Welcome to the twelfth episode of “The Mediatwits,” the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift’s Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali, the founder of PaidContent. This week’s show looks at the recent launch of Facebook video chat with Skype built in. While Facebook called its announcement “awesome” it was underwhelming for tech and media insiders who have been wowed by the Google+ Hangout feature that lets you do video chats with up to 10 people. Rafat and Mark tested out both video chats simultaneously — all in the name of science. Guest Marshall Kirkpatrick from ReadWriteWeb, who broke the story about Google+ back in March, gives his take on the competing video chats.
The talk then turns to across the pond, where the biggest press scandal in memory has grown even larger, as News International decided to close its tabloid the News of the World, after more allegations of phone-hacking came to light (not to mention police bribes and government indifference). Special guest Tristan Stewart-Robertson, a MediaShift correspondent in the U.K. who has freelanced for News of the World, gives his take on the role of social media in putting pressure on the tabloid and its advertisers.
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Intro and outro music by 3 Feet Up; mid-podcast music by Autumn Eyes via Mevio’s Music Alley.
Here are some highlighted topics from the show:
When do you video chat?
0:40: Mark doesn’t love video chat
1:30: Rafat likes it for getting in touch with family around the world
4:00: Rundown of topics for the podcast
Facebook integrates Skype video chat
05:45: Underwhelming announcement from Facebook?
07:50: Facebook video has better quality than Google+ Hangouts
ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick joins in
10:30: Marshall likes Circles, finds Hangouts compelling
13:40: Engagement on Google+ is really high
16:40: Will Google+ appeal to the masses?
18:40: Comparing video quality on Google+ Hangout, Facebook video
Phone-hack scandal in the U.K.
20:20: Tristan Stewart-Robertson joins the show
23:15: Explanation of how the cell phone hacks happened
27:10: More phone-hacking at other papers?
29:10: Food retailer Tesco was pressured on social media
More Reading
5 Things Skype Deal Teaches Us About Facebook at CNN
Facebook Adds Video Chat and Group Chat But Not Group Video Chat at NY Times Gadgetwise
Sorry, Brands-You Can’t Get Into Google+ Yet at Forbes
First Night With Google Plus: This is Very Cool at ReadWriteWeb
Analysis: Facebook video chatting handy, definitely not awesome at Ars Technica
Murdoch Closes News of the World at News of the World
Phone hacking: two separate inquiries will look at police and press at Guardian
The Guardian’s Phone Hacking coverage
Our Reader’s Guide to the Phone Hacking Scandal at ProPublica
Weekly Poll
Don’t forget to vote in our weekly poll, this time the phone-hacking scandal:
Mark Glaser is executive editor of MediaShift and Idea Lab. He also writes the bi-weekly OPA Intelligence Report email newsletter for the Online Publishers Association. He lives in San Francisco with his son Julian. You can follow him on Twitter @mediatwit.