SocialTimes.com

Thummit Tracks Twitter Inaugural Tweets Posted: 19 Jan 2009 12:22 PM PST Thummit, the real-time Twitter event tracker, has set up a dedicated page to follow tomorrow’s inauguration. Seeing as Twitter has proven to be a good way to share information about a given event, as well as offer the world real-time updates pertaining to a particular event, the concept behind Thummit’s tracking service seems to make a lot of sense. Tomorrow will be one of the biggest events of 2009, so it’s no wonder Thummit is looking to get a little buzz going. You see, Thummit is currently in private beta, but the company is taking full advantage of the inauguration to show off what its tracking service can do. Not restricted to just Twitter updates, Thummit reels in mobile updates directly from its users so that it can sustain its own database independent of the popular mobile platform. From there, anyone viewing the real-time updates can rate it with thumbs up/down/sideways actions. With each rating you can also include a comment, which is restricted to 140 characters (remember Thummit’s mobile and Twitter angle here). From the looks of it, a comment is required in order for your vote to count, which adds context to all ratings but may dissuade some from participating. You don’t need to be a registered member in order to rate an event for Thummit’s Inaugural tracking page, which is how the company is getting around the private beta status without having to allow more users to register for the service. What’s missing from Thummit’s InauguRate page, however, is easily filtered results for events that have already been rated. This may be due to the lack of ratings, as the special events page is brand new. But as Thummit is also a recommendation system for mobile and Twitter content, aggregating event commentary, restaurant reviews and more, it would be nice to see how Thummit’s analysis, search and filter options stack up, especially for a week such as this.

Ashton and Demi Promote Celeb Pledges to Obama Posted: 19 Jan 2009 10:44 AM PST Many of you may have seen the star-studded concert last night in honor of President-elect Barak Obama, but the celebrity support goes far beyond last night’s performances. Katalyst Media, an original content production company that was founded by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, has teamed up with MySpace Celebrity to promote celebrity pledges of service to Obama. The videos, which were directed and produced by Demi Moore, feature messages from a plethora of celebrities that have all stated ways in which they plan to help lead the nationwide call for change that Obama’s presidential campaign inspired for so many. The videos, exclusive to MySpace Celebrity, are available beginning today, and have messages from Eva Longoria, Diddy, Nicole Richie, George Lopez, Ashlee Simpson, Courteney Cox, Dakota Fanning and many, many more. Of course, this is just one of the many, many ways in which online social media is taking Obama’s upcoming administration goals and converting it into an ongoing, interactive movement. With today being Martin Luther King Jr. Day and tomorrow being Inauguration Day, the momentum for the highly anticipated presidential term is gaining speed and members in a variety of ways. Last week we covered some of the many ways in which social media will be taking part in the coverage of tomorrow’s inauguration, while others still have taken to social networking in order to gain perspective from the American people and reaching out to them as well. While the system isn’t perfect, it’s clear that social media has become integral is engaging a wide array of citizens and supporters, reflecting the down-to-earth manner in which Obama’s campaign took to online culture in the past two years. And Obama’s administration even reflects an increased attention to the importance of technology, including that which is used for online networking purposes. At the very least, such efforts from Katalyst Media and MySpace Celebrity will help keep support and encouragement going beyond Obama’s campaign, and beyond his inauguration tomorrow.

The Only Things Newspapers Are Good for is Killing Trees Posted: 19 Jan 2009 06:00 AM PST If you know me, you would know that I’m one of the most avid consumers of content. Then again, it is my job. One type of content that I don’t consume on a daily basis is newspapers. While I visit news sites of individual newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal of the Washington Post, I never purchase a paper and probably never will again. It simply doesn’t make sense for me. The industry is rapidly trying to devise a strategy for saving itself, and they’ve been searching for a strategy for a long time now. Over the weekend Peter Kafka wrote about a Facebook event targeted at trying to revive demand for the newspaper industry. The “National Buy a Newspaper Day” event has now attracted over 8,000 members. It has grown significantly over the past couple days and continues to grow, but no matter how many people join the event, there’s no way it’s going to save the industry. Chris Freiberg, the creator of the group, claims that “there are probably a lot of bad people out there who would love to see the newspaper industry go belly up.” Consider me one of them. Selling daily papers is simply a waste of paper. What I don’t want to see though is the elimination of quality journalism and based on some of the journalism that I read daily, I know that there must be a model. Unfortunately, for most journalists it doesn’t pay a lot. The content industry has been flipped upside down and many are still trying to figure out how to survive in it. I know I sure am. Ultimately, business is all about presenting a good value proposition and that’s one thing that I no longer believe the newspapers to be. Quality content most definitely presents a lot of value to me though and I’m more than willing to pay for that type of content. I purchase books, occasionally magazines, and I even pay for the Wall Street Journal online. The death of the newspapers was predicted almost 15 years ago. When Craigslist launched back in 1995 it single handedly killed the newspaper’s classified business. They’ve been searching for a model ever since then. Can real journalism still take place in a world without newspapers though? Of course! Go online to any of the newspapers websites and you’ll find plenty of great reporting. It’s a hustle to make it happen though and fortunately, a lot of those journalists that weren’t hustling to make a living aren’t going to make the cut. I still see quality reporting every day though from people like Kara Swisher, Dan Farber, Mike Arrington, and many others (all in the tech space). They all know how to hustle and get the story. Real journalism is done out of passion, just like the passion that Chris Freiberg expressed and that Peter Kafka recognized. Without passion and a desire to get the story no matter what the cost, real journalism can’t take place. While the newspaper industry may need to completely redefine itself, ultimately eliminating the newspaper all together, there will still remain journalists with passion. That means the story will be told, no matter what.

You are subscribed to email updates from The Social Times To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of The Social Times in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: The Social Times, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610