I’m anxiously awaiting the results
@AP @skarnowski I think we have officially taken crowdsourcing too far now, guys. How would this have been reported in 1952? Do that.
— James David Dickson (@JDDetNews) April 24, 2012
I’ve asked the AP reporter to tell us more about his project. (UPDATE: AP’s social media editor has posted a comment.)
In 1952 – or 2002, for that matter – it would have quoted three people that the reporter knew, and maybe a couple more who were badgered downtown during one of those stupid “man in the street” things that The Onion ridicules so well. The writing would have tried to make it sound like it was a finger on the pulse of the community.
If you’re going to do a story like that, then online crowdsourcing is vastly preferable.
Hi, folks — I’m the social media editor at AP, and I’m completely fine with Steve’s tweet, and our retweet of it.
I think there’s a mistaken impression that social media should only be used for newsgathering when there’s no other choice. I would contend, instead, that a reporter should simply use the best tool at his disposal to get the job done.
Online crowd-sourcing can be very effective for finding a broad range of voices for a story, which in turn makes that story more meaningful.
I prefer thighs for tacos, burritos and arroz con polo. White mean for everything else. Thanks for asking.
pollo
white meat
Sorry. But, at least if you take my first initial and last name, you get hunger.
All of the above are preferable to sushi.
Thighs. Except for piccata, in which case, breasts. Also, free-range and organic (California, represent!) unless you’re buying from a locally owned mom-and-pop, in which case you need to consider the economics of free-range and organic, and balance it against the needs of the small-business owner. And then you should take into account those neighborhoods that are so-called food deserts, where sustainably raised and organic aren’t readily available … oh hell, I could go on all day.
Or it’s a free advertisement for anyone on Twitter (a notoriously narcissitic medium that convinces people they can have meaningful conversations with celebrities) that they can see their name in a story that’s going around the world by pretending to like a certain kind of meat.
I would think the more “meaningful” way to report a story about the preference of meat (and honestly, I’m having trouble typing that sentence) would be through some sort of statistics that spell out a broader trend. The two examples given (man on the street or man with a tweet) I would think are similarly meaningless.
Dan Herman: Yes, that’s completely true. And I assure you that our story related to this won’t rely entirely on what members of the public say. But it would be mistake, I think, to leave them out entirely.