Month: January 2008

Hug a journalist today; he/she’s no blog-ebrity.

/ Susan Scrupski / Leave a comment

 

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RichardatDell, posited a few things today in general about blogging. One of which was the difference between bloggers and journalists.

Richard’s post inspired Chris Brogan to ask tonight on Twitter, “Do you make much of the difference between bloggers and journalists? http://tinyurl.com/2dv5xw” This is an area I feel particularly passionate about and felt compelled to blog about tonight.

You see, I matured professionally surrounded by ace journalists in the 90s. My journalist “friends” were all reporters at the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Businessweek, Newsweek, USAToday, etc. All mainstream print media. For the longest time, I subscribed to the Columbia Journalism Review. Because I was a writer myself, I had a healthy respect for the tenets of journalism, although I had never been fortunate enough to have been schooled properly in journalism fundamentals.

Technically, I started blogging in 1999 by posting daily tidbits and scoops on the tech sector I was tracking. My private access “blog” was widely read by financial analysts, execs, and industry insiders. I remember having a long lunch conversation with a veteran New York Times reporter and friend about how the Internet was going to turn his world upside down. We had a great chat that day; I will never forget it. I told him he couldn’t beat me on “fast” or “free.” But, the 1.0 Internet was an arrogant era; I would have a much different conversation with him today.

A few months ago I was IM-chatting with my friend Anne Zelenka about this blogger-journalist conundrum. Ironically, I had mentioned to her that Jeff Jarvis, the blogger, is self-described as an “American journalist” on Wikipedia, but even Richard would agree (I hope) that once a journalist becomes part of a story, it sort of invalidates their objectivity and credibility as Jarvis did with the Dell Hell spectacle. So, Jarvis is a blogger, but not a journalist, IMO. As we were chatting, Anne told me she had published a scoop for GigaOm on the Teqlo demise, but felt sad all day when one of the founders commented on the story.

Reporting the news (with its instantaneous results) is changing our worldview overnight, but I firmly believe we need both bloggers and journalists to keep us informed. In short, the difference between bloggers and journalists is, well, vanity as far as I can see. You won’t find many journalists checking their stats on tweeterboard or racking up friends on Facebook. They’re comfortable to be invisible, maybe a little surly. But mon Dieu! We need them more now than we ever have. Who is going to get to the truth of the greatest issues of our day, stripped of ego, self-aggrandizement and promotion?

 

 

Davos, Loic, and Hey… are we changing the world, yet?

/ Susan Scrupski / Leave a comment

I’ve been extremely moved by the work Loic Le Meur has been doing with his Johnny on-the-spot reporting, beaming his smile and insights to us out here in Twitterland, Seesmicland, and on the Net in general. Just wanted to acknowledge how game-changing this effort is. It’s like I’ve written before– that great ditty from New Guinea: “the truth that everyone knows that no one talks about.” The real truth is instantaneous, realtime (yes, redundant) access to information and people, places, and things is changing our world in weird and wonderful ways.Thank you, Loic. You may have your sexist tendencies, but I am happy and eager to overlook that in the face of all you are achieving with your heroic efforts. Soldier on, mon ami. Peace out.

Redefining productivity for the digital age

/ Susan Scrupski / 1 Comment

We need to take another look at productivity. Productivity has its roots in economic output models of production, yes? Seems to be like a solid industrial age metric. There was a hullabalo yesterday over how how much productivity was wasted on Twitter. Pat Phelan published a post on it yesterday and tried to put a number on it. He estimates it will cost the US economy roughly $14B in lost productivity.Why do we keep trying to apply old metrics to new models?Let’s talk about the new productivity and maybe give it a more suitable name? Sorry, I’m not interested in producing “outputs” anymore. The new productivity should be measured in absorption rate and rate of knowledge infusion. With the rapid layering of our social graphs and their instantaneous egalitarian refresh of ideas and truths, we are regening our minds faster than ever in modern career history. Twitter, for all its silliness on occasion, is a massive societal, academic, and yes, business collaboration platform that shapes and fosters our newfound digital intelligence irrespective of nation, race, gender, all the built-in stereotypes.Here, McCluhan is wrong. The messages are the medium. Twitter takes us to places unexpected. It makes us angry; it makes us think. It makes us learn. It makes us cry. All in a single day; while we’re between conference calls; while we’re waiting for a train; while we’re bored; while we’re busy. Some say we’re addicted to Twitter. It’s not the platform we’re addicted to– it’s humanity and improving our lives, our minds, our businesses, and the human condition.