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Bold and Innovative: Seattle Times covers a killer through social media and Google Wave

Seattletimes.com decided at the height of the story to engage with local citizenry and others through a social media experiment. Google Wave, described by Google as, "an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration," became a live document that allowed folks on the web interested in the story to take part in helping move it forward. It was social media, reporting and online journalism at the next level. At least, a crack at it.

Cory Tolbert Haik

seattletimes.com

STORY HERE

 

An @seattletimes Tweetcloud showing the most tweeted words by our account in the last week.

 

When four officers were gunned down on Sunday morning, seattletimes.com went into live updating mode, delivering the latest news through the site as well as @seattletimes on Twitter. As the story shifted from news of the horrific slayings to the search for the suspected shooter, the social stream became even more imperative to help readers keep up with fast-changing developments.

Chasing the manhunt through the social web became one of the primary ways for @seattletimes to engage with its readers and deliver updates. The constant updates contributed to a record day for traffic Monday due in large part to the relationship the newsroom established with readers through @seattletimes.

But Twitter wasn't the only tool the Web staff used to tell this story. Seattletimes.com also engaged with local readers and those around the country through a social media experiment: Google Wave. It is described by Google as "an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration." For us it became a live document that allowed folks on the Web interested in the story to take part in helping to move it forward. It was social media, reporting and online journalism at the next level. Or at least a crack at it.

What we did

We created a Wave, made it public and tweeted out to our users that they could join in. We did this using the #washooting hashtag, something we had started on Sunday. It instantly had fellow "Wavers" joining and a healthy dose of content being contributed. At the height of the Wave there were close to 500 people participating -- so many that it was quite bogged down at times.

Some elements of the Wave included links to police scanner audio, live video, information about road closures, school lockdowns, suspect information and more. A manhunt map was created inside the Wave and updated by participants. And a map was linked inside the Wave that seattletimes.com then used on the site. It was useful to producers updating the site because they could put information out and get tips back, instantly. We then could pass the tips on to the Metro desk and follow along that way. It was like using Twitter with a real-time response and rich content.

To see a PDF of the Wave, go here.

Gizmodo had this to say: Due to Google Wave's real time updating capabilities, this is actually a rather fitting use. People are posting everything they know, from information about the suspect (right down to his old pictures and Twitter accounts) to news from police scanners.

Although Wave didn't work perfectly, we learned enough about its capabilities to add it to our toolbox for future coverage. It bogged down at times and became virtually impossible to engage with. (This is why it's still an invite-only beta version). Moreover, it sometimes took on the characteristics of a chatroom. But if, as Marshal McLuhan might have said, the content of the old medium is the new medium, then this one has potential. We just have a lot more to learn about how to make it really useful.

Kathy Gill, a professor at the University of Washington in the Master of Communication, Digital Media, program, joined in our Wave yesterday and had some good points. One was about the need for moderation if the topic is "hot" as this one was. Our Wave "exploded," as it were. This was when folks couldn't jump in, when browsers started crashing. She also notes that as this was a public Wave, anyone could moderate ad-hoc. The beauty and the curse.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on how our Wave worked and what we could do next time. Please use the commenting function below.

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Insinuating

Jeff Jarvis.

So imagine this future without pages and sites, this future that’s all built on process over product. If you’re what used to be a content-creation – if you’re Stephen Fry, post-media – you’re all about insinuating yourself into that stream. If you’re about content curation – formerly known as editing – then you’re all about prioritizing streams for people; that’s how you add value now.

Getting people to come to you so you can tell them what you say they should know while showing them ads they didn’t want from advertisers who bear the cost and risk of the entire experience? That’s just so 2008. Now it’s time to go with the stream.

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Part I: Social media basics

Social media basics, and its reliance on trust

By Bobby Bonett

            As Generation Y enters the job market, economic troubles, higher unemployment, and tougher competition has led to plenty of difficulty finding a niche in the job market, according to a May 31, 2009 article in the San Francisco Chronicle. One area that has found particular adversity is the field of journalism. With a common rally cry of “journalism is dead,” as brought up by Tim Berry, the founder of Palo Alto Software, dominating the spectrum, young journalists, as well as experienced members of the industry, are forced to battle with the prospect of classical reporting ceasing to exist. Print journalism has become impractical and untimely, the evening news is filled with sensational news and fluff, and with radio listenership dwindling (as noted in the Denver Business Journal on Nov. 9, 2007), aspiring journalists hear constantly that the industry has dried up.

Frankly, I don’t buy it. What naysayers fail to realize is the vast source that is just beginning to be tapped social media on the Internet. Unfortunately reports have found that universities shy away from teaching new media. When researching graduate schools, I read testimonials about the unwillingness of professors at Columbia’s journalism school  in a March 11, 2009 article in New York Magazine, to embrace this new medium. Instead, some teachers feel that new media is simply “playing with toys,” according to a March article in New York Magazine, and that true journalism is print journalism.

With scarce resources to learn about the web, and how to properly use it as a tool of journalism, the concern has to be there that aspiring journalists from some schools will be behind the curve when they enter the industry. Thus, it is in the hands of young journalists, and older journalists looking to stay fresh, as pointed out in a Nov. 19, 2009 article in The Getwokingham Times, to seek out those that have been successful through social media, and learn how to manipulate this new form of journalism into building oneself a successful empire.

Now, this “empire,” it turns out, is not journalism-specific. It can be used as a marketing tool, a social network, and a means of disseminating information, all through the same tool: social media. And the key to being successful?: forming a community, building an interactive audience, and creating a sense of trust within the audience. Gone are the days where beat writers, corporate CEOs and others are unreachable by the public. Now, thanks to the web, there is a two-way street; a constant conversation where parties on both sides of the fence, the information gatherers and the information “vultures,” are contributing to an online society. The key factor to maintaining this society, though, maintaining a fan base, and for a journalist, maintaining credibility online, is the idea of trust. As written about in Trust Agents, by Chris Brogen and Julien Smith, building trust is the key to building “influence” in the current landscape.

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Part II: Building trust: The basics

HOW DO YOU BUILD TRUST?

The question that remains, then, is how to build trust? How do you convince your audience and your online community that you are in fact a legitimate source of knowledge, not a blogger that simply feeds off of crowdsourcing? After all, as mentioned in Trust Agents, you have to move fast – you’re in the online world. Through interviews, research, and personal experience, I feel I discovered a blueprint, or a template, on how to achieve trust, and build a community online, whether it be for a beat writer or a self-made entrepreneur. In turn, using the advice of the pioneers of this newfound industry, you can build a self-sustaining online empire.

            One of the first things that journalists need to understand when transitioning into the online-world of journalism is the difference between classic journalism and the new emphasis on social media. While newspaper articles are often re-published online in their original state, blogging, commenting, video blogs, and tweeting all significantly differ from their print counterpart. Two ideas that were reinforced in the interviews was the fact that the standards change between mediums, and the communicability between reader and writer is all of the sudden an open forum as opposed to a one-way street. On the former, Alan Hahn, the New York Knicks’ beat writer for Newsday, and author of one of the most-read NBA blogs on the Internet at Newsday.com, spoke about the importance to get information out quickly online, with fact-checking sometimes taking a backseat to the importance of breaking news (or else you end up with absurd reports circulating around the Internet, such as the one seen in Oct. 2009 regarding the false death of rapper Kanye West.).

Hahn said, “There are more traditional standards for print journalism that reporters must adhere to and maintain in their work. New media tends to be much looser when it comes to structure in writing and also, in some cases, in reporting. In new media, a "rumor" or "hearsay" can be passed along not as fact but as a talking point, whereas in classic print journalism, you can only make reference to something reported as fact but not promote it as such.”

Essentially, while Hahn isn’t endorsing the reporting of rumors, he is acknowledging that as a beat writer in the web generation, sometimes it is more important to avoid being scooped, and getting the news to the public first. Additionally, this shows how trust isn’t necessarily solely a measure of the accuracy of reporting, but it also lies in trusting your reporter to be the first to break news. If I am a reader of Hahn, and I am on Twitter or Facebook, I have an understanding that some of what he is going to report is NBA rumors … it is the new-age nature of sports reporting, (as was especially seen with Brett Favre the past two seasons). What is most important to me is that Hahn gets the news faster to me than the Daily News’ Knicks reporter, (currently Frank Isola).

            On the latter point, A.J. Voelpel, a young college football blogger writing for the website IrishCentral.com, who has gained popularity through the web sector, and Rich Forestano, a recently-college-graduated sports blogger for SNY, both spoke to the idea that in web journalism, there is now a conversation between reader and reporter, as opposed to an invisible wall between the writer and reader.

Voelpel said, “The biggest difference would easily be the accessibility and networking capabilities new media presents. Although I haven't been around print journalism as long as most, new media allows me to get into instant contact with writers who I admire, and those whom I have questions for.”

Forestano echoed his sentiments, saying, “The ability to reach the reader through dozens of forums like the comment section [as echoed in numerous online blogs such as Smiley Cat], live chats etc.  Being able to reach the writer directly (twitter [direct message] or email) has changed the landscape as well.  [Fifteen[ years ago, good luck getting a writer on the phone to tell them how you feel.  Now, just scroll down the page, type and click.”

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Part III: Building personal relationships in social media: Good or bad?

BUILDING PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS IN SOCIAL MEDIA: GOOD OR BAD?

Now, while reporting alone can build trust, the psychology of trust (here defined by ChangingMinds.org) must also be concerned. On a human level, for one person to trust another, an intra-personal connection needs to be made. With the emergence of Twitter, writers, bloggers and entrepreneurs now have the ability to talk about their personal lives, giving the reader a far more intimate experience. Thus, with the ability to get to know reporters on a personal level available, the level of candidness needs to be considered – where is the fine line between “TMI” and “just the right amount of I.”

Those interviewed were very candid in their responses – some almost seeming bitter that there has been this shift to over-indulgence of one’s personal life. Forestano, for example, stressed the maintenance of objectivity, saying, “You have to stay on the line of objectivity.  State your opinion, but back it up with some facts.  I could go out and say for example 'The Jets offense will be in the top 10 in Passing Yardage this season'.  But whose going to take that statement seriously unless I give some information as a blogger?  Bloggers, at least the one's that consider themselves writers and not cheerleaders, need to realize that the blog is the new writer's column, but it's not for jeering or cheering.”

Nathan, meanwhile, a member of the rock group Man on Earth, gave an interesting perspective that could help out an aspiring artist, while not necessarily a journalist. He said, “If people know too much about you they will realize they are just like you and will no longer feel the need to pursue you.  That’s why reality T.V. stars don’t stick around long. It’s always good to maintain a bit more of a mystique.” 

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Part IV: The danger of over-personalizing

THE DANGER OF OVER-PERSONALIZING

            What is the right amount of personal information to allow, then? The answer may simply come from trial-and-error. If you’re a journalist, read what personal information other journalists are sharing. The right spot might be to avoid the daily, mundane information, and only divulge off-the-cuff information. Did you just see a neat sports car on your way to covering a town hall meeting? Snap a picture of it (on a website such as twitpic) and put it on your blog or your twitter account. But did you get into a shouting match with that same driver after taking the picture? Don’t demonize yourself (see: celebrity battles such as the one between Lindsey Lohan and Samantha Ronson) – part of becoming successful is marketing, and it is not a successful marketing strategy to show your negative side.

            New media has created a new kind of trust – and it is a product of the new deep-seeded personal nature of the medium. Everybody is going to falsely report on twitter; it is a nature of getting information out before your competition. Readers will forgive you. (Sure, they might give you some slack, but when has a journalist ever been every reader’s best friend?) The new trust is in building a true relationship – not a faux relationship – with your readers. Engage in conversation in the comment section of your blog, respond to questions on your twitter account, give a little inside look to your personal life.

People are now realizing that journalists are not droids, they aren’t computers – they are humans, often writing about something they are quite passionate about, for people that are quite passionate about the subject. So convey to them that you are one of the audience. It is the journalist’s responsibility to report the news, but the new landscape also asks for the reporter to engage in discussion about that very news. While objectivity is paramount, it isn’t farfetched to form educated opinions about the news, and building on them with your reader base. (A perfect example came from New York Knicks writers Barbara Barker and Alan Hahn, debating whether Allen Iverson would be a good fit in New York.)

            One of the great things about social media is that it is evolving, and each day, new tricks will emerge, new outlets, websites and trends will come into the forefront, making what you learned a few months ago obsolete. The best way to describe this is outlined in an article by Stefan Stern for the Financial Times. Stern proclaimed that the five-year plan is dead on Oct. 26, 2009, thanks to the economy, technology, and constant growth. For journalists, and those that seek the online medium to further their personal ventures, it couldn’t be more true. Just as newspapers are becoming obsolete because of their failure to deliver instantaneous news, the landscape of technology and media are ever-changing, bringing new light to the adage “You’re so five minutes ago.”

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