Google makes news 'social' with Standout

One of the bigger trends in journalism is in making the gathering and delivery of news more interactive. Google News, with this new Standout feature, is stepping into the game.

So how does it work? According to Wired,

Here’s how Standout works:

  • Journalists or editors — probably the web editor — identifies what Google calls “critical types of coverage: exceptional original reporting, deep investigative work, scoops and exclusives, and various special projects that quite clearly stand out.”
  • These editors add a bit of code to the site or story’s header with a rel=”standout” relationship tag along with the standout story’s URL.
  • “Google News may show the article with a ‘Featured’ label on the Google News homepage and News Search results,” attracting more eyeballs and (one hopes) giving more credit to the best journalism.

As an old journalism student, I’m always interested in seeing how the profession deals with change. As news becomes more and more disintermediated, interactivity becomes more and more important.

Klout Now Measuring Social Influence on Google+

From TechCrunch’s Leena Rao: “Google just released a limited API for Google+ last week, so Klout has been working fast. Klout’s founder Joe Fernandez tells me that he believes that certain Google+ power users will see their scores go up. But as with Klout’s other integrations, if you link your Klout account with Google+, your score won’t go down.“ 

It’s worth noting that Google+ went from “field trial” to “beta” this morning, which means that people no longer need an invitation in order to use Google+. Whilst we have noted that people might not be as interested in participating in Google+ as before, perhaps that might change now with broad public participation now possible.

Paul McNamara: "Has Larry Page stopped using Google +?"

In Buzzblog (linked above), Network World’s Paul McNamara raises a somewhat intriguing question: has Google CEO Larry Page stopped using Google +?

McNamara includes a screenshot of Page’s um, Google + page to buttress his case:

Google + page for Larry Page

(image courtesy of Paul McNamara’s Buzzblog)

I’m actually not as intrigued by that question — McNamara himself basically says that even if Page isn’t publicly posting, he could very easily just be sharing content within his Circles, which essentially renders the question moot.

The more interesting question is — are you still using Google +? I know I’m not, at least not in any consistent fashion. I prefer to use tools like Google + and Twitter through a third party interface (like Hootsuite, for example) which allows me (as well as the other Pandas) to monitor a variety of different metrics. 

Given that the API for Google + was just released this past week, such third party tools are not available yet. So for me, whilst Google + still bears a fair amount of interest, it’s not something that I am using in a wide-scale basis yet.

With that in mind — have you stopped using Google +? Do you have questions about the ways that we can help you use tools like that? Drop us a line - we’d love to hear from you.

The tools we use: Rule.fm

At Panda, much of our work is done from a virtual office setting. We thought that it would be interesting to spotlight some of the tools that make our work possible.

First up: Rule.fm.

If you’ve used 37Signals’s Basecamp or Highrise, then Rule.fm is going to be fairly familiar to you. Essentially, Rule.fm, because it’s web-based, allows you to manage your work from any computer.

The central feature of Rule.fm is the Stream. The stream is exactly what it sounds like: a continuous stream of updates on your projects. You have the ability to create milestones (which make tracking progress an easier task), the ability to upload documents, and of course discussions, which is where the Stream comes in.

One other feature worth highlighting is the ability to create wikis (important for having a repository of knowledge). If you have multiple people working on a project with you, it’s far easier to set up a wiki, than to send and track emails back and forth in order to ask and answer questions.

The best feature of Rule.fm, especially if you’re running a lean operation? It’s free.

Telling stories

Earlier, I mentioned that a key part of organizing was telling stories.

Telling stories is fundamental to who we are as a species; we’ve been telling each other stories since we huddled around a fire, seeking shelter in a Lascaux cave.

At Panda, one of our jobs is to help you tell your story in as efficient and elegant a way as we can, using all the digital tools at our disposal. You know what your story is; we help you tell it to other people so that your story becomes their story.

In many ways, campaigns are a battle of competing stories; there’s a reason, after all, why history is written by the victors. For example, the 2008 presidential election can be understood that way.

One story featured a man who had served his country, in places near and far, tirelessly fighting for what he believed was right, regardless of how popular or unpopular his beliefs might be. He argued that despite present dissatisfaction, we needed to rise above it, put country first, and stay the course.

Another story presented a narrative of reform and redemption, featuring a candidate whose life embodied the ideal of the American Dream.

In the end, voters decided that Senator Barack Obama’s story of hope and change that we could believe in was their story as well, and ended up electing him President.

What is your story? Tell us, so we can help you tell your story, and make it everyone’s story.