She helped birth social media – and now worries about its future

We take social media for granted – so it was cool for me to spend some time with a Pittsburgh native who was there for its birth. Chris Shipley gets credit for hosting the first social media event, for popularizing the term and maybe for coining it. She now hosts Newsgeist (if you know, you’re in the know). And she’s back in the Steel City to work on a media startup called Sparkt. Now she worries about social media’s future. 

You can read about it all here in my latest column.

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Counting up more than web clicks

Sure, web traffic can be an important way to gauge the success of an online news outlet. But it’s not the only one. My latest column considers the ways some Pittsburgh news outlets measure up.

On Media: How do Pittsburgh’s online news sites measure up?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caught on camera: My conversation with James O’Keefe

James O’Keefe answering a question at the National First Amendment Conference. Photo courtesy of Duquesne University.

James O’Keefe? The name didn’t mean much to me a month ago. Now I know him well for his gotcha-style, undercover exposes. We sat down at the National First Amendment Conference at Duquesne University this week. My take…

https://www.nextpittsburgh.com/features/on-media-caught-on-camera-one-mans-truth-or-unvarnished-reality-for-all-my-conversation-with-james-okeefe/

If you like the column, please share.

Salena Zito, national politics writer, caught between James and me. Photo courtesy of Duquesne University.

What Pittsburgh can learn from Philly. No, seriously…

Never thought I would advocate looking to Philadelphia for advice on Pittsburgh, but … they’re doing some interesting work around media collaboration. I would like to see what we can accomplish here if we get different media outlets all pulling in the same direction. My latest column in NEXTpittsburgh.

Pittsburgh media column

“We are all passionate in our belief that strong journalism is essential to a strong community.”

I’m excited to be partnering with NEXTpittsburgh on a new media column. Inspired by my work at the Center for Media Innovation. Because journalism is too important to ignore or let die.

Please check it out…

Andrew Conte speaking in June 2018 at The First Amendment for the Twenty-First Century conference in Pittsburgh.