Every Thursday, socialTNT channels the spirit of citizen journalism by putting bloggers, reporters, PR pro’s or anyone with something to say about social media in front of the camera for a short, three minute interview. In addition to helping PR peeps pitch these individuals more effectively, the videos are meant to encourage dialog between reporters, PR/communications practitioners and marketers on the future of media.

This Thursday socialTNT meets with Jon Swartz, Technology Reporter at USA Today. Over the last year, Jon has moved away from covering just security. His beat has really moved to include social networking, big firms like Yahoo and AOL, and tech from the West Coast point of view. In this week’s episode, Jon share some of the social media elements USA Today is rolling out and also tells us why he loves social networking for PR.

Jon has been covering technology since 1987. Working his way through the ranks of MacWeek, San Francisco Chronicle and Forbes, Jon now resides at USA Today. If you have a non-gadget tech client, he may be a good contact. Pitch him before 11AM PT.

Fun Facts About Jon:

• Learned the ins and outs of PR (including a blog and YouTube video) while on tour for his upcoming book with Byron Acohido, “Zero Day Threat,” discussing how banks and credit companies help hackers steal your identity
• Microsoft is to Apple what Hillary is to Obama. Discuss.
• Not on Twitter, but on LinkedIn
• Thinks Walt Mossberg could beat Ed Baig in a mud wrestling fight
• Has season tickets to SF Giants
• Starts his morning with print editions of New York Times and LA Times. Then moves into WSJ Online and GigaOm.

If you haven’t seen some of the cool things USA Today is doing with blogs and video, check it out. Watch as Jon tells us more about his beat, explains how social networking has changed the PR pitch and then completely HIJACKS my interview!

Have you included social networking into your outreach? Do your spokespeople include their facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or IM when speaking with reporters? Should they?

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Every Thursday, socialTNT channels the spirit of citizen journalism by putting bloggers, reporters, PR pro’s or anyone with something to say about social media in front of the camera for a short, three minute interview. In addition to helping PR peeps pitch these individuals more effectively, the videos are meant to encourage dialog between reporters, PR/communications practitioners and marketers on the future of media.

This Thursday, socialTNT chats with Liz Gannes, Editor of NewTeeVee. In today’s “3 Q’s in 3 Min” Liz shares best practices for PR pros, and also explores the future of online video now that the writers’ strike is over.

In December 2006, Liz left her very PR-pitch popular position as writer covering the Web 2.0 beat at GigaOM to edit NewTeeVee, a new media focused blog published by Om Malik’s Giga Omni Media network. If you or your client is a start-up specializing in some aspect of new media–particularly focusing on the convergence with video or broadband–this is the place to be.

When Liz agreed to the interview and gave me a pier number as an address–and then told me to meet her by the docks–I got a little worried; had I sent a bad pitch and was about to get offed? Silicon Valley can be a bit of a mobster state. Plus, Om’s stogie-smoking imagery and all-encompassing media network are pretty mafia-like. Not so, said Liz. They had just moved and didn’t have any markings up yet.

Fun Facts About Liz:

• Before moving to Palo Alto, Liz used to live a couple of blocks from me in SF’s hipster-haven Mission district
• Graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelors in Linguistics
• A night person, she wakes up late and then catches up on the daily news by reading a couple hundred RSS feeds
• While not opposed to being pitched through Facebook and Twitter, Liz sees those as personal realms — email is best
• Liz organizes the NewTeeVee Pier Screenings in SF
• Introduced me to my new Video Valentine: blip.tv

Watch as Liz tells us a little more about her beat, names the most influential new media innovation in 2007, and let’s us know what makes a good communications professional.

What was the most influential new media trend in 2007? Or, for PR pros, how do you add value to your reporter relations? Let us know in the comments!

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[The above photo, “Liz Gannes” by joeywan on flickr, used under Creative Commons.]

Last Friday, socialTNT attended the very first Crunchie awards. For those of you who were unable to go or who missed the live webcast, we offer you a short recap with our picks for the best highlights.

The Crunchies 2007 were hosted by our favorite tech-blog monarchs TechCrunch, GigaOm, Read/Write Web and VentureBeat . With nominees like Twitter, Digg, Facebook, and TechMeme, the event was a who’s who of technology greats. My dates for the evening were the talented team over at UGOBE, whose adorable robotic dinosaur, Pleo, was nominated alongside the iPhone and the Wii in the best new gadget category (full disclosure: UGOBE is a SHIFT client).

The event lay in stark contrast to the recently canceled Golden Globes awards, the infamous snoozefest known in recent years for its boring lineups and watered-down content. Without official “script writers” and fancy schmancy talent, the Crunchies awards presentation was one of the most entertaining awards ceremonies we’ve witnessed in quite a few years. I mean, who needs the typical, scripted dribble when you can watch Fake Steve Jobs drop f-bombs from the comfort of your own computer? Take that, FCC!

The awards ceremony was broadcast live over the Web and integrated a number of social media components. The Crunchies’ heavy incorporation of Web video may foreshadow a whole new era in award show formats. One of the most entertaining social media integrations of the night was a video compilation of 10-second responses from nominees. Introduced by video blogger Sarah Meyers, many of the responses were filmed using unconventional methods, including personal digital cameras and webcams.

Without further ado, here are socialTNT’s video picks of the night:

Best Live Version of a Viral Video: The upbeat crooning of The Richter Scales performing their popular You-Tube video “Here comes another Bubble” on-stage.

Best Award Into Video: CrunchGear’s John Biggs, dressed in a chic blazer with a floral ascot and a pipe hanging from his hand, announcing the nominees for Best New Gadget. Am I watching “Animal House” or an awards ceremony? No matter. The video is hilarious.

Best Acceptance Speech: (Fake) Steve Jobs (aka Dan Lyons) accepting the award for the iPhone as winner of Best New Gadget. My favorite part: “Steve” talks about the new MacBook Air while bending and twisting a Manila envelope to showcase the Air’s awesome design (“it’s actually in there right now”).

Best 10 Second Nominee Response Video: All of these were so amazing that we couldn’t pick just one. In the first video, the ProductWiki guys shows you how to bootstrap like a pro. In the second, Nova Spivack of Twine shows off THE most disruptive technology of all time. I promise, you will be blown away.

And that’s a wrap! Still not satisfied? Take a look at the full list of winners, or check out other recaps to munch on:

• ABC7 News
• ArsTechnica
• TechCrunch
• WIRED News
• ZDNet

Every Thursday, socialTNT channels the spirit of citizen journalism by putting bloggers, reporters, PR pro’s or anyone with something to say about social media in front of the camera for a short, three minute interview. In addition to helping PR peeps pitch these individuals more effectively, the videos are meant to encourage dialog between reporters, PR/communications practitioners and marketers on the future of media.

This Thursday, socialTNT presents the first of two chats with Kara Swisher, Co-Executive Editor of All Things D. In today’s “3 Q’s in 3 Min” Kara tells us her interpretation of what the Wall Street Journal represents and why she’s never going back to print.

Kara is my video-interview idol. Her spy-cam style impromptu interviews with leading figures in the tech industry, coupled with her sardonic wit, will get you the day’s news and leave you in stitches.

All Things D sprung from the annual D: All Things Digital conference. Hoping to take the same type of forward-thinking commentary from the conference and hard-hitting journalistic integrity from the Wall Street Journal, Kara and colleague Walt Mossberg grabbed “Good Morning Silicon Valley’s” John Paczkowski, and set out to launch an innovative site to chronicle the digital revolution–Web 2.0 style. Although it’s owned by Dow Jones, parent company for the Wall Street Journal, this ain’t you father’s news source. Its perfect mix of text and video blogging make it any social media geek’s dream.

Kara and I met at the Dow Jones’ San Francisco offices, conveniently located across the street from my office. Although not laced with as much intrigue as my trip to the New York Times’ San Francisco Bureau, entering the Dow Jones offices still came with its own difficulties.

First off, the receptionist asked me three times if I was sure I was meeting Kara in the office. Kara doesn’t try to hide the fact that she graces her print counterparts once every six months. In fact, she spends so little time in the office, she wasn’t quite sure where her stuff was. We found it later, boxed up in a cube, identified by a single piece of paper.

Also, the Dow Jones SF offices aren’t quite as comfy as the NYT’s SF Bureau. In fact, with its rows of cubes, it really reminded me of a sweatshop. Like the Stock Exchange floor so oft covered in its princess publication, the Dow Jones office smelled a little like a mixture of stale sweat and white-collar fear. My nose couldn’t quite pinpoint whether it was coming from the sales team worried about declining print subscriptions, or whether it was coming from the editorial staff worried they might not be conservative enough for their new overlord, Rupert Murdoch. Kara isn’t scared of Rupe; she thinks he’ll offer a little more edginess and creativity than previously existed.

Kara’s Boomtown, originally a weekly feature covering Silicon Valley on the front page of the Marketplace section in the print edition of the WSJ, did snarky-for-tech years before ValleyWag–or Weblogs for that matter–existed. She is direct and honest, but in that BFF sort of way. When Kara dishes harsh criticism of Facebook, she is doing it out of love–if not for Facebook, for Silicon Valley and it’s beloved cast.

And Kara’s view of the Valley is quite the ensemble cast. Her subjects become characters with their own personalities. She finds the drama and absurdity in the Valley, and then tells a story without compromising the integrity and reliability promised by the Wall Street Journal brand. All commentary and analysis is based on hard facts, something that many feel the blogosphere is lacking.

Fun Facts About Kara

• Kara, her partner (GOOG exec Megan Smith) and their two children (shown here pleading with Yahoo’s Jerry Yang to meet with Kara at a charity lunch) live two blocks from me in a beautifully renovated Victorian. That’s just a few streets over from guy-pal John Markoff!
• A MacFan Girl, Kara has a HUGE Mac monitor and also introduced me to iMovie ’08–results seen in today’s video!
• Kara once blogged a series of posts on Huffington Post chronicling the life of a gay household raising kids
• She’s not wholly convinced of Twitter’s greatness, but after a little prodding, I’m sure she’ll grow to love it
• Kara has authored a couple of books, including There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for the Digital Future and Aol.com How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates
• If you can’t get enough of Kara’s All Things D videos, check out her YouTube channel

Check out today’s interview and listen as Kara explains her quest to legitimize blogs and the importance of staying relevant.

Join us next week for part two when Kara teaches TechCrunch how to “Just Say No” to PR pitches, gives PR Profs a few tips on relationship building, and shares some of her videographical secrets. Don’t miss out: Add us to your RSS reader, or sign up for our email.

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[The above photo, "Kara Swisher is looking at YOU, yes YOU. You know who you are." by Mark Montiero on flickr, used under Creative Commons.]

Last week’s announcement of Google Knol launched the first bout in the struggle to control the third page. While not as electrifying as the Third Rail, not grabbing control of the third page could be equally threatening to GOOG’s quest for world-domination.

For those of you wondering what the third page is: According to Josh Bernoff, an analyst at Forrester Research, “The first page is the main page of a portal; the second page is where the search results are; the third page is what you click on when you decide where to go. Google already owns the first and second page, but since they don’t own content, they have no control over the third page.”

If we strip out social networking sites, search engines and retail sites, the Alexa Top 100 shows Wikipedia and Yahoo as the dominant Third Page sites. This is followed by Go.com (home of ABC, ESPN and Disney), then , IMDB, CNN, GameFAQs, About, New York Times, IGN (home of Rotten Tomatoes), GameSpot, Reference.com, and CNET.

Take a look how this translates, in terms of traffic:

Wikipedia, alone, takes about 55 Million visitors. The majority of the other sites listed above add an additional 20 Million each. Those are a lot of eyes that could be converted to Google Ad dollars; a good reason why they would want to dominate 1st, 2nd and 3rd pages. Will the algorithm stay unbiased so that non-Google articles make it to the top?

The big question for me, however, is why would GOOG want to start with such a web 1.0 endeavor? Wikipedia is open to editing by members of the internet community. Google’s Knol will contain articles written by experts and community members. During beta–and perhaps beyond–Knol will remain closed to editing. Wikipedia (and wiki’s) are highly social, which helps ensure accuracy; if one person writes something that isn’t accurate, someone else will come along and fix it. Mashable suggests the information will be organized like a Mega-blog, but, to me, Knol doesn’t seem too different from about.com, Encarta, or any other web 1.0 experts/answers pages. With social search sites like Eurekster and Mahalo, trying to control content will (hopefully) lose to the content people find most informative.

[Above photo, "Boxing Gloves" by Addictive Picasso on flickr, used under Creative Commons.]