A collection of links you may find interesting.
New ‘WSJ’ Conduct Rules Target Twitter, Facebook by Joe Strupp, Editor & Publisher, May 14, 2009
"Openly ‘friending’ sources is akin to publicly publishing your Rolodex," the rules state, adding, "don’t disparage the work of colleagues or competitors or aggressively promote your coverage," and "don’t engage in any impolite dialogue with those who may challenge your work — no matter how rude or provocative they may seem."
Media140: Twitter, newsgathering and trust by Laura Oliver, Journalism.co.uk, May 21, 2009
“We are putting a massive amount of trust in one platform here. Twitter is throttling this mechanism obviously for its own commercial ends (…) If we put so much of our newsgathering onto one platform we’re in real danger,” said Mike Butcher, TechCrunch UK editor, yesterday as part of a panel on the ‘140-character story’. …
…if ‘old media’ rules are applied too readily to new media, organisations will ‘miss the essential quality of what Twitter is doing’.
Some ‘old’ guidelines still apply, suggested BBC technology editor Darren Waters: “We cannot get into a world where the real-time web means the ‘not wrong for long’ era.”
BBC Question Time engages with Twitter #bbcqt by matt Wardman, Journalism.co.uk, May 21, 2009
The BBC current affairs programme Question Time has started watching the online debate around a Twitter hashtag, #bbcqt, that has become popular over the last several weeks. A hashtag is a way for Twitter users to create a debate around a particular topic.
During the May 14 edition of Question Time, which was dominated by questions around MPs’ Expenses and described as the most vigorous Question Time ever, there were around 3,000 Tweets during the one hour run of the programme.
Personal use of Social Networking and other third party websites by BBC Editorial Board, May 27, 2009
Many bloggers, particularly in technical areas, use their personal blogs to discuss their BBC work in ways that benefit the BBC, and add to the “industry conversation”. This editorial guidance note is not intended to restrict this, as long as confidential information is not revealed.
Blogs or websites which do not identify the blogger as a BBC employee, do not discuss the BBC and are purely about personal matters would normally fall outside this guidance.
Twitter Plans to Squash Google’s Spider? by Frank Reed, Marketing Pilgrim, May 7, 2009
Twitter is always making news. Now they are putting together a robust search service that may help them get that news out faster and more efficiently than Google itself. Rafe Needleman over at cnet put together a report shortly after speaking directly to Twitter’s new VP of Operations, Santosh Jayaram, who was VP of Search Quality for Google until recently (remember the talk about Googlers leaving the mothership?). The ‘leak’ of Twitter’s new search plans leaves plenty of room for speculation so let’s go!
ISAF Goes Social by Joshua Foust, Registan.net, May 20, 2009
Where ISAF is lacking is on social messaging. Twitter is one part of that, but no one in Afghanistan uses it. They have cell phones, friends, and probably a nearby radio. Radio messaging works well for those who hear it, but not everyone can–I would guess under 50% have regular access to radio programming. To reach the rest, ISAF needs to go viral, but also go low-tech. I’m not certain how that could eventually take shape, but its nascent presence on Twitter is a very welcome baby-step in the right direction. They are getting it, however painfully slowly.
I strongly suspect the various ISAF Twitter accounts are aimed not primarily at the indigenous population but at itself and external audiences.
