Margaret Simons wraps up the recent social-media-types-get-together-to-tweet-about-talking-about-Twitter Media140 conference in Sydney. Where is social media headed in Australia? Can it save journalism, or will it just kill it faster?
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Caroline Overington drops some hints on Rupert’s paywall plans (and tangles with Annabel Crabb)
Margaret Simons reports live from the Media140 conference in Sydney, where journalist Caroline Overington pissed off News Ltd by talking about its paywall plans, had a crack at the ABC, and clashed with Annabel Crabb.
Crikey Says: All locked away in our digital ghettoes
With the decline of the mainstream media, we’re also losing something social media cannot provide. What about the viewpoints that we don’t want to hear, but should?
Kerr: Rattled Rudd stops tweeting, starts talking
That crappy Newspoll rating must have really scared Kevin Rudd, because he’s gone on a media rampage. But none of that normal tweeting stuff for our PM 2.0, it’s back to traditional media and a television interview blitz, notes Christian Kerr.
Iran’s opposition protests return: a live blog
Iranian opposition protesters are again taking to the streets, as officials mark the 30th anniversary of the US embassy in Tehran being taken hostage. Protesters are being reportedly beaten, injured and arrested. The Guardian live blogs the uprising.
The world’s first Twitter-only gadget. Er, why?
Tech company Peek has created a hand-held gadget that only does one thing: tweet. For US$199, you can’t make phone calls, send SMS or check your email, but you can tweet on-the-go. Perfect for friendless geeks with no need for a real phone, we guess.
What next? Meme, the musical, starring Bumcrabb and Bolt
New internet meme alert! Where does Andrew Bolt get his climate change sceptic facts and figures from? The “University of East Bumcrack”, said Annabel Crabb. T-shirts already available for sale.
Is Twitter protecting celebrities from nasty tweets?
Blogger Mickey Kaus has found something sketchy happening on The Twitter: insulting tweets about celebrity twitterers are disappearing from search results. Grassy knoll territory? Or is the company protecting one of its most valuable asset, the Twitterati?
Moses is definitely a follower
It’s another Aussie journo Twitter spat, this time between the ABC’s Mark Colvin and Fairfax’s Asher Moses over a rocket ship and showing pictures on the radio.
Why Twitter’s non-existant business model is brilliant
Don’t be fooled by Twitter’s apparently non-existent business model: by inking deals with Google and Bing last week, the social networking site has shown it has major money-making potential, and its experimental approach is all part of the genius.
On the death of letter writing
Hand written letters may be dead, but that doesn’t mean the process of thinking, communicating and creating a sense of self has been abandoned, writes James Bradley. It’s just now tweets not post cards.
Microsoft vs. Google: who’s winning the social media search wars?
Yesterday, both Google and Microsoft announced deals with Twitter to add tweets to their search results. But which company scored the better deal? And which will do a better job? The blogosphere weighs in.
Watch the blistering growth of social media in real time
Australian social media expert Gary Hayes has put together a neat flash app that shows the growing number of blog posts, tweets, YouTube videos and more being posted every second, in real time before your very eyes.
Not so fast, Microsoft: Google scores a Twitter deal of its own
Just hours after Microsoft announced its big coup in inking a deal with Twitter to include tweets in its search results, Google has announced its done one too. Close, Gates, but no cigar.
Take that, Google: Microsoft teams up with Facebook and Twitter
Microsoft has struck another blow to Google in the search engine wars, inking a deal with Facebook and Twitter to include their content in its Bing search results. You can already try out its Twitter search here.
How social media can score you your next job
Time was that your Facebook addiction could get you fired — these days, HR folk are all over social media sites, scouring for web-savvy employees. TechRadar explain how you can use services like Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to score your next big break.
The great Twitter coup: how the users took control
“There may be some 50 people officially working at Twitter, but it’s more like 5,000 people work for Twitter,” says founder Biz Stone, explaining how third parties and users have out-innovated Twitter with their own product.
US spies buy a stake in social media
America’s spy agencies are pumping money into a software firm that specialises in monitoring blogs and social media services like Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and Amazon. So what do they want with our tweets and twitpics?
Twitter launches… a wine label?
Social networking phenom Twitter is making and selling its own branded wines, with profits going to help promote literacy in the third world. At US$20 for a bottle of Pinot Noir or Chardonnay, it better be a good drop.
Wankley Awards: And The Wankley goes to … a cracker story by AAP
This week’s coveted Wankley Award goes to AAP, for a searing investigation into Kevin Rudd’s afternoon tea, which involved a cappuccino and some carefully eaten pastries.
Meghan McCain: why are people so unkind?
An interesting little Twitter fight is brewing after Meghan “daughter of John now Daily Beast columnist” McCain ‘innocently’ posted a twitpic of herself after tweeting about her “spontaneous night in”…
Twitter kills the Guardian gag
An oil trading firm’s attempt to gag London’s Guardian newspaper from reporting on toxic waste it dumped in west Africa has been thwarted by a surge of social media outrage.
Crikey Clarifier: Why do all these celebrities keep ‘dying’ in New Zealand?
Zach Braff is not the only celebrity to have been the subject of death rumours in recent times. He is also not the only one who has supposedly fallen to their death from the Kauri Cliffs. So what’s going on here? Elly Keating investigates.
Facebook stalk your way to your dream job
Stop stalking your ex, start stalking your potential employers. The more information you know about them — from Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc — the more you can use that info to your own advantage in an interview.
The end of email?
The WSJ has declared email’s reign “over”, with real-time services like Twitter and Facebook increasingly becoming the preferred method of communication. After all, who has time in this modern world to wait for email responses? It can take minutes!
