"Twitter’s Crisis
Twitter’s Crisis: Two Questions
CNET: Announcing the Totally Unofficial Build a Better Twitter Contest:
ECPA and the value of blogging in Brussels
Our lunch event on trade associations and the use of the internet the other week turned out to be interesting for all sorts of reasons. While our own experience on this blog and that of Pat Cleary, our US colleague, was clearly a draw, the real value was the exchange of experience between participants all fighting to persuade internal audiences of the (pretty obvious) merits of online communications in a Brussels public affairs context. Hopefully some more trade association blogs will spring up as a result.
Chief amongst those sharing their experience was perhaps Brussels’ foremost trade association blogger, Helen Dunnett. Helen is the eCommunications Manager (cool title) for the European Crop Protection Association. She writes the association’s blog, which is available on wordpress platform as well as on the blogactiv platform. Happily on the back of our discussions, Helen agreed to answer a few (ok, lots) questions about her experience to share with you all on this blog. Unsurprisingly, she has a lot of interesting insights so we’ve posted her response in full to all our questions.
Why did ECPA decide to start a blog?
New Media Principles — Publius Project
The “Publius Project” — essays and conversations about constitutional moments on the Net collected by the Berkman Center — has launched. I have an essay there, along with the writings of many other folks.
Some Thoughts on New Media Copyright
Ok, so after posting my bitchy rant about people stealing my videos and watching the fallout, I’ve decided a few things about how Internet friends should use and share content.
First of all, any blogger has to be grateful that her content is compelling enough that others want to share it. It’s awesome to be part of the big conversation known as the Internet, and having a share of that voice is an intensely powerful experience. Life-changing, for many.
Tactic: Keeping demonstrators up to date using Twitter
Description: A German group used the microblogging service Twitter to inform protesters during the traditional May 1 demonstrations in Hamburg, Germany.
Organizer: The Freie Sender Kombinat (FSK), “Free Channels Conglomerate”, a Hamburg-based independent radio station.
Purpose of Action: To inform leftist protesters about the progress of both their own and a neo-nazi counter-demonstration.
Organizing Tools:Twitter, cell phones.
Outcome: About 360 people followed the FSK’s Twitter account and were subsequently informed about the ongoing of both demonstrations, but the organizers failed to study whether their broadcasting had any effect on the protesters’ behavior. Using Twitter instead of regular SMS broadcasting saved the FSK about 650 € (~1000 $) of SMS costs.
Facebook will not remove the 5000 friends limit
It was a fake rumor. I just spoke to a friend at Facebook about the 5000 friends limit. He told me it was a fake and they are not going to remove the 5000 friends limit. This was given as an exclusive to Business Week part of an article to be released shortly and I committed I would not disclose his name, but not the news:)
Google may be Yahoo's white knight
Dominant force in market ran trial of its technology on Yahoo's site in the US during takeover talks
The Most Annoying Software Out There
YouTomb Lists YouTube Removals
By Philipp LenssenIntroduction to Google Search Quality
Search Quality is the name of the team responsible for the ranking of Google search results. Our job is clear: A few hundreds of millions of times a day people will ask Google questions, and within a fraction of a second Google needs to decide which among the billions of pages on the web to show them -- and in what order. Lately, we have been doing other things as well. But more on that later.
The Virtual Campfire: An Ethnography of Online Social Networking [online]
I've been a bad blogger recently, and hardly a functional human being- this state of total liminality is both extraordinarily liberating and incredibly frustrating. I graduate on Sunday. If you would like to experience the fruits of my yearlong labors, I encourage you to check out the electronic version of my thesis, which I plan to add interactive features to in the future (I'm thinking more along the lines of a wiki than this rather average website). If you do read it, drop me a line and let me know what you think! I'm always eager to hear fresh perspectives and related stories.
Chinese Bloggers Gain Ground Using Blog Technology to Help Preserve Peasant Rights
Chinese Interpreter’s note: I have submitted the following blog post on behalf of Digiactive.org’s China correspondent, Zola Zhou. The text from Zola’s original post is displayed in the image below the translation.
After the Reform and Opening policy began to dramatically alter China’s economy at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s, the country has undergone an almost unfathomable transformation. One of the most striking areas of change has been in real estate development. Old neighborhoods have been razed to make way for office towers and seemingly endless rows of high rise apartment buildings.
