Welcome to the 55th episode of the Mediatwits podcast, with Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali as co-hosts. This week, we follow up our report from the RNC with three guests at the DNC in Charlotte: Adam Conner from Facebook; Adam Sharp from Twitter; and our MediaShift correspondent Ari Melber. This convention season has been a hit on social media, and we’ve seen so many numbers and graphics showing popular hashtags and memes. But what will it all mean in the end? Will it move the needle for the election?
Also, Amazon has had a banner week, announcing a new line of Kindles, including an illuminated Paperwhite and a larger Kindle Fire. And the company’s nemesis Apple was disappointed by a settlement in an e-book price-fixing lawsuit between the states and three large publishers. Where does that leave the other two publishers and Apple, who are continuing their fight in court? Will it lead to cheaper e-book prices? We ask paidContent’s Jeff Roberts, as well as MediaShift correspondent Barbara Hernandez.
Guest Bios
Adam Sharp is Twitter’s Senior Manager, Government, News and Social Innovation. He leads a team driving creative use of the platform by governments, political candidates, journalists, non-profit organizations and the faith community. Previously he was executive producer for digital services at C-SPAN and deputy chief of staff for U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu.
Ari Melber is an attorney, television commentator and a correspondent for The Nation magazine. During the 2008 presidential election, Melber traveled with the Obama Campaign on special assignment for The Washington Independent. Previously, he served as a Legislative Aide in the U.S. Senate and as a national staff member of the 2004 John Kerry Presidential Campaign.
Adam Conner is a Manager for Public Policy in Facebook’s Washington DC office, where he focuses on government and political outreach and has directed the company’s election efforts since 2007. Previously, Adam was the Director of Online Communications for Congresswoman Louise Slaughter.
Jeff Roberts is the legal reporter for the GigaOm’s paidContent. He has previously worked for Reuters and written for the New York Time and The Economist. A former practicing lawyer, Jeff specializes in media-related copyright, patent and privacy issues.
Barbara Hernandez is a correspondent for PBS MediaShift, covering e-book issues. She has more than a decade of experience as a professional journalist and college writing instructor, and she also writes for Press:Here, NBC Bay Area’s technology blog.
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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:
Intro
1:00: Big news in the political world and gadget world
1:30: New devices coming from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Amazon and Apple
4:20: Rafat: Are we only hearing our viewpoints echoed on social media?
6:15: Rundown of topics on our show
Twitter, Facebook rule DNC
7:00: Special guests Adam Sharp, Adam Conner, Ari Melber
10:30: Sharp: Special #DNC2012 Twitter page highlights tweets that get most response, with some editorial judgment
13:10: Conner: People on Facebook distribute their own news about conventions
16:10: Melber: Fact-checking tweets gaining currency, going viral during conventions
18:30: Sharp: Twitter sentiment for candidates does mirror polls
21:30: Melber: The press has addict behavior when it comes to political conventions
24:30: Conner: We see a lot of use on Facebook for political organizing, including new app from Obama campaign
Amazon’s big week
26:20: Special guests Jeff Roberts and Barbara Hernandez
29:10: Roberts: Big surprise that judge approved the e-book price-fixing settlement
31:30: Hernandez: Will Amazon go back to selling e-books cheaper?
32:20: Roberts: Amazon gaining power; publishers hate them for keeping data on customers
34:20: Mark: Shouldn’t price of e-book be cheaper than hardback book?
More Reading
Social Media Makes Old-School Political Conventions New Again by Ari Melber
Infographics: The Daily Social Media Buzz at the DNC by Kathleen Hessert
Why Fact-Checking Has Taken Root in this Year’s Election by Frank Strong
DNC’s Twitter Victory Wasn’t Won on Level Playing Field at Nextgov
Amazon announces $499 Kindle Fire HD with 4G LTE, $50 a year for 250MB monthly at Engadget
Live blog: Amazon unveils 4 new Kindles, Kindle Serials at GigaOm
Breaking: Judge approves e-book price-fixing settlement at paidContent
Explainer: What the E-Book Settlement Means for Publishers, Apple and You at paidContent
Three Publishers Agree to $69 Million E-Book Settlement at LA Times
Apple Slams Justice Department’s Proposed E-book Settlement at CNET
MediaShift Poll
Don’t forget to vote in our poll, this time about the price of an e-book:
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 and fiancee Renee. You can follow him on Twitter @mediatwit. and Circle him on Google+