The front page of the Boulder Daily Camera yesterday proclaimed “CU-Boulder takes steps to close journalism school.” As I pondered the fate of my profession, I, a former newspaper reporter, posted the story to my Twitter feed and my Facebook page. The fact that I chose to share the information online rather than blasting off a letter to the editor should tell me enough about the future of media to not make me upset about the issue.

However, I was upset.

For starters, I have a master’s degree in journalism. Is it going to be worth anything in 10 years? I knew when I got my degree that I could make a lot more money if I went to business school, but I chose journalism because I was fascinated by how people chose to communicate information and the different ways in which they share it. It was this fascination that drove me into the newspaper business almost two decades ago and it’s what led me to build my first website in 1996, and start my first blog 10 years later. Besides, I hate statistics classes.

Journalism schools, traditionally, have been horribly inept at providing a cross-discipline approach to the trade. There’s the broadcast department, the news-editorial department, and public relations. Never shall they meet. I remember as an undergrad at Colorado State asking about photojournalism classes and getting a quizzical look from my academic advisor because I was on the news-editorial track. I reminded her that they have pictures in newspapers too.

“But someone else will do that for you,” she said, as if the subject had been exhausted. Not anymore. Reporters are expected to write the story, update the blog, create a Twitter feed and post video to the website all before the 5 p.m. deadline. No wonder the quality of the reporting has been going steadily downhill. They don’t have enough time to focus on anything that could make an impact.

It is the spread of web-based information that is, ironically, leading to this need for better journalists. Increasingly, people are overwhelmed with information via online, on television and in print. In this overwhelmed state, they are developing more and more channels of information. “I’m a mom. Tell me about stuff I care about.” Enter the mommy bloggers. “I am passionate about politics.” Enter MSNBC and Fox News. These are just channels though, microcosms of information that provide no context or perspective. It’s more like a stream of consciousness.

Now, more than ever, we need people that can tell us what is important, why it’s important and explain it to us in a way that we can understand. As one of my old journalism teachers used to say, “Don’t just tell me what happened. Tell me why I should care!”

Despite my concerns, I think it can be a promising and very smart move for the University of Colorado to create a school of information if done correctly. You can’t deny the power or the influence of the Internet and social media in particular. If you stop looking at journalism in the silos of television, print, and public relations — and start looking at it as information sharing — then you get to the heart of what journalism really is.

I shared my thoughts with Sandra Fish, a journalist and journalism instructor at the University of Colorado who specializes in politics, government and interactive reporting. She wrote me back this reply:

“I think the potential to create something new that melds journalism and technology is exciting but we also need to keep in mind that journalism, no matter what the form or platform, is essential to our democracy.”

“What about ethics?” I asked. “And GRAMMAR?!”

Learning to understand and accept my own biases but not letting that overshadow my reporting was one of the most important things I learned in journalism school. I also learned people tend not to take you too seriously if you don’t know the difference between “there,” “they’re” and “their.” I see very little of either proper grammar or ethics on the Internet.

These are all issues that have to be taken into consideration when deciding what the future of journalism will look like. People still need information. Maybe we’ll need more “citizen journalists” who can bring an entrepreneurial culture to journalism and make money blogging, posting videos and podcasting. If that’s true, maybe there will be a need for some of those dreaded business statistics classes.

I can’t wait to find out. The fascination continues.

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If you’ve never read Erika Napoletano’s blog, you’re missing a treat. Erika was kind enough to let me chime in with some social media lessons I figured out while watching The Karate Kid on cable a few days ago.

You can also follow Erika on Twitter (which I recommend) here.

Thanks, Erika!

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We’ve all got ‘em—the things that make us crazy. Ever followed someone with their blinker on for 15 minutes on the freeway, and they never moved lanes? This is what I’m talking about. Five things that really bug me in the social media communities I participate in the most. I’m not really saying they’re terrible or even wrong, but I’d like to encourage everyone to consider the different ways social media is used, and ask yourself if you’re irritating others with your habits. Most importantly, are your habits moving your conversations forward? If not, time for a rethink.

So, here’s my “following the endless blinker” list:

5. “Thanks for the follow!” direct messages on Twitter. I let direct messages on Twitter come directly to my phone because many clients and colleagues communicate with me that way. The last thing I need is a bunch of texts on my iPhone that say nothing of value. Even worse? “Get my e-book here!” I give a nearly instant un-follow & block to those folks.

4. “As a person I trust, I’d like to add you to my network on LinkedIn. Please. Take a minute to erase the stock LinkedIn verbiage and jot a quick personal note. It doesn’t have to be long (in fact, it shouldn’t be), but since you’re asking for my time to connect, can’t I get 10 seconds of yours to ask me personally? Also, sometimes I don’t recognize the name of someone I just met at a conference, for example. A brief “nice to meet you at…” is not only polite, it can avoid getting bounced as someone I don’t know—a big no-no on LinkedIn.

3. Twitter streams that are nothing but “I’m at…” from Foursquare. I enjoy Foursquare, but when I follow someone that plays Foursquare and puts every check in in their Twitter stream, I find it gets really old really fast. If your check-ins are one in 10, perhaps it’s not so bad, but in general, “I’m at…” is no more interesting than “I’m eating yoghurt.” Not what I’m looking for.

2. “Since we’re following each other on Twitter, let’s be friends on Facebook.” Maybe, maybe not, but don’t just assume. We all use social networks differently. Just because we’re connected on one doesn’t mean we should be on another automatically. I don’t mind an appropriate invite through Facebook (or any other), but I do mind an immediate invite to visit your page when we’ve been friends on Twitter for about 30 seconds. One does not mean all.

1. And my #1 Pet Peeve: Playing the numbers game. Social media is not about having tens of thousands of followers or friends or fans or whatever. It’s about developing and engaging your network. In my opinion, it’s nearly impossible to truly use a tool like LinkedIn if you have tens of thousands of connections. I’ll take my few hundred—all of which I know personally. I have no problem asking for a favor or returning one for any member of that network. How can you know where to draw that line with 10,000 (or more) connections? You can’t, plain and simple.

That’s my list. What’s yours?

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posted by Doyle

Tonight I wanted to watch the University of Denver Pioneers—my alma mater—take on the North Dakota Fighting Sioux in the semi-final game of the WCHA Playoffs. I’m willing to pay to watch the game, either on TV or online. I would have probably paid $34.95 or so without hesitation.

The funny part? It’s being broadcast on Fox Sports North, which just isn’t available in my area. Bottom line, it’s not like they needed to send a special crew and set up a complete broadcast. That’s already done. All they have to do is set up a stream and charge for it. I’d pay. Lots of others might as well. Let’s say just 500 people pay $30 each to watch. That’s $15,000. I have to believe that a substantial amount for a college hockey divisional playoff game.

Sadly, either no one thought of it or—more likely—there are some issues with broadcast rights that prevent Fox North from doing something so simple. So, I’m paying $8.95 for a very average audio stream.

Stupid.

Everyone involved—the universities, Fox Sports, even the advertisers, who get a larger audience—would win by making this available. When will we stop worrying about the handful of people that might steal the content and start serving—and profiting from—the large audience that’s more than happy to pay?

Soon, I hope.

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posted by Cortney Harvey

The New York Times recently covered Coca Cola’s inclusion of social media in their Super Bowl ads. Some said “Huh?”

I disagree. Though it has been slowly emerging recently, this is yet another brilliant way that socmed can and should be used. Reading this article got me thinking about how socmed will impact this famed sport event and what means for the future of sports and media.

For most, the first thing that comes to mind when they think about the Super Bowl (besides the game) is the commercials. Although Coca Cola still holds two commercial spots for tomorrow’s main event, they are, for the first year, putting their eggs in the socmed basket. So what effect does this rush of socmed into the Super Bowl spotlight have? And why hasn’t this come to the forefront sooner? There has been the slow introduction of communication technologies incorporated into these scenarios over the past few years, but nothing compared to what is possible.

My question: why isn’t there a stronger push being made towards using socmed for this purpose? When used right, socmed can be of such great value… Who cares if it’s not traditional, it’s what’s happening now and will be what’s happening tomorrow. And not only does this mean something for once-a-year sports events, but can have a profound impact on how sports news and updates are communicated daily. The relationship between the two will change sports media forever, because today so many of us enjoy these play-by-play updates on our Facebook page and Twitter feeds instead of the annoying “too much information” one-liners.

Another trend in advertising for the Super Bowl!

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There are many companies who seem to have the attitude that customer review sites are just a bunch of noise, populated by complainers and ignored by the vast majority. That might be true today, but over time, I think it’ll become of critical importance for companies to be paying attention to this data.

To demonstrate how the future might well look, let me show how a quick Google search for a restaurant’s address caused me to change my lunch plans…

A colleague had sent me email saying “let’s have lunch, you pick the place” and I remembered that a new Mexican place had opened up here in Boulder called Agave. The signage was good and I thought it’d be a nice chance to try somewhere new and hopefully add a venue to my favorites.

To confirm the address, I searched for the restaurant in Google (“agave boulder co”) and when it showed me the location, it also showed me the following tip:

As you can imagine, that little snippet was enough to make me want to learn more. Who wants to have a meal at a place where the service is “horrible”?  I clicked on the “A” button and got a bit more info:

Seven reviews for a brand new restaurant?  That’s worth checking out, so I clicked on “7 Reviews” and found that while there was one good review, there were plenty more from people who had experienced bad service and – worse – bad food there too:

Suffice to say I was turned off and decided then and there that Agave wasn’t going to be the restaurant for us to use as our meeting spot.

Here’s where it gets interesting, though, because immediately underneath the bad reviews was the following:

I looked at the nearby places and thought “Larkburger!” and that’s where we went.

The important takeaway from this – particularly so if you are the owners of Agave – is that customer reviews really do play a part in your business success and while it might only affect a small percentage of potential customers today, I promise that as we move more and more into a mobile always-on world, this sort of experience will make or break a retail outlet, whether you’re a cafe, tire shop or restaurant.

And as for us? I’m sure we’ll have a great burger and fries at Larkburger.

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Someone said to me the other day that customer references aren’t important any more. “After all,” they said, “your customers are all talking about you online, so potential customers will just look there. No sense in compiling a bunch of references.”

Not so fast.

While it’s true that there’s lots of conversation online about lots of different things, you can’t sit back and hope some of it is about your company—you’ve got to help drive it. Additionally, if a bad review pops up someplace, it’s best to have some references in hand rather than trying to close the door once the cow is out of the barn. This is true whether your company sells directly to consumers (B2C) or to other businesses (B2B).

Click below to see a white paper I recently completed that addresses this subject. Feel free to download and share and, as always, join the conversation on this important topic.

Customer Reference 02 2010

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posted by Doyle

I remarked to my co-workers the other day that I was tired of newbies on Facebook “pelting me with snowballs, buying me drinks and begging me to work on their farm.”

Upon further reflection, my comment was off base.

What I was wrongly complaining about is the natural evolution of social media that comes with increasing adoption, and that’s a good thing — I’ll talk about the etiquette I’d like to see develop next in a moment.

What is this natural evolution? It’s the simple fact that the larger the number of people that use anything, the more ways to use and enjoy that thing will be discovered. In the early days of television, there were only two or three choices of programs to watch, so everyone watched pretty much the same two or three things. Now, the choices are nearly limitless, and tastes vary widely. Outside of football, two of the top-rated programs for the week ending Jan. 10 were “Desperate Housewives” and “The Biggest Loser.” There’s not enough beer in Boulder to get me to watch either of those, but clearly, millions of people enjoy them. Does that mean they’re wrong? Are they TV newbies who just don’t know any better? Not at all. It means those people like something different than I do.

The same thing is happening in social media. Twitter recently published the top trending topics in a variety of categories, and I was quite surprised. I’m on Twitter quite often, and my peer set didn’t discuss the large majority of those topics. (I’ll admit I had to Google “Glee” to find out what it even was!) Again, these people aren’t misuing Twitter, nor are they ill-informed newbies, they’re talking about what they want to talk about.

So, what if you’re like me and have no interest in Mafia Wars, Farmville or the nitty-gritty details of American Idol? I hope the answer lies in a continuing evolution of social media etiquette. It’s simple: you don’t walk into a room full of friends watching TV and change the channel without asking, and if someone asks you to change it back, you probably should. The same idea holds true for social media — don’t change the channel without asking, and if some of your friends don’t respond to repeated snowball attacks and gift offerings, maybe they’d like a different program.

The first thing we should do online — as companies or individuals — is listen. Pay attention to what your friends and online acquaintances are telling you, both directly and indirectly. There are thousands of viewing choices on TV and thousands of ways to use every social network. Just as you have friends that like to watch football and friends that like foreign films, you’ll have friends online that love games, for example, and those who hate them.

Listen. It’s the most important part of social media etiquette.

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Find out if you have an attention span “problem” by taking a quick 10-question test from Psychology Today.

So how did you do? Well I have nothing to compare it to because I didn’t even make it through questions #4.

So what does this have to do with anything? It’s because I am a pretty average person. That is, I am a consumer, between the age of 18-30, do most of my shopping online and I I’m heavily involved in social media/networking. If this sounds like you, or someone you would want to market to, listen carefully:
To market to someone like me you need to be quick on your feet, stay up on the latest trends and be very creative.

Some ways you can keep my interest:

Videos
I love videos…well, I love the first 60 to 90 seconds of a video. If you are trying to get more people to your site or blog, try putting up some videos. Keep them short and to the point and don’t host them yourself. Use YouTube – it’s easier and viewers can share and embed the videos for others to see. Edit them so that the most compelling stuff is the first thing viewers will see. It will help keep their attention and keep them watching, and did I mention to keep videos short?

Pictures
It’s like a video only a lot shorter, so you can’t go wrong with pictures, images and other visuals. It not only helps to tell your story, sell your product, etc. but compelling visuals will also help keep my attention and my interest on whatever it is that you may be sharing. Also, it gives the option to share and use your photos elsewhere, which will help bounce people back to your site.

Banner ads and flashy interactive ads
These work only if I like the product. The trick is to find out what I like. Use demographics and stats that Google will offer you, or try the interactive, fully customizable Facebook ads. Give me something that I enjoy or may look to purchase based on what you know about me. For instance, I’m a male, so electronics, gadgets, girls, cars, sports, fitness, clothes, etc. would generally be something that would interest me. I’m probably not interested in the latest makeup or beauty products out on the market. Be creative and targeted in your approach in order to see the best results and perhaps keep my interest on your site.

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Recently I shared a conversation with my colleague Lauren (@laurenpreston) about the positions employers are creating as a result of the social media epidemic going on right now. As you can see the number of social media job opportunities are growing by the second.

Social media gigs are being referred to by a variety of titles: Social Media Coordinator, Social Media Manager, Social Media Specialist, Director of Social Engagement, etc. Basically, if you can talk to people, connected to the right people, have a Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn account, you are qualified. Obviously there is more to each job, but with social media being so new, 5-10 years experience is rarely a requirement.

With that said, who better to go for these positions then students fresh out of school? If I just graduated college I’d be all over Andrew Hudson’s Job List looking for social media gigs because I know employers are demanding them. Who wouldn’t enjoy such a fun and exciting JOB (not to be confused with career) out of college where you get to surf the net and talk to people all day? Sounds ideal to me, but I would make sure I had other skills to bring to the table!

What will happen in a few years when social media knowledge is not looked at as a skill/advantage, but as a requirement for most, if not at all, jobs? What will happen to all those people who spent countless hours in front of the computer networking, promoting, tweeting, Facebooking, blogging about their companies and/or product? I’m confident that all the social media positions being created are going to be terminated.

Hear me out…

We all are well aware that social media isn’t going anywhere, and while there are still a lot of people who just don’t “get it”, we are, as Erik Qualman (@equalman) puts it in his video below, in the midst of a “social media revolution.”

However, there is a fine line between being open to social media and letting it define what you do for a living. We have come a long way, but we have a ways to go before we can put social media in its own career category.

We are starting to see a trend with recent college grads — many of them are applying and landing social media gigs and  some are starting their own social media companies that require them to tweet all day like it was their job (but, oh wait…it is.)

If you fall in this category, be aware that once the “I don’t get it” folks catch on, those of you who are “experts” will merely be another “Joe” who knows how to use the internet and social media. You will no longer be special nor have an advantage over the next Average Joe who knows how to re-tweet, create a fan page, upload a YouTube video, etc.

I am not disqualifying the young social media experts out there, because there are many who are amazing at what they do (@Andrewhyde, @PRSarahevans and @ElaineEllis are some of my favorites) but these big timers have prior experiences and skills to back them up should they want/need to change fields. They’ve also been in the game since the beginning of social media.

So if you are interested in diving head first in a social media position I encourage you to go for it, but be sure you get more out of it than the mere pleasure of 10,000+ followers/fans/friends, because at the end of the day when the Average Joe’s of the world catch up to the rest of us, you’ll still need other skills to set you apart.

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