Andrea Stone, senior national correspondent for the Huffington Post, has had a front row seat watching the social media Darwinism rampant in journalism, where the name of the game is adapt or die. Having spent most of her career as a reporter for USA TODAY, Andrea has seen slow to adapt reporters fall by the wayside. “As a journalist, you MUST be on social media. If you’re not, you’re probably not working anymore or have changed careers.” With nearly (...)
The National Journal held a briefing yesterday on communications use and the state of the information landscape in Washington, DC. The presentation, titled “Washington in the Information Age,” gave a comprehensive overview of media consumption in the District using data obtained through Journal surveys. The results were mixed. Few will be surprised to learn that people under 30 are the heaviest social media users; however, other responses were less expected. Email newsletters, for example, are THE top news source for (...)
Earlier last week, I had the pleasure of attending a NetSquared DC meet-up featuring a discussion with Clay Johnson on his new book The Information Diet. Clay develops a clever metaphor throughout his book by comparing America’s overconsumption of junk food to an overconsumption of junk information. With a quick phone call, one can bypass the hassle of cooking at home and have a pizza delivered right to their front door. People consume this kind of junk food, despite its (...)
On Friday, December 9, the Advocacy Leaders Network event series kicked off at the Bloomberg Government offices. We were pleased to host a full house at the first of four advocacy-specific events hosted by the Congressional Management Foundation and produced by the Beekeeper Group. The event theme, “Breaking Through on Capitol Hill: Making Noise vs. Making a Difference,” triggered a high-level of engagement and intense discussion between the panelists and the audience. The speakers’ advice on how to get Hill (...)
In my recent post on the intersection of food and social media, I mentioned that I was preparing to start my own blog on about living with food allergies. Two weeks ago, Tayler Made Blog was finally launched, and it’s been both a fun and challenging experience so far. Getting Tayler Made off the ground has taught me a lot about what it takes to build a voice and community online – and I still have a lot to learn. (...)
NPR recently aired this story examining how Ohio and North Carolina residents are using Twitter to vie for the favor of the Chiquita fruit company, which is considering moving its Cincinnati headquarters to Charlotte. The report describes how Ohio marketing executive Kevin Dugan turned to Twitter to persuade Chiquita’s CEO, Fernando Aguirre, to keep the company in Cincinnati. Together with his friend J.B. Kropp, the two devised the hashtag #NoCincyBananaSplit to drum up support. In response, Charlotte resident Brian Francis (...)
The Beekeeper Group recently partnered with Microsoft’s new digital magazine on civic innovation, Publicyte, to host the launch of the new book “The Fifth Estate” , a guide on how to create and sustain a successful media campaign. The event featured author Geoff Livingston, followed by a panel of expert practitioners, sharing their experiences with using new media tools to advocate for their issues online and to not only initiate, but also sustain a fruitful dialogue with the online community. (...)
Last week, it was announced that about 150 new words were being added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Now, you can publish words such as “bromance,” “fist bump,” and “cougar” (yes, that kind of cougar) without any loss of intellectual integrity. When news sources covered the dictionary’s new words, they overwhelmingly emphasized one addition that is close to my heart: tweet. That’s right, the noun and verb that has gained incredible attention both in and out of the social media world (...)
We’re excited to share the news that Beekeeper Group recently marked its one year anniversary. To help celebrate, we’ve compiled this little video highlighting five trends in digital public affairs — Beekeeper Group style of course!!
Social media acts as a new platform from which to communicate for most people. But when applied to Washington, it is “changing the tone, speed, and nature of the democratic dialogue” – at least that’s how the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) views it. The barriers between the public and policymakers have been torn down by technology. Anyone can join the melee, and because of this, Congress can better gauge the public climate surrounding issues. Legislators are no longer ambiguous policy (...)
