Tewspaper: Crowdsourced News Via Twitter and Social Media

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Robert Ivan

Tewspaper pulls information from user contributions on social media websites and creates a topically sorted newspaper. At launch, the website has five local websites covering Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York City. Each local site also has national news coverage in a variety of subjects such as business, entertainment, and sports.

Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) August 25, 2009 — Tewspaper, an online newspaper without writers, has launched with coverage of five major metropolitan cities – Baltimore, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. Tewspaper scours social media websites such as Twitter and filters messages down to breaking news. One of the local sites, Baltimore News, brings algorithmically filtered news to people in Tewspaper’s home town.

Tewspaper is neither endorsed nor sponsored by Twitter or other social media websites; the company uses publicly available APIs to connect with social media sites and find relevant data. One of Tewspaper’s innovations is a system of filtering through the obscure and finding the relevant news on social media sites. For example, Twitter alone has over 2 billion messages, and is growing by thousands of messages per minute. Tewspaper makes it easy to find out what is happening now, in an organized, succinct, and accessible fashion. It is an ideal way for the Internet generation, who text and tweet, to view the news at their rapidly moving pace.

“We began by limiting the news to trusted authorities on Twitter. From there, we are working on an algorithm that can find additional breaking news from anyone on Twitter and other websites as it happens,” said Jared Lamb, the creator of Tewspaper.

Another obstacle Tewspaper had to overcome was the limited content it could locate for each story. To solve this problem, the website automatically matches images to related stories. Tewspaper determines the optimal image to display for every story based upon the author, subject, headline text, date, links, and other context.

Other local editions are available for Chicago News, Los Angeles News, Dallas News, and New York City News.

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Contact Information
Jared Lamb
Tewspaper
http://www.tewspaper.com
443-857-4829

DOS Attack? I would pay for Twitter and I think You Would Too

Posted on August 6, 2009 by Robert Ivan

Twitter has been down and up and down all day… This made me nuts. And then I realized, I would pay for twitter. I have gone days without reading a newspaper, days without watching TV, and it never bothered me. But not having access to the serendipity engine that is Twitter today left me in the lurch.

In April of 2009 Techcrunch said Twitter has 200,000 active weekly users so if all of them paid $5 a month for 12 months 200,000x52x5=$52million dollars per year. That’s not bad considering they could use the money to pay back their Venture Capitalists in One Year. OR use that money to stabilize Twitter against Denial of Service (DOS) attacks like the one causing trouble today.

Hey Biz. Sign me up for a year. My $60 is waiting, otherwise i’m going to go outside and do stuff.

RELATED:

Metaprinter interviews Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone

Snarky WSJ front page article about Twitter DOS attack (the comments section is the best, people going off how useless twitter is but failing to realize that their commenting on a front page news article by the paper they subscribe too).

Jacek Utko: Can design save the newspaper? TED2009

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Robert Ivan

Jacek Utko is an extraordinary Polish newspaper designer whose redesigns for papers in Eastern Europe not only win awards, but increase circulation by up to 100%. Can good design save the newspaper? Should newspapers be Free? Tabloid? Local? Niche? Opinion? Breakfast fodder? “In the long run there is no practical reason for newspapers to survive” states Jacek. Regardless, he is working with newspapers to create entirely new workflows and embedding great marketing, via design, right into the products.

Why you should listen to him:

Newspaper designer Jacek Utko suggests that it’s time for a fresh, top-to-bottom rethink of the newspaper. (At this point, why not try it?) In his work, he’s proved that good design can help readers reconnect with newspapers. A former architect, Utko took on the job of redesigning several newspapers in former Soviet Bloc nations, starting from basic principles. He worked closely with newspaper executives to figure out the business goals of their papers, and then radically reformatted the product to fit those goals. (And he wasn’t afraid to break a few grids in the process.)

As the art director at Warsaw’s Puls Biznesu in 2004, he redesigned this small business-focused newspaper and immediately won the SND award for world’s best-designed newspaper. Readers responded, and circulation went up. He’s now art director for the Bonnier Business Press, overseeing papers in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, and the work he oversees consistently wins major prizes (including another SND world’s-best in 2007 for Estonia’s Äripäev), despite their small teams and limited resources.

“Who knew that the world’s best designed newspapers are in Poland and Estonia?”

-June Cohen, TED

Journalism Happening on Twitter

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Robert Ivan

I often see and hear the statement that Twitter is not journalism. But when I see posts like the one below, I have to disagree. Journalism is happening on Twitter. The problem is that the filter for finding the good stuff isn’t yet what it will be. But it will. #journ

jayrosen_nyuI’d like to ask you, @JohnAByrne: do you think CNBC is losing legitimacy after Santelli’s rant and the aftershocks? Should it, in your view?
5 minutes ago from web

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Jay Rosen has been on the NYU Journalism Institute’s faculty since 1986, and from 1999 to 2005 he served as chair of the Department. He also writes at PressThink, The Huffington Post, is quite active on Twitter, and on and on.

John A. Byrne is executive editor of BusinessWeek. Previously, Byrne was editor-in-chief of Fast Company. Before that, he worked for BusinessWeek for nearly 18 years, rising to senior writer.

Newspaper Association of America Joins Twitter… Finally

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Robert Ivan

I received the below email Today from the Newspaper Association of America telling me about them recently joining Twitter. They joined today according to TwitterHolic but their posts go back to November of 2008, – they aren’t human. They are being fed from Twitterfeed and Digsby.

I like the idea of NAA joining in the conversation, but how about having a human being at the helm to editorialize the information flow? As it stands now, they are using twitter as an RSS feed and that just stinks. I understand they want to use it to cover upcoming events, but what about the other 363 days of the year?

I hope NAA and any newspaper looking to utilize twitter as a social networking tool realizes that it’s the interaction that builds communities, not applications in and of themselves. The Internet Editor for the Austin American_Statesman has a great blog post about abandoning twitterfeed to gain audience. Here’s an excerpt:

The way I think about it is a morning news radio show. I say good morning, I say goodbye at the end of my shift. I thank them for contributions, etc. -quigblog

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Here’s the email:

This Week’s Quick Tip: Follow the NAA Community on Twitter

The NAA Community recently joined Twitter, a social networking tool that provides a simple way for people to connect, exchange information, and even receive breaking news. You can “follow” the NAA Community to get the latest updates on NAA services and product offerings, fellowship application deadlines, upcoming events, the latest Community blog content, as well as news from NAA staff as they travel to newspaper site visits, industry conferences and more!

Sign up to now to ensure you don’t miss our extended coverage of the upcoming NAA mediaXchange conference in Las Vegas! To get started, sign-up for an account or log-in to Twitter, and visit NAA_Community to begin following.

We hope you find this Quick Tip easy and useful, and we’ll be back with another Quick Tip next week!

Need additional help? View our Online Tutorial or have a look through our FAQs for official answers. You may also or peruse the information in our NAA Community Blog — everything from how to get started to tips and tricks designed to help you get the most out of your Community. Just visit: http://community.naa.org/help or call 571-366-1200.

Thanks,
NAA Community Team

UPDATE:

I sent NAA_Community a tweet to see if a human was on the other end, listening and I got a response! I hope this person, whomever they are, starts posting.

Metaprinter to Twitter Changing Media Landscape, 2008 NYC

Posted on November 10, 2008 by Robert Ivan

Changing Media Landscape, 2008
November 11, 2008
Columbia J-school’s annual look at the media revolution, with several media influencers – and no Powerpoint! Columbia-Hearst Journalism Dialogues and the Columbia Journalism Alumni Association present:
• Sewell Chan, blogger/editor, The New York Times “City Room” blog (from midtown)
• Adriano Farano, executive editor, CafeBabel.com (from Paris)
• Erica Smith, news designer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and “Paper Cuts” blog (from St. Louis)
• Jacob Weisberg, chairman, Slate (from midtown)
Tuesday, 6:30-9 pm (reception from 6:30-7 pm)

Follow My Twitter Feed for Updates as they happen and revisit this site for complete coverage of this event.

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Remaindered Newspaper Links November 7, 2008

Posted on November 7, 2008 by Robert Ivan

-Obama bits and loose ends from Kottke.org – lots of interesting facts and links

-API Summit on Saving an Industry in Crisis from americanpressinstitute.org – an invitation only event for newspaper execs to save the newspaper industry. It make no sense to me that the very people who don’t know how to fix things are the only ones being invited. Invite Om Malik, Ariana Huffington, Matt Drudge, Eric Schmidt, Young People, Outside programmers and developers, etc…

-’Washington Post’ Launches New Government-Focused Web Pages from Editor&Publisher

-How To Make News Cheaper from Forbes.com – or is it just cheap news? the solution seems poor.

-Newspapers That Use Twitter from GraphicDesigner – Excellent page on newspaper Twitter usage with stats and links. As of October 2008 newspapers have 793 Twitter accounts. The Top accounts by followers are NY Times and Washington Post.

Gas Shortage in Atlanta Eased by Twitter Feeds. Traditional Media? FAIL!

Posted on October 1, 2008 by Robert Ivan

In case you don’t know, there is a gasoline shortage in the south and the Atlanta area in particular. The New York Times says, “The problem began when Hurricanes Gustav and Ike battered Gulf Coast refineries, reducing the national refinery capacity by as much as 20 percent. It worsened as nervous drivers stockpiled gasoline”.

Where can you find gas? How can you find gas if you can’t drive around to find it? As Clay Shirky would say, “HERE COMES EVERYBODY”! Twitter to the rescue! By inserting hash tags into tweets, people are able cover one topic completely, or at least better than traditional media. When people started communicating their need for gas in Atlanta an #atlgas hash tag was born. Continue reading →

How not to use Twitter… when technology and incompetence collide.

Posted on September 12, 2008 by Robert Ivan

The Rocky Mountain News tweets the funeral of a 3-year-old, Marten Kudlis, killed when a car ran into the ice cream parlor he was in.

I highly recommend newspapers using Twitter to build an audience while writing/ gathering a story for publication. I think it is great for on-the-scene reporting at breaking news events.

But what is the point of using Twitter at a funeral? This does not add to my self-actualization, it does not inform me or entertain me either. The online editor at the Rocky Mountain News needs to get his head examined for allowing this tasteless stunt.

The Reporter is Berny Morson. John Temple is the editor, publisher and president of the Rocky Mountain News. Links are provided to contact these people. No one has been able to reach these two for a comment at press time.

UPDATE 9-13-2008

John Temple attempts to explain his usage of Twitter for covering this funeral. He claims the following:

Helping the community by sending live feeds like for a road closing
The reporter was out of the way of the mourners
Major funerals are covered by TV and Radio
They’ve taken photos of dead babies (for the mother, with the mother’s permission) and had no complaints
“We must learn to use the new tools at our disposal”

The problem is that this was not a “road closing”. It wasn’t a presidential debate. It wasn’t done for the sake of the family.

Most importantly, The Rocky Mountain News should learn how to use Twitter before unleashing it at a kid’s (or anyone’s) funeral. You don’t have to be a newspaper editor to know that.

John, I’ve always thought that the purpose of a newspaper is to promote self-actualization by providing readers with quality information. Readers use that information to make better decisions on a wide range of topics, from which road to travel on (road closings), to which candidate to vote for. When readers find these interactions favorable over a period of time, then a relationship is cultivated and readers come to view your paper as a reliable source for news, information, guidance, entertainment, and advertising.

Not very long ago, the industry standard for revenue generated per subscriber was roughly $1000. It is easy to see why this is no longer the case. The product is no longer providing that level of quality, relevant, information.

Twitter Immortalized In Newseum, Biz Stone Q&A

Posted on August 12, 2008 by Robert Ivan

As you all know I took a trip to the Newseum in DC recently. In what I think is their new media section I came across the infamous “tweet heard round the world”. I contacted Twitter to get more info and they responded quite quickly. Thank you Mr. Stone!

My email to Twitter:

I couldn’t help but notice your appearance in the Newseum in Washington DC. There is a mention of how Twitter beat out the multibillion dollar Bloomberg News Service by 22 seconds in reporting the May 12th earthquake in China this year.

Introduce yourself
How do you feel about being immortalized in this nation’s news museum?
What was that experience like? Did they call you? Write you? Send a Tweet?
Was the China incident a one-time thing or will Twitter continue to influence the future of news reporting?

Their response:

Hi Robert,

My name is Biz Stone and I’m the co-founder of Twitter. Yes, the Newseum folks emailed with a few questions about how Twitter works and I answered them. We’re happy to be included in the collection. The China incident is by no means isolated on Twitter.

Two weeks ago there was an earthquake in Southern California and Twitter started collecting first-hand reports the same minute the quake struck at 11:42am. Nine minutes later, the AP send out a wire. During those nine minutes, Twitter collected 3,436 updates from people on their way to work, school, the doctor, etc containing the word “quake.”

Later that week another quake struck China. There’s also floods, windstorms, Olympics, and any massively shared event you can imagine surfacing on Twitter in real time. Have a look at the trending topics at search.twitter.com to get an idea of how it works.

Because Twitter has a massive real-time feed of what people all over the planet are seeing, feeling, thinking, and doing we believe there are some interesting compliments to existing news services. We’re just now beginning to explore these opportunities.

Thanks,
Biz Stone, Co-founder
Twitter, Inc.

Metaprinter

Internet and Online Strategies

Tag Archives: Twitter