Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, An Excellently Mentored Woman
Sheryl Sandberg is on her way to becoming America’s next self-made woman billionaire. There really aren’t that many–China has most of them. But Sandberg, who in her brief time at FB has increased “the friendship” from 70 million to 700 million, and turned a questionable profitability into a billion dollar one, is on a streak. Read more 
Twitter? Facebook? WaPo joins the Party. Tweeters of Color
I thought Washington Post Ombudsman Patrick B. Pexton’s story today about WaPo Metro reporters & editors now being mandated to Tweet and Facebook by editor Vernon Loeb was missing a few points. We’ve known now since 2009 that Twitter drives the news cycle (the Iranian protests.)
Pexton points out that Post reporters Chris Cilizza (82,000 followers) and Ezra Klein (78, 000) were able to break the possible Geithner resignation 14 hours before the Post’s print edition. I thought Geithner had walked that story back (new information) which means, as is often the case, first doesn’t always mean right.
I saw the confusion on Twitter and Facebook the night of the News York State vote for same sex marriage…many thought the first vote, exempting religious institutions, was the real vote, and celebrated online prematurely–repeating each others’ mistake for quite a while…until the actual voting started. That night separated the real reporters from the casual ones pretty clearly.
The other missing piece of the story is the part that old fashioned television plays in Cilizza’s and Klein’s success: their frequent–I would say mulitple times daily– appearances on cable drive up those numbers. So while we trumpet new media, let’s keep in mind the part “old” media continues to play in its dotage.
In case you’re interested in how television has driven other Twitter stars–a sample of pundits of color that I follow who get considerable facetime: Ann Curry (1,200,00) Gayle King (321,000) Donna Brazile 
(126,307 )Tavis Smiley (112,000) Lisa Ling (85,000) Soledad O’Brien (82,354) Robin Roberts (78,000) Roland Martin (63,300) Melissa Harris Perry (32,735) culture critic Toure (31, 264) Charles Blow of NYTimes (18,700), Liza Sabater, Latina who tweets as BlogDiva (14,000), WaPo’s Johnathan Capehart (8,912.) Well, and then there’s NYTimes superstar Nick Kristof –not a person of color, but who covers many of them–at 1,120,023. Followed distantly by one Carol Jenkins (655.) Oh, Oprah, you ask? Around 6 and half million Twitter followers at last counting.
So, WaPo, welcome to the new world. Twitter and Facebook are here to stay–at least until the next new best thing.
Iran’s Protests: Why Twitter Is the Medium of the Movement – TIME
Hoping for a Big Bounce: TV for African Americans, Redux.
Coming this fall to some cities around the country: Bounce TV, the first broadcast 24/7 network programmed for the African American community. So far, its approach is pretty much under the radar of the general public, but Bounce is collecting stations in places like Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Birmingham–signing up station groups–and starting to sell advertising. Read more
