Daniel Victor

False Joe Paterno death reports relied on faulty sourcing

TweetI wrote a retrospective on how a student news organization falsely reported the death of Joe Paterno, a report that quickly infected mainstream outlets. My piece was co-published at Poynter and ProPublica, so, uh, choose whichever one you like better. If you’re interested in learning more about the episode, there are three pieces I suggest …

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Want Facebook virality? Put it in an image

Tweet(Note, 12/4/13: When I wrote this post almost two years ago, everything here was true. Now, much of it no longer applies. The timeless summary: Experiment with different forms of posting, watch your own data, adjust based on what you see.) “You can’t always control who walks into your life but, you can control which …

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Social search, recommendation saturation, and how Google+ just strong-armed us

TweetOver at Nieman Lab, Carrie Brown-Smith verbalized something that’s been weighing on me lately: the social media bubble may be bursting. But this isn’t about hostility toward social media, and she’s no retrenchment-minded Luddite. She says, in part: But despite all of our excitement over its potential, I’m beginning to wonder about how big of a …

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JOB: Social media producer needed at ProPublica

TweetUPDATE: The position has been filled. Welcome, Blair Hickman! I was recently hired as the social media editor at ProPublica, taking the place of the Guardian-bound Amanda Michel. My first responsibility will be finding someone to join me. We need someone who will be largely responsible for the day-to-day use of ProPublica’s social media accounts. …

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How crowdsourcing could aid ESPN’s sign-stealing investigation

TweetESPN hit a double with its investigation of alleged sign-stealing by the Toronto Blue Jays. A little bit of crowdsourcing could now drive it home. A short summary of the investigation: ESPN talked to four visiting players who claimed to see a man relaying information about upcoming pitches to Blue Jays batters, which is a …

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When cops and Twitter tell different stories

TweetJuly 4 in Philadelphia offered us a solid case study on the proper place of Twitter in reporting. Word of a shooting at a crowded Center City fireworks show spread rapidly through Twitter, and some people are disappointed that local media did not report on it. I’m about as big of a Twitter fan as …

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Philly’s Online Ad – I mean News – Association goes off with a hitch

TweetIt was great to see 15-20 online journalists turn out Wednesday night for the inaugural happy hour of Philly’s Online News Association chapter, a great turnout considering the limited amount of promotion and summer’s siren call of the shore. We had a wide range of publications represented, lots of friendly people, some great journalism-y discussions, …

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Introducing the Philly chapter of the Online News Association

TweetONA Philly’s first happy hour 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 29 Triumph Brewing Company 117 Chestnut Street RSVP here There are a lot of great online journalists in Philadelphia, but we aren’t talking to each other as much as we should be. Let’s change that. Enter the Online News Association, a national organization that claims over …

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Philly.com prominently links to Technically Philly, angels rejoice

TweetWe saw a small but significant milestone at Philly.com this morning. Should you have visited the site between roughly 10:15 a.m. and 11:10 a.m. this morning, you would have seen this:   It’s significant because this is the first time Philly.com has directly linked to an external blog from a prominent spot on its home …

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