DISQUS

Good piece, Brett -- although I have a different experience

In my case, I have nearly 3200 followers on Twitter. I currently follow about 400 people back. Mostly that's because I can't handle following that many people, and I don't want to take on more than I can handle, Twitter becomes useless to me then. And while every day I gain and lose some followers, overall my follower numbers have risen steadily since I joined Twitter.

I'm not convinced that following people back is the best way to get the "social" out of Twitter. Seems to me it's more important to engage in conversation, especially through @replies (both responding to @ messages I get, and in sending @ replies, including retweets).

I discover a lot of interesting people to follow by tracking hashtags. Most of them never follow me back, and I don't really care.

But that's just me. My remarks indicate only my own preference.

- Amy Gahran

Wow, you might want to go back and actually read my article. In fact, I could *not* track down the rumor that the Indian government or police had said anything at all about twitter or other social media -- and it's probably just a rumor.

- Amy Gahran

Did Twitter ever explain why they turned off tracking?

- Amy

Hey, thanks to the link to my article about journos & geeks working together more. Yeah, if only they knew....

- Amy Gahran

Hi, Adam

I'm glad my comment on the Knight Commission blog resonated with you. Just wanted to let you know that the discussion started in the comments to the Commission's blog post is picking up steam, and it's getting really interesting.

(If that link doesn't show up in this comment, try this: http://snurl.com/3qm3n)

This has all given me much to ponder -- so much so that today on my blog Contentious.com I published the first installment in a short series exploring how we could improve civic information and media in ways that would mesh more effectively with human nature.

Being a Citizen Shouldn’t Be So Hard! Part 1: Human Nature
- alternate link: http://snurl.com/3qkxl

I'll be publishing the remaining 3 installments over the next few days. My goal is to engage my readers and others in helping me strengthen and streamline this material so I can contribute it in a useful format to the Knight Commission to aid their deliberations.

If you or your readers get a chance, I'd really appreciate it if you could check out and comment on my series. I welcome all thoughts, questions, challenges, and suggestions.

Thanks,

- Amy Gahran

Glad having you as a guest on the blog, Daniel. Good work.

- Amy Gahran

Yep, I too had to give up on the Nokia N95 last month -- even though (unlike you) I loved it. Three days after I got it, a firmware update totally bricked it. That's when I learned how truly awful Nokia's US service & support currently is. When I realized how much risk and inconvenience they foist on their US customers, I packed everything up and shipped it all back for a refund.

Fortunately, Nokia has started publicly addressing the myriad US service problems through their blog, conversations.nokia.com. Anyone who's interested in helping Nokia figure out exactly how they can improve their US service (so it's no longer an extreme obstacle to customers) should chime in on the series of posts currently running there about US service.

I just posted a roundup of this public conversation so far, with links to Nokia's posts and elsewhere: http://urltea.com/37r2

(Video version: http://seesmic.com/v/JzrmBidZ7d)

I'm also waiting to see what the next-generation iPhone will bring. So far, it simply isn't sufficient as a pro-quality mobile reporting and blogging tool. Maybe the next version will be closer, maybe even close enough. And Apple's service is, of course, excellent. But it pains me that Nokia already has a great product for users like me, but their poor service is a dealbreaker.

- Amy Gahran

I'm not surprised that they loved the N95, it's an amazing tool. Personally, I think it's the best tool currently available for pro-quality mobile reporting/blogging. I hope Nokia succeeds in the US market.

...However, I'm concerned they might not, because so far their support for these high-end phones in the US is simply terrible: No local service (except for NYC and Chicago, at their flagship stores there), long waits while customers ship off their broken phones to service center and often wait a month or more to get it back, a clunky and risky firmware update process, and much more.

Fortunately, Nokia's started talking publicly with its customers about its many US service problems. If these issues concern you and your colleagues (and they should concern any current or would-be US Nokia user), I recommend joining the current conversation at http://conversations.nokia.com.

I've posted an update of that conversation so far, with links to all the relevant posts on Nokia's blog and elsewhere:

http://urltea.com/37r2

And here's my own video overview of the service issues and what progress Nokia has made so far:

http://seesmic.com/v/JzrmBidZ7d

Best,

- Amy Gahran

Amazon has a cover of it by another guitarist: http://urltea.com/36r5. Maybe check limewire to see if anyone's posted the zappa version there?

- Amy Gahran

Jim, thanks for getting me thinking about this topic. Just posted my own take on it:

http://www.contentious.com/2008/04/04/wheres-yo...

- Amy Gahran

Amy Gahran's last blog post..Where’s Your “Personal Brand,” and Why?

yep. I don't think having a home base is a bad idea -- in fact, I think it's a good idea. However, it seems to me that trying to focus most of your efforts into bringing people to where you are instead of making yourself visible and findable where they are may not be the most effective approach, depending on your goals and who you need to connect with.

- Amy Gahran

Amy Gahran's last blog post..Foolish Journalism

Well, that model works fine for Darren, if you want to have the kind of business/career he has. (I admire him, too.) And it might work well for you.

Personally, I see a lot of benefit from being highly visible in a way that blends a "home base" with a wide-ranging territory online. That seems to make me more findable in a pretty flexible, robust way. Trying to bring everything back to my own blog probably wouldn't get me as far or be as fulfilling. But my goals my differ from yous.

- Amy

Amy Gahran's last blog post..Foolish Journalism

Great points, Jim.

I look at things a bit differently, however.

I've been blogging at contentious.com since 1997 (Yep, I had to hand-code it for the first few years). And it seems to me I've managed to build a pretty strong personal brand (well, strong enough for my taste and needs) through that blog but also by having my name around in a lot of other places.

Like you, I do a lot of blogging work for various clients -- the Poynter Institute, the Knight New Media Center, etc. And I'm also an avid user of social media.

Seems to me that while it's important to have a "home base" like a blog and domain of your own, building your brand is not just about your own site and traffic or subscribers to that destination. In fact, I personally think it's just as important to get your brand out there in other prominent, accessible ways. It's *not* all about your site.

I've got no shortage of well-paying work, cool clients, and paid speaking gigs through my strategy. I don't currently have advertising on Contentious.com, so I'm not focused on building huge traffic. Focusing on having -- and being part of -- a quality community is serving me well.

Anyway, that's my take.

- Amy Gahran

Amy Gahran's last blog post..Foolish Journalism

Thanks, Karoli

What truly appalls me is how far behind the U.S. is lagging in mobile technology, communication, and services -- arguably the fastest-growing and most potentially lucrative media market right now. My friends in Europe and Asia are amazed when I tell them of the hassled and limitations US mobile users must endure.

At a time when our economy is in trouble, this sort of trend makes me want to scream.

- Amy Gahran

Newsfire goes free too late for me. I ditched it recently in favor of Flock's built-in feed reader.

My gripes with newsFire:
- Ram hog
- kept thrashing my hard drive
- Would not export my complete feed list in OPML, with folders intact.

Flock's is much better on all counts. Interface isn't quite as slick as newsfire's yet, but it's getting there.

- Amy Gahran

Mathew -- Just wondering, does the Globe & Mail have a specific policy about blogging?

I posted about the Pazienzia flap this morning on Poynter's E-Media Tidbits: http://snurl.com/201ql

There I asked journos to say what their employers' policies are about blogging -- and to post the policy language, if possible.

Also there I noted: "It seems to me that as the media landscape shifts toward becoming more open, conversational, and personal, it's unreasonable and even counterproductive to ask or expect journalists (or anyone, really) not to participate. These days, if you're "in the media," failure to engage and participate in a transparent way online can seriously undermine your credibility -- or at least your perceived relevance."

I hope the G&M realizes how innately stupid it would be to fire you or anyone just for blogging. If anything, your blog makes you even *more* valuable to them.

- Amy Gahran

Hey, glad you found my Tidbits post useful, Mathew.

So what do you think? Where are the best opportunities for the journalism business these days?

Incidentally, yesterday on Tidbits I blogged about how the dean of Columbia j-school thinks journalism's next bright hope is government subsidies. I kid you not.

http://snurl.com/1z7zj

Intriguing, Micah -- especially your closing point.

So in practical terms, what can journalists and news org's do with this insight? How can they expand or reinforce trust through awareness of perceptions about search? I'm looking for specific tips I could pass along to my audience of news pros.

- Amy Gahran

I'm kind of torn on this, since I've found a lot of value lately in posting about ideas in development, to get my community's input. It seems to me that if everything you post is "too perfect" or "too finished," there's not enough room for conversation.

- Amy Gahran

Great post, Chris.

Much of my work these days involves helping journalists and news orgs wrap their brains around the internet. Seems to me that the people most concerned with drawing black-and-white distinctions between bloggers and journalists are (surprise surprise) mainstream journalists who feel blindsided and threatened by the shifting media landscape.

Hey, change is never easy, and even many of those folks are slowly coming around.

>It is either a way to falsely inflate the number of pages I’m viewing while on their site or it’s just bad, bad design.<

Heh -- my suspicion is it's BOTH!

- Amy Gahran

Karoli, thnaks so much for this thoughtful post. I thought your observations would be useful to journalists, so I included excerpts from your post and linked to it today on Poynter's E-Media Tidbits:

http://poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=134357

- Amy Gahran

Also, Freaknomics was acquired by the NY Times, not by Time.

- Amy Gahran

Thanks for mentioning my "cornerstone skills" post, Martin. I'd be curious to hear what you think on that topic.

- Amy Gahran

Hi, Mathew

This is so interesting, in light of my recent attendance at BlogHer 2007 and a conversation I was having recently with Tom Abate of MiniMediaGuy.

See: http://minimediaguy.org/2007/07/30/3rd-blogher-...
- and read the comments

In a nutshell, one reason why I love BlogHer is that its tone and culture is markedly different from any other tech or media conference I've attended. Specifically, the pissing matches there are few and muted -- whereas at most other tech/media conferences (which are largely organized and attended by men), pissing matches like what you described above are rife and even get played up as a kind of main attraction in the blog coverage.

Just food for thought.

- Amy Gahran