Social Media Nerd
Concise, curated news and rambling rants on social media
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Being in media is terrifying right now. Whereas in the old days, you wrote something and then a fleet of people printed it and handed it to X hundred thousand people so they would read it, now, the fleet is gone. You are alone out there in the ocean and there’s not much that anyone can do for any given story to make sure that people read it. […] We do not control the distribution of our work. Period.
Alexis Madrigal (via theatlantic)
FJP: Others think that change is awesome.
(via futurejournalismproject)
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Photo reblogged from NBC News on Tumblr
We spent 230,060 years on social media in one month
(Photo: Nielsen)
The United States spent 121 billion minutes on social media sites in July 2012 alone, according to Nielsen’s annual Social Media report. That’s 388 minutes — or 6-1/2 hours — per person (if every person in the U.S. used social media). All together, that’s 230,060 years we spent staring into the glaring screen of so-called sharing, instead of going outside and playing with our friends, like we’re supposed to do in July!
HUMANITY IS DOOMED
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Video reblogged from Laughing Squid Links
god bless the onion.
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Link reblogged from infoneer pulse
Facebook is set to remove the ability for users to vote on changes to its data privacy policy, in a move that has angered campaigners.
In an email to all members, Facebook said it wanted a “more meaningful” way for users to give feedback.
The site has also proposed combining information across its other services, such as photo-sharing app Instagram.
» via BBC
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Currently on the Israeli Defense Forces Twitter Feed
Live blogging its attack on Hamas.
Images: Screenshots from @IDFSpokesperson. Select to embiggen.
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Photo reblogged from World-Shaker
Popular Educational Twitter Hashtags
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So now governments liveblog war. Uhm. Okay.
I guess with journalism devolving into political PR, we owe Twitter a shot at acting as the 4th Estate.
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Israel announces Gaza invasion via Twitter
The Israeli Defense Forces’ official @IDFSpokesperson Twitter feed announced the military action through the social media site instead of a press conference.
Hamas confirmed the death of their leader, Ahmed al-Jabari, the same way - through the @alqassambrigade Twitter feed.
Al-Jabari was killed in an attack that took place before the official Tweet/announcement.
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Over the last couple years, reddit traffic and usage have continued to grow by leaps and bounds — in October 2012 alone we were up to over 3.8B pageviews and more than 46 million unique visitors. Our server costs also continue to grow, so we have a choice to make: we can start running a bunch more ads, or we can give you, the community, more reasons to support the site with your own money through reddit gold.
Reddit CEO Yishan Wong, blog.reddit.com. Now is the Time… to Invest in Gold.
Avoiding overt commercialization because you’re afraid of alienating your online community is honorable, but it will eventually lead to a big question — where, then, do you make money?
Wong, as Mathew Ingram pointed out earlier today, has subtly reminded users about Reddit Gold, a paid membership that comes with perks. Wong also told readers that, no, they are not a very profitable site. They need help, and so they’re asking members to pay if they can.
Ingram thinks it may work, and that it could even work for news sites:
There’s no question that being a community already gives Reddit a better chance of success with this kind of thing, but it is a model that I think more media companies could implement as well, instead of just putting up a blanket paywall around all of their content. This is the idea behind what Wall Street Journal managing editor Raju Narisetti and author Jeff Jarvis have both called a “reverse paywall” — which provides benefits to loyal users and readers instead of charging them — and it seems like a much better fit if what you want to do is build a relationship with your community.
The key is to build and maintain a community where users are able to build reputations for themselves, either through loyal interaction with content, or continued contribution to the community. Think karma.
It may also be that the community needs a strong membership within its large population. Members with Reddit Gold, however, are no such group. But one user has the right idea — noting that some members occasionally see their own artwork posted without attribution, it was suggested that there be a “creddit” button which links to and gives points, perks, etc. to the members that created the shared work.
As Ingram points out, other robust communities have disappeared after the owner of the site tried to profit from them:
Those kinds of decisions, along with other design-related moves that Digg made, arguably poisoned the site’s relationship with its community to the point where many core users left — in many cases for Reddit — and the site’s long slide into irrelevance began.
How can Reddit and similar sites (and even news sites) make money, then? Well if it’s all hinged on their community, it doesn’t hurt to have a strong one that’s filled with, as Clay Shirky has put it, love — members who continue coming back to have conversations, share content and create.
(via futurejournalismproject)
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Photo reblogged from Justice For The Rest Of Us
Tens of thousands of Argentinians gathered in the streets of capital Buenos Aires to voice anger against the government of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. The rally, reportedly the biggest in a decade, was organized on social networks.
The protest called for an end to government corruption, waves of violence throughout the country & inflation that is leaving millions in poverty.
Hell yes, Argentina.
