A View from Abroad

Tyranny of the Formerly Oppressed

My recent 15 hours of fame during the Eurotunnel debacle got me thinking about the nature of social media.

I am all about the democratization of the web.  Always on the David side of any David & Goliath equation, I am delighted to see the little guy finally having his day.  However, there is an inherent problem -- the tyranny of the formerly oppressed.

Say what you will, but the beauty of pokey traditional media was that there was a process in place, one that involved editing and fact checking, which meant that stories were presented without an editorial slant and containing verified facts.  Now the most ill-informed rumor can spread like wildfire and even be picked up by traditional media, thus giving it an air of credibility and the status of truth.  The citizen journalists -- us citizen journalists -- have no editor, no fact-checker, no filter.

I challenge us all to stick to these guidelines:

1. Be responsible:  fact-check.  
   
2. Be skeptical:  are these trusted sources? Don't just report random crap from sites or people that you don't know (much harder now with the new re-tweet functionality on Twitter).  Ask yourself: have you heard your information from more than one source? 
   
3. Be objective:  yes, yes, the nature of social media is subjective, but a subjective opinion can be presented in an objective manner.
   

Try to uphold journalistic integrity, even if you're not pulling down a journalist's pay.  Yes, Leila, I hear you laughing.

You Might Not Be Breaking The Law After All

The Center for Social Media released the "Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in Online Video" earlier this week. You make think this is a yawner but its actually pretty important, as it takes on copyright infringement in the U.S. head-on. Most Americans think that if they take something off the web and use it, they are committing copyright infringement (not that this stops them). The Code reflects the latest changes in U.S. copyright law that has expanded the understanding of fair use to include 'transformational effect.' What does this mean? Basically, provided you are making a truly new use of the content, you are free to make money off those copyrighted images and video and sound.

Several public broadcasters have endorsed the guidelines. Fingers crossed. Not that this means that things are going to change in Europe, but one can hope.

Note that the Center for Social Media's web site has nifty resources for mashers and mixers.

See You At Le Web 3

Most of the BPR team will be at Le Web 3 and the events surrounding it Monday-Wednesday, so we hope to see you all there. Many of our clients will be there, and both coComment and goojet are sponsors.

Pierre Chappaz Leaves Netvibes

Seems that Pierre Chappaz has left Netvibes b/c of irreconcilable difference over Netvibes' distribution and monetization strategy.  More in his post, here.  Also not interesting further insight from Fred Destin.  From a PR perspective, I am wondering why Tariq has remained silent -- not even a peep about this matter in his Twitters (sorry, could not resist & it's late).  Netvibes should have had a statement ready -- or, better yet, a joint statement that shows some level of "we agree to disagree" solidarity.  This just raises eyebrows.

Jerome Archambeaud on French Web 2.0 Start Ups

If you haven't read Jerome's insightful guest post on Giga Om, you need to do so now.  The one thing that he's not mentioned (and that is hard to qualify) is that some French VCs are finally embracing the "risk" in capital risquer.  Not all mind you, and some are definitely motivated by VCs like Benchmark/Balderton, Index, Atlas & Highland hot on their heels, but nonetheless, there is a change afoot.