She also toured their HQ. Nice digs and nice guys.

Thanks Kara! Boy these lines are blurring — newspapers /video /broadcast / blogs /Twitter, etc. Old media functions with new media tools. We need some new words to describe what’s happening.

KRON in San Fransicso reported on a new idea bubbling up at the San Francisco Chronicle — reading your newspaper on your computer. Imagine such a thing!

They called it the ‘telepaper’ and didn’t think they would make money. But they also thought they ‘wouldn’t loose a lot either.’ Good reporting KRON! — who now covers news on the internet itself.

Stephan Rothman who writes the blog Steve’s Social Media Soapbox Twittered a link to this video. Thanks Steve!

It there a circle forming here?

The interview was conducted through Twitter on the ThirdSector blog. Interesting how many of the questions came from both old and old media. And how it was all done through tiny format Twitter and published on a long format blog. He was even asked the boxer or briefs question.

Is this a first? I don’t know.

Janis Krums from Sarasota, Florida posted the first photo of the crash of  U.S. Airways flight 1549 from his iPhone. This is from the Wall Street Journal–

The photo, which Mr. Krums posted online using a Twitter photo-sharing site, has been viewed more than 43,000 times.

Social media tools like Twitter -– which allows users to tap out 140-character status updates — have changed how breaking news events are recorded and covered. They made for on-the-ground reports from the Mumbai terror attacks in November, for example.

This is his advice on how to use Twitter.

I can’t believe I’m blogging my minutiea about my twits. Did I really write that?

I know, I know, I’ve not been too sure about Twittering. Sort of like how I felt about blogging. I’m just not too interested in the seemingly endless piles of minutiae about somone’s personal life. I don’t really care what you had for breakfast. How do people find time for this stuff??

But I originally started this blog mostly to learn about the software and now I realize the power of it. So Twitter might offer the same.

First off, I signed on with my full name – http://twitter.com/SusanFitzgerald. But after looking around I realized that lots of Twitterers had much shorter names. So I signed up again — http://twitter.com/susfitz. 

Still not sure which is better but have started with susfitz. And then Scott Lackey welcomed me immediately! (His current blog posting is exactly how I feel.) I still don’t know how he found me so quickly, but I’m sure that’s one of the tricks I’ll learn. 

The next thing he said to do was to get an icon fast. Twitter recommends using a picture of yourself. But when looking at the the other icons I realized that the photos all blend in together in the follower section and it was hard to differentiate. The simpler graphics were easier to identify. And I assume that standing out might have an advantage. So what you see above is what I’m using, for now. 

And then SteveRothman sent me an great link to more Twitter info. I didn’t realize I had so many wonderful Twittering friends!

My first impression of Twitter is that it’s much more interesting than I thought. Twits can be very informative and expressive. It does feel more like having a conversation. Well, a very spaced out, unconnected conversation.

What are you doing?

To be continued . . .

One concern for those who don’t participate in Web 2.0 is the awareness that the future will hold much more permanent, and public, information about each of us. And those who participate in the new social media will be forever searchable. The younger you are, the less likely you are to care, and the more interested you are in fame, popularity, and being connected 24/7.

For businesses it’s another story. This article on BusinessWeek.com starts out –

“When Jonathan Fields spotted William Shatner waiting to board a JetBlue flight at New York’s JFK in May, he did what any other self-respecting blogger would do. He popped open his Apple (AAPL) Mac, connected to the Web using the free Wi-Fi provided by JetBlue, and used Twitter to share the sighting with pals. “JetBlue terminal,” Fields wrote on the blog service that lets users send short messages of 140 characters with status updates to groups of friends. “William Shatner waiting in pinstripe suit and shades to board flight to Burbank. Why’s he flying JetBlue? Free, maybe?”

But he was caught off guard by what happened next. Within 10 seconds he got an e-mail informing him that JetBlue (JBLU) was following him on Twitter.

“It totally startled me,” says the 42-year-old author, who initially worried that JetBlue might be monitoring his use of the Wi-Fi connection. JetBlue employee Morgan Johnston quickly explained that wasn’t the case. JetBlue keeps tabs on what Twitter users say about it, using a scanning tool, to find customers who might need information, say, on flight delays or cancellations, Johnston said.”

Businesses can instantly respond to negative chat about their brands and correct any problem they perceive. The goal is to establish an ongoing positive relationship with their customers.

Those who use Twitter, and other social media, are more likely to view this as a positive, and not a creepy event. And businesses can benefit.