techPresident - campaign blogging - Comments

Macaca En Vivo

andycarvin — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:46:51 -0400

I've been waiting for months for a macaca-like moment to unfold on Qik and Twitter for a while now. I keep thinking of that qik video Steve Garfield shot last January in New Hampshire of Duncan Hunter denying he was getting out of the race, which was a defining moment for me personally in terms of realizing how live mobile streaming is a game-changer. Sure, he wasn't a tier-one candidate, but it was still an amazing moment.

I have no doubt there will be some folks who will try to use Qik for gotcha video, heckling candidates to get a rise out of them. But that kind of footage gets old after a while, since every candidate gets ticked off at one point or another. But eventually, as mobile streaming becomes more common, there will be one of those unscripted, unsolicited moments where a candidate gets in hot water in real time because a citizen has Qik on their phone and a Twitter account. It's probably just a matter of time.

Nokia N95 + Qik + Twitter = Max Headroom?

Micah L. Sifry — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:33:58 -0400

Beth--

I just got my hands on a Nokia N95 and am looking forward to figuring out its possibilities. Fortunately, I have a 14-year-old son, so I should have good IT support!

As for how this can be used: well, I'm giving away the nub of my and Andrew's next Politico column here, but I'm thinking that we're on the verge of a "Max Headroom" moment. You know the show? The reporter on that show had the ability to go live with his camera straight into the TV broadcast network. Now imagine a political blogger with a Nokia N95, a Qik account and a Twitter network (or just a good big email list). She gets into a fundraiser for McCain and he starts saying something interesting. She tweets her network to tell them to check out her live stream on Qik, where McCain is saying something like, "I macaca your milkshake." People start retweeting, "OMG, McCain is melting down live on Qik." You get the picture.

It took several days for the George Allen "macaca" moment to spread on YouTube. Something tells me the next one of these might just spread live.

The same could be imagined in reverse...that is, a positive event that is really cool and interesting that people want to share.

Micah

Twitter and original reporting

andycarvin — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:04:42 -0400

There most definitely needs to be more original reporting on twitter. Sometimes it's hard to tell when it's happening, though. Like when my NPR colleague Michael Olson posted tweets like "Bill Nangle Exec Editor of the Times of NW IN: Still have yet to start counting machines in Lake. Will be AM before results are conclusive," most people didn't realize that Michael was actually working the phones at NPR HQ to talk with contacts in Indiana and report back what he was finding out.

Twitter was also invaluable for us the night of the Texas caucuses, because it allowed us to gather information from Twitter users who were being blocked by fire marshals because of overflow crowds. And when we were tweeting super tuesday, sometimes we were able to announce NPR's calls on Twitter faster than we could on air, because hosts had to finish whatever they were saying before relaying the info, while we could just blast out a tweet as soon as we heard the call was official and ready for broadcast. It even prompted several people to ask me if Robert Siegel was announcing the calls based on what I was tweeting that night. :-)

I wonder if there's a way to make it clearer when we tweet what's a rehash of what we're doing on air and what's direct-to-twitter reporting. Does it matter? For some people, probably. For others, though, maybe not, as long as the information we're proving is accurate and interesting.

Qik

kanter — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:36:53 -0400

Micah:

Friend @broy on twitter - he's a co-founder of QIK .. he listens and is helpful
http://twitter.com/broy/statuses/802132248

How did I know that? Well, I got an N95 and have been experimenting, but still getting over tech glitches, etc. My journal is here: http://beth.typepad.com/n95/. I sent some questions over Twitter - and a friend of a friend knew the folks at QIK who responded. I made a QIK about question - and got answers fast
http://beth.typepad.com/n95/2008/05/a-quick-questio.html

Multi-media micro social networking!

Seriously, as a trainer, I've used as an instructional aide (http://artssocialmedia.wikispaces.com/) to demonstrate the power of networks. During that workshop, I was able to live broadcast the questions of the people in the workshop - it was cross referenced on Twitter - and my Twitter network responded to their questions in real time.

I also used it to livebroadcast my tech support call to Nokia when I was experiencing performance issues with n95
http://beth.typepad.com/n95/2008/04/more-on-amys-br.html

And, I've been using it as a one-women consumers union crusade when my washing machine was broken for a month and Kenmore did a crappy job of fixing it .. As the Spin Cycle Turns An N95 Soap Opera
http://beth.typepad.com/n95/washingmachine/index.html

Aside from live broadcasting my airboat ride down the St. John's River in Florida (alligators jumping into the water), it was cool to have my network come along - as you broadcast - if people are chatting in the chat room -you can see what they are saying.

Anyway, I'm sure you can envision some amazing ways this tool can make change in your field of expertise ...

McCain blog

thoughtfulconservative — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:08:04 -0400

My MyMcCainSpace has not allowed me to logon since I applied for one several weeks back. All I get is this error page.

You look better on Myspace...

betagurl — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 02:15:32 -0400

This is an interesting article, but I wonder how much data would be useful when so many profiles are not honestly portraying the real person. For one, there's a lot of really gorgeous 99 year olds out there! How accurate of a demographic would it really be?

SPCAMMER PERSON

jkillian — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 17:41:22 -0400

SPCAMMERS PSUCK.

Myspce Friends...

AbrahamRunning — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 13:52:24 -0500

"Friends" are actually organized by User ID. People that have been on myspace longer have a smaller user Id. People from 0-10 were probably there from the beginning and tend to have hundreds of thousands of friends, Ironically "Tom" is number 6221.

I have entered many comments by hand this information cuts down the time it takes.

Regarding "Friend Adders" this is a conscious choice, it is possible to grow a profile organically, people tell theirs friends who in turn tell their friends.

myspace.com/AlGore08

Does MySpace allow this?

Micah L. Sifry — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 20:59:30 -0500

My understanding is MySpace doesn't want members to be "spammed" by such "friend adder" programs, and may punish people who use them.

MySpace FRIENDS or POPULARITY cannot be determined...

Anita Stewart — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:53:04 -0500

...accurately and fairly if the MySpace profile creator/maintainer uses a program to acquire FRIENDS.

Why anyone would say that MySpace FRIENDS equals POPULARITY of the PROFILE/PAGE has not entered MYSPACE FRIEND ADDER PROGRAM into Google or any other search engine.

There are many of these "bots" or programs out there and they are easily accessible. Some of these pages have PAYPAL links on them so you can purchase the programs and put them to use immediately.

That is why profiles like Edwards, Gore, Clinton have such a large amount of FRIENDS on them. No one was there manually acquiring FRIENDS for these pages. What these bots do in an hour would take days/weeks for a human to do.

In other words

Ruby Sinreich — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:21:28 -0500

"...anyone with a modicum of respect for responsible discourse would denounce without hesitation."

ie: Instead of sympathizing with them, Edwards should have denounced the Religious Right's attacks on his bloggers.

Am I reading that right? If so, I certainly agree with her.

= Ruby

--
personal blog: http://lotusmedia.org
local issues: http://OrangePolitics.org
consulting: http://netcentriccampaigns.org