Category: Social Media

Web by Joe WilcoxMay 15, 20092:28 pm

Is Twitter @replies Change Ashton Kutcher’s Fault?

My immediate reaction is “yes,” after reading Dare Obasanjo’s post “Why Twitter’s Engineers Hate the @replies feature.” OK, so maybe CNN and Oprah, also members of the “million-followers club,” share the blame.

Like many other Twitter users, I’m unhappy with the Twitter @replies change announced earlier this week, later half-backed off by the social broadcasting service. You know what I’m talking about.Twitter completely than partially pulled the plug on @replies to people you don’t follow. I found the feature exceptionally useful for finding new people to follow. Isn’t making new relationships the whole point of a social networking service?

I agree with Betanews founder Nate Mook, who tweeted on Tuesday: “The Twitter founders are so far removed from the product at this point they had no idea why a useful feature was removed? That’s kinda sad.”

Apple by Joe WilcoxMay 13, 20094:56 pm

Officethemovie: The Confessional

Yesterday, a seemingly official Microsoft Twitter accounted fooled popular blogs and mainstream news sites to write that Microsoft would introduce a new Zune platform in June. But the account wasn’t from Microsoft.

Allegedly, David Z from Haklab set up the account. I e-mailed Haklab today asking:

I love guerrilla marketing, and know how to recognize it, which is why I didn’t get sucked into the vortex like other bloggers and journalists. But it’s confession time. Who are you really, and what are your objectives? Not that I’m sure I will believe you. But try me. I want to blog on the problem of Twitter and shoddy journalism. You’re the case study.

This afternoon, I got a response. David claims to have exploited a Microsoft mistake—that the Twitter feed from Microsoft’s Office 2010: The Movie Website went to an unclaimed account. So he registered the Twitter account, @officethemovie. My suspicion: There was a typo on the page, and the account should have read: @office2010movie, as it does now.

Apple by Joe WilcoxMay 13, 20094:40 pm

The Problem With Real-Time Journalism

Yesterday’s “@officethemovie” pwning is about the worst example yet of new news media gone wrong. In the quest for clicks—and the feeble ad rates they pay—bloggers and old-time journalists rushed to write about a new Zune platform coming in June. Apple is rumored to be unveiling the new iPhone the same month. Additionally, the E3 gaming expo starts June 2. I guess it all was just too tantalizing for people to check their facts. The source wasn’t Microsoft. But most blogs and news sites reported that it was.

News Media by Joe WilcoxJun 25, 200812:00 am

Two Blogs Don’t Make a Right

Here’s an example of blogging as bad journalism and the problem with the viral Web.

Gizmodo has a short post (Aren’t they all?) about the monumental influence of Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg. I know Walt, so I was immediately interested in the item, time-stamped 8:23 a.m. EDT today.

Society by Joe WilcoxJun 24, 200812:00 am

Google-Facebook Swim Party

I meant to blog this on Saturday. I could have gone to a pool party using Facebook and Google Maps.

That’s what the Guardian says teens in the UK are doing. Uninvited. The meetup, or “dipping,” is coordinated using Google Maps to find outdoor swimming pools and Facebook (or other social networking services like Bebo) to set place and time; typically late night.

News Media by Joe WilcoxJun 20, 200812:00 am

Sorry Bloggers, Good Journalism Lives

Ian Betteridge and I share something in common: We’ve been writing for a lot longer than people have been blogging. We come from the older school of journalism that bloggers, social networking and digital media are supposed to replace. The debate about the news media’s future is certainly a hot topic at the company where I work.
Ian’s post, “Print is Dying? Not so Fast,” uses The Economist as example of why print doesn’t have to die off. He observes that the magazine’s profits and ad sales are rising, with American print advertising up 23 percent.

News Media by Joe WilcoxMay 12, 20089:00 pm

The New Journalism

I had the below IM conversation with Nate Mook of Betanews after posting about PR blogging on my work blog. All times are Pacific (-8 GMT):

Joe says: (3:54:02 PM)
I couldn’t resist: http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/developer/net_35_sp1_changes_your_expression.html
Nate says: (3:57:30 PM)
Saw that
Nate says: (3:57:31 PM)
Good post
Nate says: (3:57:40 PM)
I’ve been thinking the same thing recently
Joe says: (3:57:47 PM)
I’m really bugged about this.
Joe says: (3:57:52 PM)
Ah, good for you.

Digital Lifestyle by Joe WilcoxJan 3, 20089:59 pm

Scoble Scrapes Friends’ Trust

Robert Scoble has been the talk of the Web today, for getting booted from Facebook. Robert is back on Facebook now, but he shouldn’t be. Facebook suspended the former Microsoft evangelist blogger for a terms-of-service violation. He used a testing Plaxo tool to mine, or “scrape,” information from about 5,000 of his contacts. [Editor’s note, April 4, 2017: Three Scobelizer posts gone; links removed.]

Web by Joe WilcoxAug 4, 20072:03 pm

Free Themes with a Hidden Cost

About 11 years ago, I registered aroostook.org, as it derives from the name of my home county, or “The County” as Mainers call it. I later let a good friend have the domain, which I long regretted.

It’s nothing to do with him; he’s a great friend. In retrospect, I could have put the domain to good use. Today, I looked over the WHOIS record, which indicates the domain record was created in 2002. Mmmm, 1996 is more like it. He must have let the domain expire at some point.

News Media by Joe WilcoxApr 20, 20064:06 pm

MySpace is OK

CNN has a story claiming MySpace helped foil a school shooting. Last week I said that MySpace isn’t the problem the news media has made it out to be. Heck, any place high schoolers can […]

Society by Joe WilcoxMar 28, 20063:03 pm

Way to Go, Kids

Now this is what social networking should be for: High school students use MySpace to organize a walkout over proposed immigration changes. The kids are right. It’s wrong to make illegal immigration a felony. The […]

Web by Joe WilcoxJan 25, 20067:19 pm

I Like to Look

I just whiled away part of the evening as the voyeur, looking in on the blogs over at MSN Spaces. By default, each Space includes a sidebar module containing recently “Updated Spaces”. I navigated from blog to blog, seeing what I would find. I’m a studier of people, so the look inside people’s lives is fascinating.

I observed a few things.