While Google may in fact be omniscient, at least in relation to the web, at least they aren’t in your face about it like the Eye of Sauron was. Geek-addled facetiousness aside, while the backlash may not have been what some expected, any time the words “Google” and “privacy” come together, it makes for an interesting topic. From Google’s perspective, it’s all about consolidation and personalization, something their disclaimer states quite clearly:

If you’re signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries – or tailor your search results – based on the interests you’ve expressed in Google+, Gmail, and YouTube. We’ll better understand which version of Pink or Jaguar you’re searching for and get you those results faster.

The privacy concerns about the sharing of this personal information across multiple platforms seemed to be addressed with the confirmation that Google users can indeed opt out, something Danny Sullivan discussed with Marketplace, which was broadcasted over NPR’s airwaves. Sullivan explains what Google’s privacy changes to the everyday user:

“…YouTube can see maybe what you’ve been searching on on Google web search and say, oh, you’re really interested in skateboarding so I’m going to prepopulate the YouTube homepage perhaps with a lot of skateboard videos.”

The full audio of Sullivan’s Marketplace appearance is also available:

The speech will stream live at whitehouse.gove\live, and after it’s completed Twitter users will be given a chance to participate and even shape the discussion that follows.

Here’s the form the discussion will take:

Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes will be interviewed by Andy Carvin from NPR and Marc Lynch from Foreign Policy. Instead of formulating all the question themselves, they are inviting the Twitterverse to help craft the queries. From the NPR News blog:

If you’re on Twitter and want to submit a question, please post a tweet with your question and include the hashtag #MEspeech in the tweet. You can pose your question before or during the speech. We won’t be able to get to every question, of course, so we encourage everyone to follow the #MEspeech hashtag and join the broader conversation about the speech on Twitter.

Apparently, the White House themselves played a role in getting this live Twitter-chat off the ground:

The White House contacted Marc and me several days ago, asking if we would be interested in conducting a Twitter chat related to the speech. We agreed on the condition that the two of us would run the chat and any subsequent interviews ourselves, including choosing the questions and topics to be addressed in it.

The hashtag #MEspeech is already generating some tough questions on Twitter, as you can see:

It looks like the White House is truly trying to involve the world of social media in the debate. Policy debate via Twitter is just the beginning of the enormous role Social media is going to play in the upcoming 2012 elections. The White House is already integrating, and Republican contenders are going to have to do the same.

The NPR Board of Directors announced today that it has accepted the resignation of Vivian Schiller as President and CEO of NPR, effective immediately.

Board Chairman Dave Edwards said: “The Board accepted Vivian’s resignation with understanding, genuine regret and great respect for her leadership of NPR these past two years.”

According to a CEO succession plan adopted by the Board in 2009, Joyce Slocum, SVP of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, will be appointed to the position of Interim CEO. The Board will establish an Executive Transition Committee to develop a timeframe and process for the recruitment and selection of new leadership.

It sounds like Schiller was forced out. Here’s a tweet from the NPR Twitter account:

Schiller was ousted following comments made by NPR exec Ron Schiller, who referred to Tea Party members as racist.

Topics that will be covered include global health, climate change, gentrification, public safety, education, politics, military, immigration and music. Each Argo station chose its topic based on what was most relevant to the local community.

"The ARGO project has launched a dozen independent, news sites of substance and immediacy, where people can deepen their understanding of the critical issues that affect both communities and the nation," said NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller.

"By networking the sites, each station gains national perspective, audience and the opportunity to learn from the experiences of the others."

The sites will be connected to each other through NPR’s API that allows the integration and sharing of content among the Argo stations and NPR. Content from the Argo sites will flow into the NPR.org API.

Each Argo site is anchored by a news blog that features multiple stories each day along with community features for audience engagement and curated content. The individual stations will decide how to integrate the Argo site with their station websites.

The Argo Network is funded by a $3 million grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
 

Research released from Pew Internet, however, seems to contradict the notion that Twitter is just for the old. In fact, according to Pew, three groups of Internet users are mainly responsible for driving the growth of tweeting and status updating. These are social network users, those who connect to the Internet via mobile devices, and younger Internet users (under 44).

Of course, what kids consider to be old, may often be well below 44, so they may still have a point. Pew does say that the more devices someone owns, the more likely they are to use Twitter, and adults are far more likely to own more devices than kids who haven’t entered the workforce yet.

Going by median age, Twitter looks a little younger than Facebook, but not by much. The median age of a Twitter user is 31, while the median age for Facebook is 33 (In May 0f2008 it was 26). So young Facebook users may start worrying (if they’re not already) that the old folks are crashing their "in" party.

The median age for MySpace, according to Pew, is 26, and for LinkedIn it is 39.

"It will probably become more difficult to track status updating as an independent activity as social network updates feed into Twitter and vice versa," says Pew. "For now, it is clear that a ‘social segment’ of internet users is flocking to both social network sites and status update services. This segment is likely to grow as ever more internet users adopt mobile devices as a primary means of going online."

One thing’s for sure. No matter what age you are, if you are using sites like Twitter and Facebook, you better be careful of what you are posting publicly even more so now. Updates are going to start appearing in major search engines.

The site is now organized to highlight news, arts & life and music. NPR says visitors to the sight will be able to follow news throughout the day, with top stories updated regularly. NPR’s news blog will offer discussions of the day’s news.

The site also offers a new search tool powered by Google that allows user to find programs or topics faster.

"We’re making it easier for the public to find our stations, listen to NPR programs, and follow the news throughout the day," said Vivian Schiller, NPR’s President and CEO.

"With many traditional news outlets declining, listeners are depending more on NPR and our member stations to meet their information needs on every platform. The new NPR.org and our strong push into mobile applications will take public radio to the next level of audience service."

Users will have the ability to customize the NPR homepage to receive a mix of local and national news. With the relaunch of the site, NPR has also dropped fees for transcripts, allowing users access to transcripts dating back to 2005.
 

Schiller assumes her new position on January 5th. At the Times, she was the general manager of NYTimes.com, so she obviously has a great deal of experience and know-how when it comes to operating a successful web presence for a news organization. Rafat Ali at PaidContent.org notes:

Also recently, Kinsey Wilson, the executive editor of USA Today and previously the editor of USAToday.com, left the paper and joined NPR as its digital head. With two digital vets at NPR, its already formidable online presence and reputation should grow, if only they can prevent getting mired in all the politics at the company and its member stations.

Schiller has over 20 years of experience in the media industry. Apart from leading day-to-day operations of NYTimes.com, the largest newspaper website on the Internet, and overseeing product, technology, marketing, classifieds, strategic planning and business development, she has spent 4 years as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Discovery Times Channel, a joint venture of The New York Times and Discovery Communications.

According to the release about Schiller’s appointment, the Discovery Times Channel tripled its distribution while achieving critical acclaim for its award winning journalistic programming while it was under her management. She was also previously Senior Vice President of CNN Productions.

The Times has not yet found a replacement for her yet, and from the sounds of it, that will be no easy task.

He won quite a few awards for his journalism and news production efforts over the years, working with NPR, CBS, and ABC.

Leroy Sievers
Journalist/Blogger

The Blogosphere may know him better for his blogging and podcasting however.

A couple of years ago, he discovered that he had colon cancer and started the blog on NPR’s website, which documented his struggle and treatment with the cancer.

Just a couple of months ago, he posted that tumors had been discovered in various other parts of his body including his lungs and his brain.

In one of his last posts just a couple of days before his death, he said that he would be pursuing assistance from Hospice, and then a short time later he was gone.

He will surely be missed by bloggers, news enthusiasts, his readers, and those who’s lives he touched while documenting his battle with cancer.

For more information about Leroy and his death, or to express your feelings about  his legacy, you can view his listing on FamousDeadDB.

Rest in peace Leroy.

NPR Music is being launched with 12 member stations, and will feature online and on-air content from NPR and other participating stations. The site will feature original content, interviews, blogs and live performances.

Specific sections of the site will focus on rock, pop, folk, classical, jazz, blues, world and urban music. Users will be able to search each category for interviews, studio sessions with artists, along with national and regional concerts, reviews and news.

NPR Music also features a new media player that allows users to create a playlist for video and audio (dating from May 2005 to present) on the site and makes recommendations for similar content depending on the user’s selection.

The site will also offer two new blogs. The "All Songs Considered" blog, which will go behind the scenes and "Monitor Mix" which features music picks and music news.

Maria Thomas, Senior Vice President and General manager, NPR Digital Media, said, "In time, new tools will allow you to share and connect with others using the site.  We also hope to serve as a launch pad for new and original music content and to expand our already substantial free online music archive. For starters, we will be adding hundreds of music stories, interviews and performances every month."

Any thanks should go, in part, to SplashCast – it’s this company’s technology that made the move possible.  “Facebook users can add the application to their profiles (via the URL http://npr.org/facebook ) to automatically receive new NPR Podcasts episodes to listen to and to share this great content with their friends,” wrote Marshall Kirkpatrick on the corporate blog.

Nonetheless, it wouldn’t be accurate to think of NPR as some stodgy member of “old media” – a press release rightly describes the organization as “a leader in digital media, incorporating new technology to offer a wide-ranging slate of its news, information, talk, entertainment, music and arts content on all platforms.”

Now, as for that content – I’m most excited about the availability of “Car Talk.”  But “Fresh Air,” “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!,” and “Story of the Day” are also presented as options.

Hat tip to Mashable’s Kristen Nicole, who wrote, “Splashcast’s customized Facebook application option will be appealing to many in the media industry . . .”