In the last couple of posts I’ve been discussing how recent popularity of Twitter shows some of  the benefits and pitfalls of the rising tide/juggernaut that is social networking. I thought I’d take a small case study to look at how this is all playing out in real time at the tips of our fingers.

The perpetual battle between San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the uber-lefty San Francisco Bay Guardian has officially gone digital 2.0. Newspapers across the country are struggling and all are working on the inevitable migrations to “new media “  in some form or another… Some better than others.

At the same time, many politicians are taking a cue from Barack Obama’s successful use of text messaging, Facebook and other less traditional forms of outreach in his presidential campaign. Even our favorite computer illiterate politician John McCain Twitters.

My question is: Will the political battles of the future be staged on social media? If I’m right and social media has the power to motivate real world action on the part of users, then we could see a drastically new approach to politics that involves direct outreach to constituencies rather than having it consciously mediated by third party media  outlets like cable news. It could be great. It could also be a disaster.

Twitter Fools

Last week SFBG City Editor Steven T. Jones ominously announced via Twitter that something was amiss at the Guardian. The local blogosphere went ape shit only to realize that the worst we could hope for was an April Fools endorsement of Mayor Newsom’s gubernatorial campaign. In anycase, I made sure to pick up a Guardian last week… Maybe Twitter actually does work.

If you recall, in a totally infantile act, the Mayor recently blocked Mr. Jones on Twitter.

Newsom 2.0

Mayor Newsom thinks he is going to get himself elected Governor of California using the organizing power of social media… It’s a smart move given that he’s a Bay Area Mayor. The Mayor posts his activity on Twitter, but unfortunately  his posts lack the inspirational quality of the  President Obama’s  calls to action on Facebook. A week ago, I would have said Mayor Newsom’s slippery personality pervades even the most benign of posts on Twitter.  He has gotten better at providing links…. I also have to admit he’s got an impressive following of nearly 200,000  users.

I’m sure he’ll get it town by the primaries.

Though  initially skeptical of Twitter,  I’ve not only enjoyed using it, I’ve seen it do some amazing things. Taking the example of how to use Twitter for journalism and how not to, let’s look at who’s doing it well and who isn’t. Two examples: John Meyers, Sacramento Bureau Chief for KQED Public Radio, and the New York Times.

Good Twitter: KQED_CapNotes

KQED’s John Myers decided to join Twitter experiment during the waning ours of the California budget revision negotiations. He even made some headlines… Mostly because John Myers had the inside scoop on what political junkies and concerned citizens across the state were dying to know. First and foremost, Mr. Myers’ approach is excellent because it is primarily informative. And not in a superficial way. Myers’ KQED_CapNotes gives followers real time interesting information on the politics in Sacramento. As illustrated in the graphic above, Myers also does a nice job of ecouraging followers to actually listening to the California Report while also providing excellent reportage as evidence as why people should actually tune in.

Bad Twitter: The New York Times

1000voices started following the New York Times, and much to my chagrin I realized that it was total garbage. I was surprised. the Times blogs are excellent as is the Times iphone application. I was definatately expecting more. In short, the sporadic innundation of my twitter feed with links to articles doesn’t entice me to follow any links, and actually inhibits my ability to follow people and entities who are creating meaningful updates on Twitter. The Times should trim down it’s content and create accounts for each of it’s great blogs. I might quit following the Times much as I already quit following the Guardian (UK) for similar reasons.  PS- The Guardian also has an excellent iphone app.

As you can tell from my whale friend above, Twitter has recently seen a huge upsurge in popularity.

For a slightly more scientific demonstration  check out this Google Trends graph:

In a couple of posts over the next few days I’m going to make the argument that the recent emergence of Twitter as the newest favorite social media application showcases  the potential of Web 2.0 as a useful tool for communication. Unfortunately, it also demonstrates the potential downfall of all web communication… As Jon Stewart quite rightly pointed out,  the sheer facility of communication just aids the proliferation of bullshit.

What it is

Twitter is best described as a “micro blogging” platform, and like it’s precursors the AIM away message and the Facebook status update, Twitter updates are great ways to instantly relay information to the people with whom you are connected. It’s also a great way to share media and information. In particular, by providing links as part of a Twitter update, it’s also a great way to motivate your followers to action by following links to your site.

A  Cautionary Note:

Twitter is not an RSS feed, and like all social media it thrives on the real or imagined sense of sincerity driving the posts you create. Innundating your audience (followers) with meaningless and seemingly unrrelated posts will cause them to stop following you. By this token “overposting” doesn’t advantage of what Twitter really is good for: motivating your followers to action.

Popping Mad: Legendary Pop Music Producer’s second murder trial ended last week. According to the LA Times, he may have to wait a long time for his verdict. While he waits,  someone can let him know that looking like a homicidal maniac doesn’t help your case.

Oakland Cops: Ok, the Oscar Grant murder on New Years Day was bullshit, but I was deeply saddened by the murder of four Oakland police officers last week. No matter how you feel about the cops, these guys were just just doing their jobs, and four families lost fathers thanks to the inexcusable actions of a criminal.

Always the opportunists,  Ella Baker Center won’t lay off their  (pedantic?) grind even for a respectful minute. they’ve taken this tragic event as an opportunity to point out the many failures of the criminal justice system.   They didn’t post it on their website, they sent it in an email. Smooth and sneaky, I like it. Tasteless? You decide.  If you are interested, I’ll post the whole letter After the Jump.

Young, Hapless Criminals: Speaking of the criminal justice system, I  enjoyed [sic] this article in the Chicago Tribune about Jessie Rankins and Tykese Johnson.  15 years ago, the two young men were the youngest innmates in the country: convicted of murder and at the ages of 10 and 11 respectively for dropiing 5-year-old Eric Morse out a window.  The story is a follow up piece that points out some of the flaws of in the “justice” system.

Profit-Oriented: My current intern-masters and local NPR affiliate  KQED Public Radio is back in the news again thanks to complaints about  CEO Jeff Clarke’s very high salery. The bottom line? Turns out that relative to other CEOs of similarly sized Bay-Area non-profits… not so big. It’s still sad and quiet around the newsroom though.

Nation Rules: I love the Nation. They did some great reporting in last weeks issue about how great reporting is going to go out the window if someone doesn’t do something about the flailing newspaper industry soon.

NRA S-U-X: As a DC Native, I’ve been closely following the DC Voting Rights Ammendment that was derailed by the NRA’s underhanded tactics. It’s absolutely ridiculous. The AP has taken a closer look at the NRA’s legislative “scoring” system and how it gives them so much clout in moderate congressional ditrcts. It’s a very disturibing undermining of democracy… But everyone’s always known that about lobbyists.

John “hash pipe” Stossel: American Libratarianism’s favorite cheerleader pulled his head out his ass just long enough to make some good points on the foolishness of United States drug policy.  This comes on the heels of President Obama’s move to stop prosecuting state-sanctioned medical dispenseries.

Twitter @Newsom: It seems San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is being very selective about who can see his tweets. Blocking the media he doesn’t like doesn’t seem like a very good idea to me… but what do I know? Bug Newsom at his Twitter right here.

Email from Jakada Imani at Ella Baker Center:

At the Ella Baker Center, we’re stunned and deeply saddened by the tragic events that unfolded here in Oakland last Saturday.

Here’s what we know: a deeply troubled Lovelle Mixon shot and killed four police officers before he was killed in a firefight.  As more information about Mixon has come to light, the extent of his alleged crimes has shifted the focus from how and why this tragedy occurred — and how it might have been prevented — to judgment about Mixon’s character.

Make no mistake — Lovelle Mixon alone was responsible for the choices he made.  But we’re asking people to resist the urge to shrug off Mixon as a “monster” and use his actions as justification for ratcheting up arrests on our streets.  What happened on Saturday was the culmination of countless missed opportunities within a terribly flawed “justice” system, and it was almost certainly predictable — and thus preventable.  What happened here in Oakland could happen anywhere, and it could happen again.

Just as our community must work to hold individuals responsible for their actions, we must also work to eliminate the root causes of violence: isolation, fear, sub-standard education, poverty, nagging hopelessness and despair. Only then can we end the violence that has claimed the lives of far too many in our cities, including these four officers.

We must not allow the deaths of so many members of our community to be in vain.  There’s something to be learned here, and we can’t afford to miss this opportunity to re-evaluate the city’s approach to community safety.

Many of us are struggling — in the same way that you might be struggling — with how to move forward in a way that makes sense and honors the many different voices of Oakland.  We want to be real about what we’re hearing out on the streets.  Many people are afraid… afraid of the cops, afraid of the kids on the corner, afraid of what the added tension will bring.  Some feel like they’ve been abused by the police department, and that the shooting of these four officers was vindicated in the wake of Oscar Grant’s death on New Year’s Day.  Others have wondered why the nation doesn’t seem to care when scores of young people of color are killed, but the spotlight comes out when it’s the police who suffer a loss.  Most of us are confused.  One common theme has emerged, however: everyone wants the killing to stop.

It’s going to take a lot of work to reconcile the swirling emotions about this tragedy, and we don’t know yet what the best next steps are.  But we do know that we have to work together to solve the problems of our community.

To do that, we’d like to hear from you.  It’s time to take the risk and speak up, then respect your neighbors for doing the same. The truth is complicated, but it’s worth knowing. We all have a stake in this, and we must honor the experiences of everyone who is proud to call Oakland home.

What do you think can be done to bring peace to Oakland? What’s being done right, and what’s being done wrong? Click here to tell us:
http://www.ellabakercenter.org/?p=hope_in_oakland

We’ll compile your responses and share them sometime in the weeks or months ahead — we’re not quite sure what that’s going to look like, but we know that listening to each other is the right thing to do right now.

Oakland has faced a challenging start to the year, but we believe that by putting our heads together, we’ll find a way to create a community that is safe for ALL of us, from police officers to inner-city youth.  Thank you for your insight, your honesty, and your openness.

Forward ever,

Jakada Imani
Executive Director

Despite the recent layoffs at public radio stations across the country, NPR (and public radio by extension) has actually weathered the storm on modern journalism.

This article in Fast Company has  interesting analysis on why the comparatively low-fidelity NPR has seen a huge increase in listeners while newspapers and TV news have seen sharp declines.

NPR board chair and Harvard Business School professor Howard Stevenson says, “As commutes lengthen, the importance of drive-time radio has grown. People don’t have 15 minutes to sit at home and read the newspaper, but you can get accurate, in-depth reporting as you sit in traffic,” or make dinner, or clean out the garage. It’s a screen-free complement to online browsing.

While we’re talking about public radio, here’s a few examples of excellent (environmental) radio journalism and why it’s so effective.

Listen to Part two of Rob Schmitz’s story ‘The New Gridlock” on KQED’s Climate Watch. Schmitz analyzes many of the hurdles in the way of a renewable energy future.

Caitlan Carrol from  Marketplace did an interesting story about firms, including SF’s own Levi’s, who are trying to cut back on their water footprints: check out “Water is the New Carbon” which aired on Friday.

The 1000voices board from the Deep Leap release.

Matador posted a No Age remix of “No Epiphany” by Fucked Up.

The remix is a nice blend of two very different discordant sonic approaches. I especially like the eerie ending of the remix that blends Fucked Up’s talent for dramatic staging and No Age’s abrupt-erratic eloquence.

The Chemistry of Modern Life and Nouns were easily my favorite records of 2008. I’m not alone in thinking these were great records. It’s nice to think that No Age is thinking of Fucked Up and vice versa since  the two bands are  reviving the spirit of a subculture that’s otherwise lost it’s soul to various forms of vanity (ideological, materialistic, nostalgic, etc.). I’m looking forward to the new Thermals record in a couple of weeks on that tip.

Wavves is also making a splash. Despite all the high-minded rhetoric being thrown around about the one man internet sensation, a lot of reviewers are missing the point. Wavves is great pop  reworked for Pitchfork culture. Remember the early reports on the post-modern reflection of Los Campesinos? Besides probably being ripped directly off a press release, those reports only glanced at what was and continues coming.

Wavves is music of an emerging DIY aesthetic that values digital sampling clips instead of tape hiss. Strip a bitter coat of sugar off of Ben Kweller’s radio ready “Make it Up” and you get internet-hype-ready Wavves’ “Weed Demon.” Anyways, also sweet.

Fellow San Diegans Crocodiles have been making WAVVVVVES since No Age fingered one of their tracks a while back. Their record Summer of Hate comes out in late April on Fat Possum. Imagine alternating assault guitar and cascading synth layers… Think Flock of Seaguls and “Video Killed the Radio Star” turned into the aforementioned internet self-consciousness. Can’t wait to see it live.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are the latest band to be burdened with the post-shoe gaze torch. Jury is still out here, but it sounds a lot like great 90′s alternative to me. Got vibes from that Jesus an Mary Chain record. You know. The one that’s not Psychocandy.

Finally, Yeah Yeah Yeahs new record It’s Blitz is out as a digital download. I won’t look back nostalgically on the past, but I will say Yeah Yeah Yeahs are continue to prove themselves as skillfull pop artisans while shedding, musically at least, much of the guise of expiramental art students. The first single “Zero” is “Y Control” for a band in a different, equally expanisve place.

The Hearst-owned San Francisco Chronicle has found an unlikely (totally self-righteous) ally in the San Francisco Guardian. In short,  Guardian editors feel the the pain of struggling newspapers, but also suggest that the Chronicle and Hearst could do a better job. Instead of throwing up their arms Hearst might try improving the paper instead of  “trying to save” the paper by cutting costs (staff). This posture doesn’t solve the biggest weakness of the Chronicle: It’s growing irrelevancy to a progressive, well-educated, and prosperous audience.

From today’s Guardian:

We realize the newspaper business is rough right now, but we’re not convinced that running a daily paper in San Francisco is a doomed proposition. This is one of the wealthiest, best-educated markets in the world — and the fact that Hearst can’t sell enough newspapers and ads to float its operation is in significant part a sign of how miserable the paper’s management has failed. It tried to be a regional paper, which flopped. It’s become so politically conservative that progressives, particularly young progressives who make up the future of its demographic base, see little reason to subscribe.

A few weeks ago the Managing Editor of the Chronicle Tim Redmond offered his own words of condemnatory support. He outlined  a series of “hints” for Chronicle/ Hearst big wigs, including firing C.W. Nevius.  According to Redmond, The Chronicle needs to abandon it’s ambitions of becoming a national paper and invest in local investigative reporting and progressive commentary.

Become a San Francisco paper. Nobody reads the Chron for national news any more. You can get The New York Times delivered or read it on the Web and get far better coverage than anything the Chron offers. So give it up. Go local. And by local I don’t mean Walnut Creek and Orinda; forget the suburban readers and try to convince people in your central circulation area that you have something worth reading every day.

I agree that the Chronicle is a weak paper, but I’m not sure the smug advice of the Guardian is going to change anyone’s mind.

I never read the Post-Intelligencer, but regardless, it’s a sad day for journalism.

An article in Time Magazine presented the issues fairly clearly. The problems in the newspaper industry are well known. I won’t dwell on it.

Declining print readership means declining revenue from advertising sales. Tough economic times have only accelerated the fall: the decline of newspapers is an inevitable consequence of our digital culture in the long run.  The message to papers seems to be “adapt or die.” This is worrisome for a number or reasons.  Most importantly: everyone out on the blogs knows that newspaper reporters do a bulk of the real investigative research that’s crucial to the very production of news in any form.

Whatever interactive multimedia form the future of newsmaking takes, it’s absolutely essential that it values quality, professional journalism. Even if I’m the first to be cynical about the media, the fourth estate is crucial. Journalists DO, on occasion at least, expose injustice in society and keep the public informed.

R.I.P. P-I. May others learn from your mistakes.

Today marks the final edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. From the paper itself:

The Hearst Corp. announced Monday that it would stop publishing the 146-year old newspaper, Seattle’s oldest business, and cease delivery to more than 117,600 weekday readers.

The company, however, said it would maintain seattlepi.com, making it the nation’s largest daily newspaper to shift to an entirely digital news product.

The troubled economy has badly wounded the already ailing newspaper industry. My hometown paper The Washington Post announced that it would be “folding” it’s business section into the “A” section. Hearst also announced a huge round of layoffs at my other hometown paper The San Francisco Chronicle.

More to come…