Times have changed, but much has remained the same … Photo by writer on Instagram.

Neil Varcoe, Social Media Lead @ the Australian Broadcasting Corporation based in Innovation

Breaking news is broken, and Twitter looks guilty. I was in New York for a social media summit at the New York Times, surrounded by some of the best and brightest social media journalists and news leaders from around the globe when news of the Boston Marathon bombings was unfolding. 

While online current affairs and culture magazine Slate were telling people to go into a self-imposed exile to avoid the “cul-de-sacs and dark alleys of misinformation” contained in the breaking news about Boston on cable television and on Twitter, a panel was hastily put together to examine the main problems of breaking news in 2013, and to call for solutions. 

For those of you who accepted the advice from Slate and avoided the swirling vortex of misreporting on traditional and new media, here is a recap in 140 characters or less:

Graphic created using letmetweetthatforyou.com

Claire Wardle of Storyful, a news agency that verifies social media content for clients including The New York Times and here at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) chaired the session. Panellists included Andrew Hawken (Head of Digital at Sky News), Liz Heron (Director of Social Media and Engagement at the Wall Street Journal) and Lisa Tozzi, an editor at the New York Times who directed The Lede blog, which provided real-time coverage of the bombings. Tozzi, it was announced in the days after, will start a new role on May 14 as News Director at Buzzfeed – a prolific social news site more often associated with cat memes than breaking news coverage - another sure sign the traditional media model has been recast.

Intent on making the best use of the specific expertise in the room to provide meaningful solutions, we broke off into small groups to pull apart the critical failures of fact in the reporting of Boston, and the noise in the room rose to a steady hum as passionate media types set the cracks.

A range of solutions were tabled from editable tweets and verification task forces to the attractive but impractical idea of applying a media credit ratings system much like Moody’s or Fitch.

Like sixth graders at their first spelling bee, typically cocksure journalists walked with apprehension to the microphone to announce their conclusions, voices soft with doubt.

While the ideas were sound and will be taken to the relevant social media platforms, some of which were represented in the audience, one idea rose above all others in my mind. 

One conference goer swaggered brassily to the microphone and declared: “Don’t tweet unless you have something to say.” This was accompanied by silence, then another elegant solution: “Don’t report rumour or speculation.”

Sitting in the newly-created TimesCenter in the shadow of the New York Times, the now famous words that have adorned the front page of the The Grey Lady for some 116 years - “All the news that’s fit to print” - took hold in my ear. 

The paper and the media landscape have evolved beyond recognition. One thing that remains true is the need to check the veracity of information to ensure it’s ‘fit’ for publication, which includes Twitter.

If you do not trust the information, then wait. When journalists get it wrong, and they will, they should correct the record, whether by a retraction in the newspaper, an on-air apology, an online update or in the not-too-distant-future an ‘editable tweet.’ Many media organisations both in the United States and here in Australia failed to do any of these in the days that followed the bombings.

When you boil it down, blaming social media for journalists and media organisations getting it wrong is like yelling at the head printer for a mistake carried down from the newsroom floor. And I think we deserve better than that, don’t you?

Neil Varcoe is a social media specialist and journalist who prefers to tweet the facts right, rather than tweet right now.

Would you like to catch up on the conversation from Social Media Summit? Read Neil’s Storify of the best tweets from the conference. 

Give your goals a lift… Photo via North Carolina Digital Heritage Centre on Flickr.

Neil Varcoe, Social Media Lead @ ABC Innovation

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I like to assess my life daily, giving myself the best chance to stop my tub-a-day habit for Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey before my family and friends have to take my spoon away and book me into a clinic, weaning me off those little bowls of happiness with gelato. 

But last year was a belter. I started a new job, completed a master degree, began a major writing project, and regularly donated time as a digital consultant to a Sydney arts organisation. I also have a girlfriend, family and friends who like to hang out with me from time to time, and several house plants that did not survive my neglect, with many more plants scurrying to the corners of our apartment when I talk about returning to study, or some other idea that could lead to their demise.

So, I was determined to changes in 2013 that would allow me to stay truly connected with the people who are important to me, and do the things that make me happy, the stuff that makes my blood fizz.

There was a list, as there often is with me, but there was nothing to tie me to these goals, no pocket coach that would remind me to meet up with my friends, call my four-year-old niece, get eight hours sleep, and write, daily.

I did not find the coach, but I found a virtual cheer squad that also made me accountable, something key to turning good intentions, into lasting habits, and I wanted to share it with you.

Lift is an iPhone app that allows you to develop good habits by using a check in feature once it’s complete, giving you the ability to track your progress.

There is also a social element to Lift. If you browse and add habits other users are also trying to achieve, you will see everyone who checks-in, and they can leave comments or give ‘props,’ like a digital high-five.

You can also connect to Facebook or Twitter, if you want to add more voices to the rallying cry, and it can send notifications to remind you whether you’ve brushed your teeth or kissed your wife, hopefully in that order.

Lift also has some serious smarts and investors in its corner. It is the first project backed by Twitter co-founders Ev Williams’ and Biz Stone’s restarted technology incubator Obvious Corp, and other investors include self-help and productivity gurus David Allen (Getting Things Done), Timothy Ferris (4-hour Work Week) and Anthony Robbins (as seen on late-night television).

Chief Executive and Co-founder Tony Stubblebine said the company drew inspiration from David Allen’s book, which was based on the concept of taking the next step towards achieving a desired outcome, and this philosophy is imbued in the product.

But what ultimately makes this work for me is taking that simple idea of achieving goals in small steps and powering it with social, motivating yourself to get something done because you know others are watching, just like Russell Crowe does on Twitter.

I found this app incredibly useful, and I hope it might help you take steps towards achieving your goals. After all, it helped me to write this blog.

*Neil checks into Lift on his phone and and closes his laptop.*

Neil Varcoe is our social media specialist, who enjoys finding new ways of doing old things, better. This post originally appeared on neilwrites.tumblr.com.

Rocking ‘the House…’ Crowded House’s Neil Finn during the band’s Farewell the World concert in 1996. Photo by Tony Mott. 

Innovation has launched an online documentary on the iconic Sydney Opera House. In a post on the ABC’s From The Engine Room blog, Creative Director Sam Doust shares his insights about how this new media project was informed by an ancient media, the book.

What do you think about The Opera House Project? Tweet the team via @ABCinnovation or Ask Us A Question. And follow Sam (@samdoust) for the latest news on this and other projects.