Sky News Tells Reporters Not To Use Twitter To Break News Without Permission

from the how-not-to-do-it dept

It's kind of amazing to see how little Rupert Murdoch-owned media entities seem to get the internet. The latest is that Sky News -- which had been building up a reputation for having reporters who used Twitter to break various stories -- has issued a clampdown against journalists using Twitter to break stories, or even to tweet anything outside of their official beat. It's like instructions on exactly how to kill off any Twitter presence. So, Sky journalists are not allowed to break a story without permission. It first has to get approval from the news desk. Reporters must "stick to" their own beat, and can't talk about anything else. They're not allowed to retweet reporters from other news entities or, really, any other person on Twitter. The only thing journalists can do (and are, in fact, encouraged to do) is to retweet stories that were posted by other Sky journalists (after those stories got approval from the news desk, presumably). It really is a perfect list of exactly the opposite of what a good modern journalist on Twitter should be doing these days. They should be breaking news on Twitter. They should be retweeting others. They should be willing to stray from their beat at times. All of these things build up connections and relationships with readers/fans/viewers. Not surprisingly, Sky staffers are apparently not at all happy about this:

Journalists at the broadcaster expressed shock and dismay at the new guidelines, which they claim are a retrograde step.

Well, it's a Murdoch property, so... retrograde steps seem to be par for the course.

Filed Under: communicating, journalism, social media, uk
Companies: sky news, twitter

Twitter Beats Patent Troll Who Patented Letting Famous People Interact Online

from the nicely-done dept

Earlier this year, we covered how an operation called VS Technologies -- really a patent lawyer by the name of Dinesh Agarwal, held patent 6,408,309 on a "Method and system for creating an interactive virtual community of famous people." He then sued Twitter over this patent, though we couldn't figure out how Twitter actually infringed on the claims in the patent itself. While we were disappointed, a few weeks back, that the judge didn't dismiss the case pre-trial, it looks like the trial itself was pretty speedy, and the jury wasted little time in agreeing with Twitter that it did not infringe at all. Of course, it might not be over yet, as VS might still try to appeal, but the patent claim here is so weak that it really can't be in his best interests to push forward (not that that's stopped some patent trolls before). Either way, it's good to see Twitter at least stick it out and agree not to settle, as I'm sure there were opportunities to do along the way.

Filed Under: communicating, dinesh ararwal, famous people, patent troll, patents, social networks
Companies: twitter

What If Every eBook Was Its Own Social Network?

from the thinking-beyond-the-book dept

Whenever disruptive innovation comes along, the first (and totally understandable reaction) is to take what was there before, and shove it into the new things. It's why automobiles were originally "horseless carriages." It's why when TV came along, the early shows were really just radio programs that you could see. It tends to take some time before people begin to realize that the new platform or technology allows you to do something truly different -- rather than just "updated." Lots of people think they understand this, but it's often really difficult to comprehend how to really embrace what a platform is good at. However, true "killer apps" tend to come about only after people start recognizing the truly native capabilities of a platform, rather than trying to shove the old into the new with some bells and whistles.

Take ebooks, for example. There has been talk about the fact that now that ebooks are "digital" it means that they can be more "interactive." Yet, what is the "interactivity" that most people have been talking about? Mostly adding audio and video. But that's just taking a book and adding a small bell and whistle, rather than what the native platform is really good at. Adding audio and video is still the same basic thinking. It's broadcasting. It's taking some form of content from the author/publisher and broadcasting it somewhat statically to "the masses."

But that's not what digital technologies are really good at. It's about building communities and giving those communities a voice. This is, of course, difficult to get your mind around, if you're only thinking about "the book" and trying to extrapolate outward.

In our recent discussion about personalizing and autographing ebooks, I thought that such autographs weren't all that interesting, but was intrigued by the idea of greater personalization -- such as an author who can respond to questions directly in the book, or provide new additional content every day. I'm beyond thrilled to discover that author JA Konrath, who we've mentioned plenty of times in the past for his embrace of innovations, connecting with fans and new business models, is thinking along very similar lines, and discussing the idea of making an ebook into a social network itself around the book.

Think about it: what if you could easily connect with others who are reading the book. Or the author. Konrath raises a whole bunch of possibilities. I'm quoting a big chunk here, but his post is a lot longer, and goes into a lot of the thinking behind this (so go read it!), but I did want to highlight this whole section:

Here's how this scenario plays out in my head:

I'm on my ereader, and I get an electronic invitation from a trusted friend to buy Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath. It's only $2.99, and the description looks good. Not only that, but it has a community of 12,393 people, so there will be plenty to do.

I buy the book with the click of a button. But rather than begin reading right away, I message my friend who is also in the book, and we decide to join the 4:00pm Whiskey Sour Book Club. There are eight other people signed up for that time slot, and we can all read and discuss the book together. There is also a 3pm slot open, but that's for fast readers, and my speed is moderate at best. The 4pm is a moderate speed club.

Since 4pm isn't until later, I browse the Whiskey Sour Forum, and read a few reviews. I also join a chat session and meet two of the other readers who are in my 4pm Book Club. One of them is a bit abrasive, but the bot monitoring the chat session warns him, then kicks him off. Typing on my keyboard becomes tedious, so I plug in my headphones and we voice chat for a bit, talking about thrillers we liked.

Four o'clock rolls around. I'm in the kitchen, making a sandwich, but my ereader calls my home phone to remind me of the start time.

I read a few pages, enjoy them, then let the ebook read to me until the chapter ends. There are already two people in the bookclub forum, discussing what they read. I join in. Others enter, and my friend links to the FAQ and Author Notes on Chapter 1, which we all discuss.

Whiskey Sour has a full length, author-read commentary, where Konrath explains where, why, and how he wrote certain scenes.

Some of the group wants to continue, but I'm curious to listen to the mp3 commentary, so I beg off and decide to join the 6pm Club for Chapter 2.

The commentary is interesting. Konrath is an entertaining guy, says a lot of funny things. But I realize I'd enjoy it more after I finish, so I pop into the next book club.

Me and another guy read straight through and discuss the book all night, and when we finish I write a review of it in the forum and recommend it to my friends via my ereader. I also notice that Konrath is having a live chat tomorrow, and sign up for it.

The next morning, I find I can't get some of the characters out of my head, so I pop into the forum again and read some of the user created stories. These are fans who have written about the characters in Whiskey Sour. Most of them suck. Some aren't bad. Some are even as good as Konrath. I rate a few, recommend a few, and vote for the top five.

I watch TV for a bit, until a screen comes up saying it is chat time. I sync my ereader with my TV and watch Konrath's talking head as he fields a Skype chat. Several people express that they wanted a longer ending. Konrath says he's working on one, as well as three new chapters which will be inserted into Whiskey Sour at the end of the week.

"Hemingway said that a book is never finished, it's simply due," Konrath says. "But now, books no longer have to be finished. They can continue to grow and improve for as long as the writer is alive. And beyond."

He says that the new additions will be marked as such. People can read the original, or the new version.

I get on my ereader, and ask it to call me when the new material is uploaded. I also ask for updates when people respond to my forum comments, or vote on my review.

There are so many wonderful ideas in here that once you start thinking about it, suddenly the idea that just adding some audio or video to an ebook somehow makes it "interactive" is like saying that putting an engine into a carriage makes it a horseless carriage. You're not getting anywhere near the true potential.

Filed Under: communicating, connection, ebooks, ja konrath, prediction, social networks