A recent TV campaign for a new Motorola smartphone satirizes both the pervading silliness in new media messages (the category of communication that brought us OMG and LMFAO) and traditional media’s struggle to get hip to it.

A “serious” anchorman reads inane new media messages, such as, “This just in via text message and wall post: The search is on for cute boots.”

The commercial is funny because it exaggerates. We all know that the mainstream media is becoming more and more social all the time. Nary an article gets published online that doesn’t come with widgets to share it on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit and a bevy of other sites — not to mention the comments section at the bottom.

And people turn to Twitter and Facebook to find out what news — local and global — their friends are discussing.

So what are the real differences between the news content that the MSM create and the news-like content of our tweets and status updates?

It turns out the Motorola commercial, while ridiculous, may not be that far off in concept.

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism gathered a year’s worth of data on the top news stories talked about on blogs, in YouTube videos and on social networking profiles, plus seven months of same on Twitter.

The study found that not only do trad. media and social media differ from each other, different social media platforms each have a different function and personality. For example, bloggers tend to talk about stories that elicit emotion and involve things like political ideologies. On Twitter, the majority of the news talk revolves around technology. YouTube’s news content is dominated by foreign (non-US) video.

Perhaps the most surprising thing PEJ found, however, is that social media covers what the press does not (emphasis mine).

[S]ocial media tend to home in on stories that get much less attention in the mainstream press. And there is little evidence, at least at this point, of the traditional press then picking up on those stories in response. Across the entire year studied, just one particular story or event – the controversy over emails relating to global research that came to be known as “Climate-gate” –  became a major item in the blogosphere and then, a week later, gaining more traction in traditional media.  

That’s it? Climate-gate? That’s all the blogosphere generated? I find that surprising. Perhaps if the PEJ surveyors had drilled down to a more local level, they would’ve found less division between the press and the people. Having worked at an alternative newsweekly half of the past decade (which, granted, is not really part of the so-called MSM), I know that we always kept a collective eye to our Facebook and Twitter feeds for newsworthy local developments.

But, in any case, PEJ found that when it comes to breaking national/global news, the biggest news companies still have the widest reach:

More than 99% of the stories linked to in blogs came from legacy outlets such as newspapers and broadcast networks. And just four – the BBC, CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post accounted for fully 80% of all links.

Find out what else this rather stunning report uncovered here. And if you were shocked (or not shocked) by the differences between the Fourth and er… Fifth(?) estates, shout it out in the comments.

Data’s great. But it’s stories that move.

Quick-byte messages, news tickers, trending topics and no-frills blasts of opinion comprise so much of what we consume and produce as web 2.0 users. But what about storytelling? I’m talking about slowing down and taking the time to gather diverse material, process it, and interpret it in a meaningful, unique way.

That’s what’s so arresting about photographer Michael Deppisch’s video of the flooding that has plagued Nashville the past few days. True, the timeliness factor of this video has contributed to its spread across the Internet — “Nashville” was, after all, a trending topic yesterday. But I can imagine watching this video apart from the news context, maybe ten years from now, and still feeling moved. It’s both timely and timeless.

How can we become better storytellers?

By the way, be sure to text “REDCROSS” to 90999 to donate $10 to Nashville flood disaster relief.

Via Mashable

It’s hard to think of a more transformative time in a person’s life than college. Away from your parents, sequestered around a campus loaded with young adults just like you, all of you feeling out real freedom for the first time, like tadpoles that have just sprung legs and an appetite for Jell-O shots.

College is of different value to different people. And if I were counseling a soon-to-be high school grad on where she should spend the next four years of her life, I’d tell her to pick an institution that understands the importance of new media and social media in navigating life beyond college, both personally and professionally.

Ask your recruiter whether the college encourages students to tweet, to network on Facebook and LinkedIn as well as a school-specific social network; whether they encourage them to blog and produce videos; whether they, in short, facilitate student storytelling?

I recently came across a couple of student-made videos that speak well of new media adoption in American universities.

First, from the LJ World, comes Braves TV, a reality-TV-style student vid showing what life is like at Ottawa University in Kansas. Talk about transparency. The school basically set eight students loose with Flip Cams to make videos for the school’s official Facebook page. Check out the cool way they brought Facebook profiles into the video below.

Next, from Plog, on a less pedagogical but highly entertaining note comes these selections from a viral video Heisman campaign for University of Tennessee safety Eric Berry (who, incidentally, was the Kansas City Chiefs’ first round draft pick.) In fact, if you search Eric Berry on YouTube, you’ll find a wealth of content, both on the field and, like these vidoes, off.

The first is a professional-quality hip-hop video featuring Swiperboy, a rapper who has a side career as a Volunteers basketball player and student.

The next, from the same campaign, is a hilarious powerpop video with overtones of Blink 182 and Weezer tomfoolery.

Pretty mindblowing, huh? Especially for those of us who went to college back when mobile phones were new and Yahoo e-mail was about as sexy as it got.

What other colleges do you know of that are embracing new media?

Can an organization effectively “join the social media revolution” without using Facebook and Twitter?

The Kansas City Area Development Council thinks so.

The KCADC promotes the Kansas City region to businesses and investors looking at new markets. According to its site, to date, the KCADC has attracted more than 500 companies to the region.

The local nonprofit has decided to start leveraging social media to accomplish its goals. However, as a post by PR person Ashlie Hand to the brand-new KC Think Blog explains, the group will be using some social platforms and avoiding others.

After writing about how she consulted online communities at Babycenter.com in raising her kids, Hand explains that the KCADC surveyed investors and about “100 site location consultant contacts” to find out how they are using social media.

They concluded that in order to build a social media campaign focused on investors only, the KCADC would use LinkedIn, a branded YouTube channel and a weekly blog. “Since few of our KCADC investors are using Twitter or Facebook for business relationships and networking, as popular and useful as they are for some, we’re not going to waste our time there,” Hand writes.

At a time when companies are racing to set up Facebook pages and Twitter accounts to connect with their communities, doesn’t that declaration sound strange … perhaps a bit reactionary?

Looking at the organization’s list of overall goals, we can imagine ways the KCADC could use Facebook and Twitter to do things like “enhance awareness of our metro’s assets to create positive perceptions”and to “promote the region as the business location of choice.” I, for one, would be happy to follow a group like KCADC on Twitter, but I guess I won’t get to.

By refusing to take part in the conversation on the biggest social platforms, is KCADC missing opportunities to build community and attract new business?

Then again, KCADC did do its research. Far too many companies have rushed into the social networking fray without a clear plan — other than, in some nightmare cases, “Let the intern handle it.” The KCADC took a close look at its community and business goals before deciding which social platforms to use.

What do you think? Is the KCADC being clueless or appropriately selective? Do you like its investors-only approach to social networking? Should it be more open to connecting with regular people?

And thought they won’t find out about this post via Facebook or Twitter, maybe we’ll get some KCADC people to weigh in, too.

In commemoration of the news that people are uploading 24 hours’ worth of video content to YouTube every six seconds, here are three videos from Locker Partner’s escapades across SXSW over the past 24 hours. Enjoy. Hopefully they’ll be done processing by the time you find this. If not, try viewing them here.

I.
Who: Legendary party-hard prophet Andrew W.K.
Where: Buffalo Billiards
When: Last night, March 17, 2010
What: I LOVE AUSTIN, TEXAS!

II.
Who: Will Sheff with his band, Okkervil River, and Roky Erickson.
Where: The Galaxy Room for the Paste Magazine Party
When: Yesterday, March 17, 2010
What: Song from upcoming Roky/Okker collabo True Love Cast Out All Evil.

III.
Who: Scott Hutchinson and Billy Kennedy of Frightened Rabbit
Where: Our hotel lobby.
When: 9:45 this morning.
What: Q&A by KUT, “The Wrestle,” lots of white people & kids.

Like skydiving or heroin, the webcam phenom Chatroulette is something I’d rather listen to folks talk about than actually try myself. That’s my attitude now, anyways. And it’s still the same even after watching this smart, funny and profound video by the very talented Casey Neistat. But what a great piece of piece of storytelling: it blends the personal, the analytical and the universal. And it does such a brilliant job of pinning what’s both silly and significant about the Chatroulette craze, that now I’m sure I don’t ever have to try it.

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

Have you tried Chatroulette? How did that go for you?

Update: Jon Stewart lampooned the media hype over Chatroulette last night. Whatever. Neistat’s is better.

About the filmmaker(s)
Casey Neistat and his brother, Van, are supposed to be launching their own HBO show sometime soon. They’re basically a couple of wayward youths cum homemade auteurs. (Ready Casey’s bio if you got a minute.) You can watch more of their compelling videos at their website. Just don’t expect to get anything else done today.

Nothing says “I love you” like a steaming stack of 10 sliders, two 21-ounce sodas and a heap of fries glowing in the candlelight as it flickers against your true love’s cheek. And all for just $10.79.

That’s what White Castle thinks, anyway, and considering that the fast food chain has been running its Valentine’s Day promotion since 1991, it may be onto something.

“A lot of our loyal customers — fondly known as ‘Cravers’ — either met in a White Castle Restaurant or have other enjoyable memories they like to celebrate here,” says Jamie Richardson, White Castle VP-corporate relations. (AdAge)

And it’s clear from White Castle’s social-media-enriched website that the brand does a lot to encourage customer interaction. The Cravers tab of the site features some clever content such as the Craver Hall of Fame, and includes user-uploaded Flickr photos and YouTube videos.

But it’s the nearly 20-year V-Day promotion that really warms our hearts.

Unfortunately, there are no WCs in our neck of the woods. Guess we’ll have to schedule a field trip.

Image courtesy Flickr: Blaseur

Four words music bloggers dread: Embedding disabled by request.

When a band puts a video on YouTube, and the band’s label (usually a major one) decides it doesn’t want fans sharing that video on their own web pages, the label will ask YouTube to remove the strip of code that allows users to embed. Through a deal with Google, labels get paid small amounts of ad revenue anytime their artists’ videos get watched on YouTube proper. They get $0 when someone watches an embedded video.

Though it’s an annoyance to bloggers, fans and musicians alike, you rarely hear complaints about the policy. Until, that is, a band like OK Go gets involved.

You may remember the Chicago-born band for its 2005 viral hit, “A Million Ways.” The video for that song, which featured the band’s four members doing a choreographed dance routine on treadmills, became a viral smash and launched the band to nearly overnight fame.

You’d think everyone invested in the band’s success would want to replicate that action as closely as possible. The band’s label, EMI, however, had other plans — and those plans involved grounding OK Go’s latest low-budget, would-be-viral-hit on YouTube.

The band’s response? To damn the torpedoes and release the video to Vimeo (which EMI is currently suing) in order for fans to share it.

OK Go – This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.

This is actually the second would-be viral from the band’s new album, Of the Blue Coulour of the Sky. The first, “WTF,” came out a few weeks ago and is here (embedding disabled). But because the record was released this week, OK Go was extra incensed by EMI’s decision to quash the embedding. So much so, in fact, that singer Damian Kulash released an “open letter” on the matter.

It’s an interesting statement on the state of the music industry.

First, Kulash explains why the band is on a major.

See, here’s the deal. The recordings and the videos we make are owned by a record label, EMI. The label fronts the money for us to make recordings – for this album they paid for us to spend a few months with one of the world’s best producers in a converted barn in Amish country wringing our souls and playing tympani and twiddling knobs – and they put up most of the cash that it takes to distribute and promote our albums, including the costs of pressing CDs, advertising, and making videos. We make our videos ourselves, and we keep them dirt cheap, but still, it all adds up, and it adds up to a great deal more than we have in our bank account, which is why we have a record label in the first place.

He then goes on to explain the reason why labels like EMI are so protective of content: because revenue from album sales have plummeted to nearly zilch and labels need every penny they can get, including those from YouTube ads.

So why did OK Go go against its label and release its videos to Vimeo, a site that’s known for rejecting advertising?

So, for now, here’s the bottom line: EMI won’t let us let you embed our YouTube videos. It’s a decision that bums us out. We’ve argued with them a lot about it, but we also understand why they’re doing it. They’re aware that their rules make it harder for people to watch and share our videos, but, while our duty is to our music and our fans, theirs is to their shareholders, and they believe they’re doing the right thing.

And then Kulash gives the embed code for Vimeo. Snap!

This whole situation, however unfortunate, has resulted for a LOT of publicity for OK Go this week, albeit mainly on tech and music-biz blogs.

Still, in a climate where David-and-Goliath stories like this and Conan vs. NBC are grabbing headlines and causing huge backlashes across social media, maybe this is the best thing that could’ve happened to OK Go.

What would you have done in the band’s position?

Our humble homebase of Kansas City won a sports bid of international proportions yesterday, and social media was at the heart of the victory.

For the past few months at the USA Bid Committee has been rallying American soccer fans to convince the FIFA to let the United States host the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022. The Bid Committee contacted 37 cities to compete for the opportunity to host the tournament games. Through a process that involved online voting by fans, that list of 37 was narrowed to 18. And Kansas City is on it!

Next May, the Bid Committee will submit the overall bid to FIFA, which will come back with an answer in December.

Things are looking good for our cowtown.

And when you look at the numbers, it’s no wonder.

As the Riverfront Times reported, KC earned around 6,000 more signatures than the Lou. In fact, at just over 11,000, we’ve got more than LA and New York-New Jersey combined.

Kansas Citians no doubt have Wizards fans to thank for this.

Though supporters of our town’s MLS team can’t compare in number with fans of the Royals or the Chiefs, they have a reputation for being absolutely rabid in their dedication to their team, particularly the members of the KC Cauldron.

So how’d they do it? In addition to alerting fans to the contest on the main site, the Wizards drove support on Hillcrest Road, the official Wizards blog, which posted this video of yesterday’s announcement party.

The Wizards and Hillcrest Road also made use of Facebook and Twitter.

The effort seems to have been spread out across multiple platforms. No doubt the Bid Committee’s widget made a difference, as it has allowed fans to use their own individual profiles and sites to collect votes.

Whatever the case, the passion of KC soccer fans was the ultimate winning factor.

Goal!

The largest manufacturer of PCs has been dealing with claims of racism since two computer store employees posted a video demonstrating that HP’s new face-tracking webcam software has an apparent flaw.

“I think my blackness is interfering with the computer’s ability to follow me,” says the man in the video below. The man, Desi, and his coworker, Wanda, then go on to show how the computer’s camera can find her face but not his.

“Hewlett-Packard computers are racist. I said it,” Desi proclaims, laughing. “And the worst part is, I bought one for Christmas. I hope my wife doesn’t see this YouTube video.”

Well, Desi, she probably has — the video has gotten over 300K views and counting.

As the video gained attention, HP owed a response.

That came via a company blog post, authored by lead social media strategist Tony “Frosty” Welch.

“Everything we do is focused on ensuring that we provide a high-quality experience for all our customers, who are ethnically diverse and live and work around the world,” Welch wrote in the post, titled Customer Feedback Is Important to Us. “That’s why when issues surface, we take them seriously and work hard to understand the root causes.”

He then explained that the technology is built on algorithms that measure the difference in contrast between the eyes and upper cheek. He implied that “insufficient foreground lighting” was to blame in Desi’s case. Then, like a good tech guy, he directed readers to a page of webcam optimization tips.

Was it enough?

HP clearly handled the situation with some finesse. That it responded at all is very important.

At this point, though definitely viral, the video isn’t exactly halting the Internets. So a simple, friendly (and guarded) response was appropriate. After all, people expect techies to talk like techies. No one will believe that HP intentionally built racist computers.

But what if other customers begin uploading more videos showing the same failure in the face-tracking software? If this situation grows, people will look back to the company’s first responses and judge them every step of the way. Proceed with caution, HP.

In the meantime, how about at least a giftcard or something for Desi?

Face it — no pun intended — you kind of owe him on this one.