A Generation of the Mobile-Based Perception

In correlation with the idea of micro-blogging, the debate on whether or not President Obama should be allowed to keep his BlackBerry in the white house has everything to do with the new generation of media and communications. Eight years ago, there was no issue. “George W. Bush gave up personal e-mail upon entering office, fearing he would create a public record with every touch of the ‘send’ button and Bill Clinton has been reported to avoid e-mail even today,” said Christi Parsons and Jim Puzzanghera in their Chicago Times article “In Barack Obama's White House, his BlackBerry is VIP.”

“With all due respect to Presidents Clinton and Bush, they didn't really grow up with these mobile devices,” Roger Entner, a telecommunications analyst with the Nielsen Company, said of portable e-mail devices.” “President Obama is like so many others of his generation—this is the device that helps determine how he perceives the rest of the world.” (Chicago Times) Due to his persistence, Obama’s security team has been working hard to determine the guidelines of his personal BlackBerry’s security measures. As discussed in earlier postings, the new communications model of credibility led by the ‘Average Joe’ is why Obama won his election. If he were to put himself in a Washington Bubble now, it would discredit his popularity. “The device could preserve for Obama some of what his job automatically precludes: direct contact with the workday world. Even if he isn't scanning his own groceries or buying his own milk—former President George H.W. Bush was portrayed as out of touch with those markers of American life—he may be in casual contact with friends who are. And he'll be doing so as do millions of other Americans, by way of thumbs on a keypad.” (Chicago Times)

When Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, announced the issue to reporters they immediately sent their reports throughout Washington via their PDAs. This proves the general usage of mobile devices whether personal or work-related. In fact, Gibbs said he receives emails from the president that range from business matters to "Why did my football team perform so miserably?"

10 Facts About Micro-Blogging

1.Breaking news will be online before it’s on television.

2.Breaking news — especially disasters and attacks in the middle of a city — will be covered first by non-journalists.

3.The non-journalists will continue providing new information even after the trained journalists arrive on the scene.

4.Cell phones will be the primary reporting tool at first, and possibly for hours.

5.Cell phones that can use a wireless Internet connection in addition to a cellular phone network are a more versatile reporting tool than a phone alone.

6.Still photos, transmitted by citizens on the ground, will tell more than most videos.

7.The right video will get so many views, your servers might crash (I’m not aware of this happening with any videos from Mumbai).

8.Live streaming video becomes a user magnet during a crisis. (CNN.com Live: 1.4 million views as of 11:30 a.m. EST today, according to Beet.tv.)

9.Your print reporters need to know how to dictate over the phone. If they can get a line to the newsroom, it might be necessary.

10.Your Web team must be prepared for this kind of crisis reporting.

The Future of Blogging... Maybe

What do the Obama election, the terrorist crisis in Mumbai and US Airways Flight 1549flock of geese all have in common? They all proclaimed their popularity by the use of micro-blogging. While the most popular use of micro-blogging is still within the topic of “technology,” professional communicators are quickly realizing how their use of this new media is changing within the hierarchy of news reporting credibility. Marketers used to tell consumers what is popular and reporters used to determine what is newsworthy. The new communications model comes directly from the consumers. This means that micro-blogs and their followers have already begun to resemble the blogosphere and is no longer used simply for “status” reporting. In his article, “When Micro-blogging Grows Up,” Ben Lorica says, “more people are using Twitter instead of blogs, following links from trusted sources essentially using Twitter as a highly filtered blog reader.” According to the new communications model, the “trusted sources” that Ben discusses are not companies or so called professionals. Trusted sources today are everyday people, they are working class individuals that are able to report openly and honestly about their findings.

The reason why technology is still the most popular micro-blogging topic, is the same reason why technology started out as the most popular blogging topic. The people that are interested in technology, are the same people that create the technology for any new media item. So, they are the first to know about it and experiment with it. One way to measure the popularity of social media items and topics is by looking at the “Technorati's authority.” An interesting fact to technology, communications and politics bloggers and readers is that, “Obama dominated, accounting for 80% of subscribers in the politics category and over 70% of the Twitterholic 100 are based in the U.S. Blogs.”



Despite the growing popularity of micro-blogs, it is important to note that they are not blogs. Micro-blogs are only used for snippets of concise information while blogs are like live-journals that give more information and detailed opinions.