The Vibrant VJ http://the-vibrant-vj.posterous.com Journalism. Visual storytelling. Blogging. Social Media.  posterous.com Sat, 28 Apr 2012 13:31:46 -0700 NBC Los Angeles Twitter Project Looks Back at 1992 LA Riots http://the-vibrant-vj.posterous.com/nbc-los-angeles-twitter-project-looks-back-at http://the-vibrant-vj.posterous.com/nbc-los-angeles-twitter-project-looks-back-at

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Naturally, I’m a big fan of combining journalism and social media. Social media is transforming journalism, especially since more people are getting their news from Twitter and Facebook than from many other “traditional” news sources. Twitter is a great tool for real time coverage of breaking news and monitoring digital conversations. Or in the case of Trayvon Martin, launching a little known local story out of obscurity and into the headlines of national news.

 But outside of using hashtags for audience engagement or curating social media content for multimedia stories, I’ve been yearning to see a creative social media project from a news source.

After seeing NBC LA’s project,  LA Riots: 20 Years Later, I’m saying “Finally!”

The NBC station in Los Angeles is asking ”What if Twitter existed in 1992?” and “live tweeting the past” with @RealTimeLARiots, a twitter account created to simulate real-time tweets about activity before, during, and after the LA Riots.  

Here’s the wow factor: each tweet corresponds to the actual date, time and sometimes minute of the events that unfolded back in 1992.

Launched on April 20 @RealTimeLARiots is currently covering the final days in the trial of Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno, the four officers accused of beating Black motorist Rodney King.

The account chronicles the events in the courtroom, including tweeting jury deliberation times and actual quotes.  

The tweets even cover activity outside of the courthouse.


On April 29 at 3:15 pm, corresponding to the date and time in 1992,  @RealTimeLAriots will tweet the verdict of the trial, which acquitted 3 of the officers, triggering the first events of the riots.

After that tweet, the account will shift its focus to covering the escalating chaos of the riots by tweeting archive footage and photos, as well as breaking news of events as they unfolded.

I’m really excited to watch this fascinating project develop over the weekend and continue throughout the coming weeks. Judging by the responses to the project, I’m sure @RealTimeLARiots will lead the Twittersphere in making the Los Angeles Riots a trending topic over the next week.

-The Vibrant VJ

Will you be following the twitter buzz about the LA riots? Let me know @ShaunaReporter!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1669817/the_vibrant_vj.jpg http://posterous.com/users/cOqLPwZl4fUUO Shauna Stuart sstuart Shauna Stuart Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:02:00 -0700 Frontline Reaches Its Digital Audience with Social Screenings http://the-vibrant-vj.posterous.com/121466392 http://the-vibrant-vj.posterous.com/121466392
If you’re a fan of the documentary series FRONTLINE on PBS, you’ve probably noticed the program is making some changes, especially if you visit the website or any of its social media platforms.

FRONTLINE is forging further into the world of digital journalism, integrating its broadcast, web, and new media platforms. According to the WGBH website, that means more long-form documentaries, more exclusive web reports, and new magazine-format programs.

The PBS production  already has a pretty active digital presence. FRONTLINE streams more than 100  full length documentaries  and reports online, even some films dating back to the 1980s. The program recently converted its Facebook page to timeline. Now, fans can see milestones in FRONTLINE history, dating back to the program’s debut in 1983. The broadcast also  engages its audience through Twitter by communicating with followers through the FRONTLINE PBS Twitter handle, as well as encouraging documentary reporters and producers to live tweet with viewers while the program airs. In March, FRONTLINE added Google + to its social media networks.

In late February, the award-winning documentary series took audience engagement  one step further by offering  its first “social screening”, an online screening where viewers could watch a documentary and engage in a question and answer session during the film. FRONTLINE isn’t the first PBS program to have a social screening. Earlier in the month, the series Independent Lens had a social screening of the documentary More than a Month.

For the social screening debut, FRONTLINE and its partners ITVS and Kartemquin Films showed the documentary The Interrupters, which originally aired on February 14. Directed by Steve James ( Hoop Dreams) and produced by Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here), the documentary sheds light on the work of Ceasefire, an innovative organization trying to change the cycle of violence in Chicago. Shot over the course of a year, the film delves into the heart of a Chicago neighborhood and follows the community action group the “Violence Interrupters”. The keystone of Ceasefire, the group’s members intervene to stop conflicts before they explode into violence. The Interrupters, who have street cred because of their own personal histories, go face to face with street violence and some of the neighborhood’s most troubled youth.

Nathan Tobey, FRONTLINE’s online engagement coordinator, moderated the screening.

Before starting the documentary, a small video of Tobey appeared at the top of the screen to explain the social screening interface.

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The social screening  had a simple, user friendly design with the documentary in the center. The question and answer panel on the right was divided into two tabs: Moderated and Everyone. Audience members could interact with  Tobey, James and Kotlowitz, and a few members of the film’s cast in the Moderated section. In the Everyone section, viewers could interact with each other.

Icons of people watching the screening appeared under the viewer.  Besides asking questions on the side panel, audience members could also give their feedback on the film by clicking on a range of emoticons. Audience members could click on the heart to “like” a moment in the film, or click on the hands to “applaud”. During a particularly emotional scene, viewers could even click on the “cry” emoticon.
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The Q and A concept was pretty simple.  Viewers typed questions into the box. Once Tobey received them on the other end, they would appear on the Moderated side.

Before the screening began, Tobey issued a disclaimer, saying members of the panel would try their best to answer all of the questions. Of course, this was a natural disclaimer due to the high volume of questions they were going to receive.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the organization of the received questions, as well as the speed at which the producers, cast, and moderators answered them.  

My advice to anyone who participates in one of these social screenings: pay close attention to the responses in the Moderated section.  Just because your question doesn’t appear in the Moderated box doesn’t mean it will go unanswered.

I asked a question about how some of the young men in the documentary responded to Ameena Matthews, the only female Violence Interrupter in the film. It didn’t appear in the lineup, but I think Steve James ended up answering the question:

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I did notice that longer or more complicated questions appeared in the box.
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Another word of advice:  don’t hesitate to ask a question or make a comment  you think is controversial. Even though the questions and comments were moderated, FRONTLINE didn’t shy away from posting any potentially controversial responses, staying true to promoting audience engagement and discussion.   
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 I was also impressed with the level of engagement  from members of the Interrupters. Typing responses to numerous questions is difficult, but the cast and directors were absolutely engaging. One interrupter, Eddie, gave detailed responses about his experience doing the film.
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 Cobe, another panelist, even gave his contact information before he left the chat.
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As I expected, the screening ended with a lot of applause, or in that case, the avid use of the “clapping” emoticon.
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One final word of advice to get the best out of a social screening ( whether it’s a FRONTLINE or Independent Lens production): if you can, prepare questions ahead of time by watching the documentary beforehand, either online or on TV.  If you’ve already seen the film, you won’t have to worry about missing a scene while you type a question into the box.

If this social screening is any indication of FRONTLINE’s efforts at building audience outreach by promoting more digital and social media engagement, then the series is on its way to becoming one of the front-runners in digital journalism.

I’ll be back for the next social screening with my laptop out and questions ready.


-The Vibrant VJ

Love it? Hate it? Tell me @ShaunaReporter

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1669817/the_vibrant_vj.jpg http://posterous.com/users/cOqLPwZl4fUUO Shauna Stuart sstuart Shauna Stuart Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:04:00 -0800 #KONY2012 Launches Joseph Kony's War Crimes Into Social Media Space http://the-vibrant-vj.posterous.com/108847220 http://the-vibrant-vj.posterous.com/108847220

Uganda  is one of  the top trending topics on Twitter right now, both in the United States and worldwide. In the midst of the 2012 presidential campaign, NBA season, and the public debate about women’s rights to birth control, the last topic I expected to see trending was an African country.
I was doubly surprised to see Uganda trending worldwide, especially when Justin Bieber followers knocked #BeatCancer out of the number 1 spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for  “Most tweets sent in 24 hours.”

So what sparked the sudden interest of the Twittersphere in the affairs of an African country?

Since being placed on Youtube on March 5  KONY 2012 , a film by the American  nonprofit Invisible Children, has received more than 440,000 views. Directed by Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell, the film is intended to raise awareness about the war crimes of dictator Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).  

While Kony routinely brutalized the people of Uganda, children were the largest group of victims in his reign of terror.  Using rape and kidnapping, Kony recruited children to fight in the LRA. The children had no choice but to join the army, or face either torture or death.

Invisible Children tweeted the link on March 5 at 12pm PST.

Less than 24 hours ago, Invisible Children also started a social media experiment to increase KONY 2012 views across the web.

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Since the experiment launched, KONY 2012 has gained more than 4 million views in 48 hours.
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The Invisible Children Facebook Page also has more than 1 million likes.
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The number of people following Invisible Children on Twitter  is growing by thousands per minute. At 4:20am EST, @InvisibleChildren had 145,631 followers. As of 3:31pm EST, it now had more than 200,000.
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Of course, that number will increase before this post is published online.

Now, let’s look at some quick Twitter statistics, keeping in mind that all of this information is time sensitive.

Twitter tracking device Tweetreach reports that the hashtag #KONY2012 reached more than 8,000 Twitter users. The kicker: the data only measures the past 50 tweets.

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The hashtag #STOPKONY reached more than 40, 000 tweeters.
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Again, this data only measures a slice of the number of people tweeting. Twitter has more than 170 million users. You do the math.

So why all of the sudden interest Joseph Kony’s war crimes?

Newsflash: this story isn’t new. Kony terrorized the people of Uganda with the Lord’s Resistance Army for more than a decade. Russell shot the footage he used in the KONY 2012 video more than five years ago.

In 2005, the TV news series Dateline NBC aired a report that covered the Ugandan night commuters, thousands of children that traveled by night for miles on foot to reach a town where the rebels were less likely to attack. Hours later, the children gathered their belongings once again, and returned to their homes before sunlight. The report won an Emmy for Best Report in a News Magazine.

Despite this report, not to mention coverage done by PBS, Reuters, and other media outlets, the terror in Uganda had gone virtually unnoticed.

But by March 7, #KONY2012 breathed a whole new level of awareness into a topic that was vastly unknown to those outside of an audience that follows the investigative reporting of PBS, Dateline NBC, and other news sources.  

This increased awareness of the plight of the children in Uganda shows the power of social media.

Many Twitter users who previously had no idea about the conflict in Africa were suddenly enlightened.

Celebrities from Jadakiss to Taylor Swift also tweeted about  #KONY2012.





Even Twitter star Justin Bieber retweeted the #KONY2012 hashtag.

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In recognition of the children of Uganda, the hastag #TweetToSave was also promoted.
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However, not everyone is happy about the praise Invisible Children is getting. The Tumblr blog Visible Children   is strongly opposed to the KONY 2012 campaign. The blog exposes criticism of  the charity’s fundraising services, saying in 2011  the organization spent $8,676,614.00 but only 32% of the money actually went to helping the Ugandan children.  

Another reason? The activism of Invisble Children is about six years too late. Here’s a quote from the blog:

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Yes, the mass awareness spread by KONY 2012 is, to put it lightly, tardy. But there is a silver lining to this johnny-come-lately activism: the social media experiment worked!  4 million more people now know about the events that unfolded in Uganda, and this number is growing by the minute. This delayed instance of mass awareness can grab the attention of millions of people in the social media space, and redirect it to the civil wars happening in Africa right now. The events that unfold after this mass “twitter enlightenment” will prove the true effectiveness of social media. Yes, there may be strength in clickable web traffic, but the true strength lies in action.

-The Vibrant VJ

Comments? Questions? Threats? Let me know on Twitter @ShaunaReporter.


 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1669817/the_vibrant_vj.jpg http://posterous.com/users/cOqLPwZl4fUUO Shauna Stuart sstuart Shauna Stuart Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:49:00 -0800 Watch the Tweet: My Favorite Tweets about the Kanye West Twitter Rant http://the-vibrant-vj.posterous.com/watch-the-tweet-my-favorite-tweets-about-the-41920 http://the-vibrant-vj.posterous.com/watch-the-tweet-my-favorite-tweets-about-the-41920
It’s been a more  than 24 hours since Kanye West shook up the Twitterverse.  Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past day, you know about how Kanye West took to twitter to voice his opinions about the American education system, set the record straight about his clothing line, and talk about his trials as a fashion intern (if you don’t know the story by now, hide your face in shame and then update yourself by reading the story here)
 
Of course, there was DONDA.  What is Dona? Well, I would tell you, but I think Mr. West says it best:
 

So what’s the next step  when you create a new company?  Start recruiting! In Kanye’s case, he was looking for umm... everyone:



(Honestly, if you don’t fit into one of those categories and you want to work for Kanye West, you need to redo your life plan. I’m serious. Go now.)

Then came the most epic twitter moment of ALL TIME: Kanye posted the beacon of light to all DONDA employee hopefuls: the DONDA email address.

I’m surprised gmail didn’t crash.

Kanye seems to have said his peace (at least for now) and hasn’t tweeted since.

Well it’s been a day since Kanye wrote the 86 tweets heard around the world. The Huffington Post led the online world in writing about the rant, publishing a post barely an hour after Kanye stopped tweeting. Since then, tech sites from Mashable, to gossip blogs like Necole Bitchie have all had their say about West and his proposed “best company of all time.” Jimmy Kimmel also took his shot last night with his own commercial for DONDA based on Kanye’ tweets.

The fire has died down significantly from two nights ago, but the online world is still buzzing.

Maybe it’s the journalist inside of me that requires me to listen to the voice of the people, but to me, what was just as interesting as the Kanye West twitter rant was people’s RESPONSES to the Kanye West twitter rant.

I spent the last 24 (give or take a few) hours looking at tweets about  Kanye. Using the hash tag #DONDA and searching the trending topics DONDA and Kanye, I came across quite a few interesting tweets. They were hopeful, skeptical, supportive, and logical. A lot of them were also HILARIOUS.

Please pardon me while I bring briefly bring DONDA back into relevancy to share my favorite tweets of the day.

Funny, despite the flurry of activity on Twitter the night before, a couple of my followers had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned DONDA that night or the next morning. Maybe because they have an actual...umm... life? My friend Chip Dizard was one of them.





He retweeted that last tweet. I swear he was mocking me.

Some of those following Kanye’s rant were confused by the DONDA concept. By “some” I really mean “many” (I know I was giving  the DONDA idea the sideye).

One tweeter creatively expressed her confusion Kanye style, with lyrics from the Watch the Throne album:

Not everyone in the Twitter world was on board with the DONDA idea. Some gave Kanye’s concept the good ole *Kanye Shrug*:

http://twitter.com/#!/scottdools/status/154810903710281728


Others  were glad to see Mr. West tweeting about creative vision and innovation.

DONDA particularly caught the eye of tech entrepreneur Wanye Sutton.

You may remember him from the CNN’s Black in America 4: The New Promised Land- Silicon Valley. Sutton is one of the partners and creators of the NewMe Accelerator, the first minority led startup accelerator in Silicon Valley.  So yeah, that means he’s competition.


If Sutton gets a call from DONDA, I’m thinking that company definitley has a shot.

No matter how innovative DONDA sounds, one tweeter warned DONDA future employee hopefuls to use some common sense, and not throw it all out the window just because Kanye West came a callin’.

So...will DONDA ever come to fruition? We’ll see. Kanye is a mover and shaker, so I’m sure at least a part of this project will see the light. I mean, it’s not like this is Diddy and he’s trying to make a band (yeah, I went there).

I’m excited to see how this project unfolds. And if you get a response from DONDA, remember we’re friends.

-The Vibrant VJ


Like what you read? Hate it and wish I were dead? Tell me @ShaunaReporter

 

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1669817/the_vibrant_vj.jpg http://posterous.com/users/cOqLPwZl4fUUO Shauna Stuart sstuart Shauna Stuart