When Twitter rescheduled some planned downtime in order to stay accessible for Iranian users in the midst of political upheaval, it was at the request of the U.S. State Department, according to CNN.
This should not be taken to mean that the U.S. is attempting to get involved at this point, CNN added. The State Department is working with multiple social-networking and communication services to ensure that conversation and information channels stay active.
"By necessity, the U.S. is staying hands-off of the election drama playing out in Iran, and officials say they are not providing messages to Iranians or 'quarterbacking' the disputed election process," the article by CNN's Elise Labott read.
Because the U.S. has no diplomatic relations with Iran, information gathered on the Web is crucial to its understanding of the post-election unrest that has led to mass protests and fatal clashes with police. Twitter, where users have been filtering relevant information with the hashtag #iranelection, has been a crucial hotspot for raw news.
Twitter's planned maintenance, according to a post on the company's official blog, was selected by its hosting partner, NTT America. The update is "a critical network upgrade [that] must be performed to ensure continued operation of Twitter," however, so it will instead take place this afternoon when it's well after midnight in Iran.
Meanwhile, in a sort of digital twist on that famous scene in The Thomas Crowne Affair, a new viral campaign is going around Twitter: Users from around the world are resetting the location data in their profiles to Tehran, the capital of Iran, in order to confuse Iranian authorities who may be attempting to use the microblogging tool to track down opposition activity.
Politicians are flocking to Twitter. Whether they're Democrats or Republicans, they're finding new ways to talk to their constituents. I've found 20 politicians who are using the micro-blog to communicate their policies. Some are more active -- and more interesting -- than others. Here's the rundown:
Democrats
President Obama started the political Twitter craze.
(Credit: BarackObama.com)Barack Obama If it weren't for this President, most politicians probably wouldn't be on Twitter. He made the service appealing to politicians by showing them that it's a great way to establish a grassroots campaign. Currently, he has staffers tweeting for him, mostly discussing his policies in office. It's an informative Twitter stream. See also the White House on Twitter.
Barbara Boxer Barbara Boxer, a U.S. senator from California, is quite active on Twitter. But she has her staff update her Twitter stream, only diving in personally form time to time. Her tweets mostly discuss where she will be appearing, so it's not too informative.
Chris Dodd Sen. Chris Dodd's Twitter account is a little sneaky: the tweets sound like Dodd is updating his stream, but if you dig a little deeper, it turns out that his Twitter account is for his "office." So, it's not really Dodd updating his stream even though his staff makes it sound that way. Regardless, they're interesting tweets. You'll gain insight into the Senate proceedings, see where he stands on issues, and find some interesting political links. Dodd's Twitter account is worth following.
Dick Durbin Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin is on Twitter. He has 99 followers. There's just one issue: he's never updated his Twitter stream. I find it appalling that such an important figure in U.S. politics can create a Twitter profile and not update it. Don't follow Durbin.
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How bad is it? The economy, we mean. Are we bouncing into a recovery or continuing to sink? Below is a list of resources that will help you track the economy and determine for yourself if it's as bad as some people say.
Economy resources
Bureau of Economic Analysis If you want to be inundated with data detailing every last element of the economy, the Bureau of Economic Analysis is for you. It has data on national, regional, and state levels. If you want to compare the U.S. with economies around the world, you can do that too. Its trade resource is a great place to learn just how much the U.S. is importing and exporting. Finding a particular indicator can be difficult. But that's mainly due to the site's huge database of information. If you want information on anything related to the economy, you can find it here.
The BLS provides a lot of information.
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides information on some of the major economic indicators, like the Consumer Price Index and employment figures. You won't find every economic indicator, but since the site lists a handful of indexes that matter most to the health of the economy, you should be satisfied. The documents on the BLS site are the full reports presented to Congress each month. They provide outstanding insight into what's really going on in the economy. I highly recommend it.
CBS News Economy The CBS News Economy page helps you learn about taxes, the national debt, and other economic indicators. The page features basic definitions to help you understand more difficult topics. And its use of visual elements like graphs and charts make understanding the economy just a bit easier. (Disclosure: CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.)
Economagic Economagic offers a wealth of financial data. Whether you want to see how interest rates have changed over the past few decades or you want to determine the amount of credit market debt outstanding, you can. From the simple to the complex, you'll find anything you're looking for on Economagic. The site isn't designed well--it's basically a list of links and numbers--but you'll get over it quickly once you see how much information is at your disposal. Check it out.
... Read MoreSo, about two dozen high-profile and quasi-high-profile young business leaders were invited to Washington, D.C., to meet with senior Obama administration officials Friday to discuss the future of the ravaged U.S. economy. And I've got to respect the fact that the administration wants to hear from young, outside-the-box entrepreneurs. But, of course, the dial on the snark machine has been turned up to 11.
I don't have a complete list of attendees, but we've learned through various channels that the roster includes Kluster founder Ben Kaufman, Zappos founder Tony Hsieh, Toms Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie, Threadless exec Jake Nickell, marketer Josh Spear, former Googler Chris Sacca, and the one everyone's making the jokes about--Twitter co-founder Evan Williams. The punch line, of course, is why the Obama administration would ever want to hear economic advice from the head of a company that has been fueled by buzz rather than profits thus far. (Side note: Were any women invited?)
As Hsieh Twittered, the purpose of the visit was to discuss "ways to help economy that administration may not have thought of yet." It's arguable that administration officials could learn more sage advice from, say, a bright young thing who's made a quick ascent at an existing corporation rather than founded a quirky start-up that's only a few years old.
But at the same time, the White House invitees have all had interesting ideas (with varying degrees of innovation) that they've gotten off the ground and turned into businesses, and it sounds like ideas are what are on the agenda here. I highly doubt that President Obama will suddenly decide that economic recovery isn't important simply because Twitter currently preaches a gospel of growth over profits.
One thing I hope is discussed: what these young business leaders, regardless of what you think about their companies' moneymaking prospects, have to say about getting many of their smart, well-educated peers back in the workforce. I'm in my mid-20s, and have seen scores of my high school and college classmates ravaged by layoffs, particularly in the finance sector. Many others who are in grad school are uncertain of their post-graduation opportunities. In the past week alone I've learned about two more of my acquaintances leaving town to seek employment somewhere where the cost of living is lower.
Some industry figureheads, like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, himself a veteran entrepreneur, have started making strides to put laid-off professionals back to work at start-ups and forward-thinking small businesses. That's a great idea, and obviously, the people who run existing start-ups both inside and outside the digital space are going to be the ones who have the most to say about it.
Josh Spear posted to Twitter on Friday that he believes the contents of the meeting will be public record. I'm looking forward to hearing what was talked about.
Now that the U.S. has witnessed a peaceful transfer of power, some in the country are saying that it's time to unite. And while that may be possible for some, others still frequent political commentary sites that aim to sway public opinion in one way or another.
There are people on both sides of the political fence--left or right--that use the following sites as sources for their own political understanding and to help them formulate their own agenda. To those folks, these biased sites provide value. But to some, nonpartisan sites are important and they want to hear the unbiased truth. Either way, politics is an extremely contentious business. And whether you're looking for liberal-leaning posts on the greatness of President Obama or conservative discussions on the problems with the president's stimulus package, you can find it all in the following sites.
Conservative sites
Drudge Report
Drudge Report may just be a collection of links, but critics say they tend to lean to the right. Perhaps that's because Matt Drudge, the site's founder, became famous by being the first source to break the Monica Lewinsky scandal after Newsweek decided not to publish it.
Since then, Drudge Report has become a daily haven for conservatives who want to take aim at liberals. It works: Drudge Report has over 3 million unique visitors each month, according to its internal figures. Conservative rating: 4 out of 5
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin may be just one person, but her conservative punditry has ignited fierce debate across the Web.
Malkin first started as a newspaper reporter over a decade ago. Since then, she has become a well-known conservative thinker, nationally-syndicated columnist, and author of three antiliberal books. She updates her blog daily with antiliberal and right-leaning opinions. Conservative rating: 5 out 5
National Review Online
National Review Online is the online version of the conservative magazine of the same name. Designed for the Republican or conservative, the site features news, commentary, and opinion on some of the most important political happenings of the day.
The National Review is widely considered one of the most influential conservative publications in the world and as it explains in its "About" page, it constantly aims at providing the "right's take" on political issues facing the world. Conservative rating: 4 out of 5
TownHall
The self-proclaimed, "No. 1 conservative Web site," TownHall provides political commentary and analysis from more than 100 leading conservative columnists to "amplify those conservative voices in America's political debates."
TownHall takes aim at the barriers between news and opinion and provides an arena for conservatives to espouse their opinions on the state of the world. The site is often updated with discussions on why President Obama's policies may hurt the world. Conservative rating: 5 out 5
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If you can't visit beautiful Davos this week, there's always the Internet.
(Credit: CC Andy Mettler/World Economic Forum)In case your invitation to the exclusive World Economic Forum got lost in the mail, you can stop feeling so down about it. The closed-doors event in Davos, Switzerland, has loosened up a bit, thanks to the Web and the whole "transparency" thing that's been trendy for the past few years.
Besides, you can bet a few people will be blogging photos from their iPhones anyway.
This year, the World Economic Forum, which runs Wednesday through Sunday, has chosen to take advantage of just about every kind of social-media app you can imagine.
Broadcasts of many of the forum's panels and discussions are being streamed live on the Web by video start-up Mogulus, with an official Twitter account providing alerts and updates as to which global luminaries are talking at what times.
You can also go to a Flickr photo stream, check out a Netvibes page that aggregates...everything, and chat with other armchair philosophers in a FriendFeed room.
Plus, there are live broadcasts from CNN.com.
Two formally sanctioned "citizen reporters" have been chosen to attend through social networks. One won a MySpace/Wall Street Journal contest, and one won a "Davos Debates" video contest sponsored by YouTube. The MySpace delegate, Rebecca McQuigg of Los Angeles, is blogging at the MySpace Journal site, as well as on a Wall Street Journal blog. YouTube videos from the summit will come from contest winner Pablo Camacho, a Bogota, Colombia-based writer and singer.
Many of the notable attendees are on Twitter, and you can track them with a Twitter search for the hash tag #davos. That'll bring you to a flood of updates, breaking news stories, and general observations on the first Davos gathering since the markets crashed in the fall.
"Here there is a smaller crowd, even more techies than usual, rampant fear and pessimism, and much talk of social responsibility," journalist David Kirkpatrick posted to his Twitter account on Wednesday.
The Washington Post today is launching Who Runs Gov, a site primarily made up of a database of personalities in the United States government. If you're looking for info on your state's senator or representative, or details about a cabinet or high-ranking military official, it looks like the site could be a valuable resource.
Who Runs Gov profile pages are consistent and useful.
Who Runs Gov is a wiki, powered by MindTouch. Registered users can edit the pages, but changes don't go live until the site's staffers approve the edits. Also, subjects of Who Runs Gov profile pages (or their staff) will be able to submit their own profile information for inclusion on pages about them, a fundamental difference from Wikipedia, where you're not supposed to write about yourself.
As on other wikis, users can easily check out the edits and revisions that have been made to any page.
In a quick side-by-side comparison with competitor Wikipedia, I found Who Runs Gov far more consistent and predictable, although--so far--lacking the diversity of viewpoints that makes it into many Wikipedia entries.
Updated at 6:41 a.m. PST on Wednesday to update statistics from CNN and Akamai.
From what early numbers are indicating, the historic swearing-in of President Barack Obama was not the biggest traffic day for the Internet. But for many social networks and digital-media sites, Inauguration Day shattered traffic and usage records regardless.
Here are the ones we've heard from so far. We'll be updating this list as we hear more:
Akamai. The content delivery network has some numbers out that indicate traffic on the Web peaked right before noon Eastern time, with about 5.4 million visitors per minute flocking to online news outlets. While this is 22 percent above normal online news consumption, per Akamai, it's not a record. Obama's victory in November pulled in nearly 8.6 million visitors per minute, and the 7 million mark has been broken by both a hotly contested World Cup soccer game in 2006 and last year's March Madness college basketball playoffs.
Akamai said later on Tuesday that the inauguration did break an all-time record for the number of simultaneous video streams.
Visitors attempting to access CNN.com's live stream of the inaugural address got this message instead (Click image for larger view). CNN was just one of many Web sites that got overloaded during the speech.
(Credit: Screenshot by CBSNews.com)CNN. It was a big day for the Time Warner-owned news outlet's Web site. It's been continually updating its statistics, but at press time, CNN.com said it has served more than 18.8 million live video streams, including 1.3 million at the same time right before Obama gave his address, since 6 a.m. EST. That's a record: Election Day served up only 5.3 million live streams. Apparently, it wasn't all smooth sailing, though. CBS News reports that CNN.com had a note posted for potential viewers who came to see the historic moment that said, "You made it! However, so did everyone else." (See screenshot at right.)
At 6 p.m. ET, CNN.com updated its statistics: There were over 160 million page views in a 12-hour span, along with 25 million live video streams--a new record for CNN, which had a previous high of 5.3 million live streams on Election Day. At peak, CNN estimates that it was serving 1.3 million simultaneous live streams.
Facebook. The social network, which partnered with CNN for a live feed of "status" updates (sort of like Facebook's equivalent of a Twitter post) pertaining to the inauguration, has put out some usage numbers and is still updating them. As of 10:15 a.m. PST, 600,000 status messages had been set using the CNN app, and an average of 4,000 Facebook status updates were set every minute during the inauguration. They peaked the minute Obama began his speech, with 8,500 status messages set in those 60 seconds. "Millions" of members logged into the social network during the live broadcast.
Mogulus. The live-streaming service powered online inauguration video streams for C-Span, USA Today, and other newspapers owned by USA Today publisher Gannett (which has a minority stake in the company). Inauguration coverage broke Mogulus' network record, according to early numbers, with 105,000 concurrent viewers and more than 1 million visitors total.
Hulu. The video hub, a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp., declined to provide any viewership statistics for Inauguration Day.
Our colleagues at CBSNews.com report that they, too, ran into trouble with their live stream of the inauguration speech, saying that many people could not load the stream around the time of the address due to overwhelming demand.
Twitter. Co-founder Biz Stone put up a blog post after the craziness had died down on Tuesday, saying that the rate of "tweets" (Twitter messages) per second hit as much as five times the normal rate, and that the rate of tweets per minute hit four times the normal rate. He acknowledged, though, that there was a lag time of two to five minutes for many users. The good news? Twitter, once highly outage-prone, didn't crash entirely.
The New York Times. No official numbers have been released, but a representative for the newspaper's NYTimes.com division said that early data indicates the live stream of the inauguration pulled in a record number of viewers compared to all the live video it's ever run. Not surprising.
Disclosure: CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, which also publishes CBSNews.com.
If you thought that social-media sites were foaming at the mouth on Election Day in an attempt to get the most eye-catching, mashed-up, user-generated gimmicks in place, you might not be too surprised to find out that the social Web has gone just as nutty over the swearing-in of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.
Here's a roll call of a few notables: There's an official user-sourced inauguration blog that uses collaborative platform Tumblr to post everything from recommended links to funny photos of people posing next to cardboard cut-outs of Obama. Social network Facebook has partnered with CNN for CNN Live, which displays participating members' election-related status messages in a feed next to a live stream of the ceremony. MySpace, meanwhile, has collaborated with Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst Media for a celeb-studded "Presidential Pledge" project.
Cable network Current will be displaying related messages from Twitter on-screen in its inauguration coverage (which will also be streamed on Current.com), much as it did during the presidential debates.
Also on the live-streaming front, Web video hubs like Joost and Hulu--in addition to the sites of just about every major broadcaster--will be showing inauguration coverage with varying degrees of user commentary and interactivity.
Not to mention the fact that a zillion of the Twitterati, from reporters to on-air anchors to random bystanders to Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, are actually in D.C. for the occasion. It shouldn't be too hard to track down their raw commentary, especially since gossip blog Gawker is mining through notable media figures' "tweets" to poke fun at them.
We'll be updating this post throughout the day to let you know what worked, what didn't, and who's going to be placing angry calls to their hosting providers on Tuesday night.
6:56 a.m. PT: AllVoices.com, a "citizen journalism" site, appears to have been hacked on Inauguration Day, with the entire site replaced by a text message that says "HI ETHAN."
Meanwhile, New York Times reporter Brian Stelter has Twittered that cell phone service in D.C. is already showing signs of stress; he says that he can text but not call.
7:05 a.m. PT: Digital marketing agency Deep Focus has created Tweet The Inauguration, which aggregates Twitter updates that have, say, the word "inauguration" in them or are accompanied by the #inaug09 hash tag (which the Twitter community has generally accepted to delineate inaugural tweets. It's a lot like Current's strategy. My only gripe? It only displays one tweet at a time.
Also, an early contender for the "great inauguration tweets" department, from @pistachio:
7:14 a.m. PT: Tim Shey reports via Twitter that the live broadcasts from both Hulu and CNN.com were too slow. "We went to good old digital broadcast: NBC in HD."
7:19 a.m. PT: A Twitter user asked me how you can watch the inauguration on your iPhone. I pointed him to Ustream.tv's inauguration stream. The Ustream app is brand-new in Apple's App Store.
Also, I'm noticing that Twitter is loading a little more slowly.
7:22 a.m. PT: If you want a report that's more on-the-ground and less about whether Twitter has crashed yet or not, check out our sister site, CBSNews.com, and its Political Hotsheet.
7:24 a.m. PT: Media pundit Jeff Jarvis has Twittered that he's having issues with Ustream's iPhone app while attempting to stream inauguration coverage. "Just as I tweeted I was watching live TV on my iPhone with UStream, it crashed," Jarvis lamented. "Now it's buffering. Tough day to launch this."
7:27 a.m. PT: Have a look at Twitter Search's top trending topics: " #inaug09, Happy Inauguration, #inauguration, Washington, White House, President Obama, Hulu, #tcot, National Mall, MSNBC."
7:29 a.m. PT: One Twitter user is very happy to have found a live stream with closed captioning, on the Senate's Web site.
7:31 a.m. PT: Yup, Twitter's having issues. "Twitter already starting to fail under the load," one user reports. "I'm not even getting the whale when it does."
7:33 a.m. PT: Another Twitter user says that Ustream.tv's live feed is holding up better than Hulu's.
7:35 a.m. PT: Loads of Twitter users are directing me to TweetGrid, another aggregation site. The TweetGrid app has created an inauguration-specific site, but it's already starting to periodically get downtime errors.
7:38 a.m. PT: What am I watching? I've found Ustream's coverage to be very stable.
7:46 a.m. PT: Dispatch from our wacky-news correspondent, Stephen Shankland: "A viral marketing stunt at its finest: Trident's site called Joe Biden's teeth. Upload your smiling photo and give them your address and they'll give you a pushpin on a Google maps mashup and send you some gum in 6 to 8 weeks."
7:47 a.m. PT: In case you're tired of whatever live stream you're watching, here's a very interesting article about how Obama's inauguration may be one of the biggest days for the Internet--literally.
7:51 a.m. PT: Just tried to load Paste Magazine's Web app "Obamicon Me," which stylizes any photo you give it to look like artist Shepard Fairey's now-iconic "HOPE" poster. The site's still up--but taking an awfully long time to load.
7:54 a.m. PT: Another inauguration aggregator: Twinauguration.com. I'm checking it out now.
7:56 a.m. PT: Somebody is aggregating inauguration-related posts to TwitPic, the mobile photo service that syncs to Twitter. TwitPic crashed when it was the source of the first close-up photo of last week's Hudson River plane crash: think it'll stay afloat during Inauguration Day?
(Credit:
jane_davis on Flickr)
8:01 a.m. PT: San Francisco counterculture blog Laughing Squid has linked to some Flickr photos detailing how pranksters changed every sign on the city's Bush St. to "Obama St."
8:05 a.m. PT: Lots of Twitterers have been talking about the fact that outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney is at the inauguration in a wheelchair after pulling a muscle in his back. We hope that Cheney makes a speedy recovery, but that hasn't stopped the Web's snarkmongerers from comparing the much-vilified vice president to the likes of the villainous Mr. Potter from It's A Wonderful Life and Dr. Evil from Austin Powers.
Says comedian and "I'm a P.C." mascot John Hodgman:
8:07 a.m. PT: We've got a Twitterer estimating that 3,000 people are updating their Facebook statuses each minute using the Facebook-CNN live tool.
8:12 a.m. PT: CNN is reportedly saying that this is the most-watched event in television history worldwide. I wonder if they're counting live streams on the Web?
8:15 a.m. PT: Another observation from my colleague Stephen Shankland: "Add this if you want: There's a huge lag between CNN and the live streaming view I'm watching. Being out of sync makes live chat with your pals pretty awkward."
8:20 a.m. PT: Guest post from Stephen Shankland: Google Trends shows that eight out of 10 hot searches on Google are inauguration related. live inauguration coverage tops at "volcanic."
8:26 a.m. PT: Guest post from Stephen Shankland: I just did a test. 99 Twitter comments tagged #inaug09 in 45 seconds.
8:28 a.m. PT: NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen Twitters a link to an AFP article that says Obama's Whitehouse.gov site will take over one minute after noon. The AP news coverage streamed on Ustream just informed me that, by law, the President must be sworn in by noon.
8:30 a.m. PT: Guest post from Shankland: I just measured the time lag between live and the stream I'm watching the live stream at the Presidential Inauguration Committee site. It's pretty significant: 2 minutes 11 seconds.
8:33 a.m. PT: A lot of Twitterers are griping about live-streaming issues, like this one:
8:36 a.m. PT: The official Obama "Inaugural Tumblelog" now features a photo of incoming Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel making a funny face.
8:38 a.m. PT: My Ustream access has started to fuzz out.
All of the 10 hot Google search trends in the United States had to do with the inauguration at 8:35 a.m PST.
(Credit: Google)8:38 a.m. PT: Guest post from Shankland: Now 10 out of 10 hot Google search terms are related to the inauguration. C-Span gets three of them.
8:43 a.m. PT: Alerted via Twitter: The Senate's inauguration live stream has crashed entirely. I get an instant page load error.
8:49 a.m. PT: Also from the Twitterverse: CNN's reporting records for its online live streaming, with 8 million streams as of 11:10 a.m. Eastern. The previous record was 5.3 million on Election Day.
8:51 a.m. PT: From Shankland: The lag between CNN and live stream at the Presidential Inauguration Committee site dropped from more than 2 minutes to about 5 seconds. How'd they do that? What did they cut?
8:52 a.m. PT: Just got my first flat-out Twitter outage of the day.
8:59 a.m. PT: Yup. Twitter's "tweets" are coming in with several minutes of lag.
9:01 a.m. PT: And, yes, Whitehouse.gov has now transitioned to its Obama incarnation.
9:02 a.m. PT: My colleague Stephanie Condon has a report on the state of D.C.'s wireless infrastructure right now: Spectators crowd the Mall and wireless networks.
9:07 a.m. PT: Well, Obama's officially President now. But I haven't been able to see the Twitter reactions because there's about a four or five-minute lag time.
9:12 a.m. PT: Big on Twitter right now: The fact that Obama flubbed up his inaugural oath as Chief Justice John Roberts was swearing him in. Oops!
9:15 a.m. PT: The live streams at many major news outlets are still problematic, as this Twitter post shows:
9:22 a.m. PT: Observations on the digital generation: A bunch of Twitterers report that one of the TV streams showed that 10-year-old Malia Obama took out her camera and took a photo. Cute!
9:27 a.m. PT: I watched most of the inauguration coverage on Ustream, and had a pretty amusing ad placement the whole time (left). Former vice presidential candidate and Saturday Night Live fixture Sarah Palin, it appears, is not going anywhere any time soon.
9:31 a.m. PT: Twitter has started to calm down slightly. Despite some sluggishness and very brief outages, the microblogging service managed to stay afloat during Obama's swearing-in and speech.
9:37 a.m. PT: Just in from CNN: "According to early data, as of 11:45 a.m. ET today, CNN.com Live has served 13.9 million live video streams globally since 6 a.m., shattering its all time total daily streaming record set on Election Day with 5.3 million live streams."
9:41 a.m. PT: Former Bush strategist Karl Rove, now a prolific Twitter user, has posted the message "It (has) been quite a ride--heading home." And a TwitPic.
9:49 a.m. PT: From my colleague Ina Fried: "While the social media were buzzing, corporate e-mail systems were likely experiencing a light load. One tech PR person noted that he had gotten just a single e-mail in the last hour, a fraction of his usual volume."
The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is one of those exclusive, highbrow affairs with a guest list tighter than your belt after a pie-eating contest. But social network MySpace is leveling out the playing field by partnering with the Wall Street Journal for a competition called "MySpace Journal," in which an aspiring "citizen journalist" will be awarded the chance to attend the summit later this month.
MySpace is now accepting video submissions in which entrants explain their reasons for wanting to attend and be a member of the Davos press corps. One winner, chosen by a panel of industry figureheads that includes pundit and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington and MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, will receive an all-expenses paid trip, a coveted press pass, and a blog on MySpace that will also be syndicated to The Wall Street Journal's Web site.
They probably don't attract the same demographic, but MySpace and the Journal have something big in common: Both are owned by the Rupert Murdoch-helmed media conglomerate News Corp.
MySpace might be better known for music promotion than international affairs, but the social network showed off its civic colors quite a bit during last fall's presidential campaign. A similar "citizen journalism" competition was conducted in partnership with NBC, and a series of candidate dialogues were broadcast in conjunction with MTV.
