New Media Unit

"A new report from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project finds that more than one third of cell phone owners use the devices to get news online."

"So when Sandy struck, he and AP social media editor Eric Carvin worked to sift through what they called "a deluge of photos and videos depicting dramatic, genuine moments from the storm" in addition to "an extraordinary amount of fabricated content." This is where the UGC verification process developed by Bell was especially handy."

"Benji Lanyado, the freelance journalist behind the Reddit Edit, is offering a service to create visual interactives for news outlets A freelance journalist has launched a service that will see him create photo-led ... Continue reading on: Journalism.co.uk"

"Reddit, the "front page of the Internet," looks like a bulletin board where users post content and vote whether it is worth reading or not. The range of topics on Reddit swings from cat memes to series news. Its use in covering recent shootings in Toronto, Canada and Aurora, Colorado, led GigaOm's Mathew Ingram to call Reddit a blend of "traditional reporting with crowdsourced reports." In the case of the Aurora movie theatre shooting, people involved in the attack started threads that snowballed into comprehensive accounts of what happened as commenters updated information and brought in new voices, according to Poynter."

"For years Reddit has been used by journalists as a source of stories and ideas - but most outlets have preferred to keep their addiction quiet. Now, thanks in large part to President Obama, it doesn't have to be their dirty little secret any more."

"Reddit landed a personal appearance by the President of the United States on Wednesday when Barack Obama stopped by for one of the site's "Ask Me Anything" interviews - an event that further adds to the web community's reputation as an alternative source of journalism."

Tumblr's "media evangelist" Mark Coatney recently announced the arrival of big names in the industry that have launched their own tumblelogs, including The Los Angeles Times, Al-Jazeera English and The Guardian. In the past year, more than 160 media organizations, as well as individual journalists, have started using Tumblr. So why has the media become so enamored with the micro-blogging platform?

A lot of major media is becoming involved in micro-blogging platforms such a tumblr. It's easy to use, very accessible, a visual medium, and already has a large following.

Stephen Colbert weighs in on CNN's recent decision to lay off 50 employees - "nobody important, just editors and photojournalists" - by praising CNN's use of iReporters, its name for citizen journalists. "Why buy the cow when you can have it shakily videotape its own milk for free?" Colbert asked. He then has one of his "Me Reporters" run down the day's headlines, which he reads from the front page of a USA Today still in a newspaper box. || Related: CNN's redesigned iReport will look more like a social network than a news site

CNN (this is a few months ago) laid off 50 employees, mainly editors and photojournalists because CNN's new iReporters (or citizen journalists) make up for these people who are professionals and are getting paid. iReporters do not get paid or... anything at all really. Colbert seems upset by the new trend of citizen journalism.

"A startup is hoping to combine two hot web trends, crowd sourcing and microearning, into a single savior for cash-strapped, broadcast newsrooms."

In 2012, social media-based reporting will continue to reach new heights. We saw it in 2011 with folks like Andy Carvin (@acarvin), Anthony DeRosa (@antderosa) and Matthew Keys (@ProducerMatthew). For coverage of the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movement and a myriad of other news events, we turned to the Twitter feeds of these and others to find out the latest. They were, almost without exception, faster than news websites and even the wire services. But 2012 will bring even more opportunities for having a tweet-first, report second mentality. It's radically different from the way that news organizations have traditionally operated, and many discourage the practice

This is an article about a prediction that 2012 will be a year where journalism is dominated by social media, mostly twitter, which could lead to a revolution for journalism in the world.  

This article details three social media skills that the author of the blog "10,000 words" believes should be taught in Journalism school. The author believes that Social Media should be brought into the curriculum in these schools. This author's three points are that twitter is a "story machine", live teeting/facebook events is a skill, and that content scheduling is king. In my opinion, these three points are very interesting, and important in terms of the future of education.

Andy Carvin and Clay Shirky spent an hour on WBUR's "On Point" program Tuesday morning discussing Twitter's impact on media and the world. In one of several insightful exchanges, Carvin explained how Twitter helps him cover the Arab spring uprisings:

This is an article about how Twitter followers can be news reporters in a way because their tweets can give information about what is going on in different parts of the world.

Katie Couric on Social Media and Real-Time Journalism

Here, then, in an easily-accessible Poynter-esque list, is what these folks - and you - can learn from the social media debate:

Storify's brand-new iPad app unveiled this morning should extend the curation tool to new, more-casual users and increase the live-blogging of conferences and events.

Storify's brand-new iPad app unveiled this morning should extend the curation tool to new, more-casual users and increase the live-blogging of conferences and events.

DailyMe is changing the way news is read and delivered with its advanced personalized news experience that meets the needs of modern-day consumers by combining the best of journalism, technology, and community.

OJR interviews Calvin Tang, co-founder of Newsvine, about the status of "Daily Me" applications and how his site is using technology to involve readers more intimately with the news.

An old article talking about the future of news personalization

Trove harnesses smart, flexible technology that learns from the choices you make. Some have called it "Pandora for news," and the serendipity in its suggestions, pulled from around 10,000 sources, makes Trove a powerful tool for information discovery.   But it's not just algorithms that drive Trove. Our editors are constantly working to inject the latest news onto the site's home page and into channels of information that users can choose to follow. Meanwhile, our crew of engineers keeps Trove in a state of perpetual evolution.   As a Trove user, you'll have the power to create your own channels, which you can use to follow the people, places, things, and information sources that catch your eye. Starting up your Trove experience is easy; the site uses Facebook Connect to deliver to many users a slate of channels based on their already defined interests

"The FJP explores disruption, opportunity and innovation in journalism. "