Swan/Pearl Station Computer – Lost Auction Preview – Profiles in History
www.profilesinhistory.com
Is it sad that I really want this? It’s the Apple II from #LOST. Way out of my price range, I bet.

SCVNGR Launches Sophisticated Rewards Program
Mashable | Jul 28, 2010
SCVNGR is planning an interesting release. It’s like @foursquare mayor rewards, but more sophisticated.

Those wacky Boinx guys release You Gotta See This! iPhone 4 app
The Unofficial Apple Weblog | Jul 23, 2010
If I ever get an iPhone 4, this will be the first app I buy.

The Social Network

Brian — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:20:49 +0000

Maybe you’ve seen it. It’s a trailer that stops you in your tracks. It starts with the beautiful music – a stunning and, well, creepy cover of Radiohead’s Creep by Scala and Kolacny Brothers women’s choir and a collection of familiar Facebook imagery. Some have even called it a short film. That’s right, I’m talking about the movie trailer for The Social Network aka the Facebook movie. Here, take a minute to watch it:

Pretty gripping stuff, right? Of course everyone laughed when they first heard that there was going to be a Facebook movie. Who wants to see that? But after reading the source material, The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, I definitely jumped on board. The book is captivating, even if the information isn’t entirely true. It’s a story for the Internet generation. I can remember when Facebook was still thefacebook.com. I can remember when it was limited to college students and what a big deal it was when high school students and then, gasp, parents and the rest of the world were allowed into this secret club. I remember joining when none of us knew what the heck a tweet was. The story behind Facebook is indeed compelling (seriously read the book and watch the movie in October). But, assuming at least some of the portrait of Mark Zuckerberg is accurate, it paints a bigger picture of the problems Facebook has had with privacy. But I don’t want to ruin the story and, frankly, delving into the privacy issues on Facebook has been done a million times before.

Instead, I wanted to focus on the marketing of The Social Network. I’m by no means an expert, but I’ve been very impressed. From the great trailer to a wonderful tagline (You don’t make 500 million friends without making a few enemies) to a great web address (500millionfriends.com). Heck they even timed it perfectly with Facebook hitting the 500 million user mark recently. But with all that being said, I was curious to see how a movie titled The Social Network was marketing on the main social networks, especially Facebook. Here is what I have found:

On the day that the trailer debuted Sony Pictures purchased a Promoted Trending Topic (#TheSocialNetwork). But I can’t seem to find a movie-related Twitter feed, just the main Sony feed.
Now here is where we get interesting. There is no official Facebook fan page. Shocking that a movie that isn’t exactly friendly to Facebook doesn’t have a fan page. But, thanks to Facebook’s new community pages, there is a page for The Social Network. Only 6,000+ people have liked it so far, I am sure this will grow as the trailer makes it around the Internet.
So how do you get your information and name on Facebook without actually creating a page? Well, you can let fans do it with a community page or you can use Facebook’s tools to get around the system. On the main movie website there is a prominent “Recommend” button. This links with your Facebook profile and tells all of your friends that you recommend that site (and thus the movie). There are 20k recommendations so far (per the site).

It’s interesting to me that a movie about the founding of a social networking site is able to generate such buzz without actually using many resources on social networking sites.

What I’m Reading

Brian — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 01:55:38 +0000

Google takes the FTC to school « BuzzMachine
Buzz Machine | Jul 20, 2010
Why does Google understand the news industry’s problems more than most of the news industry execs do?

Metro/Region – Omaha.com
omaha.com
Maybe this is cold, but if a 4% tax is really that draining, you probably shouldn’t be eating out anyway.

NEVER WAKE UP: THE MEANING AND SECRET OF INCEPTION
chud.com
This is a brilliant take on #Inception. Seriously, read this if you have seen the movie.

10 Reasons to Stop Apologizing for Your Online Life – The Conversation – Harvard Business Review
blogs.hbr.org
Very good read here about why we should stop apologizing for our online life. See my blog about this here: http://nortonbrian.com/archives/45

Online news burnout

Brian — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:00:35 +0000

A piece from the New York Times, In a World of Online News, Burnout Starts Younger, has garnered some interesting Twitter comments. The basic premise:

Such is the state of the media business these days: frantic and fatigued. Young journalists who once dreamed of trotting the globe in pursuit of a story are instead shackled to their computers, where they try to eke out a fresh thought or be first to report even the smallest nugget of news — anything that will impress Google algorithms and draw readers their way.

In general, I find the tone of the article to be off base. It’s pretty evident, at least to me, that the writer has a bit of skepticism about online-only news organizations. I could be wrong, as it appears from the outside at least, that the New York Times is more focused on the online product than most traditional “old media,” but I’m not so sure.

Either way, as someone that deals with the delayed deadlines of print mixing with the immediacy of online, I found the article interesting. Personally, I think those tactics (a “big board” of stats and early morning e-mails about a missed scoop) go a bit over the edge. Hard work is key in journalism – print or online – there is no doubt. As Dr. Wirth told me while on my visit to Creighton as a high school senior, don’t expect the average 9 to 5 with journalism. Anyone getting into this business should realize that. But, at the end of the day, we are all human. You should be able to work hard without burning yourself out.