The future of social media is here. It’s called Google+.
The technology giant’s latest attempt of dominating the social media world combines the best aspects of Facebook and Twitter. Millions of people around the world are already members of the Google community. Now these users have a simple and intuitive platform to join.
Among its many pluses (pun intended), a few stand out:
The circles feature, which your humble Tech Talk editor was at first very skeptical of, is a game-changer.
The feature gives you the opportunity to easily group information around a specific topic or group of individuals. It’s also much cleaner, like what Facebook was when it debuted more than a half-decade ago and has since cluttered. There are no applications or other annoyances to distract the user — yet.
Users are likely to find this platform to be refreshing in that they can still connect with whoever they’d like, but don’t have to be bombarded with every detail a given connection posts. Users may choose to select specific groups of individuals to populate their news feeds at any given moment. Sure, Facebook and Twitter have these options, but Google does it better. It’s easier, more prominently placed and more intuitive.
The integration with other services (like GMail, Calendar, Reader, etc…) people are already using will attract more people to Google+.
The platform is also fast and seemingly dependable.
Google+ also allows users to share content and updates with individuals not using the platform by still allowing you to add them to a circle. Your updates then get emailed to them.
While it remains to be seen if Facebook will continue its dominance in ways MySpace and other services could not, this editor is confident Google+ will be a major player. Facebook is not going to die anytime soon, but folks now have another viable option to connect with others.
Prediction: Within a year, Google+ will be more popular than Twitter and give Facebook a real run for its money.
This story, written by your Tech Talk editor, first appeared in the Connecticut Post in January:
As the region struggled to dig out from last month’s blizzard, Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch utilized a powerful new tool: social media.
In addition to harnessing the city’s traditional channels of communication, Finch garnered the power of Facebook and Twitter to gather information about what areas of the state’s most populated city needed the most attention. Simultaneously, he used the networks to ease residents’ concerns about the pace of the city’s snow removal efforts.
“I want to know what’s going on in the community,” Finch said. “Facebook and Twitter have helped me to better understand what people are thinking.”
Finch is not alone in tapping into social media. Almost all of the region’s municipal leaders have signed on to the rapidly evolving technologies.
Connecticut’s leaders on the state-wide and national levels also are on social media.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office posted Facebook and Twitter messages within hours of being sworn in as the state’s chief executive. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Joe Lieberman also tweet and maintain Facebook pages.
While the technology does require a considerable time commitment, it gives the community the opportunity to interact with local government in a new and dynamic way, Monroe First Selectman Steve Vavrek said.
“The only way to get truly transparent is to get as much out there as possible,” Vavrek said.
However, not every town leader wants to tweet or post a status on Facebook. Fairfield First Selectman Ken Flatto called the technology a “nuisance.”
“There’s nothing additional that I would gain by interactions on Facebook or Twitter,” he said. “Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are not that relevant yet for our day-to-day work.”
Flatto said there are so many other ways for residents to connect with their local leaders. “From my vantage point, frankly, to a certain extent, it’s a distraction,” he said. “I really prefer face-to-face and voice contact.”
But Flatto may be missing out on a chance to connect with constituents, experts say.
“Social media at large is becoming more difficult to ignore as more people use it,” said James Castonguay, associate professor of media studies at Sacred Heart University.
“It’s a new medium and a real player. I don’t think it could be ignored locally or nationally.”
However, he said, officials need to be cognizant of the digital divide and that everyone is not signed on to Facebook or Twitter. He said the lack of Internet access in poor communities remains a real issue.
Also, there are certain risks to using networks like Facebook, Castonguay said.
“A lot of it can backfire,” he said. “On one hand, someone may want to use it as a bulletin board, but that’s not taking full advantage of the one-on-one communication it offers. Nonetheless, however, you could say you at least have a Facebook presence. On the other hand, you could have a communications team carefully edit your presence.”
Even the ads on the Facebook profile pages, which are not under the control of the politician, may send the wrong signals to potential voters.
Also, election laws and social media policies do not make it easy for politicians to use the technology, Finch said.
Politicians are supposed to use special Facebook accounts and some users may be uneasy connecting with politicians on these special accounts.
However, Castonguay said the platform is worth the risk.
“They have to get in,” he said. “They can’t ignore it, at least in Connecticut. If they want to get elected, those are the people you certainly want to reach. They are using social media to communicate and so it would be unwise not to be part of the conversation.”
Stratford Mayor John Harkins said he wants town leaders to tap into social networks, but it can be tricky.
“It’s a challenge,” he said. “Not everyone uses the same devices or even a computer. But as times change, we try to change, too.”
Harkins, who has uses his Facebook account to post photographs of town events, said he is considering launching a Twitter account.
At the end of the day, however, Harkins said he would recommend residents to call his office or e-mail him with a problem.
The Internet has been compared with an untamed wilderness because of its seeming ability to foster rebels wishing to strike against the world’s most powerful and then elude capture.
However, the world’s reaction to the WikiLeaks diplomatic cable leaks has shined a light on how even the Web could fall in line with the world’s standards, expecations and influences.
As documents continue to surface against the wishes of some of the world’s most powerful players, a noose continues to tighten around the resources and founder of WikiLeaks.
The site was banished from Amazon’s servers last week, as Tech Talk reported. Days later, PayPal followed suit. And most recently, MasterCard and Visa have cut payments to the organization.
As if Amazon’s blow was not difficult enough for the organization to overcome, the loss of income could be devastating to WikiLeaks’ very survival — particularly at a time when it needs liquid finances the most desperately.
Meanwhile, WikiLeaks founder and editor Julian Assange faces a potential extradition to face sexual assault allegations in Sweden.
The situation reminds us that no one could hide on the Internet from a determined world — and ultimately, cyberspace is not much different from our brick and mortar world.
For generations, the North American Aerospace Defense Command has kept millions of people around the world abreast of Santa Claus’ precise location each Christmas Eve. The dissemination began via the telephone began in 1955, the Web in 1998 and now is available through social media.
Beginning on Dec. 24 and running through Christmas Day, NORAD will share the latest location of Kriss Kringle.
If you prefer to call NORAD, you still may: 1-877-Hi-NORAD from within the United States. Folks can also send Santa a letter at noradtrackssanta@gmail.com.
Readers of Hearst Connecticut’s four daily and six weekly newspapers have never had as much of an influence in the final product – or ability to reach the reporters and editors with such ease.
“Never in any other era of journalism have we had the ability to get instant, dynamic, deep feedback from readers on any aspect of our report,” David McCumber, editor of The Advocate and Greenwich Time and editorial director of Hearst Connecticut’s newspaper group, which includes the Connecticut Post and Danbury News-Times, recently told Tech Talk. “I remember when tagging our print stories with reporters’ e-mail addresses suddenly opened up dialogues with readers. Before that, somebody really had to work hard – leave a phone message, write a snail mail letter. That was the start of the change. Of course now, between online commenting, sharing, rating on social media, online forums, etc., we have a better idea than ever.”
Readers of Hearst Connecticut’s print and digital entities want largely the same basic product they have always wanted, McCumber, who was previously managing editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize at the Arizona Daily Star, said.
“They want the news, quickly, with fairness and clarity,” he said. “They want the story behind the story – the kind of depth reporting that newspaper staffs do better than any other journalists. In these markets, they want a lot of local and enough national and world news to give them context and a baseline so they can seek more depth in the areas they want elsewhere. Of course, technology advances mean the method of delivery has to change to keep up with readers’ new abilities to ingest news in different ways. But the basic value of news is a constant.”
However, there is some evolution in what readers want, McCumber said.
“Readers appreciate the right approach at the right time,” he said. “They want straight-ahead breaking news reporting but they don’t mind analysis or even a little attitude in more in-depth work. And as the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert generation grows in number, they even appreciate a little snark.”
However, McCumber said want Hearst Connecticut’s readers do not want is to be deceived.
“What they don’t want is bias disguised as ‘fair and balanced’ – the old-style ‘objectivity’ that divides the world into two sides,” he said. “The whole ‘tell both sides’ when that means reporting ‘X said Y is a jerk. Reached for comment, Y said X doesn’t know what he’s talking about.’ Today’s more sophisticated reader, I believe, wants more nuanced, sophisticated, authoritative reportage.”
Knowing what its readers want benefits everyone, McCumber said.
“We can reach new readers and non-readers and expand our universe if we do this right,” he said. “It’s game-changing from a standpoint of audience.”
In many cases, readers of the Hearst Connecticut Newspaper Group are similar to readers across America – except in their strong identification to their town.
“Readers here not only don’t want news from the next town over, sometimes they are actively offended if you give it to them,” he said.
Hearst Connecticut’s digital properties are of enormous value to the company, McCumber said.
“They represent the future, and a very good chunk of the present,” McCumber said. “Online revenues are a very significant part of our overall revenue picture these days – in Connecticut because we’re farther along than some other news sites, to a larger degree than almost anywhere else in the country.”
Knowing what its readers want offers the Hearst Connecticut group a major advantage.
“It gives us a chance to get qualitative, in-depth feedback from our customers that would literally cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars if we didn’t have the built-in mechanisms our online platforms give us,” McCumber said. “It gives us hope for the future.”
The information helps the editors make decisions about what is covered and where resources are allotted, McCumber said.
“I’m particularly interested in seeing how our enterprise packages are received online,” McCumber said. “Also, I find it fascinating to watch the differences between print audience and Web audience. I think we are foolish to ignore those differences.”
Together, Hearst Connecticut is working with its readers to move into the future.
“This close connection with our readership will help us correctly redefine and reshape what we do to meet the needs of emerging audience,” McCumber said.
Social media often shines the brightest during the darkest times — particularly in terms of Twitter.
Of course, it’s always nice to use the network to learn the latest sports scores, headlines, menu options and weather patterns, but that information could be easily gathered in other places.
Reporters from across the state converged Tuesday in New Haven Superior Court to hear Dr. William Petit’s heart-wrenching testimony of his family’s final hours together and what it was like during and following the brutal attacks that would leave his wife and two young daughters dead.
Alaine Griffin deserves credit for feverishly updating the Courant’s story more quickly than any other known outlet.
Tech Talk encourages you to follow these talented journalists, but know that some of the details being shared may be difficult to read given the nature of the brutality of the slayings.
Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky are charged with murder, sexual assault and other crimes stemming from the July 2007 killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela. Hayes is currently on trial. Both men face the possibility of being executed, if convicted.
A century ago, the public would have to wait for the next day’s newspaper to learn what was said in court.Three quarters of a century ago, the public could hear a news update on the radio — after the reporter was able to leave the courthouse during breaks in testimony. Even as recently as a decade ago, the majority of the public would have to wait for the evening news to learn the latest. Today that has all changed.
Now, thanks to our forward-thinking state press, anyone could follow the trial in real time — and read what they have missed by simply scrolling down. It’s as incredible as it is heart-breaking. The press ought to be commended for their efforts.
Of course, wired justice isn’t blind. The judge must make clear that jurors must sign off of social networks, like Twitter, until the conclusion of their service. Avoiding traditional media is no longer enough, as Tech Talk stressed late last year.
Among the most effective tools is Hearst Connecticut Newspapers’ Hurricane Earl blog, which offers up-to-the-minute data, analysis and perspective on the approaching storm. It also allows readers to submit memories of previous storms, multimedia and observations to share with the community. Of course the information submitted is carefully vetted, unlike some other news organizations in the region, before going live our sites.
There is a dynamic live map available to develop a better perspective of where Earl is and where it is headed. You can check out Earl’s latest wind speeds and path here. The latest satellite imagery and water temperatures are available here. There is also a nice live national radar loop here.
And speaking of where Earl is headed, astronauts are tweeting photos of what Earl looks like from space. It really puts Earl’s size into perspective.
There is also information on preparing for the storm — to ensure you’re ready to weather whatever Earl throws our way.
RT @HuffingtonPost TV news anchor recovering after dog bite on face during live segment http://t.co/JkwaUAmF#17 hours ago
Definitely subway. RT @taymonte At 2pm on a Friday in NY, is it faster to take a cab or a train from downtown to get to Grand Central? #help#17 hours ago
RT @Poynter: Now that's leadership: @arusbridger cuts his own pay 10% for The Guardian's benefit, http://t.co/3tfw1E15#18 hours ago
Waze to allow users to report traffic conditions with a wave of a hand - http://t.co/5m1uW4kd#2012/02/09
