The Internet is changing everything in our culture and to ignore the new tools it offers to leverage the vast and wonderfully deep, previously unavailable information to your competitive advantage would be foolish. One of the more fascinating trends I’ve noticed from this year’s presidential election has been the use of data and social media in tracking/predicting news stories.

Savvy reporters that brush up on their analytical, social media and data metrics skills may be able to see which way the wind is blowing before the leaves start to rustle or an official press release is proofed. (Not to get all scifi geek on you but kinda like Neo reading the lines of neon green floating code in The Matrix.)

To do this, reporters could begin tracking and analyzing:

• Wikipedia edits — Watch the change frequency, history and by whom (and what other changes they’ve made).
• Social media marketing — Watch key names/accounts on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Digg and other popular social sites for accounts that social media marketing teams will snatch up and start filling out for public propaganda.
• Google AdWords purchase rates and bidding — Campaigns will buy out the inventory of future candidates to protect their names/repuations
• Related/Obvious URLs –  (I.e. ObamaBiden.com) Watch their owners (and what else they own), purchases, transfers and activity on them
• Google Trends — Follow traffic bursts and growth around key dates
• Track their website changes — See if they’ve changed the wording on their position and bust them Jon Stewart-style (I can’t believe Jon Stewart is the model for holding authorities accountable now). Or do it the cheaper ways. Check out Versionista, too! It’s free and used by many leading blogs! (Thanks, Tim D’Avis)
• Google Alerts — Ahh, the ‘old’ standby. Set up Google alerts for topics that interest you or are relevant to your beat. Keywording properly is critical here though. Michael, in the comments, suggests checking out FaveBot.com too!

None of these are an exact science, they’re just more tools to use but as analytics increasingly get more accurate they could be very useful, if not just plain interesting. They’re also more likely to be accurate or useful than a generic ‘man on the street’ filler quote or vague political party press releases.

If anything, this is more proof that we need more tech-friendly reporters who embrace data and social media and less curmudgeons who fear or ignore it.

Do you have any other ideas on the new reporting tools the Internets have given us? Shout them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list.

Dear Internet friends,

I think you’re swell.

But please cease and desist pumping every single Twitter update, Flickr photo, blog entry, comment on your blog entries, YouTube video posting, comment on other people’s blog entries you made, Delicious link, comment someone made on a post you made 3 years ago about some web service that doesn’t exist anymore, rss feed, and live streaming video update on what you are currently eating/drinking into every single social media tool on the planet that we are linked with.

Feed your Twitter updates into Facebook; everyone does that. But for the sake of humanity — end it there.

There’s this fantastic thing called FriendFeed that you can dump your whole life stream of links into and we can be friends there. I can marvel at all the fantastic things you do/eat/drink there.

Or if you must turn a fire hose on innocent bystanders, follow Kottke’s advice and offer a ‘real friends’ profile and a ‘fire hose/marketing/spam’ profile. I’ll take the former.

Please stop spamming me or we’re not going to be friends anymore.

Thanks,
Will

Goodbye to the music industry
“So, why do I say goodbye to the music industry? Because how do kids find out about new music? On the Internet. Where on the Internet? Radio stations. Well, when they aren’t stealing music or borrowing their friends iPods that is.” More info. Given this disappointing news about internet radio, now check out this article on libraries:

If Public Libraries Didn’t Exist, Could You Start One Today?
“I am guessing there would be a huge pushback from book publishers. Given the current state of debate about intellectual property, can you imagine modern publishers being willing to sell one copy of a book and then have the owner let an unlimited number of strangers borrow it? I don’t think so. Perhaps they’d come up with a licensing agreement: the book costs $20 to own, with an additional $2 per year for every year beyond Year 1 it’s in circulation. I’m sure there would be a lot of other potential arrangements.”

Audio: Ted Stevens Wants To Switch Between Phones “As I Ride My Motorcycle”
I’m not sure if this is very funny or very sad. Perhaps both.

FCC Auction Should Allow for Open Wireless Network, Say Lawmakers
Finally, some positive news in telecom regulation! “This issue of open access lies at the center of the debate about rules that will govern the spectrum auction, which are expected to be released this month. FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin has proposed setting aside one-third of the spectrum for an open network that would work with any cellphone.”

Study: Most US Teens, Young Adults Don’t Follow The News Closely
“Harvard University has released a study that concludes that 60 percent of American teenagers pay little attention to daily news, Reuters reports.”

’10 That Do It Right’ No. 3: ‘The Onion’
“…the success of the Onion, the weekly mix of outright fake news, commentary, and real arts-and-entertainment coverage, is far from a joke. Promoting itself as “America’s Finest News Source,” the witty chronicle has grown from a small student publication at the University of Wisconsin to a major circulation and advertising powerhouse, equipped with a formidable, user-friendly Web site with all of the modern online offerings of any 21st- century newspaper.” The ‘Noke is on the ’10 That Do It Right’ list too!

Zillow expands into hyperlocal news
Oh-oh.

Suggestions for “scared” TV news sites
“I remember my days in the newsroom. Unless a viewer wrote a letter to management, most complaints went in one ear and out the other. Viewers were good for only two things: ratings and story ideas. The latter only if we wanted to listen.” Dude, TV people really are like that? I thought it was just an urban legend. Anyway, Angela has good stuff here for TV (or) newspaper sites to build audiences.

Using the Internet to Find Stories
“In a digital age, let’s expand upon that theory – let’s create Digital Listening Posts.” Great tips for reporters to get wired sources.

The Original (and Future?) Facebook
“The basic lesson is one I’ve said before, but probably is worth repeating: we collect a ton of information and only think about how it will help shape a smallish blob of text in tomorrow’s paper. And then we forget about it and move on. Now here’s the ironic bit. If you think about it, newspaper wedding announcements and obituaries (in particular) are the original social networking application: people volunteer or even pay to have these announcements printed, they hand over personal information that could be quite interesting or relevant in other situations and they really, really like to see those announcements in the paper.”

About our redesign — South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
The Sun-Sentinel joins the Orlando Sentinel in rolling out Tribune Corporate’s new “Gen3″ cms and layout template.

MySpace – Still The King (for now)
“I can imagine that all the Facebook hype is a little annoying to MySpace – which is still the largest site on the Internet. That may be some of the motivation behind the press release going out Thursday morning saying, effectively, that they are still the King of Social Networking.”

Sigbritt, 75, has world’s fastest broadband
“A 75 year old woman from Karlstad in central Sweden has been thrust into the IT history books – with the world’s fastest internet connection.” (via Digg) Hm… 40 gb, eh? I wonder if there’s a ‘Mr.’ Löthberg.

News-Gazette Launches Harry Potter Niche Site
I’m sorry, I don’t ‘get’ Harry Potter but I’m sure there are people who don’t ‘get’ Star Wars. I applaud this niche site effort.

What j-students need
“… You’re absolutely out of your mind.” These are awesome.

House Passes College Cost Reduction
“House Passes Single Largest Effort to Help Students Pay for College since GI Bill Bill Would Boost Scholarships and Reduce Student Loan Costs at No New Taxpayer Expense WASHINGTON, D.C. – By an overwhelming vote of 273 to 149…”

OMG — My Boss Wants To Be My ‘Friend’ Online
“But when his boss, in his 30s, invited Mr. Dyer, 24 years old, to be friends on the social-networking sites MySpace and Facebook, dodging wasn’t so easy. On the one hand, accepting a person’s request to be friends online grants them access to the kind of intimacy never meant for office consumption, such as recent photos of keggers and jibes from friends. (‘Still wearing that lampshade?’)” Note to self: Remove last weekend’s streaking photos from MySpace.

Medill – Great Storytelling in Visual Formats at Robb Montgomery
“Next month we’ll be gathering along Lake Michigan for a presentation and coaching in visual journalism at the annual meeting Alternative Journalism Workshop of Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.” All you Chicago readers should get to this.

YouTube – Michael Moore vs. Sonjay Gupta
My question is answered: The broadcast media does make corrections!

23-Year-Old Mark Zuckerberg Has Google Sweating
“Owen Van Natta, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said a visit to Amazon.com will uncover all the product recommendations one might want but the value can be limited in the anonymity of the people posting the reviews. On the other hand, if you take your online activities and put them through the filter of the people you know well, those actions take on greater meaning.”

What If Moses Had Had Google?
“When asked about Google’s future, he talks about the targeted personalization of search results: ‘The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask questions such as ‘What shall I do tomorrow?’ and ‘What job shall I take?’”

Wikipedia ranks first for online news
“According to Nielsen//NetRatings, the encyclopedia site Wikipedia is the top news and information destination on the Internet, gaining 20 million unique monthly users in the past year.”

This will become the trend: news sites to require real names on comments
“The wild-web 2.0 has advantages, and normally I advocate be as much like the unfettered web as possible, and even though it contradicts my ‘stop thinking like big media’ advocacy, there are some journalistic standards worth maintaining. One of them is truthfulness and transparancy. People should stand behind their opinons and assertions with their real identity.”

MySpace News worth using
“After about an hour using the beta version of MySpace News, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be worth your time. … If for no other reason, check it out to learn how you can rate your content up the list and drive traffic to your own site.”

Metromix Los Angeles Launches
Whoa, Tribune’s Metromix gets shiny. I dig, except Orlando/Baltimore versions have lots more nice image teases. And the Chicago version has lots more scannable info visible and deeplinked. If these three iterations could have a menage a trois and produce a baby, it would be really bodacious. (Via Squared) Word on the street is the Trib will be rolling out a lot of redesigns this summer.

The lessons from BackFence.com
Great stuff here: “Hyper-local is about utility and networks of people, not citizen journalism” And… “The only thing that makes it easier is being able to do it in ‘gulps” as in ‘Here’s the local phone number for this service’ or ‘here’s where you sign up for this’. That’s it. Most people can’t do much more and those that could don’t have the time. Microblogging and Facebook status updates are literally a gift from heaven in this scenario.”

A New Branded Journalism
Medill is retooling the way it teaches the trade, to the dismay of faculty and students. More on the rapid changes and controversy (Full disclosure: If you didn’t know from the about page, I’m a Medill MSJ grad.)

Open-Source Journalism: It’s a Lot Tougher Than You Think
“But fundamentally, crowdsourced journalism’s promise must be realized by the crowd; if a project doesn’t suit the ‘users,’ it won’t fly. So hearing from — and listening to — these users is key.”

Dayton Daily News Acts Like a Start-Up with Pets Sites
“A group at the Dayton Daily News decided to act like a tech start-up and launch a niche Web site in just nine days that centered on this growth area. … In addition to social networking among pet lovers, the site offers photo uploads, photo galleries, helpful information and polls.”

New rituals for new media pt 2
“The big problem is site stickiness. Far too many web site visitors are ‘one click and out.’ They dive bomb into the site, check the weather and are gone. They come to the home page, scan the top headlines, and give up very few clicks.”

A neutral ‘Net needs up to twice the bandwidth of a tiered network
“Recent research suggests the obvious: that building an undifferentiated network requires far more capacity than one in which traffic is prioritized, throttled, and controlled. But when AT&T researchers are involved in writing the paper in question, the results seem a bit more sinister. Is the research just another attempt by a major backbone Internet operator to justify a non-neutral Internet?” Be careful kids, there’s so much evil out there!

Cutting the ties that bind
“Off with the yoke. Damn the tie.” (Via Hartnett … Although he as been known to wear his republican red power tie around the office on occasion.)

‘Chicago Sun-Times’ Looks to Redefine Itself as ‘Liberal, Working-Class’ Paper
Interesting move. “Under marching orders from Publisher John Cruickshank and Editor in Chief Michael Cooke, new Editorial Page Editor Cheryl L. Reed introduced a new Commentary section Tuesday with a promise to turn the tabloid back into the liberal-leaning paper it was for decades before the Reagan administration.”

Revamp: Del.icio.us preps next version — and gives us a peek
I am so excited about this. I hope they 1-increase the character count for link notes 2-build a cooler system for organizing/combining tags you already have. 3-streamline the lag time on the search/tagging process — I’ve found once you get beyond 6,000-7,000 links, the site slows immensely… especially when using the Firefox tag plugin (which is also a key to accumulating that many links).

Korean company GPNC has put together a 70 inch all-in-one PC, making it the world’s largest.
“Although the manufacturer didn’t even bother taking a product shot without an XP error message in it, so who knows what kind of effort they’re putting into this thing. If you open up the monitor it’s probably just filled with styrofoam peanuts instead of actual electronics.” I laughed at this for half of Monday.

Silly live shot turns into web phenom
Following up the clip of Jonathon and his professed love of turtles that I mentioned a couple weeks ago. Bonus clip: Bill O’Reilly interviews the “I Like Turtles” Kid.

New York Bike Share Project
This is awesome! Like in Denmark! Too bad it’s just for a week as a “summer charrette” … (Could that name be any more pretentious?) (Via Khoi Vinh)

MTV Labs: Short Circuitz
MTV can’t seem to find a successful vehicle for Nick Cannon. So now he’s doing a show on submitted remixed videos.

The Beard Team USA Blog: Chicks dig beards!
Beard nerds, rock it. Also, beardists, it’s time to book your Aug. 4 flight to St. Louis.

Mediastorm: Black Market by Patrick Brown
Great use of chapters and tight editing. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they’re almost too short.

33 Names of Things You Never Knew had Names
Word, word nerds.

And finally, here’s some widely-discussed news you’ve probably read elsewhere, but just in case:

Breaking News: All Online Data Lost After Internet Crash
“I feel like ctrl-alt-deleting myself”

New NetRatings Metrics: A Work in Progress
“While NetRatings’ average time per person and average number of sessions metrics typically reflect what the average user does, the total minutes and total sessions measurements provide information from ‘a ranking perspective’…” Howard Owens rightfully questions this as a final solution

Michael Moore Rips Wolf Blitzer on CNN: “Why Don’t You Tell the American People the Truth” [VIDEO]
I don’t mean to jump on the broadcast haterz train here but have you ever actually seen a broadcast TV news retraction/correction? Wolf says they’ll issue one if there’s incorrect information but I’ve never, ever seen one.

Google, Yahoo Both Working On Next Generation Social Networks
“It’s a busy Sunday evening – first the news on Yahoo Mosh, and now news that Google is working on its own next generation social networking service called Socialstream, possibly to take the spotlight away from the ailing Orkut.”

iPhone shatters AT&T record, dwarfs RAZR
“Apple over the weekend sold more than 700,000 iPhones to rocket past analyst predictions and shatter AT&T’s record by selling more iPhones in three days than Motorola’s RAZR did in its first month. Apple’s supply of iPhones depleted at more than half of its retail stores less than a week after the cellular handset hit shelves at 6:00 p.m. ET last Friday night. Buyers cleared out both Apple and AT&T stores in 10 states, with 95 of 164 stores selling out on Monday night, according to Bloomberg.” (Via Digg)

Choose video-worthy subjects
“Video is really good at what it’s naturally good at, and it’s really really bad for what it’s not naturally good at. You can’t put enough lipstick on a diabetes conference pig. I think bad assignments are just part of the learning process … You’ve got to try things and fail. Hopefully next time the assignment will be for something that is video worthy.”

Scandinavian newspapers are doing lots of things right
“Not even the most eloquent writer could have explained what happened as well as that animation does. It’s very powerful and very well done. The lesson here is simple: If newspapers don’t get off their butts and start embracing this sort of storytelling, then the very folks we normally cover will just do it themselves. If you don’t believe me, spend about 15 minutes on the MLB.com site for your closest Major League Baseball team, and then tell me if the hometown newspaper for that team covers the team as well or as deep.”

FeedBurner turns subscription services free
“Feedburner, the Chicago-based startup recently bought by Google, is now making two of its subscription services free.” Woohoo!

Insight from Steve Yelvington on how mobile Internet isn’t the real Internet
“* The “real Internet,” not the walled garden maintained by the telcos. This means open standards, free content (with the end of the lucrative ringtone market), and fast access. * A standards-compliant browser and display big enough to view real web pages, but small enough that some mobile optimization is still appropriate. So the game does change. It’s not crazy to imagine mobile net access at a level rivaling computer-based access within a few years.”

EBay launches ‘kijiji’ in United States
“EBay is the latest high profile company to dive in to the lucrative classifieds game. Kijiji launched overseas in 2005, but now the company is expanding to the US. Right now the site is a pure “free” classifieds site, with no upsell for consumers – though eBay told the Wall Street Journal that it will explore those options down the road.”

Managing Your Digital Identity
I can’t believe I forgot this yesterday. (Full disclosure: Laura and I are buds and I helped with some suggestions/anecdotes.)

Sicko Spurs Audiences Into Action
“Outside the restroom doors… the theater was in chaos. The entire Sicko audience had somehow formed an impromptu town hall meeting in front of the ladies room. I’ve never seen anything like it. This is Texas goddammit, not France or some liberal college.”

Tokyo Dance Trooper
I love how the crowd joins in. I wonder if that was staged…

Lego Millenium Falcon Stop Motion
It’s a Star Wars video-apalooza today.