HTA-0619: Rory O'Connor — Friends, Followers, and the Future

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Summary

Henry interviews Rory O'Connor about social media, the future of television, and his book on digital connectivity.

Full Transcript

00:00
Hey, you're watching television. How old-fashioned? Or are you seeing us on the internet?

00:04
Welcome back to Cron 4 News Weekend. We are of course deluged with media and many of us are having a hard time keeping up with what is going on.

00:13
Here's a man who has some suggestions on how it's all going to turn out.

00:17
Let me introduce you to Rory O'Connor. He has written a book called Friends, Followers, and the Future.

00:22
He's a journalist and producer. Your idea is that we don't know where it's heading, but it's all going to work out.

00:29
probably in a good way. I think it's all good, yes. And my main message is like, let's not fear this

00:34
new media because it's a tool like any other. It can be used for good or for ill. But my message

00:39
to people, you know, look at the Facebook, the Twitters of the world is get out there, roll your

00:44
sleeves up and experience them personally and play with them. It's a very powerful tool and it's

00:50
something can be very good for you. Yeah, but can Facebook and Twitter ever somehow replace the

00:55
newspapers, the TV stations, such as they are?

00:59
No, they can't.

01:00
But I mean, I think in fairness, that's really the wrong question.

01:03
You know, it's not a question of either or.

01:05
They're going to supplement them.

01:07
They're going to be in addition to.

01:08
Newspapers are not necessarily going away anytime soon, but they are going to change.

01:13
And to that extent, how should we be informed today?

01:18
And how will we be informed later?

01:19
Because right now, you either get too much or you get nothing.

01:22
Well, as you mentioned, I think most people are faced with this tsunami of information now that's really flooding over us and, frankly, threatening to drown us.

01:30
So what do we need?

01:31
Whether we're professional journalists or just, quote-unquote, ordinary citizens, we need help.

01:36
We need shortcuts.

01:37
We need what I call filters.

01:39
And in my book, I put forth some positive suggestions of what people can use as filters.

01:44
For example?

01:45
Well, for example, the social media itself.

01:47
We all know that the most trusted referral of information that we ever get, Henry, is from word of mouth, from people we know, our family and our friends.

01:56
Well, I'm saying we're in an age now of word of mouth, if you will.

02:00
We go through Facebook, we have far greater numbers of friends.

02:04
It means we're exposed to a more diverse stream of information.

02:08
But if these are people that over time are delivering us good information, then we can trust not only them but the information they send us.

02:15
And then just quickly, in addition, we're in the age of the rise of the curator, people who are pulling together and aggregating information about, let's say, the environment or fashion.

02:25
Can you name one that you follow?

02:27
Absolutely.

02:28
I would recommend, you know, there's a fellow named Andy Carvin who actually works for NPR but not as a journalist, as a social media strategist.

02:36
And he had many friends in North Africa, and he became the go-to news source on Twitter to find out information about the Arab Spring.

02:47
And I found that not only ordinary people, but journalists from all over the world very rapidly found that if they went to Andy Carvin's Twitter stream, that was a great jumping-off point.

02:57
Okay.

02:58
So we have the curators, we have the social media, we also have the algorithm, the recommender systems.

03:03
You know, when you go on Amazon, they come up and they say, oh, we see you brought friends, followers in the future.

03:08
You know, maybe you like these.

03:10
I will mention, by the way, Google News is an algorithm that, for me at least, does very well at coming up with stories I'm interested in that I might not see elsewhere.

03:18
And see, you said, for me, does very well.

03:20
And that's the important point.

03:22
Like, get out there, as I said, and do what works for you.

03:25
Even if it's the old brands, some people trust the New York Times, others Fox News.

03:31
Rory O'Connor, the book is called Friends, Followers, and the Future.

03:36
A very interesting read.

03:37
You'll learn plenty from it.

03:39
Thank you very much.

03:39
Thank you so much.

03:40
We're going to take a break.

03:41
When we come back, there's a bit of a crisis going on in our state parks,

03:48
but there's some good news as well.

03:50
We'll tell you about it coming up on Cronfort News Weekend

03:52
and on our website, cronfort.com.