There’s something dirty feeling about watching Michael Arrington’s interview of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. I don’t mean that as criticism of Michael; plenty of other folks have done that all too well. It’s this new media thing, where you sleep with the people you write about. You do business with them and for them.
Yesterday, ZDNet’s Sam Diaz harped that RSS was “a good idea at the time, but there are better ways now.” ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick responded on his personal blog: “If you think RSS is dead then that’s your loss and a big one.” Their opposing positions go oddly together, and both make some valid points.
Among my 17 Comic-Con 2009 interviews: The Hillywood Show players, featuring sisters Hilly and Hannah. These girls are young, motivated and talented. The Website is engaging, and they connect to all the major social media services. They’re primed for success. I love it!
On July 17, I posted, “The Michael Arrington Matter,” where I came down hard on the TechCrunch cofounder for publishing stolen, internal Twitter documents. I wouldn’t have done it. But in fairness, TechCrunch is successful—and for a reason. TechCrunch publishes lots of original content, as much in the comments as the stories. Readers participate in the process.
Ian Betteridge has blogged a couple times recently about the value of original reporting. Ian is one of those long-time journalists who has good common sense. I’ve enjoyed his missives about journalism and ethics and also changes new media is having on the news media. His thoughts on the value of original reporting are must reads.
Now this video is what social media is all about.
By the way, I see social media’s value as connection and cooperation, but crowdsourcing is bad idea. Too many voices produces mediocre results. The video is excellent example of connection and cooperation.
S-o-o-o-o, US TV broadcasters aren’t alone pulling the plug on their analog channels. Microsoft is closing down channels 8 and 10 and folding some of their content into Channel 9. Someone at Microsoft thinks this is good marketing? It’s a great idea if the goal is for existing and potential customers to start switching channels.
