"Thanks for sharing the post around and for offering a really great reaction. I was kind of scared that it was going to turn out too lecture-y. :) I don't think is something that drastic though. That's another assumption about social media that's overblown. The idea that if you're not on Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, you're missing out. I guess the speed, but I find that to be more of a disadvantage. I'm slowing it down like Dr Dre with Dr Pepper. I'm definitely not planning on quitting the blog however. This can sound hypocritical because blogs are thrown into the social media tag, but the expectation and purpose is clear. I write, you read. Maybe I get comment, maybe I comment back. :) But I'm definitely out of the following-being-followed thing. And hey, I can always make a blog post of what I had for breakfast. Thanks again Mark. I always appreciate your thoughts."
- Jay Cruz
"The problem with the "real time web" and "social media" for that matter, is the premise of it's selling point: That everything that happens is news, that sharing anything is dubbed content, and the unrealistic expectation of socializing without triviality, banality, or noise."
- Jay Cruz
"The song is the regular version from the Two Suns album... I think. Now you got me confused. The video was downloaded from a Karate Kid tribute from Youtube. I just cut and edited some scenes with iMovie. :)"
- Jay Cruz
"I don't know why people think that Tumblr, and the web for that matter, has been a non-competitive utopic community of intimate friends. Not that you can't have that experience in a semi-public kind of way, but if you don't really care about popularity, then it shouldn't matter. If you truly want an "intimate" experience then have it. Stay in Facebook and add only the real real friends. Use your email, chats, and stuff that is truly more private and intimate. Make your Tumblr private. That said, I understand the concern. There's been this shift in the web with the whole web 2.0 ideal of participatory audience. The Social Media thing which is Web 2.0 gone haywire. People are giving themselves an unnecessary pressure to be "useful" and donate "valuable" content and I'm not sure if that has made the web better at all. In the end Tumblr is what you make of it. You can look at the stats, see what you can do about that and if iy matters or you can just ignore it and keep posting photos of..."
- Jay Cruz
"Since a lot of sites and blogs have created Twitter feeds, it can replace the rss reader if that's all you do. But I thought that Twitter was about following people, so I find that kind of odd."
- Jay Cruz
"The last paragraph gives a clue: "The famous Face on Mars, snapped by the Viking 1 spacecraft in 1976, which showed the shadowy likeness of a human face was late, was found to be a trick of the light when the area was re-photographed in 1998.""
- Jay Cruz
"You just explained exactly how I feel about Twitter, but articulated it way much better than I ever could. There's this idea being sold about the "importance" of Twitter and how it's going to change the future of media that's just ridiculous."
- Jay Cruz
"There's "Egoboo" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... but that's just another form of intrinsic motivation. I think the four things that you mention are about it."
- Jay Cruz
"I wish that this was written by someone other than Bow-Tie douche(or use to be Bow Tie douche) Tucker Carlson, but even though I love Stewart, I’m disturbed how people and the news media take Stewart seriously… almost all the time these days."
- Jay Cruz
"It's definitely lost its power for the reasons you mention like linking to Twitter and sharing feeds. Another reason why it has lost it's power is because of the buddy-blogger-link exchange-thing. Readers learned to ignore that part of the sidebar because it got too cumbersome. I still like the idea though, but that's because I'm kind of "old school". :)"
- Jay Cruz
"I believe that Kanye and Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips were also crushed by Radiohead's snobbery. If they were true fans, they should've known better after watching "Meeting People is Easy", their documentary when they were touring for OK Computer. These people are not U2 and Thom Yorke isn't Bono."
- Jay Cruz
Blogging as a medium is definitely not journalism. How many bloggers research a story, fact check, secure quotes and write the 5Ws and an H. It's a different form of writing.
- Karen Swim
Hmmmm... I wonder when journalism schools will start offering blogging classes. Wouldn't that be interesting.
- Mona Nomura
from IM
Some journalists blog but their blogging isn't automatically journalism. Some blogging counts as journalism. Some blogging is just blogging.
- Kevin Leroux
I hope I didn't offend anyone with my wacky antics and joking. I know zilch about journalism, so I'll quietly bow out of the conversation now. Keep journalizizizing!
- Bwana ☠
Mona: most of the bloggers I follow have deep ethics. Just like most of the pro journalists I know. Oh and journalism schools are indeed teaching blogging.
- Robert Scoble
Robert - I agree - your shares speak for themselves. :) But do non seasoned bloggers follow your leads? - something I've been wondering for a while. Bwana - no worries, you're super playful and I get you. If others don't, screw them!
- Mona Nomura
from IM
It evolved. It was a journal-er, then kinda this 'thing like an opinion page writer'; then some branched out into a journalistic type writing, others maintained this 'blogger' label like it meant something, now, who knows. I know I'm trying to shed the label- I'm not a journalist, I write stuff and post it to the web. Regulate me with rules you will not. It's my web site.
- Eric Rice
Eric Rice? Who are you, and where did you come from? :)
- Bwana ☠
I see a blog as more of a personal opinion.. even a news blog.
- MicahBear78
I was just reading Clay Shirky writing about this in Here Comes Everybody. Obviously there are a few bloggers out there who actually come from the print journalist profession and a few more who practice sound journalism. But being a blogger doesn't make you a journalist, that's for sure.
- Laura Norvig
It's amazing Scoble thinks that he is a journalist.
- ld
Yeah, I think the ethics thing is important. There are some out there, although it's probably more noticeable in its breach than its actual practice. And I don't think you can just declare it unilaterally. If your sources and your audience don't think you're a journalist, then you ain't a journalist.
- Victor Ganata
I think this discussion haoppended before. When TV was getting mainstream. Now it's the same. Bloggers ARE journalists. They do the same, only with other media.
- Ryo / Fuck Facebook
Not all bloggers are journalists. Not all of them want to be.
- Victor Ganata
Victor, yes, but In one way or another, they are. I guess some "writers" for the press, don't want to be journalists, too. But they learned how to get rid of moral issues, somehow.
- Ryo / Fuck Facebook
I guess my extreme hypothetical question is this: can you really be journalist if no one trusts you?
- Victor Ganata
If "Journalist" is defined by people who trusts you, there are only a few on earth left. And who really trusts the big newspapers or Fox News ? :) Journalist is a work, not a lifestyle or something. And I trust more bloggers than I do trust "old media" writers.
- Ryo / Fuck Facebook
My understanding was that journalism was a profession, not just some job, but what do I know? But how do you get sources if no one trusts you?
- Victor Ganata
Journalists for the most part are hired hacks and propagandists for mainstream media owners and oligarchs. Dignifying this activity with the term "profession" is a bit of a stretch.
- Sean McBride
Uh Sean? That is a separate topic... lol
- Mona Nomura
from IM
Heh, that's why I said "was" not "is" :) Media consolidation has certainly jacked things up. But I do feel that it is more important than just some job, since a free press is usually considered a necessary pillar of a functioning democracy.
- Victor Ganata
Easy there Sean - journalism is more dignified and professional than you give it credit for. When your father and your wife have been journalists, you know from where they come.
- Hutch Carpenter
When Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity are defined by society as leading "journalists," I begin to have trouble with the term and the "profession."
- Sean McBride
Aren't they political commentors or broadcasters?
- Mona Nomura
from IM
That is the wrong question. Journalists can use blogs as their medium. Not all bloggers are journalists.
- Andru Edwards
We can't really accept Rupert Murdoch's definition of journalism, can we? Fox is propaganda, not news.
- Victor Ganata
Sean - sure, but to paint a profession based on a few personalities is a tough burden. Not sure any profession could survive that approach.
- Hutch Carpenter
Bloggers like to think so, but journalists have more rules to live by. At best we're amateurs who should be glad fewer people want to sue us
- Ciaoenrico
Essays,Op-Ed's and other non-fiction writing are considered part of the Journalists canon, but real journalists get out there and ask questions. So no, people with web pages are not journalists.
- Jay Cruz
Ok, Hutch and others: which contemporary journalists do you most respect? Who define the best of the breed?
- Sean McBride
Sean - good question. I'd need to think about it a bit. But off the top of my head, I enjoy Joe Nocera of the NY Times.
- Hutch Carpenter
Two "journalists" I respect off the top of my head: Craig Unger and James Bamford. I am not sure if they would define themselves as journalists -- they strike me as more substantial researchers and writers than most journalists who define themselves as such.
- Sean McBride
Journalists are supposed to do research, aren't they? And text is still the primary medium.
- Victor Ganata
Great journalists find big and important subjects, research them in depth, provide objective analysis and original insights, and write elegant prose that resonates in the mind. They are a rare breed, and are seldom found in the mainstream media these days. Great journalists never hesitate to challenge the status quo or the powers that be. They speak truth to power.
- Sean McBride
Research? Most journalists (yes, official working for newspapers) are just copy&paste from the big news sources like AFP or DPA. That's the reality. So if you go on by that, you could almost all journalist call something else. Maybe it would be good, but they are journalists, just as bloggers are. An occupation is not defined by lifestyle or behaviour, but by your pay-check and your contract or your company. Bloggers are more journalist than the ones from the "old media".
- Ryo / Fuck Facebook
A job is just a paycheck, but a profession is defined by the codes of conduct that you adhere to. Ask any doctor, lawyer, cleric, or officer in the armed forces. The question is, is journalism a profession? Maybe it no longer is.
- Victor Ganata
"If Im not mistaken, I think Gladwell also talks about Godin in his book The Tipping Point, but I'm not 100% sure. He's definitely one great thinker and communicator."
- Jay Cruz
"I'm taking you're #9 goal, but in reverse. I want to be less "afraid" to publish because of quality. It's really hard to reach a balance with that."
- Jay Cruz
"I usually use Twitter search using keywords, check out profiles, read a couple tweets, and then decide to follow. There are some tools to check out "featured" users, http://www.makeuseof.com/tag...... the link has couple of tools, but you have dig a little deeper."
- Jay Cruz
If anyone else is on Blogged, put your link here so I can link to it and maybe even drop a review! Please do the same for Scribkin, thanks!
- Phil G
from Bookmarklet
"If you mean using a platform like wordpress or blogger to just putting hypertext, then yes, I agree. If your going to do just that, then something like twitter, digg, or delicious would be a better option. But you could be a good "link blogger", as in pointing to things you find online, if you offer some context."
- Jay Cruz
"Music wise, I think that's the trend that you will keep on seeing. I don't know how good or bad it is, but the web has influenced different media to be more immersive. More participatory. If I'm not mistaken, Beck released some singles for people to mix and then he put the best mix on the album. That's the good part I guess. The bad part is that attention spans are getting shorter and shorter."
- Jay Cruz
"I don't know, but I don't think Twitter is a good place to look for an "audience." The majority of the Twitter users I have encountered have a really short attention span. They seem a little bipolar. One minute they're angry about something, the next they're eating a sandwich."
- Jay Cruz