State of the Nation

The Occupy Wall Street movement has grown from local to global. From dozens to hundreds to thousands. After initial success, it’s now at a turning point in the movement — the second phase. It can either devolve into its anarchistic tendencies, or unify to create a more powerful voice. The crux right now is local governments joining forces and evicting protesters in New York and other encampments. This will force the movement underground, or in direct confrontation with the powers that be, and this change could force some real direction and movement, sluggish at best with group sentiment leading decision making, rather than centralized leadership. It’s very possible that now this fracturing, or attempt at fracturing the group, will eliminate the fringe members, and galvanize the die-hards.

Occupy Wall Street is calling tomorrow, November 17, or #N17, a day of action, two months to the day that the occupation began in Zuccotti Park.

To stay on point with all of the varied Occupy news, check out Greg Mitchell at The Nation. He just released released an ebook based on his very popular Occupy Blog: 40 Days That Shook the World: from Occupy Wall Street to Occupy Everywhere. Pick it up—which I guess means downloading now.

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One of the biggest stories regarding Occupy you don’t hear enough of is the media blackout going on—whether suspicious social media control, restricted airspace to not allow helicopter camera views, reporters barred from covering events, even reporters getting detained and arrested for doing their job, amid the protest.

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One of the best stories I’ve kept up with Occupy, is the flack Jay-Z and Rocawear have gotten for releasing an Occupy All Streets t-shirt. It was reported in the WSJ that Rocawear removed the pages from their website.  Yesterday, I visited the site, was able to find the image of the shirt, and purchase. It’s on back order til the middle of December, but if you want, Jigga man gon give it t’ya.

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And from one occupation to another…After failing to work out a deal, arguing over nickel and diming each other, the nba players union disbanded, the season was canceled, and the players are now filing an antitrust suit against the owners. Ech. Disgusting. When people can’t get enough work to feed their families, living check to check, these guys can’t agree on how many millions they get to pocket off basketball.

The nba is now written in lowercase. We have entered into what commissioner david stern calls the “nuclear winter of the nba.” Not only will this be a stunning loss to revenue and the basketball culture, but overall goodwill among men is severly chopblocked on this one—Andrew Bynum- Jose Barea style. Dirty.

Here lies the game. It was once great. Now it is gone. RIP nba.

—Adam Popescu

Klout 101

Klout is taking a lot of shots these days after it changed it’s algorithm. My score dropped by about 15 points and I was devastated. But in a way, it was a positive, because it broke the spell Klout had over me. For months I was obsessed with my score, religiously checking my +Ks, basically a digital acknowledgment of influence on a topic .

For a while I was the #4 most +K’d journalist on Klout, sandwiched between Jeff Jarvis and Anderson Cooper. I would tweet at Anderson Cooper and taunt him in a “na na” style that was harmless, if not playful—he never responded. Anderson Cooper wasn’t on Klout. Guess he’s too busy.

After a few weeks, and a slew of summer an fall New York Times articles, Anderson bumped me in the rankings. Soon I stopped checking my klout score everyday. My score got pretty stagnant—first I was upset, but then it stopped being a big deal. It was just a number. It meant something, but it didn’t. I got to a place where the number was only as important as I made it. And that put me back in the mode of creating content and commenting without concern for how that would affect my Klout score.

For the Plugged In, Too Many Choices

Social media isn’t about numbers, rankings, or page views. Viewed through the wire-rim frames of old media, it is doomed to that limited perspective.

Success with social media at its most basic level is connection—connecting a message or an idea with someone who can use that content to improve their life.

To that effect, one of the most overlooked social media skills needed to make that connection is loyalty. Whether it’s to a product, a service, or any form of digital or print content— raw information or refined media—loyalty to that business or service is what keeps business rolling. It’s what keeps the reader believing that what they read is true, as opposed to what their friend tells them.

The first step to that ideal producer-consumer relationship starts with creating consistently superior product. Breaking news, exclusive content, juicy scoops. This is the stuff of old-time journalism. Today much of the stories we read are synthesized, modified, aggregated and disbursed by today’s whatever works, plug the hole in the dyke joystick journalism. Because of this setting, keeping the message and image of a brand clean is vital in an era where scandal, plagiarism and content theft happen everyday, sometimes unknowingly and unintentionally (as is the case of Jim Romenesko, fired from the Poynter Institute for allegedly not quoting material).

As online professional in news or entertainment media, it is our job to deliver the best, most honest product we can. Keeping it clean in terms of content, curation and brand message is essential to avoid problems before they develop—it’s like keeping your home clean: dusting, washing, throwing out the trash. It’s all about upkeep, consistency, rhythm.

So, what’s next?

Even 12-Year-Olds Can Write iPhone Apps

We’re close to a change here. A view shift. The powers that be in everything from Fortune 500 companies to local mom and pop corner shops are drinking the kool aid that is Twitter and Facebook. And I think in large, that’s good for business and good for the economy. As long as we keep it honest, and real when it comes to producing content.

Last month at the TEDx Manhattan Beach conference I listened to a 12-year-old app developer speak with confidence and knowledge about youth and technology. This month at Blog World Expo LA, I listened to online professionals from all over the world discuss the state of the blogsphere. There’s a lot of talent out there, a lot of producers, a lot of consumers. The trick is not to be all things to all people. Better yet, there is no trick. Be real.

“I think my job will probably not exist in 5 years,” — New York Times’ Social Media Editor Liz Heron

While I doubt that the same platforms and services we currently have will exist in the years to come, I believe the industry is poised for growth; the medium will evolve and keep incorporating social media into e-commerce. Instead of automation, I think humans will continue to sit behind monitors.

“I think what’s really up in the air, and more to what Liz Heron was saying, is that with the flux in newsrooms and technology, that role may be way different in 5 years time,” I wrote Oct. 28th on the Nieman Lab blog post.  “I think Heron’s comment (“My job won’t be around in 5 yrs”) may have been slightly tongue-in-cheek and said for effect, but that’s not to say she doesn’t really believe that. 5 years ago social media managers/ entrepreneurs were few and far between. Now there are many. Have we finished evolving? Not by a long shot …..”

Through the magic of Twitter, I spoke with Liz Heron about her comments. She said there “will always be jobs for those who understand new forms of communication. In 5 years, who knows what they will be?”

Good answer, Liz.

—Adam Popescu

SU Basketball

SU basketball is a thing of beauty. High-flying dunkers, sharpshooters and defensive specialists, this is a program that creates NBA players.

In that same vein, the Newhouse School has consistently produced successful media alums like Bob Costas, Larry Kramer and Steve Kroft.

As a journalism graduate student, I expected some of that magical sports legacy to pass to me in the form of access to top-level facilities like the newly completed Carmelo Center. To my dismay, I have been denied access to ‘Melo, Manley Fieldhouse and of late, Archbold gymnasium.

At Archbold, Fridays feel like a basketball mini-camp for the amateur set. The main three courts are packed with young players eager to prove something. The waits are loooong, and the concept of “next” is more concept than anything else.

After waiting with friends for over an hour, and almost getting into a fight with mouthy undergrads, we left without ever getting into a game. Fed up, we wanted to try Manley, but we didn’t have a ball. What to do…oh yeah, I know. We headed for the courts at the women’s building off of Euclid.

A short drive later, we were in the building. The squeak of sneakers cutting and planting echoed down the stairs. Walking into the court, we expected to see basketball players. Instead, we walked in on a game of in-door soccer, and went home with our collective hoop fixes unfulfilled.

On Wednesday, we returned to Archbold, convinced that a weeknight would be empty. At the front desk, I asked for a basketball. Sorry, none left.

I watched as the wait staff told two young men that the numbers on their balls didn’t match up with what they checked out. They had to go back upstairs to the courts and find their balls.

Tired of waiting, I went upstairs to check out my chances of getting in a game.

Chalk-full. Again. Not wanting to relive the overall BS of the previous day, my friends wanted to leave. Despite my frustration and desire to play, my bags were back in my buddy’s car. I wasn’t going to wait by myself and walk home without my jacket.

On the walk back to the car, we passed by the home of the Orange, the Dome. Looking through the glass revolving doors, we imagined what it would be like to play there, with the lights, the fans, the glory—then the wind picked up and the piercing Syracuse cold made us pick up our steps.

For such a big basketball school, I thought it would be easy to play pick-up here. Apparently not.

If I had a car, I would say good-bye to general population living and join 24-hr fitness.

—Adam Popescu