Einar Thorsen

Professor of Journalism and Communication at Bournemouth University

Publications | Conferences | Teaching | Projects

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Twitter, Facebook, and social activism

1 October, 2010 by Einar Thorsen Leave a Comment

Malcolm Gladwell:

The evangelists of social media don’t understand this distinction; they seem to believe that a Facebook friend is the same as a real friend and that signing up for a donor registry in Silicon Valley today is activism in the same sense as sitting at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro in 1960. “Social networks are particularly effective at increasing motivation,” Aaker and Smith write. But that’s not true. Social networks are effective at increasing participation—by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires. […] In other words, Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice. We are a long way from the lunch counters of Greensboro.

Source

Filed Under: Links Tagged With: activism, culture, Facebook, malcolmgladwell, media, politics, socialmedia, twitter

The app that bridges them all, also a future for journalism?

9 September, 2010 by Einar Thorsen Leave a Comment

Martin Belam:

Georgi Kobilarov illustrated the difference that aggregated linked data should make in the lives of people. He said that on his smartphone, he can download apps from Qype and Yelp and Foursquare and any number of data providers about listings or venues, using geolocation to tailor the content to where he is. But he doesn't want to have to check a multitude of data sources to find out what to do. He doesn't care about the apps themselves, or the app provider, he cares about the information that will help him plan his evening. He wants an app that bridges them all, and uses information from Facebook and Twitter to say 'There is a pretty lousy bar around the corner, but two of your old high school friends are there, so it is probably your best bet right now'.

The news and journalism version: "Accident has happened in a remote location, you have friends currently on vacation there… send them a message on Facebook to see if they are ok?"

Source

Filed Under: Links Tagged With: apps, datajournalism, Facebook, foursquare, geolocation, georgikobilarov, martinbelam, mobile, qype, twitter, yelp

Facebook + Media = Best Practices for Journalists?

12 August, 2010 by Einar Thorsen Leave a Comment

Facebook's own take on best practices for journalists… for using Facebook:

GAIN SHORT TERM DISTRIBUTION

Get in your readers' News Feeds
Interact with your audience

BUILD LASTING CONNECTIONS

Create a Facebook Page
Place the Like button with additional tags next to your byline or profile.
Publish to your subscribers.

ADVANCE THE STORY

Track the buzz on Facebook
Give readers access to new material
Participate in conversations

Full details with examples of each after the jump.

Going beyond the inevitable marketing speak, I wonder how many journalism programmes have these areas as core skills / learning outcomes of their degree programmes…

External link

Filed Under: Links Tagged With: audience, Facebook, futureofjournalism, participation

5 Things the Library of Congress is Archiving Online

31 May, 2010 by Einar Thorsen Leave a Comment

Sarah Kessler:

So what does the Library of Congress think is worth saving? Here are the portions of today’s web your grandchildren will be able to access through the Library of Congress:

1. Twitter feeds—all of them […]

2. National Election Candidates’ Internet Presences […]

3. Facebook Pages—A Selective Few […]

4. Notable Historical Events […]

5. News Sites That Give Permission

Unlike libraries in some other countries, the Library of Congress has no legal mandate to preserve the web. Therefore, the web archive team can’t collect everything they would like to without asking permission. Because news sites and blogs earn money on their content, the Library needs to get consent before it includes their pages in the archives.

Grotke says that few news organizations that the web archive team contacts for permission ever respond, which means that not much of the content in the web archives comes from news sites.

External link

Filed Under: Links Tagged With: archive, campaign, election, Facebook, library, libraryofcongress, onlinenews, sarahkessler, socialmedia, twitter

How Facebook’s (flawed) privacy settings can help your reporting

21 May, 2010 by Einar Thorsen Leave a Comment

    Robert Hernandez on the "good" side of Facebook's flawed privacy settings:

    "Facebook gives you a false sense of private… but by now you should know better.

    The walls around the Facebook garden have crumbled because of the company's seriously flawed privacy settings.

    And while as a user you should be freaked out and proactive about your personal settings (and more conscious of what you are posting!), as a journalist this is presents an incredible, unfiltered opportunity to access your community on a diversity of topics.

    Hold your nose and thank youropenbook.org for making it easier to access your the community on Facebook – for better or worse.

    You can now quickly query what's on the mind of the millions of users that are sharing their raw opinions about any topic… sadly, they usually think it's "private," often sharing their opinions with their social guard down."

    External link

    Del.ici.us tags: facebook privacy journalism practice

Filed Under: Links Tagged With: Facebook, Journalism, practice, privacy

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