Online media are producing more and more video all the time, and the quality is getting better and better. Some online media such as TechCrunch, have created new sites all around video.  They recently announced and launched TechCrunchTV.  

Take a look at this video by theStreet.com recorded at client Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America's NYC press event on June 24.  Quality is very high, and what better way to tell a story about the latest TV technology for the home than with video.  So even 'traditional" online news media are now in the video news business and producing a lot of video content.

Captures the story, great visuals, keeps the viewer on the page for close to 2 minutes.  First rule is you need a good story, that might work with compelling video.  The media will decide if the story is good enough, and then good enough to shoot, produce and put up on their site.

Offer a compelling story that is timely and newsworthy, and the media will decide if and how to tell it.  If it results in a video, all the better.

Oversharing can come back to bite you - http://venturebeat.com/2010/04/23/blippy-credit-card-citibank/

Social Media ROI?  How about Return on Ignorance - http://www.twazzup.com/?q=ROI+%3D+return+on+ignorance&l=all

And we need to watch each other's backs on social platforms.  Because opt-in by default is something we all need to be aware of -http://gigaom.com/2010/04/22/your-moms-guide-to-those-facebook-changes-and-how-to-block-them/

Our national media and social media panel event is tonight from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. EST.  Looking forward to what is sure to be a great evening.

If you are unable to attend in person, please follow the live-stream via Ustream here, or if you want to participate in the event via twitter, the hashtag is #gfcapanel.  We welcome your questions and comments via twitter.

As the media landscape shifts quickly, this panel will provide a national perspective on how blog and news stories are developed, told, and shared. Panelists will also share their thoughts on how the media is evolving, and what communications, marketing, and media professionals need to know.

Storytelling in the age of social and digital media.

Gregory FCA cordially invites you to join us for our Media Panel discussion:

The Art of News and Storytelling in the Age of Social and Digital Media

 Thursday, April 15th

5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Please join us and a national panel of reporters, editors, social media directors, and journalism professors in Philadelphia to share their thoughts on the changing role social media is playing in news and communications. As the media landscape shifts quickly, this panel will provide a national perspective on how blog and news stories are developed, told, and shared. Panelists will also share their thoughts on how the media is evolving, and what communications, marketing, and media professionals need to know.

Panelists include:

 Ted Anthony – Assistant Managing Editor, Associated Press

Laurie Burkitt – Writer, Forbes

Sara Clemence – Co-Founder and Editor, RecessionWire.com

Jennifer Preston – Social Media Editor, The New York Times

Sree Sreenivasan – Associate Professor and Dean of Student Affairs, Journalism, Columbia Journalism School

Riva Richmond – Freelance Writer for The New York Times

and The Wall Street Journal

Brian Dresher – Manager of Social Media and Digital Partnerships, USA Today

Pyramid Club

1735 Market Street, 52nd Floor

Philadelphia, PA 19103

Registration begins at 5:00 p.m. 

We look forward to the pleasure of your company.

$15. (Free for students).  All proceeds go to NewsTrust, a nonprofit organization helping people find and share good journalism online.www.NewsTrust.net

I love technology.  I love how it makes my life easier.  I love to talk to others about how to use technology to better communicate, reach people, and share great ideas.  But the convenience of technology, and how easy it is to use a smart phone, a mobile phone, or a GPS to get us from point A to point B, if your personal technology gets into the wrong hands, people with very bad intentions, and can ruin you.

My neighbor shared an email with some safety tips for mobile phone users and for people who own and use GPS systems.  I want to share them with you.  I am not sure where he got this information from, but I never thought of mobile phones and GPS being used THIS way.

This gives us something to think about with all our new electronic technology.

GPS

A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard.  When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.

The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.

Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.

MOBILE PHONES

I never thought of this.......

This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet.... Etc...was stolen. Twenty minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking about our Pin number and I've replied a little while ago.'

When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn.  The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text 'hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Moral of the lesson: Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list.  Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc....

And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.  Also, when you're being text by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet 'family and friends' who text you.

*PLEASE PASS THIS ON

* I never thought about the above!

As of now, I no longer have 'home' listed on my cell phone. 

Re-posting: Interesting story from NiemanLab about a journalism startup called NewsLabs..."we want this to be the model for how news is generated.” 

Here is their call for journalists: http://www.newslabs.com/call-for-journalists.html 

It's definitely an interesting model, and one that is intended to let the reporter focus on the reporting, the writer the writing, and NewsLabs supports by bringing traffic, social bookmarking, lead generation, community management and more.

Nieman likens to True/Slant, another site helping journalists build their brand online. Trying to ensure they have a model around all the content they produce, and, they make money producing it.

How do you get your news?  Do you watch the local TV news broadcast?  Read a newspaper?  Listen to news radio?  Satellite radio?  From the Web?  iPhone or Blackberry?  

Chances are you probably use one of the above to get your news and important information, but are you actively seeking out news information or are you being exposed to news.  Maybe you hear news from friends, colleagues, or as is happening more and more, getting your news while logged on to a social networking site like Facebook or maybe even LinkedIn, now that status updates are playing a bigger role there.  Or maybe from twitter, the constantly flowing river of news, personal updates, and tidbits of information.

The passive news reader is someone being exposed to news and information, when they aren't actively seeking it out, from friends who are in the know, or who actively seek out and then share that news and information, by sharing links or headlines, personal summaries.

Newspaper readership measurement used to include (maybe it still does) the pass-along rate.  Meaning, you read the newspaper and gave to it a friend or family member to read, or maybe you left it on a subway seat and at least one person picked it up and read it, too.  This number was included in the readership of the newspaper. What is the pass along rate for a news link that originates from a news website, or Google, MSN, or Yahoo?  Sometimes it can be measured with url shortening services that also give some analytics, like bit.ly or su.pr (Stumble Upon).

 Adam Vincenzini recently did a blog post titled, 50 Alternate Ways to Consume News in 2010, and came up with a great list of resources to get your news.  He included me in the post and called me a "human news source" (thanks by the way, Adam) in that he gets some industry news and information from me via twitter, in shared links or headlines pointing to stories he might want to take a look at.

Truth is, some of us actively seek out the news, many don't, but are still exposed to information and news as we browse about the Web, or increasingly, as we spend more and more time on social networking sites such as Facebook.  It's up to you, too.  You can still tune it out, but it's nice to know that as you pass around photos and videos of each other, you can still stay informed because there are so many people out there plugged in and willing to share breaking, and non-breaking, news and information.

It's called, social media, and, social news media.  I know many media are still trying to figure out how to monetize all this news that is being freely passed and shared across the web and around the world, but for me, I am fascinated in how fast and far news and information can be shared and spread by one individual willing to share it with others.  It's not new, I know, it's word of mouth, but word sure does travel fast these days.

Update:  How's this for timing? "Internet overtakes print in news consumption among Americans" - Ars Technica.  Read the whole story, especially the part about how 37% with internet access report having contributed to the creation of news themselves, commenting on it, or disseminating it via Facebook or Twitter.

Came across this blog post yesterday from Aliza Sherman on Web Worker Daily.  The post titled, "Does Blogger Outreach Still Work," is really good, and I recommend you read the whole post to get a sense of where blogger relations stand right now, but there is one quote from Aliza in the story that really stood out for me:

" I can say that the PR people who politely but regularly nudge me several times to gauge my interest in their pitch have gotten a lot farther with me than the ones who threw a pitch at me like spaghetti to a wall. Kindness and consideration along with persistence wins the ink."

This is what I practice, and preach.  Polite persistence is how I like to phrase it.  I actually had a Forbes reporter tell me that one time.  "You were VERY persistent, politely persistent, but VERY persistent."  

You are not going to land a big fish the first time you cast your line out into the deep water.  The most important stories and best relationships take time. So be persistent, but be polite.  Mind your manners, and be a good human.