Will traditional media get the move towards new media?

I don't claim to be a newspaper industry analyst, but there is a trend among this industry that is starting to ripple through it like the auto industry. First, there's a story about the Chicago Tribune declaring Chapter 11. And, then there was the Austin Statesman tweetup last night in south Austin. While most people won't see the relationship between the two, I, the would be media analyst, saw the relationship between both events.

In a group of about 75 folks, I was the oldest guy in the room and perhaps the only one who had purchased a copy of the Statesman to read. From talking to the other social media advocates who came to the party, I was one of those rare birds who still reads news the old fashioned way. Even more surprising was that most of the other folks in the room didn't think of the Statesman as a primary information source.

To the Statesman's credit, it is starting to embrace Twitter as a way of communicating to younger readers. However, how can it increase the eyeballs to its Twitter site and also increased its advertising base?

That's the question that the Statesman Twitter team has to really embrace just like the San Antonio Express News. As someone who had a two newspaper a day habit as a teenager, I am starting to look at alternate sources for my news. I definitely am spending less time with the print copy of the Wall Street Journal and Express News as part of my morning ritual.

So, here's a couple of strategic thoughts to help the newspaper and publishing industry:

1) Print editions will be obsolete in five to 10 years. Now is the time to really embrace social media efforts and increase the viewership of original editorial content.

2) Journalists will have to gain a foothold in the social media world. Newspapers have to teach their reporters how to cultivate followers like Laura Lorek at the Express News and Omar Gallaga at the Statesman. Both use Twitter as a way to communicate what they're working upon. Yesterday, I followed Omar's efforts to get a story about an "open source" from the Austin Independent School District through the day by monitoring my Twitter account.

3) Newspapers need to ramp up their efforts in the classroom. Their community affairs staff needs to help educators embrace the use of their newspapers with middle school and high school students.

The media can lead the transition to the new methods of getting news. Or, it can sit on the sidelines and wonder why it's losing a lot of revenue.

Jonestown tragedy -- how the Air Force quickly responded to one of the world's biggest tragedies

In the midst of all the various news stories this week was this little reminder that it was the 30th anniversary of the Reverand Jim Jones and his followers death in Guyana. Like a lot of other disaster stories, I had forgotten about this tragedy, but the news coverage made me think of how the Air Force handled the crisis.

One year after the Air Force returned the remains of the reverand and his followers to Dover AFB, Del., I remember how the senior Air Force commander at DINFOS turned over most of his commander's call so that a classmate statoned at Dover during the tragedy could brief on how she and her colleagues handled the disaster. Until the Jonestown Massacre, Dover had been a sleepy little base with a C-5 airlift wing and the Air Force mortuary.

According to my classmate, the influx of telephone calls, not only from the media but also from the family and loved ones of Jones' followers forced the public affairs staff to turn to volunteers to help deal with the crush of community affairs and media questions. Looking back on that talk, I found it amazing that a senior Air Force officer would use his time to brief all of his service's students on what happened at Dover.

If there is a message to this blog, it's this. First, we can learn from those junior in service. Secondly, the good public relations organizations adapt to crisis situations. Before the Air Force could send in more professional help, the public affairs officer at Dover was smart enough to turn to a group of caring volunteers who could answer the phones.

I remember my classmate talking about how the volunteers served 12 to 14 hour days for over two weeks to deal with the influx of calls. As a result of the Jim Jones' tragedy, the Air Force began to realize that when a major crisis occurs that it needs to bring in people to answer the phone.

Some 15 years later, I was working in the Bosnian NATO campaign when we had more calls than we had people to answer the phones after two Air Force F-16s splashed three Serbian Galebs. As someone who remembered the lessons from that commander's call inolving Dover, I got our office to get more volunteers and phones.

Today, with the advent of Twitter and other social media tools, it would be easy for the Air Force to set up sites where people could chat and respond in real time to questions involving a tragedy on the scale of the Jonestown massacre. While I hope that the Air Force never has to deal with another tragedy involving the deaths of so many, I wish that the military and other government agencies realize the need to embrace social media tools along with more phones.

My wife joins the blogosphere so that her students will learn more about the environment

With an impending trip for the Earthwatch summit in Maryland, my wife, Jackie has joined the blogosphere. Her blog will focus on her research and her off-site education for her San Antonio James Madison environmental science and physics students. As a rookie blogger, Jackie will have to learn about such great tools as Budurl, Twitter and other social media tools that will help her get an audience for her online work. Today, she bought her own video camera for her research, so I will have to share with her how to post her videos online. Right now, I'll get her a Youtube account, but I will begin to look at other video sharing resources.

Budurl -- the little app that will help this blog

So, if you are like me and want to share either your latest blog update or that post from the Chicago Tribune on Twitter, you had to learn how to concisely say your tweet, until Budurl came about. For a tweeeter like me, this is a great little app. And, when I get to learn how to use the traffic management aspect of Budurl, it can only help this blog.