UC Irvine hosted a budget write-in this week and I can’t imagine why we’re still putting pen to paper.

While delivering letters in bulk to our state legislators is much more civil and respectful than the protests and disobedience that have been observed around UC campuses this past month, aren’t there more innovative, collaborative and effective ways in which to communicate our dismay with the state of the State and University?

After all, isn’t the University of California the top public institution in the world?  Don’t we produce Nobel Prize winners and Fulbright Scholars, life-saving research and game-changing technology?

Advice to UC students.  Take what you know best — Facebook, YouTube, Twitter — and turn it into a campaign that legislators can’t ignore, toss aside, or hand to an aide to craft a scripted response.

The write-in would have been a good opportunity for student leaders to flip out their mobile phones and interview each other about the personal impact the fee hike will have on them come the new academic year.  It was a chance for students to plead their hardships, share their personal stories, and talk about their needs… and to tell their stories through a new medium to legislators and public citizens alike.

If just a 1,000 students from each campus joined a Facebook fan page or custom website that integrates Facebook Connect (or the like) and allow students to voice their concerns online – that would be a collective power of 10,000 voices telling their story to the public. The public and media can then help pay it forward and tell tens of thousands of other people how devastating the fee hikes are.

A letter only goes to one person, and your voice may or may not ever be heard.  But new media content can be shared, redistributed, repackaged, emailed, linked, tweeted…  The same effort put into a letter can be put into a message that has the potential to be heard across the world.

And all it takes it the one story that becomes viral.  The one story that tugs at the hearts of the voters of California, the philanthropist across the globe, and the legislator who votes on the UC budget.

How about a video profile of how much it costs to be a bio major:  How much are your textbooks?  What additional lab fees do you pay?  And how are you able to afford the expensive rent around Westwood, Irvine, Santa Barbara?

Letter-writing campaigns didn’t even work in my time as a UCSA Legislative Affairs member or ASUCD External Affairs Chair.  What worked were the face-to-face meetings with the educational committee members, staffers for the legislators or better yet the legislators themselves.

Today, students have the best tools at their fingertips: new media and social networks.  Whether it’s a student, parent, professor or staff member speaking, why aren’t we using these innovative communication mediums, which are either no-cost or low-cost, to effectively lobby the State and its citizens?

A collective voice is a powerful thing when used the right way.

Protesting and rioting may have worked in the 1970s.  But times are different. Technology is different.

The UC’s budget is an obvious mess, and I have strong personal opinions about it.  What it boils down to though, is there’s plenty of blame to spread.  But I don’t think it’s too late to make a new media move — the right move — to influence change from the ground up.

Picket signs, the wood sticks and magic markers to poster board is so last millennium, and so un-ecofriendly.  If you want to be heard, to be green, to be innovative with your message, take a lesson from the 2008 Presidential elections.  That wasn’t that long ago…

Happy 40th birthday Internet.

The first test that led to the operation of the Internet happened on September 2, 1969.  Many other things happened that summer, including the Apollo 11 lunar landing and Woodstock.  All three events changed the course of history in then unimaginable ways.  None, however, has affected individual lives as much as the Internet.

The Internet made the Web possible. (By comparison, the Web is only half the age of the Internet.)

I’ve been thinking a lot about how the Web has changed so much about our society, culture and habits.  Many are embracing it, while others will continue to shun it.  Regardless of which side you’re on, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the Web is here to stay.

Two recent articles really catalyzed this mental debate.  The first is Clive Thompson on the New Literacy (WIRED). Thompson surmises that writing is not dead – that indeed it has just evolved to suit the times and the new medium:

The first thing [Lunsford] found is that young people today write far more than any generation before them. That’s because so much socializing takes place online, and it almost always involves text. Of all the writing that the Stanford students did, a stunning 38 percent of it took place out of the classroom—life writing, as Lunsford calls it. Those Twitter updates and lists of 25 things about yourself add up.

In contrast, the New York Times this past weekend published Facebook Exodus (by Virigina Heffernan) a glum look into the future of the social network:

Is Facebook doomed to someday become an online ghost town, run by zombie users who never update their pages and packs of marketers picking at the corpses of social circles they once hoped to exploit? Sad, if so. Though maybe fated, like the demise of a college clique.

Some will say that the Web is to blame for ADD.  Others will blame it for stealing their identity or being the cause for their gambling addiction.  I blame the Web for my inability to communicate my emotions in person… after all, it’s easier to ROFL than actually “roll on the floor laughing”.

And why the heck not blame the Web for all our wrongs?  For all that makes us feel uncomfortable?  For all the shortcomings of the world?  The Web has no feelings. It can’t defend itself.

That’s exactly why the Web is here to stay.  It’s staunch.  It can stand up against any amount of bashing, any sins thrust upon it.  When all of humanity is wiped out, the World Wide Web will still remain in the clouds somewhere… along with the cockroaches in the flattened earth.

Until that Armageddon though, I think it’s time that we accepted the ways of Web 2.0 (and beyond) as the dawn of the New Renaissance.  Let’s not blame the Web for our lives lacking the slow pace of yesteryear, or children’s inability to conduct research for country reports.  The Web is not impersonalizing relationships, or making families distant.

Instead, the Web lets us enjoy more things in life… get things done quicker so there is more time to enjoy our hobbies, and find new ones.  Children are becoming smarter.  Families can keep in touch in more experiential ways, understand each other deeper.  And “friends” take on new meaning.

Who, after all, can actually have 550 friends in the traditional sense?  I couldn’t.  That would mean that in one year, I could only spend a fraction of one day (66% to be exact) with each person – assuming I didn’t do anything else in life, including sleep.

So, what is the New Renaissance?

It’s still being defined and will be for decades – if not centuries – to come.  But a comparison of the classical Renaissance helps define how I see it:

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence affected literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism and human emotion in art. [Wikipedia]

So then, the New Renaissance is possibly:

A cultural movement that profoundly affects world-wide intellectual life of the 21st century.  Having roots in the Americas, Europe and Asia, its influence affects business, literature, philosophy, art, politics, science, technology, religion, and other aspects of intellectual inquiry.  New Renaissance scholars employ the humanist and philosophical methods in study, and searches for semantics, sapience and sentience in our virtual presence.

As Thompson mentions in his article, writing is not dead – it’s evolved.  I argue that the same sort of evolution is happening with other aspects of our society.  Life on the “InterWebs” will adapt, evolve, and surely only the fittest will survive.

Facebook may (or may not) be the momentary fad that meets its demise via the collective action of online protest, mass extinction of accounts.  I doubt it.  Facebook’s own platform became the home for protesters angry at Facebook and Hasbro for taking down Scrabulous, or those infuriated with Facebook’s Terms of Service.  A decade ago, this would not have happened.  Any defamation or protest against one’s own platform would surely have been taken down immediately.

Every new change will have it’s nay-sayers.  New processes, styles, fads will shake itself out and reach an equilibrium where a happy medium of new tools will work itself out.  I think that’s where social networking is finally at, for example.  At first there were Friendster and MySpace.   There were sharing issues, privacy concerns, etc.  But over time, people have become comfortable with social networking and online conversations.  Social networks have evolved such that you can control who sees what on your profile.  Similarly, humans have adapted their lives to fit the conversations on social networks so that we’re not afraid of what other people may know about ourselves.

This is just one of many thousands of ways we’ve evolved to adapt to an online world.  I go into more depth below about the world redefined by the World Wide Web.

There will always be those that cling to the past.  And I of all people derive pleasure from reminiscing through old printed photographs of generations past, soundless 35mm videos, ratty sweatshirts and my dozens of mixed tapes.  But if we don’t embrace this New Renaissance that we are in today, I think the digital divide will further separate our society… when the sole purpose of the Web ought to be make the world a more intimate experience.

I admit what I’ve written here is just one-sided.  I am part of a network that is very connected.  I work at the only computing-focused school at the University of California, after all.  I also head a new media consultancy, INCULINK, that relies solely on technological mediums.  And I’m a social media whore – no denying that.  But I think my one-sidedness gives me a deeper appreciation of the potential that is to come in an ever-connected world where the Web becomes more semantic, more experiential.

I’m looking forward to reading this 10 years from now.  Much like I recently enjoyed reading the essay I wrote in 8th grade about where I hoped to be at 30 – the only thing I was right about was marriage, a house, and the dog.

—

Redefining Words.

This New Renaissance is also transforming our vocabulary.  What we call “search” or “friends” is not what it was just two decades ago.

• Search: Sure, you may still search for loose coins in your sofa.  But more likely, you’re searching for information on the Web – Google-ing it.  So then, what does the term “googley-eyed” mean now?  (Side thought: with the advent of smartcards, coins will become obsolete one day anyways…)
• Friend: At some point “friend” became a verb, as well as a noun.  To “friend” someone is to connect via a virtual social network.  I don’t “friend” anyone… I need to find some sort of value in the connection I make because too much information is overwhelming.  Yet, I still “friend” others who had a locker next to me in high school, just because I feel like we shared a crucial (and awkward) time in our lives.  Or the person I met at a real friend’s birthday party because we are in the same photo and are now forever connected to each other on Facebook.
• Share: I used to hate to share.  If it meant that I lost half my cookie to my sister, I’d rather have eaten it in secret.  But now I can’t wait to share things with her – YouTube videos, Facebook albums, blog posts, etc. – thereby sharing laughs, memories… knowledge.   I lose nothing, but gain everything.
• Chat: This has been redefined time and again in the past couple of decades: from BBS to mIRC to IMs (instant messaging) to Twitter.  Lunchtime and telephone chats, are more like converstations.  “Chats” today don’t require immediate response.  How many times have we feigned “away” on IM so that we could write re-write the best response?

The endless list goes on…

Redefining Self.

Had I went to college five years earlier than I did – I would likely be working in a lab somewhere pipetting and performing PCRs to amplify genes.  But the World Wide Web let me explore and find a more creative career route.  I was missing the creativity I used to find in music when studying genetics, but I found a way to replace it with writing about technology and communicating on the web.

People can discover themselves in new ways.  Future generations will have infinite more resources than current generations.  But that will only help people to really define themselves early on… to find a passion, and find a community that supports that passion.

This New Renaissance will continue to help people create their own career paths.  Sure medical schools and law schools will always exist.  But the options of what one can do after obtaining their basic training is endless.  People will innovate where there is a need.  And there will always be new needs, as long as there is a stream of information and virtual networks talking amongst themselves.

Redefining Relationships.

As I mention above, the word “friend” has taken on a whole new meaning.  But the difference in relationships don’t end there.  I have made connections with many people around the world thanks to the Web and it’s ability to connect people easily, and relatively.  By relatively, I mean that I can map a definite interest or connection to the people I have created relationships with… and they all come in different forms.

I am very much interested in New Media.  Thus, I join in conversations on sites such as Read Write Web and Mashable and have “friended”  (on Facebook nonetheless), the founders and contributors of such sites. I engage in discussions from them, learn about new media, and also provide fodder for their content from time to time.  I’ve also recently had several conversations with Dame Wendy Hall, co-founder of the Web Science Research Initiative… and realized I may have a calling in web science.

Thanks to the web and social networks, I am more in touch with my high school classmates than I ever was while actually going to high school.  I knew so-and-so was on the swim team.  But I also know now that they love photography and travel and get to see the world through their eyes as we share photos on Flickr.

I also know what family is up to on a daily basis.  I can ask my grandma-in-law how particular book project went at Thanksgiving dinner… instead of digging for niceties.  We can connect more and really understand who we are as individuals.

And professionally, I have been able to build a reputation, a rapport with my colleagues.  They see what I am able to put out on the web and are willing to share more.  Likewise, as a communications director, I am able to use Facebook to “friend” colleagues and find news stories from casually mining their status updates.  Yes, I use Facebook at work…. to accomplish actual work.

On the other hand, what I do online is transparent and any wrong move can come back to haunt me today, even years from now because the Web doesn’t forget.  But the beauty of the Web and this transparency is the speed at which I can make mends.  The Web doesn’t hide who the real me is… it helps me become a better person because you never know who is watching.

Redefining Information.

Not even a decade ago, the Internet and Web were just for just the privelaged, the educated.  Without a $2,000 computer and monthly Internet access, one could not be on the Web.

All you one needs today is a mobile phone to access the Web.  In fact, mobile phones are more ubiquitous in third-world countries that cannot afford desktop or laptop computers than in the U.S.  One recent twitter post via @serkantoto says that the number of mobile phone subscribers in Vietnam is now 107.84 million, up 31% from December 2008.  That is an incredible number of people who have access to information at their fingertips!

Information, accessibility and the ability to not discrimnate who gets what information is a beautiful thing.  (Net neutrality is another issue that is part of this tangled web — pun intended — but I’ll leave that for a separate discussion.)

The World Wide Web is our oyster.

The World is at our fingertips.  Literally.  Virtually.

Why do you, or why don’t you, use Twitter?… I only forbid one answer: “because everyone else is doing it.” That’s the same reason people wore Hammer pants.

In short, my answer was that I use it because it’s part of my research to do my job effectively, and to stay on the cutting edge of my industry.  (Go here for the long answer.)

That all led me to wonder how my tweets were being used by others… if at all.  I know what value I am getting, but what do others get out of my 140-character banter?

Sure people retweet what I say or converse with me via my public lifestream at @sherrymain.  But is all the noise I make actually worthy of anything other than building my online-ego?

I came across an LA Times article from May 21 that quotes my tweet verbatim (down to the hashtag!), and associates it with my full-time profession:

Gun scare at UCI serves as test for text-alert system

…Reports also spread through campus through hundreds of messages on the microblogging site, with students sending tweets about helicopters hovering above campus, swarms of police and apparent lockdowns. “For those reporting on #UCI incident, evidence that UCI’s ZotAlert system works, and Twitter helps to spread the word beyond,” wrote Sherry Main, a communications director at UCI.

Someone is listening!  The media are listening, especially  because I wear a communications hat.  So in fact, the primary reason for my tweeting maybe to research the medium, but a by-product of that research is that I represent not only my private self, but any and all organizations that I am affiliated with.

In such a public forum, I must always be “on” – whether I tweet about my restless night at 3 a.m. or the hair in my lunch – people (and the media, which include major papers, bloggers, etc.) are listening and looking for quick, easy ways to obtain and retool information.

I’ve always been consciously aware that anyone can read what I write, but being consciously aware that someone can reuse what you write, is something completely different.

What starts as research quickly turns into addiction – ahem, Twitter and Facebook – especially when my interactions with the respective communities grow.  But the value in this addiction lies in the ability to filter out the noise and extract lessons for both my life and more importantly to carve a career path and expert niche for myself.

Installing and activating your page with Clickable Now is good practice.  Your followers, customers, and constituents may be using either browser, and this is just one more step that will help ease the process for people who want to interact with you on the Social Web.

Install the add-on or script into your browser from here, then give Clickable Now access to your Twitter account.  Once you do, it’s pretty simple (See the screen shots below):

1. Click on the “New Link” button.
2. Drag the link box to the portion of your sidebar that you’d like hyper-linked.
3. Resize to fit the area to be hyper-linked.
4. Enter the email or Web site information, and choose the highlight color.
5. Save settings.

That’s it!  Although this only works on Firefox browsers, and for those who have installed the add-on, it’s a big step forward.  We’ve been wanting the Twitter backgrounds to be interactive for a long time.

You can see below what we’ve hyper-linked @INCULINK or on my personal page @SherryMain.  We’ve added live links to our logo and URL, personal blogs, personal Twitter accounts, and to our Facebook fan page.

Perhaps one day, HTML will go the way of Photoshop layers and allow us to upload custom HTML backgrounds behind the Twitter feeds.  But until then, this will do…

Hat-tip to Todd Defren (@tdefren) of ShiftComm.com.

Updated: Thanks to @zkiraly and @faseidl.

Just like print media and even blog posts, Twitter should have a style guide.  There are some tweets that I will never read because they just look plain ugly.

Many people tweet just for the sake of sharing what’s on their mind.  But if you truly want to call attention to what you’re writing, especially if you are promoting a corporate or personal brand, here’s a simple guide to help make your tweets “legible”:

• Use appropriate sentence case (please – this is a huge pet peeve). Typing in all lower case doesn’t gain you any extra characters.  And unless you’re fighting for space, use proper grammar.

• Give a brief description, or better yet, a teaser of what we’re about to see.  Think of it as a movie trailer, and you want people to follow-thru to the link.  Similarly, don’t just post a link.

• Know what you’re sharing. Simply tweeting a blog post or article title may not always be the best description.  Demonstrate that you’ve read what you’re recommending, by summarizing it creatively, and to fit your audience.

• Avoid multiple RTs (retweets). Simply RT the person you source.  If someone is interested in seeing who the original source is, they can click on to the person you retweeted, or do a Twitter Search of the phrase or link.  At some point, too many @usernames in a single tweet just becomes name-dropping.

• Via @username is OK.  You don’t have to RT everything.  Resummarize it in your own words, then give credit at the end.

• Use hashtags (#) appropriately, and sparingly.  Hashtags make it easy to search for topics, but they’re most valuable when you want to join a conversation.  Multiple hashtags in one tweet causes for clutter too.

• Leave enough space to be retweeted.  Somewhere between 15-20 spare characters will leave room for most all usernames.

And most importantly, if you’re representing an organization (or even yourself), if you want to get the most out of Twitter, interact with people who RT you or those twitterers that you find interesting.  It’s amazing to see what kind of conversations you might get into, and more importantly, what you’ll learn!

For a blog posting “style guide”, read 5 Rules for Blogging.

Photo credit: Delgrosso

-Philip L Graham, Publisher, Washington Post

I had several conversations this week about how Communications Directors and other media relations folks can use Twitter to interact with the printed press.   Interesting topic for a few reasons:

1. All indications are that the printed press is of the dying breed;
2. Using a 2.0 tool to connect with 1.0 media seems like an oxymoron;
3. New media communications is about getting information out quickly, and interactions surrounding it.  Print offers neither.

My colleagues and I stopped using news wires, primarily because of the cost associated with their services.  The same effort that it takes to write a press release and submit it through news wires can easily be used to broadcast yourself by serving as your own news service.

Communications needs have changed, as well.  I find more value in the interaction and feedback with our constituents on our blogs and social networks (primarily Facebook).

All this said, many journalists are adopting 2.0 tools in order to save their 1.0 business. Just this week, the New York Times appointed Jennifer Preston (@NYT_JenPreston) the New York Times’ first Social Media Editor.  Both the Times and Washington Post are doing a great job using new media and multimedia tools, and creating unique content using free resources such as Google maps and API calls.

So how do you find the reporters/journalists that best fit your communications needs?  Try these resources.  (If you have other ones, let us know by leaving a comment!)

• @muckrack – Muck Rack is the best repository of journalists that I’ve seen so far.  You can sort by beat, news outlet, or even recent tweeted photos.
• @wefollow – We Follow is a user-powered Twitter directory where Twitterers self-identify their areas of interest or affiliation through tags.  It’s not as easy to search by beat or outlet as Muck Rack, but you may find some unusual suspects here.
• Media on Twitter – In addition to U.S. journalists, Media on Twitter has lists of journalists and news media Twitter accounts in Australia, Canada, France, India, Malta, Mexica, Russia, South Africa, Thailand and the UK.

By the way, if you’re a major newspaper needing a Social Media Editor, tweet me @sherrymain.  I’m interested… and interesting!

I often find myself trying to explain why I tweet, how it helps me, and why not Facebook… to list just a few questions.  Tweeting isn’t for everyone.  And, to each their own.

So here are my personal reasons for Tweeting (note: this does not translate to my philosophy on my professional/business uses of Twitter):

• I learn A LOT. 140 characters gives a quick summary about a story, and helps me decide if I want to read more – whether it’s new media stories from @Mashable or current events from @WSJ.
• Making connections.  I communicate with reporters such as @grobbins in my professional capacity or find the best local eats from @dbgoudie.  I even get virtual high-five’s from @charliefogg.  It’s like going to a networking event or meet-up… but not.
• Be the first to know.  News travels like rapid-fire on Twitter – way before it can be picked up by online newspapers.  Imagine had Twitter existed on September 11, 2001.  How many more lives may have been saved, I wonder?
• It’s not about getting 17,000 followers.  I’m on Twitter because it’s a great way to discover new things.  I enjoy the random conversations that I could never have otherwise with @ChasL, an interactive designer in Austin, or ReadWriteWeb blogger @eng1ne.  That said, I am flattered that 500+ people find what I say to be interesting enough to follow me.
• Brands and celebrities are uninteresting.  I hate being marketed to and I don’t gain anything from knowing where Britney is getting her car washed. But I do enjoy @Zappos or @JetBlue because they aren’t just about selling, but about offering human connections.
• No need to reciprocate.  In Facebook, you are mutually “friends”.  In Twitter, there’s no obligation to follow anyone… even those who are my real friends.  In fact, I only follow those who regularly post unique and intriguing tweets.  I can’t imagine trying to follow 1,000 tweeples as an individual.
• There are no rules.  BAH to those who say to limit tweets to 5x per day or avoid tweeting personal details.  I’m human and if I want sympathy for my migraine, I’ll seek it.  Tweet as little or as much as you want, about whatever.
• Camaraderie. Put another way, snobbery.  It’s yet another elitist clique where you have unique friendships – a sort of post-college sorority/fraternity.

Join the club and follow me @sherrymain I’d love to hear about your personal philosophy on tweeting too.  What do you get out of it?  Leave me a comment and let me know.

Some protests are taken to the streets, others through petition or boycotts.  Today, an issue a half a world away is gaining momentum online through social networks and new media platforms.

The New Zealand Internet Blackout – which I first read about on Read Write Web (@rww) – is an online social media movement that asks Kiwi’s and non-Kiwi’s alike to protest against the Guilt Upon Accusation law ‘Section 92A‘ :

…that calls for internet disconnection based on accusations of copyright infringement without a trial and without any evidence held up to court scrutiny. This is due to come into effect on February 28th unless immediate action is taken by the National Party.

Find out how exactly to update your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Web site profiles at the Creative Freedom Blackout page.

Here are some images you can use for your profiles. Just right-click to save to your desktop and upload to your profile pictures:

I’ve blacked out Twitter, Facebook and this blog.

Rule #2: Give credit via Twitter name.  Examples: @rww or @AdamAinbinder.

When I read an article or blog post online, I like to see Twitter links to the people who are being mentioned.  Why?  Because if I’m interested in something they’ve said once, I want to know quickly if there’s more to them.

A Twitter profile is a great way of getting a quick snapshot of someone.  In this day-in-age of information overflow, I can’t help judge a book by it’s cover.  I have 10-seconds to find out whether someone is interesting or not.  I can decide later if in fact that judgment was correct, as I get to know them via tweets.  But if you lost me in those first 10 seconds, then you’ve lost me forever.

On the other hand, if you hook me with your Twitter profile, well then you’ve probably got my attention on your blog or website… and probably even Facebook, LinkedIn, or Tumblr.

I find that I learn a lot more by reading the first two pages of a Twitter profile, than I can get out of a personal blog or website. Just yesterday, I connected with @swannny because she is a “tech-crazy, opera-loving geek girl”!

Here’s what I find helps when it comes to general Tweeting habits:

Take advantage of the 160 character profile. Be selective in your words used to describe yourself – and take advantage of the 20 extra characters!  What I’ve tried to do in my profile is to connect with others in higher education communications, entice conversations with people who share similar hobbies, and market a personal venture:

Comms Director @ UCIrvine. Business, political, technology and culinary junkie. Enjoy travel, outdoor adventures and photography. Also, co-founder of @inculink.

Diversify your tweets, often. If the entire first page of your Twitter profile are @ replies or purely about your state of mind, I can’t be convinced that I have a connection with you. But a useful business tip coupled with a personal misadventure, plus an intriguing conversation with another Twit will intrigue me enough to follow someone.

Twitter is still a very nascent tool, but its community and its power are growing exponentially.  The ways and means in which Twitter can be used could never have been predicted by it’s founders (@ev, @biz and @jack).  But online habits have changed the culture of information flow, and I think as content creators on the web, we need to be sure to provide quick links to readers and other creators alike!

I just read this fun op-ed from the Washington Post by Jeanne McManus.

It comedically devalues life in a Twitter world:

Which comes first? The Twitter or life itself? Are we writing about what we’re doing or are we writing about what we’re going to do or are we doing it because we need something to write about?

I enjoyed her short musing.  But now, I can’t find a link to follow her tweets anywhere on the entire op-ed page!  Nor have i been able to locate her through Twitter’s “Find People” tool. I’m bummed, as she sounds really interesting, whether these are her real tweets or not:

Jeanne has measured out her life with coffee spoons. Huh?

So I write my own public request to Ms. McManus… and to any other editor, writer, reporter who covers new and social media seriously or comically – on TV, in print or online: please share how we can follow you or become a fan on these new tools which you write about.

NPR’s Science Friday does a great job of this.  While driving from Annapolis to D.C. several weeks ago, @Padrepablo and I listened to Ira Flatow (@scifri) interviewing Tim O’Reilly (@timoreilly).  Ira repeatedly mentioned how we could follow them.  And caller Jeff Levy (@levyj413) – the EPA’s web manager – who talked about government and social media also shared how listeners could follow him. I’ve since learned a lot from following Mr. Levy.  I’d like to easily do the same from others.

Of course, privacy is a concern, so I understand if you don’t easily share your Twitter name with your article… but then could you consider separate public and private personas? When used correctly, I can only see sharing Twitter accounts as a great learning and conversation tool.

Taking my own advice, you can follow me @sherrymain.