Filed under: Coffee Break | Tags: article, BBC, Bill Thompson, blogging, journalism, News, news feeds, newspaper, online, The Guardian, Twitter, updates
We’ve just come across a really nice article, explaining how the web has impacted journalism. The article, written by independent journalist, Bill Thompson, outlines some of the key changes relating to news online, and how they have affected journalism. These include:
- Blogging turning from a ‘curious habit of the self-obsessed into a defining use of the internet for all forms of communication’
- News feeds, aggregators and personal recommendations on social network sites replacing the front pages of major news providers, as the way that people find out about breaking news
- The Guardian moving from a newspaper with a nice website, to an online information source that also publishes a dead tree edition
- New services like Twitter offering alternative ways of getting the news, in the form of short updates about breaking news or links to longer pieces
In terms of the future of journalism, a key thinking point from the article came from a comment made by Solana Larsen, one of the managing editors of Global Voices (a site that offers easy access to many of the world’s bloggers and tries to “aggregate, curate, and amplify the global conversation online”). She believes that in 5 years time, the “foreign correspondent” – sent off to a strange land to report on the activities of the “natives” – will no longer be needed. The main reason being that there are becoming more and more places online where we can simply ask those who are living through the events what they think of them, and seek insights and analysis from those who know the people and the places involved.
Whether you agree with this or not, the full article is definitely worth a look: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7338238.stm
Filed under: Coffee Break, Industry news | Tags: AOL, dirty secrets, fun, Google, gossip, internet rumors, love affairs, micro-hoo!, Microhoo, Microsoft, MySpace, soap opera, speculation, web, Yahoo!
As Microsoft and Yahoo! look to merge, this is turning in to a real soap opera…
Microsoft & Google actually fancy each other; Microsoft loves Googles youthful energy and dynamic rise to wealth and Google loves the established, ‘old school’ power of Microsoft… but it’s a forbidden love. They can never be together, which drives them crazy and makes them want to constantly hurt and out do each other.
In the latest ’series’ of their forbidden love, they pull Yahoo! in to their destructive love-hate relationship…
Microsoft has a one night stand with Yahoo! and then proposes, though not because Microsoft actually fancies Yahoo! – it’s more to get Google’s attention! Something about hurting the ones you love.
Ironically, Yahoo! doesn’t want to marry Microsoft either, but she realises that she’s at a stage in her life where her looks have long faded and her living expenses are a bit higher than her income. Whilst popular, she may not get the chance to bag another rich suitor like Microsoft… but she could hold out to find someone who loves her for who she is. Dilemma.
Yahoo! is unsure about Microsoft’s proposal and decides to think about it, but Microsoft is used to getting any girl he wants and this ‘playing hard to get act’ is something he’s seen many times before. Normally Microsoft would just flash some more bling and the girl would get in the car, but this time, Microsoft feels he’s already flashed enough to Yahoo! so he just goes for the affirmative act of ordering Yahoo! to get in the car. Yahoo! runs crying in to the night…
Confused and upset, Yahoo! seeks solace in the arms of other men. The first to hear about her vulnerability is MySpace who decides to take the opportunity to have a quickie with her (because he’s that kind of guy), but in the morning Yahoo! is back out in the cold. Now she’s feeling really dirty, who should come along but Google. Google knows the situation and wants to get back at Microsoft for hurting him with the initial Yahoo! proposal. Google tells Yahoo! what she wants to hear. Google will love her for who she is and promises to share everything with her – unlike Microsoft. But Google wants to take things slowly, one step at a time. This way Google can really get back at Microsoft without never really needing to commit to Yahoo! (as soon as Microsoft has had enough and the proposal is withdrawn, Google will drop Yahoo! like a sack of potatoes).
Poor Yahoo!. She may be desperate but she’s not stupid. She knows she can’t marry Microsoft or Google as her parents would never approve. So Yahoo! agrees to Google’s ’slowly, slowly’ relationship as rumours surface of stolen kisses with other lovers, notably AOL…
Will Yahoo! actually marry anyone?
Will Yahoo! come home from work early to find Microsoft and Google in bed together?
Does anyone still care who AOL sleeps with?
Will MySpace ever clean up it’s act?
Tune in next week (at this rate) for the next thrilling installment of the MicroHoo! soap opera.
Filed under: Cool & Online, New Technology, News | Tags: content, Flickr, mobile, photo, sharing, site, tagging, uploading, video, YouTube
Yesterday, we found out that Flickr now adds video! So, it’s a multimedia sharing site, that involves both photos and videos.
You’ll need to have a Pro account for video sharing, and clips up to 150MB can be uploaded. And, as with photos, there are a number of privacy settings to take advantage of, licensing, as well as tagging and geotagging capabilities.
We think that space limitations are going to be a major problem for many users, along with the alternative of free YouTube. But, given that Flickr’s brand is a sharing site for serious amateurs, perhaps YouTube won’t hinder Flickr’s entrance into the video space too much?
Webware has reported that Flickr will be scaling up uploaded content – an appealing necessity for its existing user base. With the growing interest in quality videos from an individual user standpoint, especially on the mobile front, this could be the perfect time for Flickr to finally make its move into video.
