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Facebook and Fayetteville

Posted Tue, 04/07/2009 - 10:37

In Fayetteville, Arkansas, around the local papers have around 14,000 and 8,000 subscribers, for a total of 22,000 (ballpark).
When Facebook has almost 30,000 Fayetteville citizens using the service (almost half of the population!), shouldn't we take note and change some policies to reflect that? I think so.
Here's a breakdown of the Facebook users in Fayetteville:

Total: 29,000+ (as of April 7, 2009)
In High School: 3,600
In College: 8,160
College grads: 2,180
Male: 13,860
Female: 16,040

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Features

Why the Council should have the final say on a second motorcycle rally

You may or may not have heard, but there could be a second motorcycle rally this year in Fayetteville. Organizers are calling it Bikes, Babes, and Bling, and the event is planned for Independence Day weekend.

UPDATE: The City Council vote has been called off. Details inside.

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January's Cause of the Month: Move your money to a local bank

Three years ago, I walked into a Bank of America branch and closed my account. When they asked me why, I told them I was fed up with escalating fees, the sterile feeling I got from doing business with them, and that I wanted my money to be used to support more local jobs.

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Dislosure: My blog will be profitable at the end of 2010

It's been a year (or close enough) since I published this website, and it's had its share of false starts. One of my New Year's resolutions is to finally buckle down and start using the Internet the way I've always meant to.

That means creating content. I've gotten pretty good at sharing things, but I've failed to get in the habit of creating original content regularly. That's all about to change. Right? Right!

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Podcast: Kyle Kellams explains how NPR expands their news service without using a subscription model, and other topics

In this podcast, I interview Kyle Kellams from our local NPR affiliate about the future of news. We cover a broad range of topics, and if you're interested in the changes happening to journalism, you'll enjoy this interview.

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The Five Stages of Social Media Grief

I found this list on Scott Monty's website a few weeks ago, and I really liked it. He's the new media guru for Ford Motors, and he's adapted the grief model from psychology to social media.

It's really quite clever, and it reminds me of the social media resolution I brought to the Council near the beginning of the year. In the weeks after introducing the resolution, I watched the public go through each of these stages, until finally the resolution was passed and we entered stage 5: acceptance.

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The green economy vs. the knowledge economy

When we talk about creating a sustainable economy, the subject of growth often comes up. To say the least, questions and predictions concerning growth are usually oversimplified. It's clear that we will eventually end up with a steady state economy, but unlike other sustainability leaders, I don't think green jobs will make up the majority of the new economy.

Although the materials-based sector still makes up a strong majority of our economy today - and green jobs will make up a majority of that sector - the potential of the knowledge sector dwarfs the growth we have seen up to this point.

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Other posts

Sometimes, asking a thought-provoking question is enough to get you on TV

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It was originally going to be just an interview with me, but I suggested turning it into a roundtable with Christopher Spencer of Ozarks Unbound and Bret Schulte from the University of Arkansas journalism program. I'm glad that Brad took my suggestion, because I don't think we could have asked for a better six minutes of air time.

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What's your blogging vice?

In general, I try to make sure my posts don't just share links, that's what I use my Amplify account for.

But this one was so inspirational to me, I felt like I should share it, even if I don't have much to add.

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I'm one.

I've seen this video before, but I keep going back to it every couple of months. It may have a few inaccuracies (I have not fact-checked it, and I'm skeptical of some of the claims), but it's so powerful to me that I can't help but be inspired.

What gets me every time is the simple fact that there are 90 million people in my generation. That's 20 million more than the baby boomers, and we'll all be voting age by 2016. With each passing election, we gain more and more political power.

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Reality check: the new era began a while ago

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Blessed spot? That's the funniest thing I've heard...

Since when does having a conglomerate media powerhouse make us unique?

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NYT Publisher Compares Print Media to the Titanic

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Doomed not by what you might guess, but doomed by the invention of the airplane 12 years earlier.

What does he think that means for the future of print?

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Fayetteville Flyer to Begin Editorializing Again

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They are going to start editorializing again. And it's about time! If there is one thing I've missed about the Flyer it is the opinions.

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ArkBizJournal: Connect Arkansas Gets $2 Million to Map Broadband Access in State - ArkansasBusiness.com

The Arkansas Business Journal has a report that a grant for $2 million has been awarded to Connect Arkansas to fund the creation of a map for broadband development in Arkansas.

That's pretty important, considering Arkansas ranks 49th for broadband access.

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UA Journalism Dept to Host Forum on the "Future of the News"

Well, it's about time! It will certainly be a show to watch with Matthew Waite, the designed for Politifact squaring off against Conan Gallaty from the Demozette.

Of course, one has to wonder how biased the panel will be considering it contains no independent journalists.

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Under the Dome: Public option escape hatch?

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90 Million Young People Invited to Speak with Senator Kerry re: climate bill

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Podcasts, RSS, Etc

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