Last week, Twitter made headlines by revealing its IPO plans to raise up to $1 billion. After Facebook, the social microblogging site was one of the most anticipated public offerings of the year. The IPO filing made a few details about Twitter’s business model clear: namely, the company is losing money and user growth is declining. No matter: some estimate that TWTR will be worth up to $20 billion when it begins trading. This week, we’re joined by Zach Seward of Atlantic Media/Quartz and Dennis Berman of the Wall Street Journal to discuss Twitter’s filing, as well as regular guests Monica Guzman of the Seattle Times and GeekWire and The Guardian’s Ana Marie Cox. In addition, we’ll chat about the Wikileaks-inspired “The Fifth Estate,” which will be released Oct. 18. The film will be the second about the international leaking organization this year, following the spring release of “We Steal Secrets.”
Andrew Lih will host while Mark Glaser is on paternity leave.
Watch the podcast LIVE at 10:30 a.m. PT / 1:30 p.m. ET right here:
Subscribe to the MediaShift audio podcast here.
Listen to the Mediatwits and follow us on SoundCloud!
Thanks to SoundCloud for providing audio support. Subscribe to the Mediatwits audio version via iTunes.
Follow @TheMediatwits on Twitter.
Mediatwits Bios
Ana Marie Cox is a senior political columnist for The Guardian. She is the founding editor of the Wonkette blog and has covered politics and the culture of Washington, D.C. for outlets including the Washington Post, Playboy, GQ, Mother Jones and Elle. She is the author of the novel “Dog Days” and lives in St. Paul, Minn. Follow her on Twitter @anamariecox.
Special Guests
Dennis Berman is Business Editor of The Wall Street Journal, overseeing the staff and coverage of business around the globe. He also writes a column, “The Game,” which covers the future of business. Previously, Berman was the Journal’s mergers and acquisitions reporter, and in 2007, he launched Deal Book on WSJ.com.
Podcast Topics:
1. Twitter files for IPO:
Twitter’s IPO filing opened its business records to public scrutiny for the first time, yielding a wealth of details about the micoblogging site. Despite the site’s popularity among celebrities and politicians — from the Pope to Anthony Weiner — Twitter has yet to turn a profit. Meanwhile, it attracts fewer users than Facebook and generates less revenue. The future of Twitter might lie with a global focus: of its average users, over three-quarters are from outside the United States. The IPO is expected to go public Nov. 15. What’s the future for Twitter? Will it be able to turn users into cash?
2. “The Fifth Estate,” premiering next week, dramatizes Wikileaks:
Though the Wikileaks documentary “We Steal Secrets” was released earlier this years, Julian Assange and his controversial organization are once again in the spotlight. This time, he’s getting the Hollywood treatment — and he’s not happy about it. Assange has criticized “The Fifth Estate,” which premiers Oct. 18, for basing its script on books he calls inaccurate. Wikileaks, which leaks secret government information, has been responsible for many significant classified information dumps in recent years. How does the media portray the notorious Julian Assange? What is his and his organization’s role in the current media landscape?
Other stories:
Twitter gets its strongest TV tie-up so far (AllThingsD)
One big benefit of the social web: Journalism emerges wherever it is needed (paidContent)
Opinion: Twitter’s new media evangelist needs more than 1,200 tweets (Medium)
Vevo lands on Samsung smart TVs. Next up: Chromecast? (GigaOm)
Twitter appears to be exploring personalized breaking new notifications with @Eventparrot Experiment (TechCrunch)
Claire Groden is the podcast intern for PBS Mediashift and a current senior at Dartmouth College. You can follow Claire on Twitter @ClaireGroden.
View Comments (2)
Nice show! It was fun to watch during my diaper/burping baby leave. I noticed how easy it is to listen through headphones while jumping around through work. And my fave part was the movie reviews at the end. Cheers!
Here's your news, Fifth Estate was a box office flop. Thankfully true Americans avoided that film for the anti-American puke that it was.