Conversationblog

Interesting report here from Reuters how Twitter was used to break a story hours before the mainstream media got hold of it.

Dave Winer, a well known blogger, asked his Twitter ecosystem (people who subscribe to his updates) if they knew something about a possible explosion in Falls Church, Virginia. Soon other people on Twitter told what they had seen or felt in and around that area.

It was 90 minutes later when official media reported what actually happened - thereby confirming what several people reported already through Twitter.

Of course it helped that Dave has such a huge following on Twitter (more than 9000 people) but this is again a case of social media being faster than traditional media.

I have used microblogging for conferences and regular updates myself and while at first I didn't really see a use for Twitter or Jaiku I now see more and more practical business cases popping up.

Here's a good overview on how journalists can and are using microblogging tools. For corporations I can think of applying the principles to internal communications, urgent situation updates, crisis communications and more.

What do you think ? Still the biggest waste of time ever...?

Imooty is an RSS driven dashboard of news updates from almost all major European mainstream media websites.

The site calls itself the first navigator for European news and looks like directory of news feeds updated in almost real-time through numerous RSS feeds.

Some features include search by keyword, by newspaper, quick tabbed results by topic (business, politics, society etc...), RSS feeds by topic etc... There's even a translation tool via the online Babelfish translation service.

Once you have decided what kind of news you want you can add it to your own personalized Imooty page together with your search results.

OJR has published a good interview with the founders on their website.

Technorati : babelfish, europe, imooty, journalism, mainstream media, media, msm, newspapers, rss, syndication

Powered by Zoundry

In February 2006 I posted a couple of things about the EU and their communications strategy. At the time Ms. Wallstrom, our Commissioner for communications started a series of initiatives; a white-paper (opens a PDF), a website with a Q&A, her own blog and more recently a YouTube channel with a very "hot" clip...

Today, I found this very interesting article on the Online Journalism Review website about how social media are changing the presidential debate in the US.

The question that remains after the actions, hypes and debates is: are political candidates "ready to surrender their top-down spin control in favor of a truly bottom-up free market of ideas ?" as stated in the OJR article.

I don't know if they are ready or not but I do think that the world moves on without them being ready.... If you look at the spontaneous political actions (US) popping up over the web thanks to people having access to social media then I think politicians will have to understand that their traditional communications methods are not working anymore.

For those who would like to use social media for advocacy purposes here are 2 great links:

Read/Write web listed several tools for non profit organizations to get into the game, from building their online presence to raising money and creating networks online. The article is one to keep and the tools are there to try out.

Media... Communicating is a very powerful thing and in this article, called "Online Media God" you will find more than 400 links to everything related to videocasting, podcasting, imagery etc...

Technorati : EU, Europe, US, Wallstrom, activism, advocacy, annenberg, elections, eutube, obama, podcasting, politics, presidential debate, social media, videocasting, web2.0

Powered by Zoundry

Again it is during a crisis that new technology is used at its best...

Like the use of blogs during the Tsunami disaster in Asia in 2004, today protesters in Myanmar/Burma are using mobile phones to get the story out and their supporters are using social networks like Facebook to gather support.

Look at these incredible numbers of this support group on Facebook;

• 29/09/2007 150,000 Members

• 28/09/2007 60,000 Members

• 27/09/2007 30,000 Members

• 26/09/2007 12,000 Members

• 25/09/2007 6000 Members

• 24/09/2007 3,500 Members

Not only support groups are using web based tools such as petitions, social network and blogs. Also the local protesters are blogging away to get the real story out as reported recently by the Middle East Times.

The government blocks almost every Web site that carries news or information about the Southeast Asian country, and even bars access to Web-based e-mail. But an army of young techies in Yangon works around the clock to circumvent the censors, posting pictures and videos on blogs almost as soon as the protests happen.

It are the local citizen reporters who are sending us the real pictures & stories of what is happening there while privately owned media in Myanmar are refusing to print pro-government propaganda in an act of protest.

Also a wiki has been started to collect all protest actions and a call to bloggers has been launched for October 4, 2007.

On that day, bloggers who condemn the actions of the Burmanese junta will post a protest banner and a single line of text: "Free Burma".

Other online ways to support this action is by Digging it, promoting it on your Facebook profile and Blurb it on Technorati.

And finally, there's a list of bloggers who just changed their blog template to red in protest.

But then again, technology is not always used for the best causes... Some people think it is the best time now to use the online support for Burma to spread malware.... Sad.

Update: how fast things go... I just updated my Facebook profile, indicating I was writing this blogpost and just seconds later, Des Walsh, editor of Thinking Home Business pointed me to his coverage of the Burma protests and media coverage...

Technorati : Burma, Myanmar, advocacy, digg, facebook, free burma, mobile phone, monks, protest, social media, videoblogging

Powered by Zoundry

Several bloggers here in Belgium have been covering Quechup, a so called online social networking site with a bit of a nasty habit; it sends invites to all your email contacts without asking.

Today ZDNet.be, (in Dutch) the influential IT publisher, is also covering the story and mentions Bert and Clo as bloggers who have been scammed and who blog about this issue. In fact it is Bert's post that will show up as top 3 when you do a search on Google for Quechup.

I also received an invite to joint this network but didn't give it a second look simply because I am already in so many networks that I can't keep up. Apart from that, the whole thing had a "dodgy" feel to it...

Xing and LinkedIn are enough for me and apart from some very specialist PR networks I am not planning to join any other sites or communities for the moment.

Xing has proved to be a very strong business development tool and it amazes me every time that online contacts become offline colleagues, business partners or clients. Introductions are so much smoother and I feel I can get "down to business" much quicker. (Try a free Premium membership here).

Anyway, stay clear from Quechup and if you really like the story behind it all, check out their attempt to blog dating back to June 03, 2005 !

Technorati : bert van wassenhove, clo willaerts, quechup, social network, spam, zdnet.be

Powered by Zoundry

Talk is cheap, free speech isn't... more than ever.

It is definitely not cheap; more than 100 members of the media were killed in 2006, a sad record.

Today is the World Press Freedom Day, let's take a moment and think about these man & women who do their job, defend free speech and take enormous risks in doing so.

If you're looking for a blogging platform, consider using the service from Reporters Without Borders, your small fee will help them carry on their important work. Or, alternatively, consider becoming a member or make a donation.

Technorati : freedom, media, press, rsf, speech, world press freedom day

The first part of this excellent presentation by Alain Thys from Futurelab explains why "we are the media", the second one focuses on word of mouth marketing.