Alert Blog Reviews

While there is always some information to discuss about how the news will be consumed via the free model online or through a myriad of paywalls another area of the news industry is changing just as rapidly. News reporting is still the domain (for the most part) of the professional journalist but the amateur news reporter is becoming more and more desired. YouTube recognizes this and is offering a service to help get the amateurs and the pros connected. The New York Times reports YouTube has signed up NPR, Politico, The Huffington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle for YouTube Direct, a new method for managing video submissions from readers. The new feature, (formally introduced) on Tuesday, is a tool to make it easy for YouTube users to submit clips that news media companies can choose to highlight. The site plans to sign up other media partners. “We’re trying to connect media organizations with citizen reporters on YouTube,” said Steve Grove, the Web site’s head of news and politics . How it works is that when a visitor goes to a one of the subscribing sites they will have the ability to upload a video to YouTube that will be flagged for review by the sites editors and powers that be. Pretty straightforward and direct. We like that. It seems like a good way to manage or even create a process that didn’t exist before or, if it was in place, was hacked together thus inefficient. With news agencies needing to cut back on staff and not being able to be in all places at all times any way this can create a new model that will be a supplement or complement to the existing news environment. Always thinking about where the next dollar is Google explains that the service is not just for the news set. YouTube also envisions uses beyond the day’s news. The site suggested in a blog post that businesses could use the tool to solicit endorsements and that politicians could “ask for user-generated political commercials.” Nice move in my opinion. Any organization that can provide some form or shape to the ‘wild west’ of user generated content will be helping everyone in the long run. What usually happens is that when you create something that actually helps people then the revenue will follow. Right, Twitter?

Continue reading here:
YouTube Helps YouReport

By POYZN of WamWan – Follow them @POYZN . There’s countless Twitter widgets, tools and sites out there to make your Twitter experience more enjoyable. But the following sites are the pick of the bunch chosen from those sneaky discreet third party text-ads on Twitter itself, placed on user profiles, displayed under the stats. Since Twitter is officially endorsing these third-party fansites for free, then they must have some user benefit, right? Well, the following five chosen are actually pretty fun and useful: We Follow – Directory of interesting Twitter accounts . This site is terrific for fishing out the Twitter users in your niche, or the ones which simply interest you. You can add your own Twitter account to the directory too so others can find you. All users are neatly categorized and tagged for you to choose from by; industry, niche and location. All the celebrity tweeters are listed there too. Happy stalking. Favstar – Fast way to discover people’s favorite tweets. Favstar lets you track what your friends, followers, and everyone else has labeled as ‘favorite’ on Twitter. Ofcourse, you can also know how many Twitter users have your tweets as their favorite. Depending on your findings, it’ll either boost your ego or deflate it. Be prepared for a reality shock. Twitter Counter – Fun way to explore your social graph . This is basically Feedburner in a Twitter costume. It lets you show off the number of Twitter followers you have. Which is useful for the braggers. For everyone else, it’s a great tool to explore your account’s statistics in terms of overall rank, followers, friends, updates, etc, all broken down in a neat graph. You can also compare your account to others too. For instance, you can compare yours to Ellen DeGeneres and Ashton Kutcher’s. Go ahead try it, aim for the stars. Hype Machine – Easy way to find Twitter’s most popular music . This clever little tool keeps track of what Twitter users write about in regard of music selection. It’s basically an interactive music chart of songs being posted on Twitter. It’s a great tool in a way which you are able to find out and listen to what your fellow tweeters enjoy music-wise. The only drawback is that you’ll soon discover so many of which have terrible taste in music. Trends Map – Simple way to pinpoint map of local trends . This tool is a real-time mapping of Twitter trends across the globe. It lets you see what the world is discussing right now on Twitter, and from which location the trend originated. It’s really neat. It’s Google Maps but Twitterized. You’ll particularly love this one if your Twitter trend obsession is few levels above the average Twitter addict. © 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips . Twitter Approved – Five Fantastically Fun Fansites

Original post:
Twitter Approved – Five Fantastically Fun Fansites