In case you missed it

It’s been another busy week in the fast-changing online world. Here are a few updates from The GH Spin’s “In case you missed it” file.

•Patch goes live: AOL’s hyper-local news source, Patch, went live in Edina this week. Patch journalists in several Twin Cities locations are already active on Twitter and Facebook. According to MinnPost, Patch is hiring journalists for nearly 50 sites in the metro area and is adding 600 journalists nationally. Read more from MinnPost or The GH Spin.

•Preview websites instantly: Google announced today a feature that will allow people to preview a screen shot of websites that appear in a search before they click on a site. The “Instant Previews” feature will be launched in 40 languages over the coming days. Read more here.

•Twitter starts advertising: Starting this month, Twitter will allow companies to place an ad in a user’s Twitter stream regardless of whether the user follows the company. Virgin America, Starbucks, and Red Bull have already bought ads. This advertising option complements the “promoted tweet” that appears at the top of searches on the Twitter website. Read more here.

•Clip coupons via Facebook: Facebook is now offering coupons through a new feature called “Deals.” More than 20 companies, including Gap, McDonalds, and American Eagle Outfitters, have signed on. The feature can alert users when a store near them has a coupon available, making it especially useful for smartphone users. Read more here.

In case you missed it

Today’s world obviously moves fast, and technology seems to change every minute. It’s hard enough to keep up with the constant stream of breaking news stories, especially stories that don’t immediately affect you or your job. One of the things The GH Spin will do is help keep you up to speed on information that might have blipped past your already-full radar screen.

Here are a few of the more interesting technology developments that will significantly impact the Internet and social networking.

• Google introduces new instant search function: Earlier this week, Google launched Google Instant, a new version of its search engine that displays results as you type. According to Google, instant searching will decrease search time by two to five seconds (to 19-22 seconds for a typical search). Read more from PC World.

• Twitter rolls out new design: Over the next few weeks, Twitter will upgrade its interface and design to place almost every function on a single screen so you rarely have to navigate away from a page to get the full experience. The new Twitter will also allow users to embed photos and videos directly on the site. TechCrunch lays out all the new elements in this article.

• Google to launch new social network: Google is planning to challenge Facebook’s dominance by incorporating new social networking features in its core products. Read more from the Guardian.

• The Social Network invades movie theaters October 1: The Social Network chronicles the early days of Facebook and examines a generation’s obsession with social networking. The movie has been getting strong reviews from critics, including Rolling Stone. Watch the trailer here.

Not-so-good vibrations

The Star Tribune recently published an article about how parents who are constantly connected to technology are alienating their children. While the actions of the parents described in this article are deplorable, the article caught my attention because the author’s lessons are applicable in a business setting as well.

I’ve been in meetings where people check their smartphone every time it buzzes with a new tweet. Not only is this addiction to social media a distraction to everyone in the meeting, it makes it harder to concentrate and deliver high-quality work.

While we need to always be reachable by clients, we also need to understand the difference between an urgent message and a not-so-urgent Facebook update, especially during a meeting.

Do political ads on television matter anymore?

It’s official: the first political ads for the 2010 election have started invading our screens and monitors. As we brace ourselves for a five-month barrage of political messages, we can’t help but wonder, do these ads really work? Millions of people go to great lengths to avoid commercials by fast-forwarding with DVRs or watching shows on the Internet. With the rise of social media, tweets and Facebook ads are giving candidates new ways to reach audiences. The GH Spin wants to know what you think about political television ads. We’ll share the results here.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

When the new world and the old world grammatically collide

The Associated Press has well-established principles that most newsrooms and reporters are expected to follow when they write a story designed for official publication on a Web site, newspaper, or magazine. These guidelines determine the official ways to reference and abbreviate, and most of the world follows.

But what happens when these same reporters and editors who follow AP style are encouraged to embrace social media and Twitter? Should the same rules apply to the 140-character realm as they do to a 1,200 word article? According to Bloomberg News Editor in Chief Matt Winkler, some tweets may not hold up to traditional newsroom standards.

Winkler was less than pleased by some of his journalists’ recent Twitter activity. The reporters were tweeting during a congressional hearing. Winkler did not appreciate that the journalists were broadcasting a running commentary of the testimony rather than factual information, as seen below.

Twitter post by Bloomberg reporter: “McCain thumping on the ‘’you big bankers make too much money.’ Blankfein looks really uncomfortable.”

Winkler comment: ((xxx thumping xxx is an assertion that can’t be reported. Authenticity of quotation is questionable followed by assertion/opinion as there is nothing substantiating subjective xxx uncomfortable xxxx and therefore inaccurate.))

Twitter post by Bloomberg reporter: “Is Levin too cranky by half? Wonder if he’s making GS boys sympathetic characters.”

Winkler comment: ((xxx cranky by half xxx is an assertion/opinion and therefore inaccurate. xxx wonder xxx invites judgment which can’t be verified and is therefore inaccurate.))

What makes Twitter valuable is its immediacy, but the staccato conversations that Twitter facilitates should not be devoid of facts and grammar. AP style is an important way to help organize the written word, and it is interesting to see how established media organizations are struggling to find a place between the new and old world.

Rock Star PR Move: Target Field’s Newest Craze

Kirby the Kestrel, a moth-terrorizing falcon, has stolen our hearts and attention at Target Field. From his perch above the right field foul pole, Kirby catches flies as expertly as his namesake did in center field.

Today’s Rock Star PR Award goes to the anonymous creator of Kirby’s Twitter account. Thanks for giving the media another Target Field topic to cover.

The Ultimate Retweet

The Library of Congress dived into the electronic diaries of millions of Americans this month when it acquired Twitter’s entire archive of public tweets. Storing tweets ranging from the horribly mundane to the historically significant, the archive serves as a window into the common person’s reactions to cultural and political movements.

The Twitter archive is a 21st century version of the Gallup Poll. For more than 75 years, historians, sociologists, and other researchers have used Gallup Poll results to analyze public opinion about presidents, religion, foreign policy, and more. These statistics have been instrumental in understanding the 1960s counterculture and public reaction to the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

The Twitter archive will broaden the scope of the Gallup Poll, increasing the opportunities for future historians to analyze American culture. Just think about the mountains of research that could be done about our obsession with celebrities (Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett’s deaths) or our fast food eating habits.

While weeding through the more-than 50 million tweets posted each day poses a Herculean task for any researcher, the trending topics will be extremely important to future researchers trying to figure out what the Justin Bieber phenomenon was all about.

Twitter signals the future of news

This morning I learned about the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Pawlenty’s unallotments not through a traditional news source but through Twitter. The past two weekends, I avidly followed the DFL and GOP conventions through Twitter. Even though I didn’t attend either convention, I knew the instant endorsements were made thanks to my fellow tweeters.

Twitter has rapidly evolved into the fastest way to disseminate information. In fact, some researchers recently heralded the site as the future of news. According to the study, timely topics make up more than 80% of discussions on Twitter, and 54% of tweets are “headline news.”

Twitter has become the best way to break news and share important information. In fact, many reporters get story ideas and information through Twitter. But, because tweets are limited to only 140 characters, links to more in-depth articles are essential. Traditional news agencies and reporters are not going to go extinct because of Twitter. Instead, they are adapting to the rigorous pace of digital reporting.

So, even though “flashing on the screen” might replace “hot off the presses” as the breaking news cliché, newsrooms will still be buzzing.

Health care debate goes viral

Drama unfolded on Sunday as the health care reform debate jumped from Capitol Hill to television, computer, and cell phone screens across the nation. On a weekend traditionally dominated by NCAA basketball coverage, it is hard to believe that C-SPAN, FOX News, MSNBC, and CNN ratings were through the roof as many Americans skipped March Madness to watch the cable news networks’ live coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives health care reform debate.

Social networking sites were also buzzing with lively debates as friends commented on statuses and posted links to coverage. At 9 p.m. on Sunday – when the House passed the health care bill – 2.05% of tweets included the health care reform hash tag (#hcr). While initially this figure might not seem significant, when Tiger Woods announced his return to the Masters on March 16, only 0.062% of tweets mentioned Tiger.

Over the past few months, it’s been fun to follow tweets about the Super Bowl, the Oscars, and the Bachelor, but this most recent trending topic could be downright inspiring. At a time when many people lament the demise of the media’s ability to inform the public, millions of people are receiving more information and sharing their opinions about important political issues than ever before through Twitter and Facebook. Social networking has quickly become the fastest growing method of civic engagement – a trend I hope sticks around for good.

An old dog learns new tweets

Mainstream media was quick to dismiss social media before most of us had heard about Facebook or Twitter. They held the power over information and could care less what someone’s status was. The more the mainstream media struggled to understand social media, the faster the rest of the world embraced the phenomenon.

• In 2007, Facebook had 12 million active users worldwide; it now has 400 million.
• In 2007, people sent 5,000 tweets a day, according to Twitter; now there are nearly 50 million a day.
  

Now with millions of people plugged into social media through laptops and iPhones, social networking sites buzz with activity as friends bash the Bachelor’s decision to propose to Vienna Girardi on Facebook, and sports fans fume over bad plays or referee calls on Twitter. Despite a marked decrease in regularly programmed television ratings, network channels have seen an increase in viewers during live, large-market television events – all thanks to social media.

• The Grammys drew 26 million viewers on CBS, up from 19 million in 2009.
• The Golden Globes’ ratings went up 14 percent on NBC.
• The Super Bowl was the most-watched U.S. television event of all time, drawing 106 million people to CBS.
• The Olympics on NBC triumphed in the ratings throughout the event; the opening ceremony drew 32.6 million viewers.
• ABC has sold out all its ad space for this weekend’s Oscars telecast.

There may be some new life in the mainstream media – as long as they switch from the “must see TV” model to the “must tweet TV” model.

Click here to read more.

Easy Twitter explanation

Download “Rockin’ Robin” to your ipod and read Star Tribune columnist James Lileks’ easy-to-read explanation of Twitter. We love how Lileks explains the micro-blogging phenomenon in plain English and has a local example of Mayor Rybak’s use of the service. Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/d9r9fr.

Ready to try it? Goff & Howard is on Twitter. Follow us at http://twitter.com/GoffHoward.