A few weeks ago I made a visit to the New York Times newsroom. Walking past a cubicle, I was introduced to Bill Keller, the Editor-in-Chief. Upon learning I work at Twitter, he said back, “I’m actually writing a piece about Twitter right now.”

“Go easy on us,” I joked.

His piece,  The Twitter Trap, came out yesterday.

Here is my response, which I wrote personally and not on behalf of Twitter.

I enjoyed the thoughtfulness in Bill Keller’s piece, The Twitter Trap. But more than that, I found parts of it to be distracting indications that the Editor is still debating what value social media brings to his disoriented industry.

For journalism and news, social media, especially Twitter, has turned traditional media consumers into real-time informants. Their conversations have become real-time data points. And as we saw two weeks ago on the night of Osama bin Laden’s death, Twitter is filling the gap of the traditional wires. It has become the unintentional platform that supports sources in breaking news and disaster settings.

While Keller no doubt has an awareness of what goes on in his newsroom, I wonder why he left this out. It was Twitter’s perceived shortcoming, complexity and context, that actually helped to power newsrooms the day after bin Laden’s death with stats and verification around how the conversation bubbled up – and how users, based on the luck of location and the curiosity of cause, became the newsrooms most valuable assets.

It became known that Twitter’s perceived weakness: context – might actually be its strength.

The thing I always come back to, in thinking about the future of journalism is its past. Journalism, as pointed out by PEW’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, is grounded in the concept that “democracy depends on citizens having reliable, accurate facts put in a meaningful context.” In this moment, news organizations have the chance to learn from Twitter’s inimitable utility and with it renew their commitment to values of the old by accepting that they can work with tools of the new.

As Keller pointed out, Twitter is not just an ambient presence. It demands attention and response. And this is exactly why Twitter matters to the reconstruction of news.

All things considered, this seems like a reasonable price to pay.

This is where I’m going to work!

This is what my team has been up to!

And this is how I feel: #YAY!

See everyone in San Francisco!

About a month ago, I connected Katie Couric and Brian Solis for a conversation about Katie’s push into new media which started in 2008. What ensued was a discussion about the challenges, the opportunities and the areas of exploration they both think about when it comes to the convergence of “new” and “old” media. What I like to call – present media.

I hope you enjoy – and as always I can’t wait to hear your ideas and feedback.

Social Media and Real-Time Journalism

“I miss that…kind of connection, that engagement that I had with viewers at NBC. And in a way I feel like I’m revitalizing that through social media.”

Fact-First Journalism and Digital Identity

“There still has to be some of the standards that traditional media…that we have followed through the years. I want them to live on. We can’t let accuracy become a casualty of immediacy.”

Privacy and Personal Branding

“For me anyway, (social media) has to be a reflection of my authentic self.”

**In the third clip at the 9-minute mark, you will hear Katie talk about me. At CBS News, I work with Katie Couric’s team on her webshow (@katiecouric), her social media profiles (Twitter, Facebook and YouTube) and with the CBS Evening News team.

Thanks to these folks for linking to the interview:

• Harvard’s Nieman Lab – “Preventing Accuracy from Being a Casualty of Immediacy”
• Lost Remote – “Couric Connects with Viewers via Social Media”
• John Boitnott – “Turns our Couric Understands Social Media”
• Social Media Today – “Katie Couric on Social Media and Real-Time Journalism”
• Fast Company – “Katie Couric on Social Media and Real-Time Journalism”
• Jess3 -  “(R)evolution’s interview with Katie Couric”

Here is something I arranged recently at work. Wish I had time to post more…but instead I’ll leave a snippet from Brian Solis’ blog about his interview with Dan Farber, the Managing Editor of CBSNews.com.  For future of journalism nerds, it’s good stuff!

From Brian’s blog post:

“Dan Farber is someone whom I respect and admire and he’s also someone I have the privilege to call a friend. Farber is the Editor-in-Chief of CBSNews.com and is one of the brightest minds in journalism, possessing a firm grasp on the intersection of technology, human behavior, and the business of news.”

Read the full post/watch the video here.

What are you #Thankful for? I went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade today to find out….enjoy and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

“Show New Vets You’ve Got Their Back” is a social media campaign put on by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).  IAVA was named one of the top non-profits by Mashable for their use of social tools to foster community. They are a non-profit, non partisan organization with one mission: to improve the lives of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families.

Today on Veteran’s Day, IAVA is inviting you to support the March and if you can’t be there, to support it online. So far about 2,000 people have joined, including me. Here is my message: “My most sincere gratitude goes out to all of our Veterans today, especially those who I have been lucky enough to get to know. Thank you for allowing me to learn about your personal journeys as members of our military service: Dan Choi, Adam Kokesh, Paul Mueller, Scott Henrichsen, and many more.”

The Facebook application that IAVA is using gives them the right to access my basic information (name, profile pic, networks, list of friends), post to my wall (which I was able to select and choose which ones to post) and to access my data at any time. (Um, scary. But I’m taking the risk for our Veterans.)

Also, I just want to give a shout out to the @IAVA Twitter handle. It’s got a great way of communicating with a friendly, military flavor.

TWITTER TALK from @IAVA:

• Fall in line! March online with @IAVA & me on Vets Day. 1 minute of your time could send 2 vets to the Super Bowl! http://ow.ly/33gNF
• Atten-tion! Tomorrow is Vets Day. Show vets in your state that you’ve got their back! Join @IAVA‘s online march: http://ow.ly/33gNF
• Exciting news! Mayor Bloomberg will be joining @IAVA for our Heroes Gala in NYC tomorrow night: http://ow.ly/374nrFAST FACTS: There are an est. 2 million Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans in America.
  
  For the first time since it began in 1919, NBC will broadcast and livestream the annual Veteran’s Day Parade @ 11AM.

  “The invisible injuries (of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars) especially are having a dramatic effect on this population….from a mild traumatic brain injury to severe post traumatic stress often leading to things like substance abuse and suicide,” Tom Tarantino, IAVA.

  SOURCE VIDEO: NBC NY // Timecode: 2:57

My version of family dinner happens anytime after 9pm – on a weeknight, with food or without food, at my quiet NYC apartment. Sitting in front of my roommate’s flat screen TV. Matching silver laptops in front of us and on the coffee table – a pair of iPhones. Eyes dodging back-and-forth between browsers and broadcast. Browser and broadcast. Browser and phone.

Tonight I decided to type BrianSolis.com into my browser. I guess I wanted to know what was happening in his world. I like Brian because he is smart and savvy and really dedicated to sharing new ideas and information. I would say that’s why Brian is one of my digital educators. A person who bends my mind to think about what changes in technology mean to our society, our lives, our industries. And tonight I got just that when I read this line.

“In this episode (of BrianSolis TV), Michael Fertik, founder and CEO of Reputation Defender, joins the program to discuss privacy and the reasons why you and everyone who matters to you, will be unfairly, but forever judged by what’s online.”

The statement, in that very instant, made me think about and question to what extent people might unfairly judge me.

Read the rest of this entry…

Discovery. Essential to what we do as online entrepreneurs, in the business of information exchange.

Tonight I’m surfing YouTube. The CBSNewsOnline channel to be exact (as well other lesser-known channels like RT and Fora.tv). Which means watching clips, taking notes, jotting down views and thinking about the content. What makes exceptional click-worthy video journalism?

While I ponder that question….I wanted to post this clip of former CBS Evening News Anchor, Bob Schieffer.  It wasn’t at all what I expected when I clicked play, but was pleased that I did. Same goes for the next clip of CNN’s Jeanne Moos – a playful, informative poke at our culture of capitalism.

From Schieffer: a valid piece of wisdom on the “downside of the Internet.”

Click…

play

away.

Robin Marantz Henig’s piece in the New York Times today, ‘What Is It About 20-Somethings?‘ left me with an abundance of thoughts.

The article starts out by describing what the ‘milestones’ of adulthood are: completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent, marrying and having a child. And since numbers show my generation hasn’t hit those yet, or is approaching them in a different order, she suggest this means we “slouch towards adulthood.”

While I appreciate the amount of research and thoughtfulness that went into this, I feel compelled to offer the other side.  While some of my peers may appear to be ‘slouching’ towards adulthood, some of them have accelerated towards it, building new milestones that might set the next generation’s bar. Milestones like being your own boss, traveling the world, paying for your own health care. Milestones that positively help our generation to worry less about how we stack up against the past, and more about how we can contribute to the new, emerging American future.

20-somethings, as noted by Henig, also have something else going for them – a sense of possibility. One that has been considered ‘romantic’ and fades in time. Yet from my perspective, that sense is one of the qualities driving innovation, new models of business, opportunities for growth. Far from romantic, it’s a new reality.

Now that deserves to be a milestone.

++

References

What Is It About 20-Somethings? – The New York Times, 08/20/2010

Why Can’t Twenty-Somethings Grow Up? -The Atlantic, 08/20/2010

Look no further for evidence of my interest in experiencing the economy first hand than my weekend DIY trip from DC to my new home in NYC.

I decided it was an experience I needed to have: rent a UHAUL, drive to Manhattan and unload it all into my new place. But it was a group of strangers that made the experience and helped me feel connected to this country I call home – a place I work to understand on a deeper level every day.

A few months back a journalist friend in Washington, D.C. suggested that I get to know one of his friends who works in Communications at CBS.  It was more a networking opportunity than anything else. We tried and missed each other a couple of times and then, a few weeks ago, from the seat of my $19 bus ticket from DC to NYC, I powered up my Mac, connected to wifi and tried again. This time it worked – and the next day I was off to CBS News for an impromptu conversation that turned into something much more.

Four weeks after that bus ride, here I am looking around my apartment at an unsightly stack of boxes. A pile of stamped thank you notes waiting to be mailed to friends. And of course, my trusty Mac – powered up, connected, and ready to make another move. This time to let you all know that on Monday, I’ll be reporting for my new gig with CBS News.com and @katiecouric – the long form web show Katie kicked off a year ago.

And as I look ahead to Monday, I can’t help but think this opportunity with CBS News and @katiecouric is my chance to meld my past experiences – moonlighting as a citizen journalist for MTV News and CNN iReport and working in digital communications. The exciting thing is with @katiecouric, I have the chance to apply myself full time in a field I am incredibly passionate about: journalism.

So with that, I think it’s time I get back to those boxes. Once I am settled I look forward to getting back to you all. If luck has it, maybe it will be to share with you the chances CBSNews.com and @katiecouric are set to take. Who knows – it seemed to have worked for me.

Thanks to Nick @ Nite, I spent the 1990′s watching classic American sitcoms. From I Love Lucy to Bewitched, I loved meeting my family after a sun-filled summer day around that television. But as the years went on, it was the lure of a new screen in the room – the computer – that pulled me away from the connectivity of those nights and into the future.

Clay Shirky reminded me of those memories when I watched his 2008 Web 2.0 Expo talk about the “cognitive surplus.”

Here is the back-story.

In 2008, Shirky credited the television sitcom (summary here: Gin, Television and Social Surplus) as the most critical technology of the last few decades. He says, and I paraphrase – that as the country came into the five-day workweek around the start of the second World War, society experienced something new: free time. Problem was, people, like my grandparents, didn’t know how to handle it. So they “panicked” – and flocked to TV that acted as the “social lubricant” to our patchwork society. For decades, it linked us all together. It was present media. And with the onset of the Internet, web 2.0 and the long tail of choice, the sitcom and well, TV, has been challenged by choice.

If you follow Shirky’s perspective, he goes on to say that society is just now waking up from a collective bender, a bender that has exposed a cognitive surplus. Massive amounts of time that people choose to spend in different ways – from updating Wikipedia page to creating video content to building a personal brand.

So who will be the game changers that create the new sitcom – the new social lubricant? Will there be one or many? And who will find the avenues to construct the new model of business, news and entertainment around it?

I can’t wait to dig into Shirky’s new book – fittingly named The Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age.

Posted via email from EricaAmerica’s posterous

While I sit and wait for my curry at one of my favorite local restaurants, I am reminded of the story of the mango and how it connects to my journey towards journalism. First, let me offer some background.

The mango is a fruit native to India and tied to a 4,000 year history. Up until three years ago, Indian mangoes we kept from the U.S., restricted by a trade embargo that paved the way for Mexico and parts of South America to cash in on a estimated $156 million a year market. Apparently, Americans really love their mangoes.

I know all this nerdy fruit history because I went to the mango celebration in 2007, signaling the lift of the trade freeze. Hosted by the U.S. India Business Council, the room was packed with policy deal makers, reporters, diplomats, executives and yes, Indian mangoes. Served with ice cream.

I met a man named Raghubir Goyal at the event and went on to write about the lift of the freeze for his newspaper, India Globe. He returned the favor in an unusual way – by introducing me to Helen Thomas, who took me under her wing and taught me about the standards and ethics of journalism – the ones she met  each and every day, for 57 years, at UPI.

But back to the mangoes. As it turned out, last week, I got something in the mail. A box of Indian mangoes.

The mangoes came complements of Dr. Savani, a dentist living in America. I called him a few months ago, on a whim, to see how the mango imports were going. Apparently, not so well.

“We have no business model for selling the mangoes,” he told me on the phone. “…and the market is still dominated by South American mangoes.”

He went on to tell me how he works with Fed Ex and once a year, brings in a shipment of mangoes and send to the types of people at the celebration in 2007. To remind them of the farmers desire to sell their product in the U.S.

I ended my India Globe article in 2007 with this quote from USIBC President, Ron Somers – which I find fitting to leave here now.

“As India’s prosperity rises and U.S.-India commercial and trade relations deepen, jobs and opportunities will result on both sides. Will mango imports affect U.S.-India trade? Let’s just say mango diplomacy will strengthen the people to people connection crucial to any true partnership.”

**Erica Anderson has been to India three times, where her Uncle served as Chief Executive Officer of General Electric India for fourteen years.**

Posted via email from EricaAmerica’s posterous

Last week I was at Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) in New York City. PDF is known as the premier global conference on how technology is changing politics and government. This was my second year attending and it was a remarkable few days.

My favorite panel was “Truth, Fact Checking and Online Media” with Jay Rosen, NYU Journalism professor, Bill Adair, creator of Politifact, and Marc Ambinder, politics editor at Atlantic. During the panel, they discussed the maze of misinformation that exists online, and how we, as professionals, can seek to be “trusted brokers” of facts.

Politifact is an especially compelling project – and one of my Tweets quoting Adair got a lot of buzz online. As Adair said, “Obama made 500 campaign promises,” and @politifact rates them as kept, compromised, broken, stalled or in the works on ‘Obameter.’

And as always, I enjoyed hearing what Professor Rosen had to say. He opened up his presentation with a photograph of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, and stated – There have been many situations in which “the press have been put in the service of untruth.” I think that’s an important quote to remember as we find our way through this new digital forrest of information, sourcing, news gathering and fact checking.

If you don’t know much about Rosen – his ideas are worth exploring. He is one of the most disruptive thinkers in our “future of journalism” crew. To see what I mean, check out his  suggestions to CNN to save their programming, or his advice for Meet the Press: fact check what your guests say on Sunday and report it online the following Wednesday.

Why not?

The whole idea of these panels is to bring together those “disruptive” thinkers – and another one worth noting is Newark Mayor, @CoryBooker, who joined the conference for the final key note. Booker uses Twitter as one way to connect to his community and crowdsource information about their needs.

Finally, here are some other great tid bits from my live tweeting:

• Move over, Bit.ly. The U.S. government created a URL shortener.
• What can you do with a kite, string and a digital camera? MIT’s Jeffrey Warren is mapping the Gulf oil spill with it.
• See a pot hole? Broken street light? See Click Fix is a new web application allowing people in communities to report non-emergency situations - and get help, fast.