links for 2009-05-29

  • Kevin: Robin Wauters at TechCrunch adds some levity to the idea that Twitter's trending topics are a good indicator of breaking news. Like most social networking, social media sites including Twitter, Digg and Reddit, the communities all have their own particular interests and agendas. Also, as has been said before, Twitter has thousands of communities. I find the best tips on information come from the community that I have cultivated on Twitter that tracks my personal and professional interests. That's probably the big take-away.
  • Kevin: Paul Farhi writes in AJR: "For journalists, the real question is whether Twitter is more than just the latest info-plaything. Does it "work" in any meaningful way — as a news-dissemination channel, a reporting and source-building tool, a promotional platform? Or is it merely, to buy the caricature, just a banal, narcississtic and often addictive time suck?

    The unsatisfying answer: It all depends. "

  • Kevin: Patrick Smith at paidContent (owned by employer The Guardian) looks at a Wessenden Marketing and Wide Area Publishing Futures survey that says that most publishers in the UK are naive about the "actual costs of building and maintaining a web presence". One spot of hope is that the study found that the job cuts might be over, 74% say they have already made the cuts they need to weather the recession. High on the agenda is integrating print and online.