Loic Le Meur's Call For Twitter "Search By Authority" Is Misguided and Self-Serving

 I just read at TechCrunch , and then at his own blog, and with some dismay, Seesmic founder and entrepreneur Loic Le Meur's call for a "Search by Authority " feature on Twitter based on the number of followers a person has. I have to say that call is -- to be blunt -- 1) way off-base, and 2) very self-serving. I'll take the second assertion first.


Le Meur has as of this writing 15,196 followers on Twitter. Do you for a moment think that he would dare dream of such a provision if he had, say 800 followers or less? Of course not. Le Meur's also very wrong and really horribly arrogant to be direct in his statement that "we're not equal on the Web." Well. that's not the point at all, and I'm really surprised that he would even concern himself with what is essentially a teenage concern: who's better than whom?


I thought the whole deal about New Media was that it not only equalized us but was fluid: at one point a person was up, but given the winds of change, could give way to a new comer. Quickly. That's the fun of all this. As Farid Zakaria put it in the latest edition (as of this writing) of Newsweek on "The Global Elite , "Knoweldge is Power" and he was referring directly to the Internet's impact on culture.


He's right.


For Le Meur to even call for such a provision on Twitter is an insult to those of us who understand that considering the capabilities of anyone of us, we really are all equal. Moreover, it's an attempt to lock in place the favored position he thinks he deserves. 


Come on!  


Loic knows damn well that one way to add followers is to follow people on Twitter first. Thus, he has 15,928 folks he's following, which is just ahead of his number of followers and indicates he's been a user of that way to gain followers over time. Now, Twitter has taken on the act of restricting the number of people one can follow, making it impossible to use that system -- as LeMeur has done -- to gain followers.


So he has this advantage and now wants to lock it in. Ah, all for the love of power and the maintenance of authority. 


Forget it.


Now I'll take my first point, that Le Meur's off base. He is for the simple reason that I don't need or want some indicator to tell me what's important. I will do that for myself. If I want to pay attention to a new news brand on Twitter, Loic's idea could hamper their growth. An important call for action by someone small and liberal, could be blotted out by someone large and Republican and with "authority" as Loic see it.


No way.


Authority does not equal followers perfectly in this new society. It is an reward for being known for a moment, but also at times for gaming the system, again for a moment  and that's true in Twitterville -- let's be real honest here. 


Real authority, like it or not, is fluid and ever changing. It's a byproduct of power, which too is fleeting and today is tied to eyeballs that last for, again, a moment. I often laugh at those who believe they can capture it for themselves forever. Pure folly. Perhaps Loic can't deal with that kind of chaos of the fluidity of power, but I welcome it and will fight to make sure that it's maintained. As much respect as I have for Le Meur's accomplishments, this idea must be jettisoned.


Now.


UPDATE: fortunately, the blogsphere's rising up against this idea, not Loic, but the proposed plan.  Check out Sarah Lacy's blog on the matter.  

Football Reporters Online Teams up with Southwest NY Restaurant For Super Bowl Party and Live Broadcast from NYC’s World Financial Center

For Immediate Release
Annrose Fumai-Chachkes
Director of Marketing Operations
Football Reporters Online
571-251-0798
Snapshot@footballreportersonline.com
www.footballreportersonline.com
Football Reporters Online Teams up with Southwest NY Restaurant For Super Bowl Party and Live Broadcast from NYC’s World Financial Center
Listen at www.Blogtalkradio.com/Football-Reporters
Hicksville, NY-December 12th 2008: Today Football Reporters Online (FRO) Announces their Live Super Bowl XLIII (43) Broadcast. The Staff of FRO will be Live on the Air from SouthWest NY, Located at 225 Liberty Street in the “#2” World Financial Center building from 3pm to 6pm on Sunday February 1st. This is a first for FRO and our Radio Host Website Blogtalk radio, as no single broadcaster has ever attempted a 3 hour show in any format, much less an on-location show. “We continue to be a sports media company of firsts,” says FRO’s Managing Partner, Dr. Bill Chachkes. “In 2007 we worked with Sports Business Simulations to bring fans of the NFL Draft the “First Ever” streaming Audio and Video of the Draft (13 Hours across two days) SBS’s CEO and FRO’s blogging partner Zennie Abraham will be a contributor to the show via remote live from Tampa, which is the site of this years’ contest.
Also visiting with us live from Tampa will be FRO’s Scouting Director and Contributor to the Black Athlete Sports Network Michael Ingram, and Giants Insider.com’s Ken Palmer (whether the NY Giants are playing or not).
Joining Dr. Chachkes from the “Front Window” of the restaurant as Co-Hosts will be: noted author Wil Mara, who is currently writing a series of Books for St. Martins Press set in the back offices and Locker rooms of the NFL, and John ”JK” Kelly, Jon “Wags” Wagner, and Ralph Garcia, who are all senior contributing writers. Mr. Kelly Covers the NY Dragons of The AFL and The Giants for WFUV Fordham University Radio, Mr. Wagner is also a contributor to CAA Zone.com, and Mr. Garcia covers The ACC, SEC, and The NFL’s AFC and NFC south divisions for FRO, as well as High School football In Nashville Tn. for various local outlets. Producing the show as she does for each “Live on Location” effort will be the talented Slavica Milosevska, who also doubles as FRO’s Senior investigative writer/reporter.
“Those who take the opportunity to join us in person won’t just enjoy the best Southwestern cuisine on the east coast, they will be treated to the “best football radio show they ever heard” said Dr. Chachkes. There will be plenty of giveaways just for showing up, including 3 copies of the “Gridiron Guide to the NFL Draft.” our new Annual Draft Publication. There will also be a Trivia contest (NFL Style) and a live “Ask the Experts” segment for those joining us in person. For the latest updates between now and Super Sunday, check the front page of our website:
www.footballreportersonline.com

It’s all about the mindset for these Titans

     It’s all about the mindset for these Titans
By Ralph Garcia-Sr. Writer Southeast Region-Football Reporters Online 12/24/08

As the 2008 season began one would look at the Titans schedule and pencil them in for seven to nine wins. After three quarters of the season this team never heard a word of that. They have managed a 12-1 mark and their attitude is the main reason. No matter how well or bad they play it’s the next opponent that’s on their mind. Not one player in the locker room feels they have done a thing yet. They have taken the approach that no matter the hype from the media they will stay focused on next week’s opponent. The goal was to make the playoffs. With that done their next goal is to win the AFC and the right to play in the Super Bowl. As safety Michael Griffin put it "It's set in stone now. We are the 2008 AFC South champs. But as a team, we can't settle for that. We can still get knocked out of the playoffs and this wouldn't really mean anything. The only thing it has guaranteed is that they will play one more game after the season. Beyond that is up to them. The feeling of having accomplished nothing so far has fed the hunger to win each and every Sunday. They come out hungry on each down wanting to punish their opponent every time they have the ball. Now they cannot play as they did against the Browns. The passing game will have to be more consistent. Wide receivers will have to step it up. The penalties will have to be kept to a minimum. As for the running game and the defense all they have to do is keep up the intensity. Three more regular season games left and then the second season begins. With the attitude this team is keeping a long run into the playoffs looks good. Maybe, just maybe, they can be playing on that last Sunday for all the marbles.

Zennie Abraham's Travel Problem Focus of CNN Live Appearance Today

I had the pleasure of sharing my iReport story with CNN's anchor Richard Lui who's a fellow Cal Berkeley graduate like myself. The original video on CNN is below and I told my story live today at CNN Headquarters. Thanks to Henry Hanks of the CNN iReport team and to the producers at CNN. 

Original video:

Pakistan moves troops toward Indian border | Antiwar Newswire

More at Antiwar Newswire: “Pakistan began moving thousands of troops away from the Afghan border toward India on Friday amid tensions following the Mumbai attacks, intelligence officials said.


The move represents a sharp escalation in the standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbors and will hurt Pakistan's U.S.-backed campaign against al-Qaida and Taliban taking place near Afghanistan's border.

Two intelligence officials said the army's 14th Division was being redeployed to Kasur and Sialkot, close to the Indian border. They said some 20,000 troops were on the move. Earlier Friday, a security official said that all troop leave had been canceled.”

Obama Shirtless? My Chest Is Better Than Barack Obama's

The sight of our President-Elect Barack Obama shirtless in Hawaii has some in a tizzy. But look, many brothers have hairless, sculpted chests, like me! My chest is better than President Obamas!

Was Mike Connell Killed? White House Scandal Tied To Connell?

The Internet is abuzz with the news of the death of the GOP's main web guru Mike Connell, who died in the crash of his plane on December 18th.  He was flying alone.


Raw Story is one of several blogs that have covered the accident and speculate that his death may not have been accidental:  

“Since early this decade, top Internet ‘gurus’ in Ohio have been coordinating web services with their GOP counterparts in Chattanooga, wiring up a major hub that in 2004, first served as a conduit for Ohio's live election night results,” researchers at ePluribus Media wrote.

A few months after this revelation, when a scandal erupted surrounding the firing of US Attorneys for reasons of White House policy, other researchers found that the gwb43 domain used by members of the White House staff to evade freedom of information laws by sending emails outside of official White House channels was hosted on those same SmarTech servers.

Given that the Bush White House used SmarTech servers to send and receive email, the use of one of those servers in tabulating Ohio’s election returns has raised eyebrows. Ohio gave Bush the decisive margin in the Electoral College to secure his reelection in 2004.

IT expert Stephen Spoonamore says the SmartTech server could have functioned as a routing point for malicious activity and remains a weakness in electronic voting tabulation.

"...I have reason to believe that the alternate accounts were used to communicate with US Attorneys involved in political prosecutions, like that of Don Siegelman," said RAW STORY's Investigative News Editor, Larisa Alexandrovna, on her personal blog Saturday morning . "This is what I have been working on to prove for over a year. In fact, it was through following the Siegelman-Rove trail that I found evidence leading to Connell. That is how I became aware of him. Mike was getting ready to talk. He was frightened.

This video from Guerilla News Network and the one below it from This Week In Fascism says that some sources claim that Bush Administration aide Karl Rove may have threatened Connell's life or may have threatened to blow the whistle on his wife for alleged lobbying violations if he told others of his involvement in an alleged scheme to take vote for Al Gore and for Senator John Kerry and transfer them to then-Governor and later President George W. Bush in the 00 and 04 elections.  






This video reports that Ohio lawyers asked for protection for Mike Connell from Rove on July 28th 2008.






Whatever the truth here, it's clear that Rove may have been involved in the "taking down" of several high level Democrats and the "choking off" of donations to Democrats in the South. We have the work of Laurisa Alexandrovna at Raw Story to thank for this. I'm just learning of this story, so I will get more up to speed on it.


In my view this is just as important as the Rod Blagojevich scandal. In fact, it's more important. Why the mainstream media would pay more attention to that story than this one is beyond me.

Gov. Rod Blegojevich At The Democratic Convention

I recorded this interview of Gov. Blagojevich at the Democratic Convention but now it takes on new meaning. At the time of this interview, there was no nationally-known scandal. The matter of the Chicago school funding controversy was only known to the Chicago media, and not by me. I was just gathering information. But the matter of who Gov. Blagojevich's allies and enemies are comes out in this brief interview conducted by a member of the Chicago media and recorded by me at part of the group of press behind him.

Gov. Blegojevich answered all of the questions aimed at him and -- considering the rush to see Hillary Clinton speak -- gave as much time as he could to the press. In firing back against charges from Chicago Mayor Richard Daley that school funding was inadequate, the Governor asked if the Mayor and Arne Duncan, the head of the Chicago Board of Education and now President-Elect Barack Obama's choice to be Secretary of Education, could account for the $2 billion the state gave the City of Chicago.

In this, we see who may be backing Blago: State Senator Emil Jones and State Senator Rev. Jesse Meeks. But moreover, I believe we're dealing with someone who, with all of his foilbles, knows where "the bodies are buried."

This matter of his indictment going to get even more interesting before it's done.

NORAD Tracks Santa - Cape Canaveral, Florida

As of this writing, NORAD tracked Santa in Baltimore! Check out http://www.noradsanta.org for the latest Santa siting!

American Airlines plane incidents at Chicago's O'Hare airport - CNN.com

More at CNN.com: “(CNN) -- A passenger jet preparing to take off from the airport skidded off the runway at Chicago, Illinois' O'Hare and another plane was forced to return there after engine problems were reported, officials said.

American Airlines Flight 1544 -- an MD-80 carrying 54 passengers and a crew of five -- was taxiing into takeoff position on Runway 22-L when it hit an icy patch, said airline spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan.

No one was hurt, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.

The left tires and the nose tires slid onto the grass next to the taxiway, she said.”

-- I can't remember a time when so many incidents of delays and accidents happened in such a small window of time. I wonder if this is tied to the poor maintainance spending of the airlines and the need for airport upgrades in general?

Denver Airport Three Hour Flight Delay - Christmas Eve

This is the second day of my Denver flight delay story. After not making UAL 7515, I managed to get a free room at the Marriot Residents Inn in nearby Aurora, CO. The next morning, I got up to get back to Denver Airport. This is that portion of the ordeal.

Denver Airport Three Hour Flight Delay - Day Two

This is the second day of my Denver flight delay story. After not making UAL 7515, I managed to get a free room at the Marriot Residents Inn in nearby Aurora, CO. The next morning, I got up to get back to Denver Airport.