Uber-blogger Jason Calcanis is getting beaten up for not doing an email interview. Wired News thinks it is cowardly, but Dan Gillmor on the Center (sic) for Citizen Media blog defends the email interview, even after 25 years as a journalist.
I say "even", because it is journalists than normally insist you can't ask tough questions by email because the subject can avoid the question and those interesting details won't slip out. It depends very much on context - if it's a conversational piece where you want to hear the voice of the subject then yes, an email interview is great. Gillmor notes rather glumly that too often journalists misinterpret information and make mistakes.
"Almost every article gets something wrong, from the source's perspective. Typically it's not a remotely crucial point, just a tiny one. I've been treated pretty well, I should add. Only once can I remember a reporter (apparently) deliberately misconstruing (or outright making up) what I'd said. There's no doubt that the overwhelming majority of journalists try very hard to get things right, and for the most part do so. But little mistakes or misinterpretations are common, even when they're basically harmless."
Fred Vogelstein, the Wired journalist that wanted the interview with Calcanis, made some good points about misinterpretation himself though, saying you can't hear the tone in someone's voice. I guess that does come down to how well that person can write. The phone is my least favourite method of communicating, but also probably the one I use most and that's just down to time. I'd much rather meet people in person.
But there are no hard and fast rules here. It's just a tool, so it's about using the right one for the job. (Center for Citizen Media)
Google - the world's most-visited site
Google has beaten Microsoft to become the world's most visited site, according to comScore. Google's traffic was up five percent from February to March to a staggering 528m unique users; Microsoft's traffic was up 3.7 percent to 527m. Google inched ahead not just because of the search service, but also email and mapping, amongst other popular tools. comScore reckons Google's lead will widen, but that Microsoft will still remain a far "stickier" site, with users spending an average 12.8 minutes on Microsoft compared to 4.6 on Google. But then an average time won't accurately show the split between those that just search, click and go, and those that spend far longer on Gmail and so on. To further add to the Google ego, the brand has been valued at a not-insignificant $66.4bn, ahead of GE, Coke and Microsoft. Not bad for a couple of dropouts. (SFGate)
