Zuri Berry

Journalism, Sports & Culture - a new direction for a changing industry

Tag: social networking

Time to come up for air: Some 49ers thoughts, staycation and more

I’ve been absent from this space for the past month for the same reason I write sparsely in the month of March every year in Boston — high school tournament season. A large part of my responsibilities remain the Boston Globe’s coverage of high school sports and I take pride in making sure we’re represented properly online. So much so that I clocked a whopping 72 hours two weeks ago before taking this last week off on vacation following the state basketball and hockey championships.

Just grinding. Or as I like to term on Twitter, #grindmode.

Unfortunately for me, in the time I have been away from writing on this site, NFL free agency has bloomed and the San Francisco 49ers’ weird, twisted quarterback journey has been right in the thick of it.

Oh, and the New England Patriots have been busy too. (Again, two worlds colliding.)

When Randy Moss signed with the 49ers, I was asked maybe a half a dozen times what I thought about it. And I’m sure you could understand that made me wonder why I wasn’t writing about it. I was just too busy. But in retrospect, from March 12 — the day he was officially signed — to now, my feeling on the topic is more ginger than a red head. With Mario Manningham signing on, and Moss’ contract reportedly a 1-year base salary of $750,000 with the ability to reach $1.5 million with bonuses, there doesn’t seem to be too much harm. If the 49ers get the good Moss, great. He’s on the cheap. If the 49ers get the bad Moss, whatever. He’s on the cheap. And Manningham, a hero in the Super Bowl, is more than capable next to Michael Crabtree. I would imagine those two being the starters with Moss providing a deep threat for the team as a third option.

It’s this whole situation with Alex Smith that vexes me. The 49ers re-signed Smith to a 3-year deal March 21 after failing to court Peyton Manning. Manning, as I’m sure you already know, signed with the Denver Broncos who have jettisoned (pun intended) Tim Tebow to the New York Jets. Tebow will back up Mark Sanchez. (Oh, and if you’re paying close attention to backup quarterbacks, Brady Quinn is now a Kansas City Chief. True story.) All this after Smith flirted with the Miami Dolphins and even the Seattle Seahawks before the Seahawks signed quarterback Matt Flynn. Smith eventually said he went to Miami because he’d never been to its beaches before. (Yes, he was actually quoted saying that … And Deadspin has started a Lolphins tag.) I think that has us caught up.

What’s not caught up, is the 49ers’ quarterback situation in the 21st century. San Francisco is now embarking on Year 8 of the Smith dynasty and I’m sorry but there is nothing to be happy about that. I don’t care about what he did in one season and, in particular, one game. (Yes, my feelings have changed. This is allowed.) I don’t care that he had the world against him for seven seasons. I don’t care that he’s only just now getting his wings under him. He’s not a winner in my books. Not now, not ever. He’s got the accuracy of a drunk playing darts. He has the vision of a bat in a soundless vortex. He is the most uninteresting starting quarterback in 2012. Now, he has to prove himself that 2011 wasn’t a fluke and that possibly he can do better than what he showed in the NFC Championship against the eventual Super Bowl-winning New York Giants.

This after I gave him so much love for his magnificent game against the New Orleans Saints in the playoffs. It wasn’t so much a win as it was poetry, the movement and flow of the game. The gamesmanship. The miraculousness. The poise. The pizzazz. He displayed none of that exactly a week later in the 49ers’ loss to the Giants. It was as if he had reverted to his old self.

The Giants, taking a different tact than the Saints, didn’t give Smith the opportunity to beat them like they would give some rookie quarterback. With a strong defensive front, they were able to pressure him and force bad throw after bad throw. The final 49ers drive and their play in overtime exemplified what it means to put the game on Smith’s shoulders, a 70-30 proposition in favor of the other team. Those situations are what make me think Smith is a stopgap at best in this league until the quarterback situation can be fully resolved. Manning would have fixed that. He would have been the answer to this 8-year Rubik’s cube. If not him, one would assume that Colin Kaepernick is progressing enough to be ready to start. He has to make strides or the 49ers will regress.

I don’t think it needs to be explained that a 13-3 club is not going to be getting a high enough draft pick to select the quarterback of the future. Things don’t work that way. So free agency and trades are all that’s left to figure out this QB quandary. With Smith on board for three more years, the 49ers must assume that they’re either stuck in the desert or still figuring out how to find the promised land of signal callers. So are followers of this franchise to assume that Smith is the fallback plan … again? The SF brass can’t keep using this excuse. It’s only worked well once in seven tries. I’m not optimistic it’ll work well again.

***

In the course of my staycation, I’ve mulled these thoughts and more, figuring I’d jot them down when I had the chance. Lucky for me, I’ve had plenty of free time. I’ve actually gotten a chance to enjoy myself quite a bit in Boston over the last week. I went to the New England’s Revolution’s home opener against the Portland Timbers (that’s Major League Soccer for the uninitiated), walked Harvard Square (for the umpteenth time), watched “The Hunger Games,” and have experienced some new cafes and restaurants. Boston has been blessed with some great weather this week, allowing me to shed the winter coats and rock some new T-shirts. I couldn’t have asked for more. Best part? I haven’t woken up before 11 a.m. yet.

***

Tomorrow, the work week starts with my last day off before going back to the Globe on Tuesday. Everyone’s mind is on baseball with opening day looming April 5. My mind will be on that as well as a number of other projects. But one thing I think I’ll continue to focus on this spring and into the fall is social media, particularly for our high school sports coverage. I launched a Google+ page for Boston.com High School Sports and I intend to work on some more offerings for the socially apt as well.

In the meantime, I’ve been exploring Pinterest, the iPhone app Socialcam, and have fallen in love with Instagram all over again.

My attention to Pinterest is the same one I take with every social media site. What good is it for me journalistically? So far, outside of gathering pictures from the Boston Globe where their copyright can be shredded, I believe the journalistic aspect of the website is lacking. That’s not a bad thing for Pinterest. But it is a bad thing for journalists who want badly to join another social network that is rising in popularity. Simply posting a photo with an interesting caption and link back to your website does not suffice for Pinterest users. The vast majority don’t want to click on the links to see where the content originated. Instead, they want to “re-pin” the item to one of their “boards” so it can be seen as part of their collection. Without the clickthrough, it’s hard to ascertain why a journalism organization — outside of branding purposes — wants to utilize this system.

Here’s a thought: What if, in Pinterest’s grand scheme of schemes, you could disable repins? What if brands could force users to go to their website if they want to see where pins originated? That would fix a lot, dontcha think?

And then there’s Socialcam, an app I downloaded randomly for my iPhone that is surprisingly awesome. Basically, you take videos of yourself or whatever and share it with friends via Facebook, YouTube or friends in the app’s network. It has a strong journalistic root, in my opinion, because it allows for a user to submit instantaneously recorded content. It’s available in Android as well. I’ve had fun with it mainly to test and mess around with while I’m out and about at assignments. But I imagine I will use it a lot more going forward for interviews. (Side note: Why doesn’t Brightcove do these things? I mean, they are the juggernaut of newspaper video portals. Why does YouTube get to have all the fun and Brightcove continue to be cumbersome for sharing and social spaces? Why, why, why???)

And of course I’ve fallen prey to the awesomeness that is Instagram. That’s one iPhone app I don’t think I can do without now. I used it extensively for the Super Bowl and then I was messing around with it again this week. Best part about this app is that it loads phenomenally fast. Better than the Facebook app, better than Twitter app and 10 times better than the Google+ iPhone app. (Why does Google even have this app? It’s horrible. You can’t do anything you want to do with it and nowhere near as seamless as the web experience. It’s just awful.) The filters are simple and cool enough to enhance most photos without so much as even whispering “edit” and everybody seems to love the intuitiveness of it all. There’s nothing to argue with about this app. And now, it’s becoming available on Android too for wider use.

***

I think that sums up what I’ve wanted to say in the last week. It only took me 1600 words to do so, but it’s a good 1600 because it’s off my chest. Now I’m going to finish my vacation in style with some brunch before taking a run and settling into the couch for Sunday night TV.

Goodbye winter, hello spring.

by  /  March 25, 2012  /  Posted in: Football, Personal, Preps
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I was @addisports, now I’m @zuriberry

Just changed my Twitter handle from @addisports to @zuriberry.

It’s the end of the Addi-Sports era. Some of you may recall I used to have a website by the same name. And for some of my long-time friends, you’d know that I had a column by the same name as far back as 2003.

What is, or was, Addi-Sports and addisports? Addicted to sports. It was the name of the column I started when I first began writing for my college newspaper almost 8 years ago. As time progressed, it became the name of my blog on this very website. And when I got ambitious, it became its own website and semi-business venture. And then I killed it.

I’d been thinking about changing the name for some time. There was no longer a brand to associate with the name. No more column. No more website. No reason to keep a name while masking my own.

So now you know exactly who you’re talking to.

by  /  December 21, 2010  /  Posted in: Personal
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What MySpace can do so I won’t kill it

Nobody looks at Rupert Murdoch like he's a visionary anymore after how he's managed MySpace.

Nobody looks at Rupert Murdoch like he's a visionary anymore after how he's managed MySpace.


I first joined MySpace some time in 2004. I’ve quit twice since then and right now I’m working on a third.

But this time, I really mean it.

I still don’t know why I’m on it now, other than to satisfy the slim number of friends I have who refuse to commit to Facebook. (Jerks.)

Today, I was reminded of how much MySpace has become obsolete by an article in Crain’s New York Business.

Now, MySpace is losing traffic and has been pushed aside by newer social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. Last week, the blog TechCrunch reported that up to 500 employees out of nearly 3,000 could soon be laid off at MySpace parent Fox Interactive Media, which just backed out of a move to spacious new headquarters in Los Angeles.

No one’s calling Mr. Murdoch a visionary now.

Advertising revenue for Fox Interactive fell 16% in the quarter that ended March 31. News Corp. does not break out numbers for MySpace, but the site makes up the biggest part of the division.

Hurt by competition and its own mismanagement, MySpace has become a textbook case of how quickly a digital juggernaut can become a has-been. Now News Corp. is promising that executive suite changes will make MySpace a winner again—even as analysts are forecasting it will continue to lose market share.

Market share. That’s business speak for popularity. You know, the kind of popularity it lost because it failed to account for the ever-changing Facebook (which listens to its users) and foresee the overall dynamic-ness of Twitter. Yeah, they’re losing market share in droves.

But I don’t think that’s why I’m about ready to give up on MySpace. I’m pretty sure the reason I want to get rid of it because it doesn’t provide tools for a person or group to help promote their craft outside of music. Two things MySpace can address that will take my finger off the delete account button now:

  1. Intuitive, built-in apps: Both MySpace and Facebook have a problem of too many ridiculous third-party applications that in general aren’t worth anyone’s time of day. But Facebook does a good job of the basics with a robust calendar that is integrated into the site, photos that are managed well, and a chat function that doesn’t take minutes to load (on high speed internet nonetheless). And my personal favorite, the ability to share an RSS feed for a personal blog not on site. If MySpace could find a way to incorporate its calendar and events function into more of its site, it could be the saving grace, especially as it becomes more and more intertwined with the music industry. But it would help to diversify its uses by having in-house applications to take care of RSS feeds for the million and one bloggers in the world like myself.
  2. Cleanliness is next to Godliness: I can’t stress this enough. MySpace doesn’t appeal to me as a Web user because it is the junkiest piece of crap on the internet. Everybody and their momma thinks they know HTML after playing around on it. And everybody breaks the rules, let’s their pictures run wild and have a million and one videos/graphics/songs loading onto their profile pages. It’s come to the point where I’m not really interested in looking at it because there’s no information to glean, just pictures and music. It has to offer something else to be worthwhile. At least for me. Facebook, in this sense, is the anti-Christ of MySpace.

Look, I’ve made my case. But I’m sure there are actual hardcore MySpace users out there (minus musicians) who have gripes and praises alike for their daily affliction. As it stands, the site is still the gorilla in the room traffic-wise.

Can I get an amen? Hell no?

2 Comments by  /  June 15, 2009  /  Posted in: Business, Web 2.0
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Social networking gets real at local Tweetup

“See Jane Do” members Jesse Locks, left, and Elisa Parker will be hosting a Tweetup June 17 at Broad Street Bistro in Nevada City with the help of The Union. A Tweetup is a gathering of people who participate in the popular social networking site Twitter.

“See Jane Do” members Jesse Locks, left, and Elisa Parker will be hosting a Tweetup June 17 at Broad Street Bistro in Nevada City with the help of The Union. A Tweetup is a gathering of people who participate in the popular social networking site Twitter.

The crew of “See Jane Do,” the popular radio show on KVMR, and The Union are hosting a Nevada County Tweetup — a mixer for local residents who are interested in the popular social networking site Twitter.

“It’s for folks who don’t know what it is and for folks who use it daily,” said Elisa Parker, who hosts “See Jane Do,” a show dedicated to empowering women. “What we hope to have is a community of people who know how to use social networks, and we can all support each other. If you were a new person using Twitter, you could walk away with a group of people who could support you, and you could help support them.”

Social media consultant and local blogger Marsha Lanier will be the keynote speaker for the event at 6 p.m. June 17 at Broad Street Bistro in Nevada City.

The Tweetup is a part of “Soiree into Action,” a push by “See Jane Do” to create interactivity with the programs and on-air shows.

“Our last program was about social media for social change,” Parker said. “So we thought incorporating a social networking event would be a great way to demonstrate how you can connect with your own community members and create positive action as a result.”

Twitter has blown up on the social networking scene with an estimated 7 million users worldwide, according to Nielsen NetView’s February report; some estimates top 10 million users now. The micro-blogging site has had a profound impact on Nevada County media, with each newspaper, radio station and Web site having its own active presence on the site.

A Tweetup allows county residents more dialogue about social media and how it can affect them, said Jesse Locks, a freelance writer and member of the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce who works with “See Jane Do.”

“Communities and groups couldn’t be formed as quickly and efficiently in the past as they can be now” with Twitter, Locks said. The medium “is empowering, easy to learn and fun.”

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The Union.

Know and Go

What: Nevada County Tweetup (#nctweetup)
When: 6-8 p.m. Wednesday June 17
Where: Broad Street Bistro, 426 Broad St., Nevada City, Calif. 95959 | Get directions (google)

by  /  June 15, 2009  /  Posted in: News, Web 2.0
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My Facebook vanity, frustration

Should it be any surprise that I remembered to get my Facebook vanity name only two hours after it became available. Well I couldn’t let it get like Twitter or anything else important, where if you wait too long you won’t get anywhere remotely close to your own name. (Yahoo and Hotmail come to mind.) Especially if it’s like Brian or Mark or Michael Smith something. No offense, Michael Smith. All 12 million of you. But my name is not going anywhere unless someone hijacks it. I’m not gonna let that happen either. (You never know. There’s some crazies out there.)

Anyways, I’ve secured www.facebook.com/zuriberry so I can sleep at night. (I’ve also locked down @zuriberry, although I don’t use it. Hence, no link.)

Now that that’s over, I was intrigued by the option, or lack thereof, to take vanity names for pages that you administer on the site. Only pages with 1,000 fans or more can have a vanity name. That’s so whack.

I’ve got 318 friends. What if I only had 100? Would that mean no vanity name? I’m pretty sure not. But apparently, my newspaper’s fan page, which I was convinced by Facebook was better than just setting up a regular profile, cannot have its own vanity name because of its dearth of fans. (We’ve got 23 after launching the fan page 2 months ago.)

The limitations, as Facebook put forth for vanity names for regular users, is listed as such:

Eligibility is limited to anyone who joined Facebook before usernames were publicly announced at 3 p.m. (EDT) on June 9, 2009. These users will have the chance to claim usernames at 12:01 a.m. (EDT) on Saturday, June 13, 2009.

This limitation is temporary. All users who joined Facebook after the cut-off will be eligible to claim usernames on Sunday, June 28, 2009.

This decision was made to prevent people from creating new accounts just to take advantage of reserving a username. Eligibility is limited to anyone who joined Facebook before username availability was publicly announced at 3 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, June 9, 2009. Eligible users will have the chance to claim usernames at 12:01 a.m. (EDT) on Saturday, June 13, 2009.

This limitation is temporary. All users who joined Facebook after the cut-off date will be eligible to claim usernames on Sunday, June 28, 2009.

For fan pages, the eligibility and limitation is as follows:

Your Facebook Page must meet two requirements: it must have been live on Facebook prior to the May 31, 2009 cut-off date and have had a minimum 1,000 fans at that time.

This limitation is temporary. All Pages created after May 31, 2009 or that had less than 1,000 fans on that day will be eligible to claim usernames on Sunday, June 28, 2009.

In short, it’s just a frustration for me after I thought I had it taken care of today. The wait ensues.

To read up on Facebook vanity usernames or get your own, go to www.facebook.com/username.

1 Comment by  /  June 12, 2009  /  Posted in: Web 2.0
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The opinions of Zuri Berry do not necessarily relay those of his employer or the people he covers. Contact him via e-mail at zuri@zuriberry.com.