While a number of readers of this blog have expressed their disappontment in learning that the TV audience for Micahel Jackson's memorial service Tuesday was smaller than that of the funeral of Princess Diane in 1997 and the burial of Ronald Reagan in 2004, I have been trying to stress that neither of those event had anywhere near the online audience watching live video streams.

When you add the more than 20 million people watching live TV coverage on computer and mobile screens Tuesday to the 31 million watching on TV screens, the Jackson memorial wins hands down. And I have received many comments and emails from folks who were in that online audience at work Tuesday.

That points to one of the other groundbreaking aspects of coverage of Jackson's death for the past 13 days -- the degree to which fans combined new and old media in getting their news and analysis about Jackson.

How and where did you watch Jackson coverage? And did it make a difference in your experience of the events?

Continue reading "Michael Jackson fans use new, old media in tandem" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Michael Jackson, New media
        

Based on preliminary figures, it is clear that large audiences watched the Michael Jackson memorial service online Tuesday. But it looks as though the overall audience might wind up being smaller than the one for President Barack Obama's inauguration.

CNN.com, one of the largest sites, reported 9.7 million live video streams from midnight Monday to 5 p.m. Tuesday. More cmplete figures will be available later today. Hulu has not yet released its metrics, but said its live video stream traffic was second only to the one it had for Obama's inauguration.

MSNBC.com, meanwhile told the Hollywood Reporter, that its total of 3 million live video streams set a record -- 50 percent higher than its traffic for the inauguration.

Continue reading "CNN, MSNBC, Hulu: Jackson drives live streams" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: New media
        

In an earlier post Tuesday that raised questions about gatekeeping in the world of new media, I said I was trying to get an explanation from CNN of its role in the Rick-Astley-is-dead hoax Monday night.

The key point to understand in the explanation from CNN spokeswoman Jennifer Martin is that information posted on iReport.com only is carried on such outlets as CNN and cnn.com after it is vetted. That means gatekeepers and filters have been applied to anything that appears on the cable news channel CNN or the cnn.com online site -- but not on iReport. com.

That's a big difference, as CNN is relying on what it calls the iReport "community" to police iReport.com. Once something on iReport.com is vetted and found suitable for CNN or cnn.com, it then carries the stamp, "On CNN," according to Martin. The Astley material did not make it onto any of the CNN platforms.

Continue reading "CNN explains the role of iReport in Rick Astley hoax" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: New media
        

Last week, I wrote about AP having to correct a report it published saying Jon and Kate Gosselin had been living apart for the last two years. It troubled me to see a news organization that fomed the bedrock of fact-based journalism losing its way for a moment amid the Jon & Kate frenzy and all the enthusiam over the near-instantaneous news cycles made possible with the growth of social media, iReports and Twitter.

I wondered if anyone was acting as gatekeeper in the mainstream media any more. Well, here we go again with the Rick Astley is dead story that swept across cyberspace last night.

The 43-year-old singer who gained online noteriety singing "Never Gonna Give You Up" is not dead. It was just a hoax and a weird replay of the online geeks' game of "Rickrolling" people online. (You click on a link thinking it is going to take you to, say, BBC News,and instead it takes you to a video of Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up." Aparently setting up a Rickroll is what passes for a life for some people).

But what matters with this false story -- and all the others about such celebrities as Jeff Goldblum and George Clooney last week in the wake of the real deaths of Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon and Michael Jackson -- is how susceptible we have become to bad information sweeping through our lives.

Continue reading "Rick Astley: Where did all the media gatekeepers go?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: New media
        

Here is some of the first evidence I've seen from Nielsen that viewers are willing to watch more than video shorts and clips online.

It involves the continued powerful surge by Hulu where viewers watch full length episodes of TV series and shows.

While YouTube held its dominant position as the top video Web address with 5.5 billion total streams in April, Hulu continued its climb, increasing almost 500 percent in streams year-to-year, from 63.2 million in April 2008 to 373.3 million in April 2009.

Continue reading "Hulu growth says online TV viewing is catching on" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: New media
        

Media folk are tripping over each other these days to tell their audiences how cool they think Twitter is and how deeply they are into Twitter culture.

Maybe so. But here's a fascinating fact from a new Nielsen survey: Three out of every five users who sign up for Twitter drop out by the second month. That is only a 40 percent retention rate -- much lower than that for Facebook and MySpace.

It makes you wonder how satisfying users are really finding Twitter. Or, maybe the question is: How short are the attention spans of some of these users?

Continue reading "Nielsen finds majority quit Twitter after only a month" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)
Categories: New media