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.

When I first moved to Washington in August 2006, I found a rich international culture. And within months of exploring the city, I was reminded of what I had always known – I love looking at the U.S. from behind the lens of international news.

The first time I left the U.S. (Indiana might I add) was to New Delhi, India, in 1996. I was an awkward 11-year-old, with blonde hair, braces and an insatiable curiosity about the culture around me. When I returned, I told my english teacher I might have a hard time keeping up with her curriculum, because I was planning on writing a book about my trip. (Insert laughter). The book never came but a draft sits in my parent’s home in Indiana, safe keeping for when the time is right.

Funny thing is, timing really doesn’t care about being right.

Ten years later, I was sitting in my D.C. apartment reading an article about how international news buearus were being cut right and left by struggling American media companies. It helped me to understand that massive cutbacks, newsroom shutdowns and a growing gap for fact-based news and information would soon ensue.  And in tandem, so too did  my obsession with the evolution of fact-based journalism.

Fast forward to 2010. A few months ago, I spoke on a panel at the National Press Club about how I’ve used digital tools to gather, produce and disseminate news. After the talk, someone from Radio Free Europe (RFE) approached me. He told me about their HQs in Prague and the mission to provide uncensored news in censored states like Afghanistan, Turkestan, Iran, Kosovo, Moldova and more.

So I began to dig in.

RFE is worth checking out. They have hundreds of journalists in areas that the Post, the Times and other American-focused outlets had to cut. (No doubt they still get stringer stories, but the presence is not the same.) RFE also has a sick amount of multimedia content, radio clips, and blog content like Journalists in Trouble that put it all into perspective. It’s a gold mine of information and hard to get content.

But my digging in is not without motivation. I am trying to see if I can help them out in terms of digital and content strategy, community building, engagement and targeting. So that when the time is right, the vulnerable, information-deprived audiences around the world, or even simply in America, will get the fact-first information they need.

While I continue to learn about RFE, I wanted to share with you guys some of the cooler stories I’ve found. Enjoy.

In Need Of Transplants In Tajikistan

Migrant Express: Stuck at the Border

Andrew Sullivan once wrote, in a heated blog post, (and I paraphrase) that equality for LGBT Americans is not a partisan issue. It is a human rights issue. His fervor gave me clarity and his observation stuck with me. So today, I’ll take it a step further because we are facing a symbolic moment in the journey towards equality.

Congress will be voting on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the next 48 hours. I’m asking my friends and family to call Capitol Hill and let their Representative know they SUPPORT LEGISLATIVE REPEAL in 2010. The phone number is (202) 225-3121. If you’re not sure what to say, you can take suggestions from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund here. You can also find out if your Member supports the legislation here.

Why do it? Too often do homophobic policies find their ways into national politics, making it difficult for people of all ages living in small towns, big cities and rural areas of America to live their lives fully and openly. They are paralyzed by fear of political and social retribution for being who they are. I know because it happened to me.

Learn more from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund and keep up with the latest news from the Advocate’s Washington, DC correspondent, Kerry Eleveld. Read her analysis of how we got to DADT here.

Finally, I thank you for doing your part. With integrity and compassion for others, I’m ready to take a stand. Are you?

Who is the “Tea Party?”

A college student. A coal miner.

Check this out video from Tax Day, where I shadowed supporters of the “Tea Party,” (which was initiated by Freedom Works), and were out engaging the government about what’s going on in their lives.

As a side note, finally! I am back. As a video journalist, that is. It was a long journey to transition and upgrade all my gear. I’m happy to report that I have officially gone from a Panasonic Mini DV cam (MTV vids), to a Flip Cam (CNN iReport vids) to a Canon Vixia and a Kodak Zi8 Pocket, which are both HD quality. In this video, you’ll notice some imperfections, in part due to experimenting with different file formats. That’s OK though. No one is expecting technical perfection – I think we all get at this point, it’s all about creating content that is raw, unfiltered and authentic…and in some way makes you feel like by watching it you are closer to a truth you had not considered.

As for my editing gear, I also transitioned to a MacBook Pro and Final Cut Express. I won’t bore you with the details, but it was a dramatic, drawn out process getting the Canon Vixia HD filed (AVCHD .MTS) ready to go into Final Cut. In fact there’s no easy way, it requires tons of conversion and compression. That’s what video editing is all about. Tedious, challenging problems that require solutions. Over and over. Thanks to @AnthonyFears, who suggested I use HandBrake, an excellent converter that made my life so much easier and got these old clips ready to produce.

A few weeks ago I got a note from an editor at Washington Life. (For those of you outside of D.C., Washington Life is a glossy magazine, a kind of “Insider’s Guide” to the city. It’s been around since 1991.)

The Editor was writing to ask how I felt about being featured in the magazine’s May Power Issue. He had heard about the work I did producing web videos for About Our Children (a Michelle Bernard/MSNBC program) and my success uploading and airing my first amendement news reports on CNN.

So I told him I was game…and here we are. Be sure to check out the magazine when it hits the stands this Monday, May 10th. In the meantime, enjoy the sneak peak of the other talented people in the “Media You May Not Have Met (yet…)” section. I’m being featured with – Huffington Post’s Dan Froomkin, Washington Post’s Katharine Zaleski, Facebook’s Tim Sparapani, TBD’s Erik Wemple and Bloomberg’s Manuela Hoelterhoff.