Google and Twitter Team Up (Well, Kind Of)

Just saw this come up on Twitter from the Huffington Post. Search engine giant, Google just announced they have reach an agreement with social media site, Twitter, that will allow Google to include Twitter updates in the search results.

Google's VP of Search Products and User Experience, Marissa Mayer, wrote this in a blog post on the official Google blog:

"At Google, our goal is to create the most comprehensive, relevant and fast search in the world. In the past few years, an entirely new type of data has emerged — real-time updates like those on Twitter have appeared not only as a way for people to communicate their thoughts and feelings, but also as an interesting source of data about what is happening right now in regard to a particular topic.

Given this new type of information and its value to search, we are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results. We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you'll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information."

 I'm curious to see how this changes the way search information comes up in a search when Google gets it up and going in the next few months.  Who knows...you may even be seeing your own Twitter updates coming up on Google.

Trusting Journalists?

In a recent poll conducted by Time magazine, Time asked Americans who they trusted most behind the news desk.  The results might surprise you. Edging out Katie Couric, Brian Williams, and Charlie Gibson was (drum roll please) Comedy Central's Jon Stewart. Thats right, 44 percent of America trusts comedian Jon Stewart more than any of the network news anchors.  Stewart (seen below) hosts a satirical news parody, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central Monday through Thursday.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Intro - Balloon Boy Is Safe
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

So what does that mean for journalists? It means we have a problem we need to fix.

Is it a problem with journalists and journalism itself or a problem with the audience? My guess is its a little bit of both, but its up to the journalists to earn the trust back.

And how do we do that? Well we have to start doing what we profess to do and actually following what we learn in journalism class. The things we have been taught are the basics of journalism. Things like first loyalty to citizens, truth, objectivity, independence, etc.