Like: Facebook’s ambition to sweep the web

The new "like" feature that jumps off Facebook and onto other sites on the web should pull even more organizations and small businesses and off the web and into Facebook.

Although this week's announcement focuses on companies like Pandora getting the shared like button, I think the move will increase the need for the smaller businesses and organizations making sure they are a part of the Facebook network.

Creating a page/mini-site within Facebook will be the easiest way. Still, for many organizations even this will be a challenge as the requirements for Facebook success goes beyond words and visuals. Regular updates and frequent interactions are keys to success.

A Facebook site is not something to just hand off to a third-party for design and implementation. It takes integration within the organization. It means making interaction part of the company's daily infrastructure. It means making openess more then "my door is always open" from the top executives.

Lots of talk on the web, but technical evangelist Robert Scoble pulls together a good summary of the news, what it means, links, and video in a s post on Facebook’s ambition. The man who Facebook dropped for 24 hours once explores the scariness of the new effort and shares a conversation with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg:

"Today I told Zuckerberg that he now has the modern-day railroad in his grasp and challenged him to both win our trust and not abuse the major power he’s going to aggregate."

Scoble suggests that the Facebook moves completed "a major piece of commerce infrastructure that would affect our lives for decades" and compared it to the completion of the railroad tracks across the United States.

"It opened the west. Made new careers possible. Let fresh food from California get to Chicago before it spoiled and all that. But it created an organization that had a LOT of power that wasn’t always used well."

It's up to businesses, organizations and people, whether they are friends, members, fans or likers, to become the check on Facebook. You won't get that by staying away or by jumping in only to answer random quizzes and play games.

Updated April 26, 2010 to fix typo in Scoble quote so that it now reads new careers, not few careers.

Right word won't roll off tongue or keyboard for non-conformists, new products

What do you call experimenting journalists without newsrooms?

What do you call a product that will bring together diverse information and publish it many forms?

How much baggage does a new word carry when it is created from old words?

If you were fast, you read that I called Dan Paecho an ex-journalist in a post on his newest venture of presenting the news, a venture called FeedBrewer.

I called him that based on a conversation months ago when I was struggling with how many months out of the newsroom makes you an ex-journalist. The conversation was prompted partially by Wired Journalists decision to limit its network to only journalists.

Over on Twitter, we "discussed" how seeing the ex-journalist in the headline got Dan to "realize I'm not ready to ditch the "journo" description" even though he had for a short time at least.

Indeed, his Twitter bio once again just says journalist, with no sign of the former journalist label that was there. So I changed the headline to read journalist before Dan said that was unnecessary.

Dan says:

"Ex just sounds so final. I prefer "former" (although I since removed that too). I'm all mixed up."

Perhaps "journovator?"

Indeed, Dan is mixed up, mixed up in trying to innovate within a traditional field. He's not alone - check out a Twitter list he maintains and you'll see the names of people who have spent time in and out of newsrooms experimenting with different ways to find the news, define the news and present the news.

I can't tell you when a person needs to give up the journalist title.

And no one could call Dan a traditional journalist. His new venture, FeedsBrewer, will take him further out of the newsroom. Says Dan:

"We need a new term for people who help journalism happen all around them, vs. the traditional definition (only doing it yourself)."journo" description. Perhaps "journovator?""

Although there are people with interests in journalism and innovations, I'm not ready to bless journovator. Can you say it with a straight face?

Dan's Tweeted reply was:

"I dunno, I think "journovator" sounds like it was made for t-shirts -- which is the litmus test for good names."

I think there are terms for people who help journalism happen - publishers, editors, advertisers, news sources, etc. None of those fit  what Dan or his journovators are doing. But I don't have a better idea.

Brewing information

I also don't have a better name for his new venture even after talking about it on Twitter. I started with:

"What we should talk about is @feedbrewer The name generates an image of cooking up RSS feeds"

The Feedbrewer logo (which I've mangled above with words) should inspire thoughts of brewing coffee. Twitter talk also suggested comparing the venture to the act of brewing beer or coffee.

From Dan comes this:

"Think brew as in beer or coffee, not witches' brew. Who knows, perhaps we will make homebrew for a launch party :-)"

I'm sure they've done research and Dan says:

"Personally, I think FeedBrewer rocks as a name. It brews feeds into delicious eye candy. One day, maybe beverages, too."

But when I hear FeedBrewer, I think of RSS feeds pulled into one device for reading. Or perhaps I'm thinking of Feedburner.

I understand I'm in the minority just by knowing of RSS feeds and Feedburner. I know no one put me in charge of language today. But this language thing boggles my mind.

Perhaps InfoStew better reflects this new product, new venture. I can serve stew with its mixture of vegetables and meat in a bowl, over rice, or a mound of potatoes. The product delivers information in a write once, read many ways and places. (Wasnt't write once, read multiple places the dream of the website language html?)

Guess I need to wait for the product to understand what is being said on Feedbrewer's web site and Facebook page.

Crusading for print?

Or perhaps I'm just ornery right now. Another cross platform conversation - started on Twitter, moved onto Facebook, then switched to email - on my crusade for print journalism - ended with an equal amount of frustration.

I never thought of myself as crusading for print, more for journalism, more for the sharing of information in interesting ways, or the telling of stories in multiple mediums.

Look at my past. Even while working for a newspaper company, I pushed for delivering news and information via phone, fax and online. My non-work time went to creating a community computer network that remains alive (barely) 16 years later, to putting Girl Scout information on an email list, on gopher and then the newly World Wide Web.

Crusading for a title

Look at my now. I'm pulling and pushing for information on Facebook, on Twitter, on FriendFeed for Girl Scouts, small businesses, and class reunions.

My eyes now light up as I talk about social gaming and figuring out the puzzles presented by FarmVille for those who call me guru, boss and expert.

I get excited (still) about new product launches, ideas for ensuring a community's stories are shared, and the restructuring of organizations that didn't realize soon enough that most women work now, often for businesses that release work schedules on Friday for the next week.

Now, if only I could find the right word to describe who I am. Retiree ain't cutting it with me.

Let's start over, please

It was a rough morning. Too much too wrong. Too dark inside when I can see that the sun is trying hard to peak through the crowd. It tumbled into a rougher afternoon.

Funny. I just wrote peaking through the crowd when I meant clouds. Or did my fingers know what my brain sometimes forgets.

The first status, posted on Facebok on April 13, 4:30 p.m. said:

Days like today help me understand how stereotypes begin. I don't like that. But I'm not real happy with many males today either!

Go ahead. Imagine the type of behavior that would encourage me to understand why males gain a reputation for being uncommunicative, or bossy or easily amused by unfunny experiences. Or how many times they speak in sports language, expecting the non-athletic to understand the secret language created on courts, courses and fields. I can probably top what you thought with what took place.

Still, that's not the thinking I want to encourage or the people I want to hang with so I decided to change the only thing that I can: My attitude. That led to this Facebook status at 5:44 p.m.:

OK. Let's start over. Good morning world.  

Who said my day had to start in the a.m. or when sun popped up.

The status prompted responses such as:

"Good morning. have you had your V-8 yet? A good way to start your morning.
Hey, sunshine. Good day to you!"

 and, despite what I just said, my favorite one of all:

"OK, so like in golf. We should get, say, 6 mulligans a year."

I can get by with  do-overs a year. Can you?

Success breeds CEO role for journalist

Outside the box thinking has led to out of the newsroom work for Dan Pacheco for a number of years. Today, I learned he's using the success of his Printcasting project to jumpstart a new business - FeedBrewer.

The new business, like the old project, is a way of delivering content in an efficient way. It also recognizes that publishing once on a web page is not wise for news organizations, businesses or any non-profit.

From the About Us page:

"FeedBrewer is a one-stop shop for quickly creating beautifully-designed content that is instantly published to multiple platforms -- including tablets (such as the iPad), mobile devices, and even printable PDF magazines. Simply provide the RSS feed from any blog or content management system, choose a design scheme, and we'll do the rest. You can also add content manually by posting text and uploading photos."

Dan is the new CEO for the new company. Here's his explanation for Printcasting:

"About two years ago, we wrote up an idea for how to leverage standardized Web content to create locally-targeted publications with less time, money and software than ever before. The technology and content would be digital, but the output would be optimized for physical distribution as printable PDF magazines. That concept became Printcasting and it earned us a Knight News Challenge grant."

And, hey, he's done a great job answering how Feedbrewer differs:

"Sounds a lot like Printcasting, doesn't it? It should, because we're simply expanding the concept of print publishing to portable publishing. In our new thinking, printable content is subsumed under the mobile meme. That may sound like a stretch to some, but it makes sense if you think of print as the original mobile / portable format."

Read the rest of his post for details.

I have signed up to be a beta-tester for this project too. I found working with Dan when Printcasting was in its early stages to be rewarding personally and professionally. I especially like how receptive he was to suggestions and how well the project communicated with potential fans and customers.

Dan is an impressive guy with experience as an online producer at The Washington Post, a multimedia producer at Knight Ridder Tribune Interactive, a product manager at AOL, and most recently senior manager of digital products for The Bakersfield California.

All of that, plus his experience with the Knight Foundation grant and Printcasting, should help ensure success of the project.

Now about the name, Feedbrewer ... I have to think about that one.

Note: This post was updated to remove ex- from journalist for Dan about 4:30 EST April 20,2010. His Twitter bio says he is one. No insult intended. I misunderstood a long ago discussion about when a journalist stops being one.


I've mentioned Printcasting before:

• Dreamers can help publishers keep offering luxury of 'unplugged content' March 22, 2009
  
• Is any sabbatical ever long enough? Can we overstudy this journalism thing? June 25, 2009
  
• Who can "reboot the news" or create a supply store that will survive financially? April 22, 2009

Getting with it: One Twitter replaces community in One Book, One Community

I really like this idea of Twittering folks reading the same book. I was active in at least four rounds of One Book, One Community in the Flint, Michigan, area. Nothing like discussing a book with total strangers over dinner, on the bus or at the gym.

I picked up some friends and insight after reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham (written by a Flint person), An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood by former President Jimmy Carter and The Color of Water by James McBride and Memories of Summer by Ruth White.

I hope to do both with this new effort: One Book, One Twitter.

From a Flint Public Library release:

"The purpose of One Book • One Community is to encourage a sense of community through the shared experience of reading a book that serves as a stimulus for discussing community issues. "

Not that we need a reason to talk on Twitter :) But it could be interesting to see what's up.

So head over to Wired.com and help choose the book for our summer reading and Twitter chatting for summer. Just posting this idea on my Facebook page helped me get to know someone better, a plus in my book.

From Wired:

"Want to spend the summer following John Joseph Yossarian trying to survive World War II, or with Holden Caulfield on his misadventures through New York City? Maybe you’d rather endure the bombing ... "

read the rest online and vote there too.

Over on Twitter, follow @crowdsourcing and #1b1t for upates. Find me @mcwflint And don't forget to vote for a book. Here are some under consideration, with a link to entries in wikipedia.org

• 1984
• Brave New World
• Slaughterhouse Five
• American Gods
• Fahrenheit 451
• The Catcher in the Rye
• Catch-22
• The God of Small Things
• 100 Years of Solitude
• Song of Solomon

Only three I haven't read - American Gods, The God of Small Things and 100 Years of Solitude. I voted for 100 years, but I'll read what the rest do. I'll even twitter. What about you?

Image from free twitter bird icon set

On recess and still making me laugh

Some people can't resist making a story better. Count my fellow blogger and encourager Jim of L-Town among them. He's off chasing fun in his barely used RV and shared this in a recent post:

Front page headline in the Canton Repository: "No jail for man who urinated on Walmart steaks." He does have to pay $688 for the steaks and do 100 hours of community service. Here's the link.`

See, even when he's free from "Free from Editors" he's still has an eye for the interesting.

By the way, while fumbling around on the Internet I found some of James L. Smith' Offbeat posts. Ignore my name, it is a quirk identifying who posted the item online rather then wrote it. Enjoy the source that used to provide a weekly laugh.

Looking for ex-employees of Flint Journal, Michigan newspapers, Advance .... you get the idea

Inside/outside
newsrooms

I'm interested in blogging about where people are after the layoffs, buyouts, etc. from The Flint Journal, Michigan newspapers, heck, even the Advance Publications.

I'll do hello to the new folks who got/get the jobs too.

Drop me a line on Facebook, or email through the address below or call. Or tell all by leaving a comment. Thanks.

Brief message leads to obituary, reminder of impact 1 person, 1 journalist can have

I hate catching up with people's lives through obituaries, especially people who are younger then me. I love stumbling across reminders of how important local journalism is.

A friend's note and an Internet search let me know what happened to a colleague who started at The Flint Journal the same day I did. Sadly, I learned:

Mercury News writer Holly Hayes dies of cancer - San Jose Mercury News "

She was 53, diagnosed with a rare cancer in June. The obituary in the San Jose Mercury News, the newspaper she was working for shared just a glimpse of her heart and love for community. A blogger shared the reminder of the impact one person and local journalism can have.

5 on the 5th

Holly was one of the  Sept. 5, 1978 Five  at The Flint Journal. Holly and I were hired in what some called the "real" newsroom and the three other women were hired as lower-tier weekly reporters. Two of us stayed until we were bought out in 2008, changing jobs frequently throughout the years. One returned for freelancing for a short time.

One of her first journalism jobs was at the Flint newspaper, where she covered the United Auto Workers union, among other assignments. She graduated from Central Michigan University in 1978.

I had caught up with her once when she was a features editor at The Fresno Bee, as that is near where my mother was living. In 1990, she moved on to the Mercury News as an assistant features editor.

Still writing

Linda Goldston wrote the obituary that highlights how Holly kept working and writing even after being diagnosed. That didn't surprise me.

Neither did learning that she was still into gardening. We lived in the same neighborhood for a few years and often talked about gardening and art as well as journalism.

I also remember how disappointed, and yet supportive, she was when I decided a trial separation was going to be permanent. She had planned on moving into the house I had, with its neat little backyard and tiny garden. But despite her disappointment, she helped me realize I was making the right move.


Read the obituary and the guest book  for more about her and her generous heart and ways. I like that the newspaper has a tradition of flying its flag at half mast during the days between death and a memorial service.

Be like her

A California blogger also wrote about how Holly, through her columns, had become an inspiration and a friend:

"I would daydream about leaving my high tech marketing job, flipping off the man, and living a life immersed in soil, food, sunlight and writing. I daydreamed about contacting Holly Hayes and asking if I could be her protege. Could I follow her around and learn how to be like her? "

I wonder if Holly knew what an impact she made:

"She was a big piece of my perfect moment puzzle. My peace. My sitting there, coffee in hand, reading about her gardening advice and adventures. She inspired me, made me feel like I could be an even better version of myself. She allowed me to daydream about a life with my hands covered in rich, sweet-smelling soil, digging for worms in my compost, with my son, a life where I provided the perfect, organic eggplants for my family to eat."

There's more in the blog post and comments. But I like remembering this from the blogger:

"This, I realized, is the importance of local journalism. Holly felt accessible to me. She felt like a friend. We lived in the same area, we worked the same soil.

That's the impact a journalist who has friends outside the newsroom, who participates in the community and who loves what they are do can have.

What a wonderful triute.

Could jellybeans help me meet new goal?

Help! How many Orchard Fruit Jelly Beans with Real Fruit Juice and enriched with Vitamins A, C and  E equal 1 fruit serving?

That was a recent status update for me on Facebok, where I got answers ranging from three beans to three bags.Or this:

"I would think the correct answer would be .... As many as makes you feel like a fruit. The beans for sure deliver a bigger amount of sugar than a real apple or orange. But the jelly beans are easier to pop into the mount. Therefore reducing the amount of water and soap used to prepare the fruit and cleanup afterword.

Long story short. I have not had a Jelly bean since last year."

or

"I've had so many jelly beans this season that I"m sure I got a serving or two in."

Seriously, I am trying very hard to eat at least 1 serving of fruit per day. I'm almost into three weeks into this so it should be a habit soon. Right?

I was delighted to find these goodies in the Easter basket at my house: Orchard Fruit Jelly Beans made with real fruit juice. Plus look I get extra Vitamin A, C and E.

The Easter Bunny was smart and brought me the originals, not sour, so I'm eating a few Grape, Cherry, Apple, Strawberry, Lemon and Orange flavored beans.

Healthy is goal

I have always tried to eat healthy but sometimes convenience wins over nutrition. Then, a few years ago I discovered - OK, my doctor and I discovered with the help of prick tests and elimination diets - I am allergic to some food.  Some things I loved almost always triggered a migraine. Other foods made life miserable other ways.

Unfortunately, the list includes about 20 things. I've even stumped two professional nutritionists who tried to work with me on a balanced diet. If you've seen me, you know I'm not starving. But go ahead and try to avoid nitrates, pears, pickles .... I"ll stop boring you.

Cancer changes diet

When my daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer and moved back home, we worked at hard at eliminating as many unpure foods as possible. That meant becoming a regular at Whole Foods and trying to eat as little processed food as possible. We read labels to avoid hormones and preservatives. We tried new recipes. Some very interesting meals turned up.

My daughter even learned to make bread from her grandmother and tortillas from her then boyfriend's grandmother. Unfortunately, she's living 1,000 miles away so we've lost that option here.

Researching our family's history as part of my daughter's care means I've learned that celiac disease runs in the family. From the Mayo Clinic:

"Celiac disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. If you have celiac disease and eat foods containing gluten, an immune reaction occurs in your small intestine, causing damage to the surface of your small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients."

New allergies

Also, unfortunately, I've learned that sometimes when you recover from allergies new ones show up. I'm almost done with a no-dairy diet, where I've learned I eat and cook with a lot of cheese.

Or maybe old ones come back. I've learned I was picky as a baby and finally learned to live with goat's milk. I suspect some of that was because I was my parents first.

My youngest brother's first bottles were filled with a powder we mixed with water to create milk. The doctor assumed after five kids my mom knew what to serve an infant, my mother was too busy to remember formula, or at least, whole milk.

So what was in your Easter basket?

Sharing of plea for safe makeup uncovers good practice of conversation

Considering the number of women who cover their faces with powders, lipsticks, lotions, etc., I was surprised when I first read Dear Cover Girl: We Want Non-Toxic Products in a blog called Crazy Sexy Life. You mean lipstick still has lead and other cosmetics use cancer-causing toxins? Who knew?
And though I know the majority of people who follow me, friend me, fan me, read me are male, I shared it via Google Reader, which also feeds my Google Buzz, with this comment:

"Wish I could find a way to make people care about this. Beauty is skin hurt."

Richard Walker, musician, programmer, editor, skeptic at self employed, left me a few ideas of how I could do that beyond sharing the post with a new audience.

Then he did a simple thing that I admire: He "copy-upped the comments to the post."

That led to a new conversation (the beauty of Buzz) on splitting conversations and included this from Richard Walker:

"You can put a positive spin on it by imagining I wouldn't have seen the post but for your comment, and your encouragement got the comment to the right place. Splitting, or filtering? Who can really say!"

I like that "copy-upped," especially for those non-techie or non-early-adopters bloggers who don't use BackType, or Google searches or whatever the latest/greatest/best pull-it-together conversation aggregation tool is.

I also would like it if you would check out the shampoo, conditioners, lipsticks and other potions you're putting on your body.

Cosmetics are overlooked in our struggle to live healthy. Stacy Malkan shares more detail on her guest post, more on her site, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and in her book, Not Just a Pretty Face, the Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry.

By the way, Crazy Sexy Life is by Kris Carr, who had cancer in her 20s. Her blog and books helped/helps me a lot with my daughter's breast cancer battle. But let's be honest. I'm still reading it. I'm still being challenged to do what I can to make sure no mother, wife, daughter, father, husband, son finds cancer shoving its way in.

Nice tool could help forgetful journalists

Note-taking web service

Those looking for another way to take notes might want to check a new service aimed at journalists: LedeLog  It's especially good for those of us who forget to save - this application does it automatically every 10 seconds.

It's equally good for those of us with a lot of drafts.. You can tag the notes/articles/blog entries and then search by tag or full content. A list of the most recent notes hangs on the right hand of the screen.

I like the option of sending your saved text to an email address, handy for those newsrooms set up to receive stories that way.

Use your Google account, or an OpenID, to sign in and rest assured that your data is your data. (OK, there is one warning that something critical might require sharing of data. From the site:

"nobody will view it unless a critical bug requires doing so"

Oh, one more thing. It's free for now but a note over on Google Apps Marketplace says pricing coming in three months. That's where you''ll also learn "professional journalists" have been using it since January 2009. No names and the quotes around professional journalists are mine. You know why.

----

Tip of the hat to Louis Gray for alerting us through Lede.Log: GoogleApps hosted Media Workflow Launches He even tested the app by writing that blog post about it on it.  Follow some of the conversation and reaction on Buzz and on Gray's post.

Imagined conversations not always right; real talk can lead to hack

Some of my high school days have caught up with me. So has some carelessness that had me posting a favorite movie.

Through the wonders of Facebook connections, I talk regularly with some I went to high school. Many of us enjoy competing on FarmVille, something to bring us together after a 30-year lull.

Still, I was surprised when I learned that a friend regretted how we parted and wanted to explain why. Too bad we didn't talk about this years ago as we could've said each other a lot of grief. We still would've ended our relationship - for one, I wasn't allowed to have those in high school.

But, he has helped me remember things I had forgotten about and helped me discover how I still do some things I did then.

The conversation soothes, but it also makes me want to seek out others to ask why. Perhaps, just like with this one, I am wrong about the reason why we no longer communicate, much less are friends. Simple misunderstandings? Perhaps.

Sudden silence stings

It's hard for me to understand how for many days, even years, you share insights, able to talk about anything, everything, and the then suddenly silence. Unfortunately, if you share friends that silence becomes loud in the real world, or, as I'm learning on the Facebook, people do notice when suddenly posts and sharing stops.

I've also learned that it doesn't take years to make a connection that hurts when it breaks. Even when your head knows how ridiculous it sounds to be hurt about broken promises, I am. I want to believe the other person is the party who did wrong, not me.I'd even like to believe those who tell me he's the loser, losing out on the opportunity to know me. But I'm the one who misses the questions, the contact, the debates, even the struggles.

Still, that friendship led to good things - new friends, a reminder of how this one movie influenced me, and what some of my forgotten dreams were. I learned some amazing things about myself through his questions and statements.

Watch what you say

Perhaps the worse thing I learned is how easy it is to become lax on the Internet - bad passwords, staying logged in, and being trusting of software programs, web sites, and networks. It is easy to say things here and there and forget that someone with search skills and desire can figure out to hurt you by hurting those around you.

A recent thread on Facebook asked what your first concert was. As people started sharing, someone reminded folks of a web service that uses that question and answer if you forget your password. Oops.

I think it was a favorite movie that allowed someone to slip into some of my accounts recently to send off some incredible, unbelievable messages and postings. Still trying to determine if the person knows me well enough to know that movie or if it was spotting it on a web site.

Either way, let me assure the hills are no longer alive with the sound of music when I'm answering security questions.

Mixing it up: Newspapers, Twitter and talking back

Odd that the same day I realize why it is hard for me to work my way through the newspapers still delivered to my house is the day I find a likeable, newspaper-like presentation of my Twitter feed.

Honestly, I did start the day determined to make my way through some of the newspapers that are piling up, demanding to be read or at least tossed. I made it through two front pages before I had a question and went to the Internet.

Next thing you know I've slipped into Google Reader, skimming, reading and, slap of the forehead, commenting. I had quickly marked 36 posts as worth sharing, or, thinking about. Most now carry a comment or a question.

Sample Google Reader items with my notes

•  How to Know You're Hungry (and Avoid Eating when You're Not) (See Peeps photo) I want this photo! I want my Peeps.
• 
• Computers Just Keep Getting Cheaper and Better and We Should Eagerly Await the Days Ahead -CARPE DIEM  Mark's explanations help  the problem when items increase gradually over time.
• How Social Media Makes Live Events More Vibrant than Ever Contrast this with "too many nonprofits" post. Is it we have too many BIG nps and not enough niche ones? Is the cost of events a good use of $$ that could be spent elsewhere.

Paper is limiting

It was while I was racing through Google Reader that it dawned on me why I find it frustrating to read the newspaper - commenting is tough and clipping articles for commenting later takes a system, takes effort.

That idea of the appeal of contributing to an article was reinforced as I skimmed a new Pew report on the news habits of Americans.  I am stopped by the idea of the growing percent of people - now 37% - who see news as place to participate, who make news a social experience.

"People use their social networks and social networking technology to filter, assess, and react to news."

They contribute to creation of news, comment or disseminate via postings on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. In fact, the report also says that more then 8 in 10 online news consumers get or share links in emails

OK, back to Twitter.

I've been drifting from Twitter lately, almost overwhelmed by the speed at which things flow past. But then, something draws me to the site and one Tweet leads to another leads to another leads to another. I'm talking with people as fast as the fingers will fly.

Today I was trying to figure out what someone from London meant when he used the word cow twice on Facebook. His explanations were not helping. I knew a few Twitters might be able to help. (I was wrong.)

Next thing you know an hour or two has slipped by and I have had a grand time on Twitter.

Fat fingers

But Faceback was calling, the obligations of pages, groups, and games. Oh, friends and family, too.

Slippery fingers, however, mean I keep clicking on Facebook ads accidentally. But this time what turned up was a "newspaper" created from the tweets of people I follow on my mcwflint Twitter account. How could I resist playing?


(Above is my mcwflint account. That's a mix of journalism, social media people, a few geeks, and ... ? Below is one from mcwgs Twitter account - it is the account where I follow mostly people involved in Girl Scouts.)

Perhaps it is my past involvement with newspapers but I like this presentation of the Twitter stream.The pulled-in content from shared links made it easy to consume a lot of content quickly.

It is pulled together from SmallRivers, a "privately held startup incorporated in Switzerland (Lausanne) and located on the Swiss Institute of Technology EPFL campus." Find it at http://paper.li

The shortcoming is that I can only get the "print edition" once a day. But it is something to ponder. (But I'm not doing so well on working my way through the newspapers.)

Imagine that: Yellow things, cold things, news things

Golden sunshine is pouring through my window and I'm grateful that I want the light today instead of the darkness created by closed blinds, shuttered drapes or dark sunglasses. Perhaps, another headache behind me, much like another winter behind me.

I'm not as bold as my husband who put away the snow blower so I'll hang onto the winter necessities of gloves, hats, boots and heavy jacket. But, I'm continuing the spring cleaning, the decluttering of the computer, of a few rooms but mostly my mind. That is how there will be space for what is around the corner if I'm willing to keep moving.

Maybe moving is the key to staying alive, a way of breaking the patterns that threaten to hold us back, that hold us in, that hold us tightly within boxes supplied by others and accepted by us.

New refrigerator

Speaking of boxes, remember the joy an empty refrigerator box can begin. The young so easily turn the empty crate that delivers an American kitchen necessity into a magical place - a fort, a palace, a dollhouse.

Our new refrigerator was finally delivered. Sadly, there are no children to play in the box so the drivers took it away. Instead, I played with arranging the vegetables with names I forget, the cheese I can no longer eat and the fruit that I am eating one piece every day. (Let's celebrate - 15 days in a row!)

This new appliance, picked out by my husband and bought in time to earn a government rebate, takes up less space and, we hope, less energy.

I say let's hope because of that Congressional audit  that showed getting the Energy star really is no indication that you'll save. Of course, the program promises to change so that no longer can made-up products slip into the "do good, save energy" list. You can read the newly issued, 27-page report for yourself, but really the title alone tells you enough: "Covert Testing Shows the Energy Star Program Certification Process Is Vulnerable to Fraud and Abuse."Of course, you'd miss reading about the gas-powered alarm clock and decorative light string.

Surprise, surprise

A few surprises are wrapped in that refrigerator. The men who delivered it could not believe it was the first time I was seeing this appliance, that I had "let" my husband pick it out. Seriously, why not? He's the one who wanted to replace the monster we've lived with since we first moved to the one town I told the real estate agent we would not move to. The questions remind me of patterns expected by some: Women shop, women choose, women turn a house into a home.

This model does not have a water dispenser in the door. I had agreed that the new model did not need it, but now I am surprised how often I go to that corner of the kitchen to refill my glass. It's just time for a new pattern to change this newly acquired habit of drinking enough water everyday.

I also was surprised that there was no "how to use your refrigertor" brochure inside this shiny new appliance. I'd been pumped to expect one after reading a Wall Street Journal article on how manufactuers were helping customers learn to use the appliance.

Find the news

That article "Why won't anyone clean the refrigerator" was enlightening. Also surprising as the guts of the piece are based on a 2006 study on how people organize their refrigerators and Whirlpool's 2005 survey of how people use their refrigerators.

The news peg is the new models, ones with germ-fighting shelves, bigger lights and tiny etchings to help keep spilled liquid to one shelf. (Yes, "find the news" or the reason why this article ran today is a frequent hobby of mine.)

But I was not surprised that Habitat of Humanity, which works so hard to provide houses, permanent places for those in need, willingly picked up the monster of a refrigerator.

Where did that come from?

This post was started over on FarmVille.com, a game I play sometimes while waking up or multitasking, when I picked up a "golden egg" to share with neighboring players.

I noticed today that FarmVille.com's personalization includes my profile picture at the top of the screen, right next to the "Welcome, Mary Ann." I know something is not computing in gameland when my name disappears and all I get is a "welcome."

There is a glitch because when I visit "my farm, I get a "Good neighbors" message from Zynga telling me that more then 485 people have visited my farm. That is a surprise since I "only" have 140 neighbors.

OK, back to spring cleaning, not playing, not writng. Enjoy.

Flint adds paper too

I let the March 23 debut of a Tuesday Flint Journal edition slide past. My husband did pick us up a copy the next day. But that was last week and I don't remember much about it other then a front-page letter from its highest ranking editor in Flint.

I know the new edition included:

• An expanded weather package that returns some features cut under the new schedule: Pollen counts, for instance. (Too old to be useful, though).
• Stocks and market page. (Not much help either. Unlike my hu

Selling the story

Columnist Andrew Heller is enthused about the return.

"First, I dearly love newspapers, and a Tuesday edition is a step forward. I'm not privy to the paper's long-term strategy, so don't think I'm hinting at anything here, but adding a fourth day is the first step toward adding a fifth day, and a fifth day might mean we'll someday see a daily newspaper back in Genesee County, which would be good for everyone, whether they subscribe or not.

I did notice that ads like the one above are running throughout the newspapers's online affiliate, mlive.com That's nice to see the support.

I also know there was a launch party at the Flint Institute of Arts for The Flint Journal. And, judging by comments on Facebook, T-shirts are available for the promotion of the Great Lakes Bay debut.

A few blogs noticed: Flint Expatriates, for instance. An AP story was picked up by the Dynamic World of Print and Editor & Publisher and others.

The Flint Journal has been making changes - a new editor oversees the Grand Blanc and Fenton area weekly editions. A new reporter is covering the Grand Blanc area. A few more stations/networks were added to the weekly TV edition.

Community invited in

Bigger news was the implementation of a 2008-09 plan to let the public contribute photos, videos, press releases, and other information  directly to the online affiliate. The first Flint area site I saw was for the community where I'm living, Grand Blanc.

Once a person registers for the mlive site, they can log in and submit news, photos, videos (above) or entertainment listings (below). Items need approval of the "blog owner" before making it to the site. The sites began March 7.


Users are not required to submit a bio but you can look at all the posts from one user. That let's you guess where someone is from or what organization is represented. Postings from The Flint Journal and The Grand Blanc News flow into the same blog. All are organized by time and day posted.

Amy L. Payne,  who says she is "part of the online content team for The Saginaw News, The Bay City Times and The Flint Journal. I'm a Saginaw native, and I've been working for these papers since 2007. I'm generally on the lookout for stories from around the internet of interest to Mid-Michigan readers" pulled together (if the byline is to be believed) community contacts.

The links are considered news links, so no charge.

I wanted to name the new Grand Blanc News editor. Unfortunately, I don't know where the physical clipping is, searching the archives on mlive or the newspaper gave me nothing but old news, and The Community Newspaper site appears to have been updated last in September 2008.


When I left The Flint Journal in May 2008, I was interactive media manager. It meant I oversaw the online edition for what once was a daily newspaper with a growing emphasis on creating online content. Of course, no one at a news organization does just one thing so I had other responsibilities, too. Online sales, for instance. Computer-assisted reporting. Database marketing. Mapping. You get the idea - I was a geek into words, distribution of information and Internet tools.

Over the years, I worked in the newsroom, and editorial, advertising and marketing departments. I delivered a newspaper when I was younger. In between, I was a reporter and editor at several weeklies and had the pleasure of being the top editor of the State News, a five-day-a-week broadsheet available to Michigan State Univeristy students, staff and neighbors.

Mid-Michigan gets another day to read newspaper

 As promised, a new newspaper for the Bay City - Saginaw Michigan area hit the newsstands today.

The Great Lakes Bay Edition comes one week after the start of a newsstand-only Tuesday version of The Flint Journal. The Bay City Times and the Saginaw News contribute to the Great Lakes Bay edition. (The three newspapers went to a Thursday, Friday, Sunday publication schedule in June 2009. The Tuesday versions are not delivered to homes, which some tea-leave readers, I mean commenters, suggest indicates delivery of all editions will be dropped.)

A nice feature for both editions is newsstand locator online. Type in a ZIP code and you get a list of where the newspapers are available. (Great Lakes finder under a short snappy URL of www.mlive.com/glbedition and the Flint Journal finder.)

I also noticed that today's announcement of the Great Lakes Bay  edition includes an invitation to "become friends" with John Hiner, executive editor of the newspapers that are part of Booth Mid-Michigan, which is part of the Advance Publications network of the Newhouse company.

John Hiner is the executive editor of The Bay City Times and The Saginaw News. He can be reached at (989) 894-9629, by e-mail at jhiner@boothmidmichigan.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/john.p.hiner.

The Great Lakes Bay Tuesday was announced March 14 in The Saginaw News to partner with The Bay City Times for Great Lakes Bay Tuesday print edition. 

Potential readers were told to expect a traditional newspaper filled with local news, sports, opinion, lottery numbers and ads. The audience, defined as those living in Bay City, Midland and Saginaw counties  (mid-Michigan, north of the state capitol, northwest of Detroit), also said expect a focus on news, people and causes making the region "more competitive for businesses and more attractive to families."

Support area

Today's announcement highlighted two reasons for adding a print newspaper under a new banner:

•  "People still love a printed newspaper" and
• Supporting regionalism.

Hiner's announcement includes this:

"Two, the communities that make up this region genuinely are pulling together in tangible ways to improve the business climate, attract outside investment, create efficiencies for institutions and governments in a tough economy, and bolster social and cultural offerings."

Shared mission

He also answers some of the objections heard within the community:

"I have heard some opposition to the regionalism movement. Some say it is an attempt to mask our communities’ problems; others suggest that the Great Lakes Bay name is too vague and, in that way, insults the heritage and unique identities of Bay City, Saginaw and Midland in service of public relations.

To the contrary, very little of what I’ve seen of the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance is packaging. I see key leaders, business and political, working together to pursue opportunities, both in and out of the area. I see institutions and businesses that were hidden gems in their towns getting more exposure to residents in the broader region. I see people from all walks of life networking, and hear them identifying opportunities to work and prosper together."

He rejects the idea of a master agenda.

This is a shared endeavor, one that will come together piece by piece as people, institutions and whole communities find they are strengthened, not diminished, by uniting."

Some of the snaping found in "Struggling newspapers promote rebranding of Saginaw Area Watershed." 

The announcement also says a reporter, Holly Setter, will cover the Midland area in print and online at mlive.com/midland.

Is The Oregonian going to shrink?

A telephone survey led a blogger in Oregon to ask:

Is the Oregonian going tabloid?

Why a smaller, easier to hold format is possible is explained in Jack Bog's Blog. In the comments is speculation about the possibility of outsourcing a print job and confirmation of the phone survey.

Other bloggers in Oregon also wrote about the possible shift but all seem to use this post in Jack Bog's Blog as the content source.

Smart move? Or dumb idea to research?

(And, how many of you thought I was going to tell you staff is shrinking again. That's coming - not news of more layoffs, but me catching up with the November buyouts and the February layoffs.)

Watchers of media release forbidden words

Oh my. I'd forgotten how careful newspapers sometimes try to be about using certain words.

Imagine the difficulty faced by a newspaper in a community where a "hip-hop retelling of "The Taming of the Shrew" is called "Slap That Bitch." What to do, what to do.

Oregon Media Central used the occasion to provide the list of banned words in The Oregonian. They looked through the stylebook. They searched the archives. And then they told the story.

Oh, they also did a followup to their "filthy article" to let us know what this Advance Publication / Newhouse newspaper handled previewing and reviewing "Slap That Bitch."

(I worked almost 30 years for a newspaper that falls under the umbrella of Advance Publications, aka Newhouse newspapers, or Booth Newspapers or ... From time to time, I can't resist checking out what's up with that newspaper or other media properties in the family. Even better, I can't resist sharing. So yes, I've written about The Oregonian before. Lawsuits, retirements, buyouts and more. Oh my. Oh my. Oh my.)


This subject remind me of the newspaper that forbid the word porn because it offended the Porn family who lived in the circulation area. OK, time for sleep.)

Reputation is today's keyword

The serependity of blog posts and real life makes reputation my keyword of the day. Maybe I've found one more argument in my war against separate personal and professional profiles anywhere. Or perhaps, we are closer to understanding the importance of now over yesterday.

Much chatter was started by Reputation is Dead. It's Time to Overlook Our Discretion, an acknowledgement that we all do some silly or stupid things and that just the sheer mass of Twitter, Facebook, and so much more means we can no longer pretend to keep our past just to ourselves.

Michael Arrington, who drops hints of a new application due out, first writes:

"We’re still wired to think of gossip as something that spreads quietly behind the scenes, and relatively slowly. But we’re already in a world where it’s all completely public, there are few repercussions to the person spreading it, and it is easily searchable."

Get ready to laugh

He calls it the closet skeltons moving to the front porch, acknowledges the obsuridity of trying to keep anything private today and suggests one day we'll look back and laugh about this.

"And the kind of accusations that can kill a career today will likely be seen as a badge of honor, and a sign of an ambitious individual who has pissed off a few people along the way."

Or, perhaps we can start believing that people change, grow and/or improve and what is most important is now, not yesterday, not tomorrow.

Flint seeks future

A belief like that would help the region I now call home - Flint, Michigan. The city is one 1,100 competing for a blessing from Google. There were videos, a sea of white at a meetup, a Facebook group (I bet the Flint,MI Google Broadband Project will get 1,000,000 fans), a website and much more to showcase how this once strong city is ready for new investment and technology.

Even though the city is best known now for its auto manufacturing, technology has always thrived here: bulletin boards, a free-net, free public computers and other efforts thrived beneath the main street visionaries.

Flint fights reputation

Still there is a reputation for this city, one built by the war between unions and bosses, acknowledged by the still controversial "Roger & Me," and reinforced by an out-of-context remark on bulldozing neighborhoods that draws worldwide media attention.

Indeed, a Facebook status from a man who just finished touring Buffalo, New York, muses on Facebook how the "town has been through many economic changes" that his hometown, Flint, could also turn-around but acknowledges the difficulty:.

"The Flint area can evolve and arise once we get past the idea that we are only a shop town."

Also from Facebook, this time from the Mott Foundation, is an acknowledgment of creating something new:

“Much like the ‘Little Engine’ children’s story,” notes this article, (on the Michigan Municple League's site) the Mott Foundation’s hometown of Flint, Michigan, is “gaining a reputation as the town that could.” Several economic development and revitalization projects – many funded with Mott support – are helping the community to reinvent itself and create a new future"

That means like the advice given in Reputation is Dead. It's Time to Overlook Our Discretions ..... we just need the world to overlook what it thinks Flint is and consider what it is or could be.

Reputation, yep. Today's word of the day.

Face it: Check what you send to see how it works

Click to see larger version

A recent exploration of some applications reminded me of the need to check what you send upstream and gave me some new points to share with Facebook page owners.

The first time I saw a my6sense post on Facebook I clicked on the "see more" link to read it. Whoa. What a massive block of type -- the application ignored the call for paragraphs. Fortunately, if you click on the headline you go directly to the original article.

The second time I saw a my6sense post on Facebook it was mine. Two yucks this time.

The first was for the block of type (too bad you didn't hear my husband's groan when it appeared in his iPhone feed - he didn't get the option to click see more and the post filled several screens). The second was for the link back to my6sense.

I was intrigued by the idea of "your digital intuition," a program figuring out what I needed to, wanted to, read first from the Internet stream. I downloaded the app from iTunes, figured out the settings and was amazed at the how well the application was picking out what I wanted to read first. Soon, I shared a post on Facebook.

Later that day, I clicked on the my6sense link beneath the post and it took me to a Facebook page that hadn't been updated in months. And, yes, I left a comment asking why have a page you're directed to if updates are not part of the plan. A reply came 2 days later from Ilana Gurman, marketing director at my6sense: We update our fan page at facebook.com/my6sense. 

The reply inspired three reminders for me to add to my Facebook routines for page owners:

• If you give a web address on Facebook, make sure you hotlink it.
• If you answer a question, make sure the answer will get to the person who asked it.
• Act quickly - check the page at least once a day.

The second is important because I stopped being a fan when I didn't get an answer within 24 hours so I did not know someone had directed me elsewhere.

The only reason I knew about the reply is a Facebook friend liked a my6sense link and that took me to another my6 sense page that had lots of updates.  http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=138810560344#!/my6sense

I was intrigued enough to backtrack what I had done earlier in the week to get to the abandoned page and discovered the reply. Plus, I discovered I'm not the only one wondering why the company doesn't link to its active page.

Meanwhile, back to deciding if my6sense will occupy some of my iPhone space.

(A new development from the company is highlighted in the post I shared in the graphic at the top of this post:  My6sense Intros Attention API for Hyper-Relevant Web)